April 09 midwest horse digest Page 29
As I think back to time spent with my
mentor Dr. Andrew McLean (who developed
and manages the Australian Equine Behavior
Man O’ War and Equine Emotions:
Centre and holds a PhD in horse training psy-
Fact or Folklore?
chology), I am reminded of our conversation
Perhaps the most famous racehorse in history was Man O’ War, undisputed
about the emotional horse. His view was that
king of the turf during the gambling-happy roaring 1920s. He was a large and imposing
horses have no emotions, and that they are
horse, and even when he was alive he was a tourist attraction, drawing visitors from
simply products of their environment. If your
across the country to pay homage at his farm. Racing historians say that the only reason
training was bad and inconsistent, your results
Man o’ War never won the Triple Crown is because his owner refused to race him in
were bad and inconsistent.
Kentucky.
I believe that this is fundamentally
Man O’ War lived nobly and developed a unique relationship with his groom of
true, but overly simplified. If we don’t under-
many, many years. He showed his allegiance to Will Harbut every day of his life; Harbut
stand what the horse is feeling, then we as
was only absent from the horse at night. Harbut, the horse’s constant companion, died
‘feeling beings’ find it hard to relate. We then
suddenly in October 1947. Man O’ War was so grief-stricken that he pined away, wouldn’t
become confused when our training goes
eat, and was obviously crestfallen as he hung his head in the stall, knowing that his friend
wrong and this confusion translates to our
would not return. Less than a month later Man O’ War died of a broken heart.
horses. We are quick to blame the horse for
his mistakes and never fully realize that the
problem is truly our fault. We are the teacher,
they are the student, and therefore our lesson
should always be more clear to us than to
them.
What’s the Key to Better Communication?
So how do we become better at
communicating with our horses?
Knowledge.
We must never stop learning and
developing new and better ways to communi-
cate with our horses. Do horses possess the
ability to feel simple emotions? Yes. Do they
feel and process these emotions the way
humans do? No.
This simple knowledge should
change the way we interact with our horses
and how we train our horses. It should make
us realize that horses can feel pain, they can
feel fear and curiosity, and they can feel lone-
ly, confused, sad and possibly happy. It means
that every time we scare our horses with
improper training techniques and use improp-
er training equipment, we cause irreparable
damage to our horses. This human-induced
behavior takes us one more step further from
our ultimate goal — to have a connected rela-
tionship with our horse.
What I’ve Learned
This change in my thinking about
emotions did not come easy. My Connective
Horsemanship training methods already
worked. But my training methods work better
now because I have new knowledge that is
based on research and not just what seems
right to me. Knowledge is power and power
should be used for the benefit of others. Seek
out new, viable knowledge. By doing so, you
will benefit both you and your horse.
For more information on Ryan Gingerich’s
Connective Horsemanship program, visit
www.connectivehorsemanship.com or simply
call 800.359.4090.
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