Follow the leader

There's a lot to be learned watching the herd.

And there isn't any single "right way" to make things work with your horse. And while it's simple, it isn't, really. Which makes no sense at all. Unless you know mares.

It's simple in that, ultimately, it's about being the herd leader, being the alpha horse. But at the same time it's not so simple in that one's relationship with a horse can have considerable depth and how to go about being the alpha horse isn't so obvious.

Take L, for example. She's a very bold, dominant horse. I remember somebody asked me once, "you ride that horse?". God bless her.

L never *ever* moves out of anyone's way. Everyone moves out of L's way. Always. Nobody *ever* "accidentally" bumps into L. And L never bumps into anyone. They've moved out of her way before she gets close enough to bump into them.

L knows where everyone is all the time. And everyone knows where L is all the time.

L is the one who "knows what's going on", she's the one watching the tree line and listening for things in the distance.

These rules are never broken and all is quiet and happy in the herd.

These are important. Has your horse ever accidentally bumped into you? Do you ever move out of your horse's way? Think about it.

L is very very funny. Sometimes I catch her in the corner of my eye watching. And when I look directly at her she'll fix her gaze and she'll abruptly, boldly and deliberately, step right into my space and she'll stare. When she does that I better smack her. Because if anyone in the herd ever did that to her, that's what she'd do to them. And if I'm the alpha horse, that's what she expects me to do. And if I don't, I'll regret it.

When we go out and hand graze I have this little game I play. I often hand graze on a lunge line. I'll sometimes drift into L's space and I expect her to just move off. If she doesn't she's gonna get a little poke. And I'll drift into my own space, often out at the end of the line, or close to it, and I like to see her just kind of drift in my direction a little bit.

I gave up on pulling on her years ago. I herd her around when we're out hand grazing. It's a lot easier than pulling on her and besides - that's how she does it. She herds horses around. She doesn't go pulling on them! Clearly she understands this herding thing more than the pulling thing. When we're done I lean down and take up some slack in the line and I say "ok we're done" and she lifts up and just about leads the way back to the barn.

The thing that has me thinking all this is the question - "what do you do when your horse spooks?" and well, I think the answer is, "nothing". Because the question really is "what does the herd leader do when a subordinate horse spooks?" and well, L doesn't do anything. She might look. She's confident if there's anything worth spooking at - she would have seen it first. So it's *extremely* unlikely anyone else would have seen anything dangerous before she did.

So I really don't do much of anything when a horse spooks. Horses spook. On the ground I expect them to stay out of my space. Or they're gonna get smacked. Not for spooking. For getting in my space.

Under saddle I'm going to be reassuring. How does one do that? Oh, I'd start with leg and contact. With L it's leg. It's like you "hold her" with your legs. You have to know your horse. And I expect that to settle it. If it doesn't its not so much about technique. I need a plan to establish my (alpha) position.

It's not fair for us to expect them to see the world our way. We choose to make them part of our world and as such we have to see many things from their point of view.

Seeing the world from their point of view, or at least trying to, is one of the reasons I do this horse thing.