Horse sitting :: part 1
Over at Horse Bliss, Darren and Mary write in Curiosity Creates Confidence―
“A secret recipe to horsemanship is to create curiosity. Rather than you approaching the horse, try drawing it towards you. This may take time depending on the horse’s conditioning. Horses that have not been exposed to human interaction or have had negative encounters with humans may let the fear drive them away more than a horse that has been handled humanely by humans.”
I knew that reaching our rescue horse, Teyla, was going to be quite a stretch. It was obvious that she’d had bad experiences with people.
I was amazed that, despite her history, she wasn’t what I'd exactly call mean. Yes, she’d done a highly effective job of cowing her previous owner by turning her hindquarters to him whenever he approached and refusing to let him handle her hind hooves.
But he told us that she’d never kicked or bitten him. And the fellow was true to his word. She has never attempted to kick or bite us either.
Instead, I'd call her scared. Nearly to death. Of people.
So we began our initial training―creating curiosity in a horse who was fearful, shut down, and had pretty much written off the entire human race as a waste of time. Through the horse’s natural curiosity, we were hoping to build her confidence in us. And it worked.
Our tools were simple: a plastic stool and a lot of patience.
As a technical professional in my day job, I know that often the simplest solution is the most elegant. An elegant solution― Oh, it’s a phrase we computer geeks love! What exactly does it mean?
An elegant solution, often referred to in relation to problems in disciplines such as mathematics, engineering, and programming, is one in which the maximum desired effect is achieved with the smallest, or simplest effort. (from www.searchwebservices.com)
And that’s exactly what I’m talking about here. Achieving the maximum desired effect in this fear-filled horse with something simple!
I'll explain more in my next post.
Flickr Photo Credits: quicklykissme; josh; betweenyesandno;egocrash
Sources: Horse Bliss;
searchwebservices.com
