The following comment was made in response to my post about Denali, which I felt I needed to respond to: I am not sure why on earth you would pick up a stick and wave it around...in all my years being around horses...I never picked up a stick and waved it. Better to have just gone over, picked up the knocked over pail...he probably would have followed you... My response: I wasnt asking for criticism of a situation I already feel bad about and I think you should be careful about being judgemental when you do not fully understand the circumstances and all of the dynamics at play. I am sure you have your own ways of setting boundaries with horses. You likely also use some means of extending your reach when working on boundaries with younger horses (twirling a lead rope, carrot stick or some other means). These are all effectively used for the same reason- to keep a horse who is still learning about boundaries back further than you can reach with your arm. I simply move the branch back and forth to define the space around myself that I would like the horse to stay out of. I do not hit the horse or behave in a threatening manner, but simply define my space through an extension of my arm. Ganu is the only horse in the herd who is still in the process of learning boundaries. He occasionally still challenges my space and I use the appropriate energy and my arm-extending branch to reinforce my space. Boundary setting needs to be finely tuned to each individual horse. I have not needed to use anything but my energy and body with the rest of the herd, but Ganu was an orphaned wild horse who was gelded late due to an accident, so he has presented challenges in this respect that I have never had with any of the horses here, including the other wild horses. Working on this with him has been a new experience that I have not had to face before and has really required me to come from a place of personal empowerment (vs. power over). I always approach the horses with gentleness and the least amount of energy necessary to set my boundaries, so that I can keep myself safe. What I hadnt thought about at the time was the huge difference in sensitivity to energy between Ganu and Denali and the significant difference in their histories with humans. Ganu has never been treated badly and has no reason not to trust humans. He is a teenager who is still figuring out that I am not a horse and that he has to be careful around me. Denali is so traumatized that I have to be very sensitive to the energy I bring to our interactions and avoid anything that might startle her. The problem was that my focus was on Ganu because my back was facing Denali and in the moment I didnt think about the effect my behaviour would have on her. In response to walking over and picking up his pail- we were a significant distance from his pail, the contents of which were spilled all over the floor inside the far side of the barn. He wanted Denalis pail, which was right there and his behaviour in wanting to get at the pail presented a safety issue for me. I needed him to back up so that I was not at risk of injury in his persistent attempts to get at the food bucket. This is the type of situation that I learn a lot from and will be very careful to approach differently in the future so that a similar situation doesnt have a chance to unfold. I thought Ganu was on the other side of the barn, a good 300 from where I was trying to feed Denali. I am usually very careful around feeding time as it does require greater vigilance to prevent injury, especially when it involves feeding specific horses special food. It is a limited resource and they know it. You likely have no idea how much thought, reflection and analysis I put into my interactions with the horses, especially when an incident such as this happens. I am always trying to balance giving the horses freedom of choice and self-determination with keeping everyone safe. It is an ever unfolding journey that often pushes me out of my comfort zone into unchartered territory in an attempt to honour this commitment to the horses. In a world where dominance-submission ultimately remains the primary paradigm in horse-human interactions, regardless of the oftentimes misleading language used to describe various approaches, I am doing my best to find a way to give the horses as much freedom and empowerment as possible while not putting myself at risk. This is not an easy path, but I remain committed to the challenges, mystery, heartbreak and joy of this ever evolving journey I am on with this herd.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 21:14:57 +0000