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Horse whispering useful or just a conjuring trick

The other week I mentioned Monty Roberts who is possibly one of the most well known of the Horse Whisperers. We also have Jan Fennell who has Monty’s support of her using the dog’s version of whispering or as Jan would say Listening. So, what is it?

Possibly most people have heard of this technique and quite a few will have actually witnessed a public demonstration of it. Many people wonder is this the new method of training that will supersede all our previous methods for horses and dogs? The way they portray this it would seem that way.

Some though see it almost like a conjuring trick because like any trick we do not know how the magician achieves it. When we do know how it works, it no longer holds our interest.

One of my tax clients has horses and he and his wife went to watch a demonstration in Hull. When I was talking to them about their visit I was saying that in my method I use the language of predator to pray. They said that in this demonstration they say they use the language of the Alpha female of the herd towards any errant horses. Reading Monty’s book explains how and why they use this language. I on the other hand have not witnessed this so never learnt this way but I found I could as easily use the language of dogs just as effectively on horses.

He said that watching the demonstration was as if the whisperer had invisible poles emanating from his hands as if attached to the horse, which he could then control the horse as he wished. There were demonstrations of supposedly untrained horses taught to take a saddle followed by a rider in only an hour. This is much faster than the established traditional methods still used today.

There was also the common correctional problem of horses that will not go into a trailer and yet after half an hour it will follow the whisperer in an out of a trailer seemingly quite unperturbed. Certainly an amazing change to how it was some hours before. Actually if a dummy trailer is set between two fields so that young horses have to go through it from the start then they will never have a problem when they grow up.

Following on from last week the question is again what has horse whispering to do with Socialbility. It has everything to do with it.

Such techniques are not new. The American Indians used similar methods to catch and train their horses before the white man arrived. In fact, any people who worked with horses over many centuries have observed the interactions of horses and then adapted the language for their own use.

For all the differing training methods we use they all still simply range from the use of inflicting pain or showing that the pain will stop if the animal does as it should to using methods of painless training. Any correct response always creates a reward. It is all to do with the language that we are using to try to make an animal understand what we want them to do for us. I like Monty, look for the painless methods and deplore any methods that need to inflict pain.

If you have never seen one of these demonstrations before then one example is the public witnessing a horse that will not go into its travelling horsebox? Later the horse is lead into a circular area where it is alone but for the horse whisperer. He will often carry either a weighted bag or a rolled up rope in his hand. He approaches the horse to make it move away and round the area. He will keep it moving three or four full circles then he will make it move the in the other direction again for three or four full circles.

What is he looking for from the horse? Firstly, he needs to see the closest horse’s ear always monitors his presents. The horse is in fear for its life because the language the whisperer is using is to exclude the horse from the herd. The whisperer is showing the horse that he controls all that the horse does and it is thinking that at some time this person will cause it pain or injury of some type. Even the Alpha female uses force on any errant horse that does not comply with the herd rules of etiquette. If it does comply, then the Alpha female allows it back into the fold and grooms the horse as a reward.

After some time the horse will begin to drop its head towards the ground as it is running round showing submission that it is prepared to take whatever consequences are to follow.

The moving of the horse round the area is using mainly the eyes. Looking at the horse’s side will move the horse forward. Move the eyes more towards looking at its neck will make the horse go faster. Even the raising of the arms and opening the fingers (claws or teeth) helps to keep the horse moving even more quickly.

When the whisperer’s eyes focus on the horse’s eyes, it will defiantly be running as fast as it can to escape possible death. As soon as the whisperers eyes move to viewing an area in front of the horse like a hunter aiming his gun forward in front of the game ready to shoot so that bullet and horse will intersect at the appointed place then the horse will stop and go back in the other direction.

This is very stressful for the horse as it is in fear of its life. A rabbit can easily outrun a ferret yet the ferret will just keep tracking the rabbit. Eventually the rabbit will stop to face its enemy. It is now prepared to expect certain death, as it knows it cannot outrun its adversary. By simply standing still and waiting for the ferret to arrive it accepts death as there is nowhere else to run.

Just like the rabbit, the horse will begin to feel it does not like this sort of control and will begin to move closer towards the whisperer. If the whisperer walks away and the horse follows by coming right up behind him he has succeeded. If it does not he will send the horse away again for more laps of the area. The punishment here is eviction and for a herd animal eviction could lead to death from preditors so like any other social animal it needs to return to the herd at all cost.

Do you ever remember walking in a field with a herd of bullocks where they keep following you especially if you are walking with a dog? The more you chase the cattle away the more they come back to follow you. They have no choice because you are using, if inadvertently, the correct language here. The thought was they were just being too inquisitive. In fact this is just the normally response where a farmer is using dogs to herd them so they act the same towards people but more often towards dogs.

In earlier articles I have described the use of this same technique on errant dogs and as a dog knows that only in numbers can it be more efficient at hunting and so have a better chance of survival. A lone wolf is not an option.

Horses and dogs are both social animals so the key is not that one is a pray herding animal and the other a predator pack animal it is because of their sociability. That is why the same rules seem to apply in all socialbility training.

Monty Roberts found the old established ways of breaking horses were cruel and time consuming. The result was a spiritually broken horse that would not give its best. I also found that painful enforcement training with dogs did not make them work well. They worked but not with the ability and wish to win.

My other thoughts were that even whispering created stress in horses and even working aggressive dogs showed similar signs of stress so was there an even better way.

The question then was how to reduce this stress further so not to end up with a spiritless and broken horse or dog. I wanted, as did Monty, animals that would willingly give us their best and not be forced to from fear.

One thing that I did notice was as a trainer what did this method actually achieve. In horses where they would indeed follow the whisper into and out of a trailer when they returned home, they often reverted to their own ways again.

I wrote some months ago that there is little point in owners sending a dog away for training because after its return it will become as it was before because the owners do not know how to train or how the instructor trained the dog. It is always better to train the owners in the necessary methods and for them to train their animals.

With this in mind and reading many books on animal language, I found that there was no need to do all the sending of animals round an area etc because it was stressful for them. In some dogs they could actually become dangerously aggressive simply because they found they had nowhere to go and were trapped.

I do find this sort of public showman ship a little pointless from the point of view of the animal. It does however show to owners that they can communicate better if they were to use the animal’s language but they also need to know that only they can train their animals.

If you look on the Internet, you will also find a considerable amount of criticism of Monty Roberts making so much money when many people have been using the same techniques for hundreds of years. It is not something that is new. Possibly, they are resentful of all the money he is making but even if the horse does revert back to its old ways at least the owners may feel they can us what they have seen and use it to achieve a longer lasting result. With these articles if owners can see there are better ways to train that do not involve pain then they to will succeed.

For myself I do get dragged into seeing all sorts of dangerous and aggressive dogs just to show interested people how it is possible for me to walk up to such a dog and then calm the situation down to such a degree that I make friends with the dog. Monty calls this Joining up whilst I would just call it making friends but none the less it is an amazing feeling to finally gain an animals trust. This is one of those moments in life when I will form a fist and say under my breath, “Yes”.

Some months ago, I said that the German Postmen were to learn dog psychology in order to stop dogs biting them. I suggested they each had a can of Roger Mugford’s compressed air but they say that even issued with CS spray they could never fire it fast enough. You may have read last week where all 19,000 postmen have had their three-day course and are now prepared for how to walk into a property and for a dog not to bite them.

The method is actually very easy and useful but it does require belief in your ability to just walk straight into a property and not to look directly at the dog. You may find it helpful to lick your lips a few times as this is a doggy sign you mean it no harm and you should see the dog quieten down considerable. By ignoring the dog as if it were not there, it will see there is no aggression from you and it should normally back off. As humans having almost 180 degrees peripheral vision you can still see the dog and you are using a common animal technique similar to Comic Ally that if you ignore a problem then there is no problem. “I see no tanks”

Horse whispering is not another way of training it is just another name for socialisation. If we can see this and understand this then we know why all the different names work the same way and why then more owners can understand how they can interact with their animals making their training improve dramatically.

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