Interior Design: Do It for Your Horse

Imagine your brain is a room. Stand in the middle and slowly turn to take it in. Would it be a cathedral with beautiful stained glass? Maybe bookshelves all around and an oversized bathtub in the middle. Sleek and contemporary or antiques and overstuffed sofas. Would it have a balcony over your horse pasture? Is your mind filled with rainbow emotions, bold in primary colors? Is it all a sophisticated off-white with tan accents that hide dirt well? Have you curated your favorite art or is it simple and stark? Or is it more like the junk drawer by the fridge?

Pause. Take a moment and see the interior of your brain. All the creativity and love. All the scars and dark corners. Please, for just a moment, take honest stock. This is obviously another of my long-winded analogies, but patience, please.

When discussing equine welfare, we list their requirements as the Three Fs: Forage, Freedom, and Friends. We are better at providing more feeding opportunities than we used to be. No more two flakes morning and night. I hope horses have adequate turnout, not that all of us can have two hundred acres of irrigated pasture. I hope our horses live in the most natural way possible and that we only use stalls to store hay.

Most of us fall short in one area or another. It’s a negotiation, a question of finances, location, and reality. When I boarded my horses, I drove forty-five minutes each way, making the drive seven days a week. I lived close to where I worked, reasoning that I’d traded a barn commute for a work commute. Or at least, that’s how I justified it. Boarding two horses equaled a mortgage payment. So, I thought of that farm as my personal country club, as if I could afford one. Keeping them there, I felt rich in the things I valued.

And I tried to mitigate the lack. I required an indoor arena and hacking opportunities so we could stay active year-round. (More justification for the cost.) One farm had a beautiful outdoor arena with split rail fencing, shrubs and trees around it, and a wide view of the front range of the Rockies. Some days, I’d begin my ride with a walk on the rail and it was so entrancing to feel the stride of my horse, while looking to the western horizon, I’d get lost in daydreams for an hour. My young horse didn’t share this experience. There were squirrels and monsters in the bushes. He had to be constantly on guard.

Once I moved to my farm on the flat windy plains of Colorado, I understood the horse’s view more deeply. My arena was open with very light fencing and no dark corners or shrubs for predators to hide in. My horses behaved as if we were working on a clean sheet of white paper. There were challenges, but all were in plain sight. Once I began training professionally and clients hauled in, their horses settled easily. It must have seemed safe to them, except if they had a run-in with my sand-colored cat who used one corner of the arena as a litter box.

Most of us have learned to see through our horse’s eyes to some degree. It starts by being afraid of what they might spook at. That usually ends up with the human being spookier than the horse, and constantly looking for disaster takes the fun out of riding. Ironically, that’s when our view most matches our horse’s. Eventually, the horses grow older, or we get exhausted and become less defensive. Seeing their side becomes easier. Horses cheer us on. If we never evolved past that, it would be fine.

Some of us want a more profound relationship with our horses, whether it be advanced training, more adventures, or a process of rehabbing, which kind of ends up all being the same thing.

Now imagine your horse’s brain as a room. Make some jokes if you want, but then settle in. Consider the Three Fs again, because they are the foundation of wellbeing. The horse’s lifestyle impacts training success more than your love for them or anything else.

Consider their breed. Are they stoic, hiding their fear? Does their age and maturity level show in the decor of the room? Do they rage with hormones? If so, the color reflects that. Is their room an obstacle course or a few miles of beach sand? A hack in dark woods or a wide, sunny meadow. Now be honest, again. Knowing that horses are prey animals, that all unknown things are life-and-death danger until proven safe, what does your horse’s brain room look like? Are the ghosts of harsh training around every corner, have past experiences left painful marks? Are the mirrors covered in black because insecurity has stolen their confidence?

Sadly, as much as we might want to tidy up our horse’s brain room for them, we can’t. No more than we can perform miracle cures for sick children or starving masses. “Thoughts and prayers” are probably better than nothing. They just aren’t much better. Action is called for, and for once, it isn’t a task that requires a trust fund.

You’ve heard it a million times. If we want a different behavior from our horses, we must change first. If you have chosen the path of Affirmative Training, that means understanding we need to make ourselves less like predators and more of a safe haven.

Horses read our undisciplined minds at a distance. We are transparent to them, but we could pause at the door and tidy up our minds better. After all, it’s the only brain we can control. We already do some rearranging when we’re at work or around kids. We let the place go a bit when we’re sick. Too often we show the worst side of ourselves to the ones we love and save good behavior for strangers. Lousy habit.

It will take some focus and self-control, but maybe it’s time to do some redecorating. Replace the dark clouds with blue sky, drag some monsters out, and unclutter the place. And create an open, affirmative space, where a horse could graze without fear and feel accepted, just as they are. It’s the listening space we give horses when we slow down, breathe, and let go of our shortcomings.

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Relaxed and Forward Training by Anna Blake is no longer on Facebook because of repeated hacking. If you appreciate my writing, please share, subscribe to this blog, or join us at The Barn School.

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