Traditional horsemanship language is ripe with terms such as “respect”, “leadership”, “alpha mare”, “dominance”, being the “boss”, and others in this vein.
Traditional horsemanship is also the product of thousands of years of people becoming trainers by learning from other trainers, or by interpreting horse behaviour themselves and coming up with ways to navigate the horse / human relationship. “Expertise”, in this world, is often acquired by subscribing to a “the end justifies the means” mentality. If the desired behaviour of the horse is achieved, the method used is deemed correct, successful and worth repeating, and the trainer’s interpretation of events is thus reinforced and passed on to others.
People’s interpretations of horse behaviour are, too often, incorrect, but, because the horse obeys, this goes unnoticed, if it is ever noticed at all. When the horse obeys us, we think we are good leaders, in charge, and we have his/her respect. If the horse could talk, however, most trainers/riders would be surprised to learn that’s not what the horse is thinking and experiencing at all.
We use the word “respect” a lot, yet, the horse has no concept of it whatsoever, as it is a human construct. What we call “respect” best translates as “obedience”, as far as the horse is concerned. He’s not invading our space, he’s quiet on the lead rope, he obeys our orders without much fanfare, and he is relatively safe to handle.
He obeys us, yes, but this is not respect. We obey people in charge of our jobs, health care, laws, etc., but this does not mean we automatically respect them or see them as good leaders. It simply means there are consequences to not obeying their rules. We may obey a higher-up in the company, without question, as our pay checks depend on it, but, we may also think the higher-up to be a pushy moron, whose ideas are laughable but, unfortunately, not dismissible. He/she, however, interprets our obedience as “respect”.
Similarly, we hear a lot about being the leader for our horse, or the “alpha”. We observe some horses being pushy and bossy with the others in their domestic herds, and we think of them as leaders of their groups. In reality, they are not leaders at all.
Domesticated horses live in man-made environments, with restrictions, rules, predictable sources of food, and zero choice in terms of who their herd mates are (humans choose all the members of the herd for them). We observe their paddock behaviour and assume it to be the very essence of horsiness. Yet, as soon as they are re-introduced in the wild (many have this fate in North America and other parts of the world), they revert almost overnight to their wild, feral ways. This is no surprise, as nearly 4.5 millions of years of evolution are unlikely to be suppressed by 10,000 years of human intervention.
In its feral, wild state, horse behaviour is full of surprises, if you’ve never studied it before. There is a world of difference between the way traditional horsemanship perceives horse behaviour and what it actually means, as determined by proper scientific research and decades of observation of herds in various environments, across continents.
Let’s start with the word “leadership”. What is leadership to a horse, in his natural environment? Is it a dominant mare who rules the herd with an iron hoof? Is it following the stallion in the herd, no questions asked? Is it obeying the “alpha” of the herd?
No. None of these.
In fact, wild or feral horses do not follow those we would deem “alpha” or “boss” horses. They do, however, stay out of their way and back off when the dominant horses push their weight around. Being bullied does not result in admiration, feelings of trust, and a desire to follow the bully. Interestingly, however, when people observe bullying in the paddock, they assume the bully is the leader. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth, and wild herds observation and research by equine ethologists repeatedly show this to be untrue.
When humans take on the role of “boss” horse, alpha, or dominant herd member, the horses do what they’re asked to do because they have no other choice and they have absolutely no means to escape the lead rope, saddle, or rider on top. To attempt escape leads to punishment, or unpleasant persistence from the handler, or more hours in the ring, none of which are desirable to the horse. They obey, but they do not see us as leaders, any more than a slave, of days gone by, saw the slave master as a leader. Sure, some slave owners deemed themselves kind and gentle masters, but everyone involved knew there were consequences to disobedience, no matter how kind the owners deemed themselves to be.
In the wild herd, horses have ranking (social standing), that is dependent on their ages, not their behaviour. Older horses have higher ranking by default, but they are not necessarily leaders. Unlike their wild counterparts, domesticated horses are shuffled around, changing herd mates often, and are confined to various size spaces by fences. Their world has limits in almost every aspect, and, as such, ranking looks very different, as it is determined by physical dominance and bullying. But even in the paddock and under these circumstances, higher ranking does not a leader make.
In the wild, leadership is shared and is dependent on the situation. This is also true of wild or feral dog packs. The alpha dog mentality was erroneously adopted by studying wolves. Dogs are not wolves. They do not have one leader pair. They share leadership roles as needed, and they cooperate with each other to complete tasks. They, like horses, and humans, have their bullies, but, again, these are not individuals the others willingly follow.
The wild horse herd is made up of mares who are a stable, almost never changing aspect of the group, their offspring, and the stallion, who will eventually be chased off by another, stronger, and younger individual. The notion of the alpha or lead mare is one made up by humans observing paddock antics or misinterpreting the mares’ built in instinct to teach youngsters about personal space rules. In the wild, she does not exist (she may be a bully, but she is not the leader). She is, however, a vigilant guardian, eyes, ears and nose always on the lookout for danger.
When left to their own devices, horses create friendships within the herd, much like humans do in school and all aspects of life. When one horse decides to move on to another area, she starts going, and her friends will follow. Their friends will follow them, and their friends will follow them, and so on. The next time the herd moves, it will be because a different horse, or maybe the same one again, has deemed it worthy to go elsewhere. If no one follows the first horse, she comes back into the fold, but, usually, they all end up going.
If danger is detected, the first horse to see it will sound the alarm and whatever direction she bolts, the rest will follow. The stallion may be the exception, depending on the situation. He may try to fight off the intruder. He is often the one being followed because he is also a sentry of the herd, always on the lookout for contenders to his position. By obsessively looking out for intruders, he is usually the first to spot other dangers as well. But he is not necessarily a leader. Horses who lead have friends who will follow them. Any member of the herd can lead the group away, except for the bully, “alpha”, dominant horses. When these individuals try to lead, they are generally ignored and can only move other horses by bullying them with bites and shoulder rams.
If you have to physically force an individual to do your bidding, you are not leading. You are driving. And, you are a bully. Leading involves willing followers. Leading is built on trust, not punishment.
In domestic herds, especially the smallest ones, this behaviour is easily missed as horses follow each other regardless of who is doing the leading, including bully horses. The reason is simple: horses feel safest in numbers, even if the numbers include, or are entirely made up of, pushy, dominant horses. In the wild, however, no one wants to follow the bully and they don’t have to, as their herd numbers are usually fairly sizeable.
Traditional horsemanship places the human squarely in the dominant, “alpha”, bully horse position. The human mistakes this to mean leadership, when in fact, it is the opposite. Dominance is not leadership. Dominance does not make the horse feel safe. The most important aspect of leadership in the wild horse is trust.
Connection training builds trust into the horse/human relationship first and foremost. Trust leads to willingness to follow, safety when interacting with the horse and a genuine desire of the horse to take care of the human as if the latter is a member of the horse’s circle of friends (as opposed to trying to unload the human and run back to the barn after a major spook).
Dominating the horse to achieve obedience eventually works, but, there is a price to pay, and the horse pays it in spades. The fact that most horse people are oblivious of their horses’ feelings and general happiness, while proclaiming their love for their mounts is telling of how misguided and poorly informed (usually by traditional trainers) they are.
Obedience means the horse has no choice, he’s trapped, there are unpleasant consequences to his actions or inaction. He does what is asked in order to avoid pain or other unpleasantness. He will eventually fall prey to learned helplessness (more on this in another post). If there is any opportunity to avoid the whole situation, he will take it. Once in a while, he will “misbehave”, as his limits are breached. Lastly, both he and the handler miss out on what could be a mutually rewarding relationship.
A horse who follows instructions as a result of trust is a willing horse, a safe horse, one who wants to engage with his human and is interested/happy to do so. That’s the horse I want by my side: a partner who is happy to see me, be with me, engage in training with me, follow me when I lead (much like her wild herd companions) and keep me safe. I do not want her to see me as the bully, the “alpha”, “boss horse” who only cares about my own needs and goals, and fills her with dread when I approach, tack in hand demanding “respect”.
Recommended links:
connectiontraining.com, lynnacton.com, equineclickertraining.com, trust-technique.com
Recommended books:
Horses Never Lie, by Mark Rashid
What Horses Really Want, by Lynn Acton