Under Pressure
What’s got me thinking this week? Pressure – what does that mean to you?I was working with a young filly a bit ago, she was a 3yr old Thoroughbred who had raced and rested due to an injury. She was just beginning to come back into fittening work. I met with the owner, who asked if I could start teaching him how to work with her. She was fresh, full of herself, and would have been asked to knuckle down and behave quite quickly. I really liked her, and said I would take her on, because then I could play quietly, just in a rope halter, letting her play, asking a bit more, backing off and letting her play… In my opinion, I wasn’t putting her under any pressure. I was chatting to someone about her, and they said – maybe take the pressure off her? An eye opener for me, since I was already thinking I was giving her time…What do I consider pressure, what do you consider pressure?There is a great lady in US, called Hilary Clayton. She’s a researcher in the equine industry, and I think she’s absolute gold. She was speaking a little bit ago and said – pick your poison. (I’m adding in my thoughts here). What ever we do with our horses, has a poisonous element. Keep your horse stabled – he’ll be warm and dry… And may well go stir crazy, develop vices and be majorly stressed… But, he’s dry, right? Keep your horse living in a paddock – he may develop mud fever, rain scald, lose his shoes in the mud, but he’ll be happier, saner, probably overall healthier. Which version of the poison resonates best with you? Ride your horse bitless – he shouldn’t have a bit in his mouth… And, if you don’t fix your own position, you’ll just stop him breathing and damage his nose, which is just as sensitive as his mouth. Ride with a bit – you’ll generally get a better contact and if you have a balanced seat, you shouldn’t be hooking him in the teeth anyway… But, he’ll have a metal bar in his mouth, and if you lose your balance… Ride with a treeless saddle – it may well cause pain and rubbing under the stirrup bars… Ride in a saddle with a tree, it may cause friction and pressure on his back. In any interaction we have with animals, horses in particular, we create pressure. And, you have to choose the pressure that most aligns with your own morals.
I really dislike round pens. If I work in one, I feel claustrophobic and stuck – where is the escape. But, I’m happy to work in a larger place. Horses are prey animals – they are aware of who would like to eat them for dinner, even after all of these years of domestication. We, like it or not, are predators. A horse can tell – it’s the way we move, the speed of our movements, the set of our eyes. Now, if you lock me in a circle with a tiger, I’m going to be a little stressed and yes, I’m going to move my feet. Even if the tiger “creates a safe place” and invites me in, I’m not going to fully relax in that circle. I want my horse to be able to move away from me. I want to give him the choice of come or go. I don’t want to force, or add the pressure, of being so confined. Added to that, hello, horses are not designed to run around in circles. How often will you see a herd of wild horses trotting circles in the middle of the savannah? It’s bad for their joints, their tendons, their ribcages and their balance. I want to be able to move my horse on the end of the lunge, straight and forward, softly around me, towards and away, and for him to have the space to object if he isn’t a willing participant.
In today’s society, pressure is everywhere. We are under pressure to create the perfect life for social media, the perfect photo worthy plates of food, buy the right furniture, work in the highly esteemed careers, and be available to our bosses all day every day, whenever that little phone notification buzzes. Horses are under that pressure too… Learn shoulder in today, jump higher tomorrow, be ready to compete at X level by next month. All too often, the horse is prepared for a circle ringing the date on the calendar, rather than by watching his reactions, his posture, the way he is building up and his mental health. And, it’s breaking them.When buying horses for clients, I won’t go to professional dealer or producers. Why? Because, the horse has been treated as a product, an item that needs fixing before it is prepped for sale. There is a huge difference between a horse who has been trained, schooled, educated, and a horse who has been produced for the young horse classes, or for sale. He’s a product with a price tag, and everyday of work means less profit.What pressure do you choose to put your horse under? If someone said to you, reduce the pressure on the horse, would it make you question what you are doing? Would it make you back off? Is your horse happy and coping with the amount of pressure you’re adding? How good are you at picking your poison?