Horse Whispering 101: Let the Horse Do the Whispering While You Listen
Think of your greatest fear on the trail, or even worse think of your horse's greatest fear on the trail. If you live in the rocky terrain of Colorado and have good horse sense, you most likely came up with two words: mountain lion. Now what does a lion on the trail have to do with listening to your horse, you might ask. What I can tell you from experience is that you'd want to know the language your horse speaks and how to read him or her well if ever in such a predicament.
Reading Your Horse
Bentley (one of our juvenile Arab geldings) and I were on what had become a routine trail ride for him. The further we rode away from the barn, the more resistant and seemingly defiant he became. This ordeal escalated into him rearing and throwing me off. Like a good Arab, he stayed by my side while I picked myself off the ground. However, at the time, the question still remained: why was my horse behaving that way.
Now, earlier, I mentioned Bentley's resistance and defiance but there were some signs that he gave that were precursors to these behaviors. Let's talk about those since, with hindsight, I'm sure I could have prevented my little wreck had I responded appropriately rather than ignoring them. I should mention here that I did read my horse's fear but I simply thought it was because of the blizzard-like wind in which I was obviously reluctant to bend to. One of the first signs Bentley gave was flehmening or the flehmen response. If you're new to horses and are unfamiliar with this reaction, Hollywood seems to do a great job at capturing a laughing horse curling it's upper lip back while exposing its teeth. If you grew up as I did watching Mr. Ed The Talking Horse, you have a clear picture of this. However, when horses flehmen, it truly isn't a laughing matter. Horses have a far greater sense of smell than humans do. The flehmen response is simply a part of their sense of smell. You can be sure that when a horse lifts his head, curls that upper lip back, inhales, then exhales, his flehmen response has been triggered. He has caught a scent of something he is not familiar with. The only exception is when stallions flehmen to conclude whether a mare is in heat. Nevertheless, at this particular time, Bentley was a gelding and had caught the scent of a cat...not a mare as I would have preferred.
Bentley also carried an elevated head. Although, Arabs generally carry their heads high, this time was with more strain, stronger intent, and voluntary intensity. He wasn't relaxed at all. He was indeed looking ahead in an attempt to locate the predator that he could smell in the air. In addition, he had those flickering ears revolving from front to back and back to front rapidly and repeatedly as it was obvious to me that it wasn't me who had his attention. As I said before, I blamed it on the wind which I was confident I could get him through and made it a part of his training to stay in tune with me in spite of us being blown all over the trail. There were so many other signs like like the stiffness in his movement, occasional nip at my leg, and constant stopping and turning around that were expressions of his nervousness. Perhaps I should have taken heed to the sclera or white in his eyes exposed as these were sure signs of fear. Maybe his tail swatting me like a fly on his back and him penning his ears to the back of his head should have turned me around. These are dictionary illustrations of an angry horse. I even rode through the kicking as I worked very hard to regain his focus. Finally it happened. He could take no more. He reared and jumped so quickly to the right, I was thrown off. The only thought that I was afforded in that split second was getting my left foot out of the stirrup before I landed on my back. Thank God for the tall grass that cushioned my fall!
Well there you have it...I failed miserably to listen to my horse. It wasn't until I returned from the trail that I learned there was a mountain lion on the property that had followed a heard of elk running through. No, we never saw the cat and I never anticipated one but Bentley knew otherwise.
In conclusion, my purpose wasn't to advise you to turn your pony around every time you sense or read his fear. There are proven methods to handle a horse in fear in which I will cover in the next blog. However, there's no doubt that had I caught wind of a lion in the area, it would have been "Hi Ho Silver Away!" My intent was simply to share some clear cut clues on how to read your beloved animal so you can make an educated decision based upon your ability and level of riding. I strongly advise everyone to stay within their own comfort level, skill set, and ability when riding horses. As you know, horses can sense your fear and anxiety and will mirror those emotions in belief there is a threat to fear. Lastly, your horsemanship improves tremendously when you learn the language your horse speaks. So there it is...let your horse do the whispering.
