Learning From Young Horses

As many of you know I did not make my monthly trip to Omaha and Lincoln this month for lessons. I had the privilege to stay home and start some very nice young horses with my intern Erica. It has been a lot of work but very fun. At the beginning of the month the owners spent three days with me preparing their horses for their beginning. Erica and I developed them into real nice riding horses in less than 30 days. The owners are coming back to get their horses today, and we are real excited to take them trail riding on their new horses. Here is a report written by Julie Williams about her observations from the clinic at the beginning of the month with these young horses.

What a wonderful day everyone had at Sherry's today. The sun kept things warm enough, the wind blew but it was tolerable, and the everyone learned a lot. I took photos all day, and it was fun to see how much progress the young horses and their owners had! Sherry is so good at explaining things!

Thought I'd share my observations from a colt starting clinic I attended on Friday. I was photographer for the event and while I was only there Friday, it did continue through the weekend. I've been very impressed by her communication ability to help people learn to work with their horses.

We are quite unconscious of the importance of our body movements; we intellectualize communication thru language. 92% of our communication between people is body communication, yet we are unconscious of it---it is unconscious. Presently, we are even more focused on words, written or spoken, to convey meaning because of our techni-digital era. Horses are creatures of movement and intention, not words; and most people desensitize their horses to intention through sloppy, inconsistent or ignorant body "language".

Horses don't use words. This morning's CBS Sunday Morning program gave a feature on Helen Keller, showing a scene from the old movie w/Patty Duke where her teacher was using the water pump to teach the girl her first signed word "w-a-t-e-r". The teacher pumped the handle, water gushed out onto Helen's hand holding a pitcher, and the teacher signed the letters into Helen's other hand. It struck me, as I watched the news feature, how like Helen's ah-hah moment was like what I saw at the colt starting clinic. Our communication with horses is like this movie scene.

When Sherry demos with someone's horse, it usually begins as though they are deaf and blind to her. Then she commences. Sherry uses the lead rope and halter, her body, etc. to get the horse's attention---and she translates her intent with deliberate consistency and simplicity. When the horse give the slightest try it is rewarded with a dramatic withdrawal of her pressure. Eventually the horse has his own Helen Keller "Ah-Hah moment"--as when Helen connects the miraculous connection of moving fingers in the hand to the water gushing over her. W-a-t-e-r mean this liquid wet stuff. Sherry's body position/motion means halt, go, slow, look at me, etc., etc.

Half way thru the first day the horses are truly getting their ah-hah moments with their owners and it shows in the photos I took-- in their eyes, on their faces. At this point the horses have realized that movement means specific things. There are expectations, intentions. They start looking at and to their person for meaning. The face, the eyes are searching for "what is next?". They no longer look bored or anxious, but very interested.

Several weeks ago Linda Parelli was working with a skittish horse on a TV show, and said that for these fearful flighty horses you have to be aware of every movement of your hands. That the slightest hand gesture or wiggle means things to the horse. Sherry teaches this.

90% of owners are clueless about what their undisciplined body language produces. Even when they are fairly experienced around horses they are allowing a constant series of inconsistencies. The horse who steps ahead of you on the lead rope as you slow down or stop is the horse who is going to run thru the bit when you ask for a halt, says Sherry. (Learning these skills would give a horse person invaluable insight when horse shopping. You'd understand that certain ground manner behaviors would translate to specific under saddle problems.)

I could see this quite clearly with the students. There is a photo of the owners standing on tires with the horses on a lead rope facing them. In this scenario, they are teaching the horse to stand at relaxed attention, ears forward, eyes on them, goal being for 30 seconds, working up to minutes. Eventually they are also asking the horse to lower its head in relaxation with head below level of withers; then to the ground. The goal, as we work, is to get the responsiveness of the lead rope transferred to liberty. That requires another serious adjustment to both minds.

Attention span for people is harder than attention span for the horse. Lackadaisical attitudes are tough because it says "I don't want to be bother with crossing my tees and dotting my I's" right now, I'm tired/don't care" etc.

Thru Sherry's instruction, she correlated ground work with your in-the-saddle experiences. She taught to use your body, seat, legs, hands---just as if you were in the saddle. Several times I heard her say to someone "you just got bucked off"; "your horse just ran thru the bit". She emphasized this correlation over and over again. You could not take this clinic w/o having your equitation riding improved too.

Part of the first afternoon included leading the horses out onto a quarter section of pasture land---a tenuous but confidence-building time of learning trail riding. How to keep the horse's attention, how to build the partnership, how to be the leader and not the victim of a runaway. I followed them out onto the windswept prairie and after the first mile, waited at the gate for them to return, the destination---a windmill in the distance. The horses and owners came back quieter and more confident than when they headed out. An effective trail ride is built from correct ground work. Safe and happy in the saddle starts on the ground---the ground work means everything!

If the weather had remained sunny I would have gone the other two days. I've photographed many of Sherry Jarvis's local retreats and clinics, and I learn more each time. The women who attend are a friendly and non-judgmental group---always there to learn and support one another. What a great time---laughter, good food, camaraderie.

Thanks for such a great report Julie.

Happy Trails,
Sherry Jarvis