Re: Assertions and other assertions about spooking.

[Marv Walker <Marv@MarvWalker.com>]

> TRUST DOEN'T WORK THIS WAY!!! You initially have trust ...then you're going
> to scare him to death proving you're going to gain it back...I don't think
> so!!!...

Trust doesn't work what way?

I'm assuming we are back to the "de-spooking" procedure and 
how it doesn't work again.

What is trust?

We have come to accept that trust is the confidence that someone 
or some thing will act in the proper way.  And then you say that 
we, or the being, in this case a horse, have that faith initially.  
If this is the case, then why do people struggle so to reach a 
happy medium with a horse so often if this trust is initially 
already there?  And if this trust is initially there why is it 
that so many knowledgeable horse people who understand what it is
fail to get the horse to trust?

Trust is the product of actions that seem to inspire faith or 
confidence.

If you have a horse that dangerously spooks, does he trust?  If you 
have a horse who resists going somewhere you want him to go, does he 
trust?  If you have a horse who pins you in the stall or threatens 
you when you are feeding him, does he trust?  I personally don't think 
so.  If a horse has faith that you will do the proper thing, why is 
it concerned you won't?

A horse is a horse, a human is a human.  They are diametrically 
opposite in motives, reasoning and nature.  When these two types 
of beings are first introduced neither of them really trust the other.  
That's why we go through this process called "breaking" (I personally 
prefer to call the transition "molding").

There are two ways we can acheive this thing called trust.  

One is to attempt to acclimate the horse to the human world with 
as little trauma and danger as possible.  We demonstrate to the 
horse that we mean well by going through a long long series of 
repetitous behaviors hoping that the horse will accept them at 
some point in the future.  We use a big bunch of blocks to build 
the trust in a manner that we as humans have decided is what is 
right for the horse.

Does this work?  It works often enough so that we depend on it to 
work all the time as long as there is lofty human emotions fueling 
it.  No sudden movements, pussy footing around, light touches and 
on and on ad infinitum.  We tickle the horse to numbness.  All 
foreign to the way horses live when left to their own devices.

Then there is another way.

You take the horse and demonstrate to it that you understand how 
horses actually deal with each other.  You demonstrate that you 
know how to be a leader by using lead-horse actions.  He 
demonstrates that he understands by complying.  Because he knows 
I know how to lead, he has confidence that I can be relied on to 
do the proper thing.  He trusts.  Because it doesn't take all that 
long to demonstrate this ability, he trusts quickly.

Now instead of saying to the horse, "Smell this saddle, it won't 
hurt you, see?", "Oh that's just a bag, see, remember what a bag 
looks like," and on and on, I only have to do one thing and that 
is demonstrate I'm capable of leading by exhibiting leader-like 
actions should it become necessary.  He has agreed by his reactions 
to my actions that he will allow me to lead and allow me to do 
pretty much whatever I please as long as I do not hurt him or ask 
him to do something he cannot do.  My job is to listen to him and 
give him the choice to change his mind at any time.  If he should 
change his mind, I have the ability to change his mind back by 
demonstrating leadership abilities again.

At a clinic a few years ago I worked a spoiled cantankerous horse.  
In no time she was following me around like a puppy allowing me to 
move her and place her at will.  The owner then remarked that 
picking her feet was a task and she needed to be drugged, twitched 
AND Scotch-hobbled to shoe.  I asked if anyone had a hammer and the 
owner said she did.  She came back with a farrier's hammer.  I 
commented how strange it was that the owner of a difficult-to-shoe 
mare would carry a farrier's hammer in her trailer.  I took the 
hammer, bent over, picked up the mare's foot and roughly pretended 
to shoe her and the mare never moved as I jerked her around.  I 
went clear around that mare doing each foot in turn and she never 
moved.

It seemed like every 10 minutes for the next two days I heard a 
hammer on shoes and on occasion I'd see the owner walking around 
with that hammer.  I didn't teach the horse to give me her feet.  
I "taught" the horse to trust leadership (horses already know this).

There is no scaring the horse to death and then bringing him back.  
The horse is subjected to nothing different than what it experiences 
in a herd situation.

Marv "The stuff between the names may or may not be serious, may 
or may not make sense, may or may not be funny and even may not be 
anything but it is always there and it is always something." Walker
-- 
Upcoming 2000 Clinics 
Madison (Atlanta) GA Oct 14-15, 2000
Murfeesboro (Near Nashville) TN, Nov 11-12, 2000
http://MarvWalker.com/clinic.htm