Cole and Samson Teach a Round Pen Lesson

Today I did an initial interview and evaluation with a new client.  She is interested in learning how to better communicate with her anglo-arabian mare and help her horse to calm down and trust her.  Riding will be on the lesson plan at some point, but for now we need to help the two of them understand each other better so that training can proceed and be a positive experience for all of us.

While I can visit with a human for some time, I really get so much more information about people from seeing how my horses react to them.  We had an initial conversation, followed by her watching me work a horse and teach a short lesson to another client.  Since ground work with her horse has been a challenge, she decided she'd like some instruction using my horses regarding the round pen.

I wanted to get a better feel for how she communicates with a horse, so first we went to the round pen with Cole.

Cole has been with me since he was a yearling, and he is now 14 years old.  He has only ever known what it's like to have Bit of Honey style training.  As a result he has no fear of people, no nervousness about whips, and no anxiety about the round pen.  I appreciate his confidence and the fact that he's not going to clobber anyone in fear, and his personality and history makes him a very sedate and quiet lesson horse.  Because he also is kind of a slug, it takes a lot of energy and bold body language from the human to get him to perform in the round pen.

Cole was his normal self, and just did his super slow walk and jog for the new client.  She felt like she was sort of "shouting" at him with her body language to get him to pay attention, which is normal for working with Cole.  He demands that the human be clear and assertive.  To clarify to her how much she really needed to do, I moved Cole a bit by hitting my whip on the ground, stomping my feet, loudly giving him a voice command, getting him to canter one direction, stop hard, and reverse into the canter going the other direction.  She was surprised at just how bold I could be without him getting upset at all, since her horse is quite sensitive.

Once she had the idea of how to move Cole, we put him away and I led Samson to the round pen.  Samson and Cole are as far apart on the sensitivity spectrum as it is possible to be.  Just glancing at Samson's eye is enough to get him cantering around the pen, and a mere audible exhale is enough to bring him to a sliding stop.  I started this section of the lesson asking Samson to walk around on the rail, by simply raising my right hand to hip height, pointing which way I wanted him to go, and wiggling my fingers with my left hand.  He briskly began marching to the right in a circle around us, and with me just glancing halfway up his neck, he picked up the trot.  Then I looked at the ground and backed up, which made him halt, turn towards me, and walk straight to me.  Even very small weight shifts on the part of the human mean something and cause a reaction in Samson.

Bubble Visual:  the human moves the horse by pushing his bubble with hers

Then the new client took a turn with Samson.  Her first comment was "his personal space bubble is SO BIG"!  This is very true.  Cole would let you climb all over him, which is what makes him great for kids' lesson especially, but Samson generally doesn't allow anyone to touch him, and if he does it is usually only on certain parts of his face or neck.  When teaching round pen work, I have people think about when they are in line at the checkout counter at the grocery store, and how close a stranger can get before you start to feel nervous or weird, like that person is "in your bubble".  Horses also have a "bubble", and I tell people to picture his bubble and your bubble while you are together in the round pen, and imagine you are pushing his bubble with yours.  The bigger the horse's bubble, the smaller your own motions need to be to get him to do what you want without panic (Samson).  The smaller the horse's bubble, the bigger your own needs to be in order to get any movement out of him (Cole).