So yesterday I continued working with Faith and the watering can. It became clear very soon after the start of the session, that Faith really did not want to play with water, no matter how far away it was being kept from her. Faith took herself off to the stable and put her head in the back corner, with her bum facing the door.
This made it pretty darn clear to me that she wasn’t happy with the idea of water anywhere near her, and although still being very polite about the whole thing, she was undoubtedly starting to feel defensive.
Now this left me with a dilemma. Firstly, as you may have gathered, I believe working with the horse at liberty, at least to some degree, is really important. I believe that allowing the horse to have the opportunity to remove themselves from the situation means it is less likely that they will feel the need to exhibit the ‘big’ behaviours of biting, kicking, barging etc. because they can choose to leave, rather than be forced into defending themselves.
I would also normally say that if your horse has got to the point where they feel the need to get physical with you, then you have totally missed the huge range of little signs they have been giving you , that lets you know that they really aren’t that happy with what you are doing, and please can you stop, or at least go back a few steps. Horses are amazingly tolerant creatures, and I do believe a ‘normal’ horse (ie one without a history of abuse) will go out of their way not to hurt you, unless you push them beyond the point of tolerance and make them feel threatened.
At the same time however, I am also aware that to let Faith simply opt out completely is not going to help her learning in the long run. Comfort zones and boundaries are there to be pushed, albeit incrementally, if our learning is to progress.
So I had to make an on the spot decision. Did I call it a day there, or did I hang on in there and try to make even the tiniest bit of progress? Rightly or wrongly, I chose the latter.
So I simply stood and waited keeping my posture neutral and relaxed, looking off into the distance, until Faith felt comfortable enough to turn around and stand resting a leg, and looking at me. With her like this, we started again. I dribbled a little water into the drain about twenty feet or so away from her, and when she continued to stand looking at me, I clicked and treated. Basically all I was asking her to do was simply watch me from her safe zone, and she was rewarded for that.
Also in my mind was Alex Kurland’s advice to administer the treat from where you wanted the horse to be. So although I may have captured Faith standing in the right spot with the click, by the time I crossed the yard to get to her, she may have stepped back. Therefore, in order to get her treat, I gave it to her from a position in which she had to step forward again.
After a few successful attempts at this, we called it a day.
This afternoon we picked up from there. Initially Faith was happy to be back out working on the yard again, but after a few minutes, clearly started to feel a bit worried and took herself back to the stable, although this time she did not turn her back on me.
We worked with her in the stable and me on the yard as we did yesterday, and to my delight, she felt confident enough to come out onto the yard again.
So we made what I felt was a pretty big step this evening. By the end of the fifteen minute session, I could pour the water on the ground in quite a splashy manner from about four feet away, and while not completely relaxed, she did choose to stand perfectly still while I did so. This is definite progress.
I still don’t know if I did the right thing by keeping a degree of pressure on. I would be interested to hear opinions on this. It is always a difficult thing to decide how much is too much, and how much is just enough. So much depends on the horse I guess, as well as how well you know her, and how willing you are as a trainer to be led by the horse’s reaction , and not by the desire to get results.
It’s a tricky one.
