Obeisance

by Allen Pogue and Suzanne De Laurentis, all rights reserved, 2005

The beginnings of the true partnership with a horse come when the horse willing subrogates their unthinking instinctive reactions to our calculated requests for compliance. Normally it is quite unusual for a typical horse to demonstrate reasoning power as it is not necessarily a requirement for survival in the world of nature. Consequently, the horse as a species has evolved blindly following their instincts and the herd, which more often than not has sort of a mob mentality.

There is an old bit of wisdom that states if you get two half-wits together, you don't get a whole wit out of the deal.

This proves especially true when applied to a herd of horses. In the artificial 'herd-of-two' somebody needs to be the brains of the outfit and it had better be you. To convince the horse of this reality however is the real challenge. I use tricks to amplify the learning process and start the horse down the road of friendly compliance while perfecting obedience.

It is commonplace for a trick-trained horse to be quite adept at adapting to an ever-changing environment. As I see it, traditional rearing and training methods can leave a huge mental component out of the training process.

With our eye on the future we as trainers look forward to the day that the horse will be trained so our demands make perfectly good sense to us. The horse is living strictly in the moment and can see no justification for the request and so more often than not they resist the request. Many if not most of our requests of the horse from his point of view are esoteric in nature.

Solution

The solution is to begin each day with simple exercises that not only supple the horse's body and engage their mind but more importantly accustom the horse to going along with your ideas. It does not take long before these exercises become habits and in some cases reliable 'default behaviors' that just might save the day when the unexpected happens. To effect that goal first and foremost the horse must accept you as the dominant herd leader. In the animal kingdom there exist a clear hierarchy. Depending on the species this is relative either to the size and height as well as the age and sex of the animal. For our purpose we will focus on the former as the latter is of little significance in the human/equine equation. The goal will be for the horse to willing lower their eye (and body) to a level much below our own. In the language of animals this submissive gesture has a sweeping effect signifying concession to our leadership.

The trick we will use to establish this relationship is properly called obeisance. The actual definition of this term is, "a position that signifies supreme submission". In the past this pose has been imprecisely called 'Saying Prayers' while a slight variation of the pose under saddle is the showy 'Circus bow'.

This is one of the easiest tricks to begin teaching a horse of any age from weanlings to adult and it is the correct foundation for the bow on one knee and kneeling on two. 

It does however require that the horse be hand-fed treats and the horses' natural greed can be a powerful motivator.

To begin, please be conscious of the safety issues and wear not only light leather gloves but also sensible shoes. Real boots and a thick pair of socks will go a long way towards protecting your toes. Have a the horse wearing a light halter and lead rope and position him/her along a wall in a stall with the head about three feet from a corner. This orientation limits the escape options, which tends to engender more attention from the horse.

Stand on the left side of the horse, facing forward, hold the lead rope in your left hand and with the right hand offer a treat to the horse in a way that causes them to lower their head and 'hunt' for the tidbit as you encourage them to reach toward their knees. Carrots cut in long slivers are perhaps the best treat. You can hold them in a way that keeps your fingertips safe from a horse that tends to be grabby and perhaps not too careful. As the horse begins to demonstrate understanding of the trick be sure to incorporate adequate walkabout time between repetitions. Walkabout time will prevent you from being perceived as merely a two-legged food vending machine and also gives the horse time to mentally 'digest' the new behavior as they chew and swallow the treat.

Do not rush the horse into an extreme position. Let them get used to the balancing and stretching required. If they seem clumsy, you can help them figure out the requirements by nudging the nearside foot forward and outward.

Place the toe of your boot behind the fetlock as you place your hand on their withers and push slightly sideways to un-weight the foot.

Tickle the horse's whiskers with the treat to entice them lower and lower. This is after all what whiskers are for.

As an additional inducement to relax and therefore stretch the ventral muscles of the belly, pat with the open hand or gently tap the under belly area with a whip handle.

As the horse gets comfortable going lower and lower, instead of standing nearly upside down to offer the treat, try impaling a small chunk of carrot on the end of a broken whip shaft and offer it to the horse while you stand upright.

The tap on the belly (or lower flank) while holding the carrot can become the cue to lower the head, stretch down and execute the pose. Be patient as it takes anywhere from six weeks to six months before a horse can figure out (with your help) how to either extend the front feet forward or walk the rear feet backwards to give it enough room to create the full expression of the pose.

Once the horse has learned to execute this pose using the treat it is time to require them to do so as a matter of obedience and not as merely a response to greed, this is done by incorporating the exercise as a morning ritual before feed time. Instead of the hand-held treat given while the horse is in the lowered position, offer a mouthful of their morning grain ration from a feed bucket only after they have shown a good effort. Soon, much like a human athlete doing pushups in the morning, your horse can be trained to engage in a useful stretching exercise as they open their mind to your suggestions.