Reclaiming Lost Lives

My story about Chloe's first ride of the spring (Horse Whispers blog) was written in a humorous vein, but the fact is, reclaiming horses that have been given up on as riding horses is no laughing matter. You see, I have never just gone out a bought a horse that I found suitable for myself. I gravitate to the horses that everyone says cannot be ridden. I find that most horses have had trauma in their lives. If we are quiet and listen to what the horse tells us, we can discover where the trauma happened and begin to take steps to erase the memory. The key is to supplant the bad memories with good ones. This is not a task, as many adopters of rescue horses have discovered, for the unskilled horseman. Most horses of the type that I am describing here are, in fact, rather dangerous. It takes much time and concentration to stay in the moment with these animals to avoid getting hurt. Staying in the moment is also important because you become aware of the smallest try, "the give" that the horse offers in the relationship. I will talk more about the concept of "the give" in later posts. For now, lets just say, we need to listen to be safe.

In this time of cowboy clinicians and TV trainers, the secrets of the horse whisperer are available to anyone with high speed internet or enough cash to purchase DVDs. As a professional, I find myself called out often to help people who have fallen in love with a horse with dangerous issues. I do not lump myself with the so called horse whisperers, and there are some horses that I cannot help. I prefer to tell people that it is the listening part that is important. A horse listener would be more appropriate. If we observe closely and move slowly, we can rebuild the story around a horse. In doing so, we can take that horse to the places that scare it and many times we can bring the horse back into use.

In Chloe's case, I was called out to see this beautiful mare that was difficult to mount, who refused to stop, reared, and threatened to go over backwards. The "neighbor fellow" weighiing over 250 pounds (mare is 15.1 and 950) put a Tom Thumb in her mouth, tied her head to her chest , and "worked her down" for two hours before he could ride her down the road. When I showed up to ride her, she was terrified of being ridden. It took me an hour to get on her, and an hour to get her to stop running headlong in terror toward barns, fences, cars, etc.. She was in a blind panic. I suspect it was the nutcracker bit that had made her mouth sore, the sense of feeling her nose attached to her chest making it hard to breathe at that angle, and the ill fitting saddle that made her back sore with that heavy man aboard that set off the panic. Any one of those situations alone could trigger a fight for her life. And fight she did. I am sure she thought that we were going to kill her that day. I cried for her. And I took her home.

With this mare, less is certainly more. I ride her in a fat, three piece wonderbit with a bean in the middle. This sort of bit is lifted by the horse and carried where it is most comfortable. It is not a busy bit, nor does it pinch or clank in any manner. My first rides on her were bareback, so that she could feel me, and so the saddle did not evoke panic. No saddle also meant that I could swing off and on without fear of being hung up. It seems to be working. Now I also use a neck strap for steering and my seat and legs for stopping. Less is more.

Over the last few months, I discovered that Chloe is still making milk. Still spinning her story, I believe that broodmares earn their keep, so someone might have bred her a few times before she ended up at auction and then with a dealer who dumped her on the first family he could find. On the ground she is the sweetest thing. Broodmares who are 10 are not really the best riding horses. Broodmares live in herds of horses. That fact would explain her lack of response to humans and her extra sensitivity to her environment as the bell mare.

Another thing that I learned early before I decided to keep her was that she did not understand how to communicate with a human. In fact, she was unaware that a human represented any sort of security. Chloe is a loner in the field, choosing to be at the highest point in the pasture. I believe she is an alpha mare and ran in a herd of horses most of her life. She is not happy alone in the barn and has not yet transferred her herd instinct to me. She did not whicker at me even though I lived with her in the barn and saw her over ten times in a day. I bribed her with treats, fed her, groomed her. But it wasn't until I began teaching her to target things that the breakthrough occurred. After 6 months and a looong winter of "playing" with this mare something changed.

I didn't realize this until today.

I stopped by the barn this evening and Chloe was at her usual spot, high up on the knoll in the pasture. I have moved out of the barn and have been gone for a week now, only seeing the mare once a day. Tonight, I repeatedly called to her as I was dressed to go out for dinner and would not step in the muddy field to get her. Finally I just said, as I do every time we work, "Do you want to play?" She watched me for a long time with her ears up, and as I turned to give up on her, she whinnied at me from across the pasture. I looked back , and could not believe my eyes. My little mare was raising her front leg in a salute from atop the hill! She wanted to play and was telling me so.

I ran into the barn to get cookies and a lead rope as she started down the hill, not really believing what I had just seen. When I got to the gate she had chased all the other horses off and came right to me. What I feel tonight is something amazing. I have taught my little unwanted mare that people are ok and that she can trust me. We can now communicate, even if it is just by lifting our legs!

I guess what I want to say by this rambling post is that sometimes if we listen and stay in the moment with our animals, our friends, and our family, perhaps we can see deeper into where they have been and why they behave as they do. Horses have taught me that if we are not judgemental, and we wait long enough, good things happen.

Relationships are important, and if you are not building one with your horse at liberty and you still have to control them with ropes and whips, you are missing out on the true communication that these animals are capable of. I was a non-believer, horses were just horses...animals. But I am discovering that by listening to the horses, they talk loudly and clearly about what they need and how they want their lives to be.

My buddy Chloe accepted me today. She is no longer lost. I have found a good friend.