You could be a horse crazy senior if . . .

Woman and bay in winter coats, blogsite.

Your closest friends are also horse crazy and therapy sessions are held at the stable.
You know without having to be tested there’s horse DNA in your cells.
You feel disoriented if you don’t get your daily dose of Vitamin H (horse).
Your idea of happy hour is chore time.
A slog through a slushy paddock on a cold, blustery day to make sure your horse has plenty of food and water leaves you feeling satisfied and invigorated.
You spend more time and effort cleaning your horse’s stall than your own living quarters.
You take a second job because you have a horse habit to support.
You have a slush fund for just your horse expenses and you let your children know you are spending their inheritance on your horse.
Carrots and apples for your horse are at the top of your grocery list.
You not only remember the names of television and movie cowboys and cowgirls of yesteryear, but you know the names of all their horses.
Your mail box and email in-box are filled with horse catalogues and related offers instead of flyers from high-end department stores.
You plan your vacations around trail riding, horse shows, fairs or expos, etc.
You use the name of a favorite horse whisperer as the celebrity name for online security questions.
You get a high from the smell of clean leather and a horse’s groomed coat.
You think the feel of your horse’s groomed coat is more luxurious as any mink and worth all the time and every penny spent to make it so.
Your first high heel shoes were riding boots and you still prefer to wear them.
Your horse has become your favorite dance partner.
You have chosen a trusted horse friend be your horse’s godparent in the event you aren’t able to care for your “baby.”

Animals will teach you

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you . . . Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all humankind.” Job 12:7, 9-10 (NIV)

Our horses are trying to communicate with us, but too often, what they are saying gets lost in translation. Those of us with the gift of being able to hear with our ears generally rely on that sense when communicating with our fellow humans.

That ability doesn’t work as well with our horses, since their vocal communication abilities are limited.

But, the author of the story of Job recommends we seek instruction from animals. How do we learn from them? How do we hear what they are trying to tell us?

We learn to “hear” what our horses are trying tell us with our eyes. Their predominant means for talking with us is through “body English.” A horse that’s standing with its head raise and ears forward is sending a very different message than it does when it’s standing in the shade with head lowered and gently swishing its tail.

They signal displeasure not only with ears laid back against the back of their heads, but with a snap of their tails or a swing of a hind leg.

They do have more subtle means of communication, and if we want a better relationship with them, we’ll need to become adept at interpreting their messages.

A horse owner relates her mare would raise her hind leg when she was being groomed. The owner thought the horse was going to kick and punished her for lifting her hind leg. The owner eventually realized the mare was signaling she wanted her udder cleaned.

Mental health therapists increasingly are having their clients interact with horses to bring awareness and healing to those trying to find wholeness.

A Gestalt therapist related the story of how her horse helped a client prioritize her life. The client realized her activity-filled life had become overwhelming. In the exercise to assist the client, the therapist had the woman hold 12 lead ropes, each representing an activity or an aspect of the client’s life – her job, her volunteer work, her family, her marriage, etc.

As the therapist and client discussed each activity, the end of the lead rope representing the activity was laid out on the ground. When all the demands of the woman’s life were spread out in front of her, the therapist's horse walked up to the lead representing the woman’s marriage, picked it up and carried it to the woman.

The therapist explained the horse was telling the client her husband and her marriage was a greater priority to her than she was currently making it. The revelation and realization brought the woman to tears.

Our horses are perceptive and they have much to tell us if we learn to listen.

Making Introductions

Most humans tend to greet a horse by reaching out with a hand to pet its nose or face. Horses that have been handled have learned the outstretched hand isn’t meant as a threat.

However, when horses make introductions, they’ll meet nose to nose. They don’t extend a forelimb toward another horse if they want to make a new friend; that’s a threatening gesture.

When a person introduce themselves to a horse by going nose to nose, they are approaching the horse in a manner the horse understands. The person is also less threatening to the horse.

Horse can see a person’s head better than an outstretched hand that enters its blind spot on its face and between its eyes.

Some people who make introduction by going nose to nose with a horse think they should blow in the horse’s nose. They likely think this since some horses will breathe deeper when they are introducing themselves to another horse. Whether this is the situation or not, I haven’t found it beneficial to blow in a horse’s nostril by exhaling through my mouth. Simply breathing normally through the nose is likely more pleasant for the horse.

A rub is better than a pat on the back

Too often riders use patting as a way to reward their horses. However, horses don’t understand getting a pat on the back as something that indicates a job well done.

Horses don’t pat each other. Patting a horse is similar to sacking out a horse and should best be used with that purpose in mind.

The best way horse owners can use their hands to reward their horses is by rubbing them on their neck and withers to mimic the mutual grooming horses will do for each other. They will use their teeth and lips to scratch the places on the other horse where it isn’t to reach on their own.

Humans can mimic this grooming by using the back of their knuckles to rub their horse’s neck, withers and back in a scratching motion.

Some horses will indicate they enjoy this scratching by stretching their necks forward and moving their nose around. The nose movements mimic the action used during mutual grooming.

I once had a friend who taught her horse to do mutual grooming. When the horse owner started scratching her horse on its withers, the horse would reciprocate. My friend said she did have to teach her mare to limit her mutual grooming to just the lips and not to use teeth.

Courtesy creates positive relationship

Due to injuries to my horse’s spine and hip, early training sessions with my horse were quite difficult, to say the least. However, after receiving two chiropractic sessions, Savin’s riding training has progressed, and every achievement has been a reason for gratitude.

Because his efforts to not only learn cues but accept them and then execute them have been noteworthy, I have developed a habit of expressing my appreciation.

While my expressions of thanks might take the form of a treat at the end of a session, I’ve also incorporated a courteous approach when cuing him to execute maneuvers. The cues are applied as a request rather than a command.

Requesting instead of demanding are signs of courtesy and respect. Extending such respect can go a long way toward developing the horse-human partnership. Including a “please” whenever you ask your horse to come or back or move over or another action in a courteous tone keeps interactions pleasant.

Studies done in the United Kingdom have shown horses can sense when a human is angry. Horses in the study were shown pictures of different people, some with happy expressions and others with angry. Not only did the horses turn their heads away from the picture of the frowning person, but their heart rates increased more than when the horses were shown photos of smiling people. This indicates horses can recognize human emotions by the expressions on their handlers’ faces.

Many horse owners refer to their animals as their “heart horse,” and the connection is very evident when the horse will leave its herd mates to be with its “heart human.” The bond between horse and human is formed when there’s mutual respect. That respect forms when courtesy and appreciation are part of the relationship.

Communicating with spoken word

Some fellow horse owners have wanted to know whether horses understand what we tell them. While we have discussed that horses communicate with their handlers using sign language, many want to know whether horses understand the spoken word.

I have encountered times when horses seem to understand what we are saying to them.

One particular incident involved a young Arab mare. I was working her in her paddock while several pieces of earth-moving equipment were landscaping nearby. The commotion caused by the heavy equipment unsettled the mare. The horse avoided the far end of the arena where the earth-moving equipment was operating.

After I had tried for nearly an hour to get the mare to accept the commotion of the heavy equipment while she was being ridden, I decided we both needed to take a break away from the commotion. After a bit of dwell time, I told the mare that if she walked to the far end of the arena, I would get off and that would be the end of the lesson.

She did, and I did.

When I cued her to move forward, she quietly started walking in a straight line to the fence at the far end of her paddock. Even when I cued her to stop about three-quarters of the way across the arena, she kept going until she reached the far end.

Although, we know we can teach a horse to respond to voice cues when we are leading or lunging our horses, it’s generally accepted horses don’t understand more than one or two-word commands.

I make no claim to be an animal communicator, but I have heard stories from trusted horsemen who have experience unspoken communication between horse and human. One horseman friend told of the time an animal communicator visited the barn where he stabled his horse. He related how the communicator approached one stall where a show mare was standing facing a corner.

The communicator said the mare was not happy. The mare was not happy because she was told the previous day she could go outside the next day. The next day the mare was not put outside because it was raining.

I will not say for certain how much oral communication horses understand. If they do understand what we are saying to them, it may be that some horses understand more than others.

If you watch how your horse behaves when you talk to it, you might be able to come to your own conclusion about whether your horse understands English or whatever language you speak.

As can be imagined, your tone of voice will likely be an important factor in how well your message is received. Just as courtesy can have positive results in our human relationships, the same can be said for using pleasantries with our horses.

The Great Halter Debate

Web Halters

Because web halters are made with wider straps and don’t have the “bite” rope halters do as they spread the pressure over more area. While the nylon web halters can put pressure on horses’ facial and neck nerves, it would seem such pressure would be less likely to inflict nerve injury as rope halters might.

Opponents of web halters say the hardware on the halters can break and panicked horses could become loose and get into hazardous situations. But then, a panicked horse could severely injure itself fighting the unbreakable halter.

The focus of the halter debate seems to focus on controlling the horse. That would indicate we humans believe we can control a horse with a halter and lead rope. Is it really possible to maintain control over a 600- to 1,000-pound animal when it’s frightened and wants to get away?

Isn’t the only way we humans have “control” over the horse is when it consents to being “controlled?” Shouldn’t the discussion be focused on communication and cooperation rather than control?

If a horse knows its wellbeing isn’t threatened, it’s more willing to cooperate. Whether a horse will allow itself to be “controlled” is based on the horse’s comfort level with being restrained.

The Great Halter Debate

Rope Halters

Why the huge debate about halters? There seems to be some strong opinions regarding which is better - rope or web halters?

Those preferring rope halters say they give the handler more control and are unbreakable.

One advertisement promoting a brand of rope halter claims it is, “The halter for complete control every time you handle a horse.” The way it functions is when a horse resists, “the halter tightens and pressure is applied to nerve areas on the head. As the animal relaxes, pressure is instantly relieved, rewarding good behavior.”

Proponents of rope halters find the thinner the rope the more “bite” it has when pressure is applied to the lead.

Such action should bring up the question - what does such pressure do to the network of nerves on a horse’s head and poll area?

Horses have twelve pairs of cranial nerves running right behind the ears, around the middle of the face and in the muzzle region. That network of nerves affects horses’ -

balance
motor control of heart, lungs and bowels
hearing and smell
vision and eye movement
feeling in the face and facial expression
neck muscles for head movement
the muscles for biting, chewing, tasting, salivating and swallowing
lacrimal gland (tearing)
pharynx (vocal chords)

How would injury to any of the nerves affect the horse?

The Great Halter Debate

Control Through Cooperation

If the use of halters and lead ropes is considered the means for communication between horse and handler rather than control, would there be less need for halters that “bite?”

It seems the equation for achieving optimal horse handling on the ground would be - communication + understanding = cooperation.

If horses understand what handlers will be asking them to do, horses are generally cooperative, as long they know they won’t be hurt or made uncomfortable. If handlers provide cues for the various maneuvers they will be asking their horses to perform – walk forward, stop, turn, back, etc. – before applying pressure, most horses will execute the maneuver without needing pressure applied to the lead and halter.

If that level of communication is achieved, the type of halter shouldn’t be a matter of debate.

Using sign language improves communication

We discussed how talking to your horse can add a special dimension to your relationship. However, learning to communicate silently can benefit the handler-horse relationship. This is especially beneficial for ground work.

In addition to the spoken word, horses are very adept at learning sign language. While horses do communicate verbally – whinny, nicker or full roar - they are especially attuned to silent communication. Every horse learns what is being communicated by the position of another horse’s ears as well as the movements of the head, tail and legs.

Working horses at liberty uses sign language to cue horses. Whether the cues are given with a whip/wand or with the wave of a hand or the wag of a finger, horses trained in the way of liberty will understand what it is being asked to do.

One example where the slight movement of a finger was understood by the horse was when Ray Hunt was teaching a horse to load into a trailer. Ray worked with the horse using the lunging method. The use of the whip/wand to signal the horse to enter the trail progressed to the point it would load when Ray simply waved a finger behind its tail.

Ray then had the horse’s owner try loading her horse. As the owner tried to cue her horse to load, the horse would look toward Ray, waiting for the clinician to wag his finger. When Ray gave the the signal, the horse loaded quietly into the trailer.

Trying to remove himself from the interaction between horse and owner, Ray moved to lose himself in the gathering of clinic participants. As the horse’s owner again tried to load her horse, it looked around to find Ray. When Ray again raised his hand and wagged his finger, the horse loaded into the trailer.

This incident illustrates horses are very perceptive; they can detect even the slightest cues. As sign language training progresses, cues can – and should - become more subtle.

Using just the slightest point or wag of a finger, horse will understand the silent cues and readily move forward, sideways and backward as directed by the handler without resistance. This lack of resistance is due to the fact that communication using sign language means minimal pressure is applied to the horse which results in horses unable to push or pull against pressure.

Such communication builds a more satisfying partnership for horse and handler.

A less expensive but effective wound treatment

A discussion came up at the horse rescue recently about the increased costs for horse care products. The conversation led me to relate how I had been treating a wound on my guy’s hip. The wound was only about three inches long, one inch wide and a half inch deep.

It didn’t cause a lot of concern, but it did seem to need some treatment to aid in healing and prevent further infection. Initially I used a couple different products, but over the next few days, the injury didn’t seem to be improving.

I then remembered a treatment I learned about when I worked at a nursing home during my twenties. The nurses in the facility treated patients’ bed sores with sugar.

The facility’s attending physician told the nurses the bed sore on one patient was too severe and wouldn’t heal. Whether he made the statement as a challenge isn’t known, but it seemed the nurses were determined to prove him wrong.

In treating the wound, the nurses took regular table sugar and poured a packet into the open wound. They then set up a heat lamp to shine on the wound for a bit. Although I don’t recall how long the treatment lasted, I do remember the nurses were successful in healing the wound.

While applying a bandage to a wound being treated is generally recommended, doing so just wasn’t going to work with my guy; he does like to roll. Savin’s wound seemed to be healing with sugar applications and exposure to sunshine. As the healing progressed, I did mix sugar with a salve to help keep the granules in place.

Sugar granules soak up moisture that allows bacteria to thrive. Sugar also inhibits the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, E coli and other bacteria. Without the bacteria, the wound heals more quickly. Wounds that have been treated with sugar include infected surgical and deep-tissue injuries, ulcers, burns and even those contaminated by MRSA.

The sugar is the common granulated type used in human consumption to sweeten beverages and baked goods. Studies have determined there was no difference between cane or beet sugar. Using sugar to treat wounds is fairly common in poorer areas of the world as it is more available and less expensive than commercial medications.

Simple granulated sugar is best. Some manufacturers mix corn starch with sugars. Corn starch has been shown to encourage fungal growth and other problems if embedded in the skin.

Honey has also been used for healing wounds and was in one of the commercial products I used. However, raw honey can vary in its nutrient make up, and of course, is not as easy to apply as granulated sugar.

Articles about using sugar and honey to treat wounds can be found on various Internet sites.