WALKING A MILE IN HORSE SHOES

By Colleen Archer

It?s probably not often that a twelve-day holiday leads to the adoption of another human being?s philosophy, but that?s what happened to me the summer of 2001.  On Friday, July thirteenth, my friend Jill Kolar and I traveled from Deep River to Ottawa to Toronto to Calgary to Kelowna to Vernon, British Columbia, which is near the Icelandic Horse Farm where we were to attend a five-day clinic on TTEAM (Tellington Touch Equine Awarenss Mehod) with Robyn Hood, sister of world-renowned animal expert Linda Tellington-Jones.  With the three-hour time change, it was still light as we drove to Vernon from Kelowna.  We passed by countless flourishing orchards and family fruit stands, while visions of red cherries and purple plums danced in our heads.

We were both excited about the upcoming clinic with Robyn, whom we first met a decade ago at a much shorter clinic in Luskeville, Quebec.  Jill was now a TTouch (Tellington Touch) practitioner-in-training for companion animals, and she was far more acquainted than I was with the TTEAM method, having attended previous full-length clinics with both Linda and with Robyn.  My husband and I own a small stable where my friends and I, including Jill, ran a summer volunteer therapeutic riding program for challenged children, and I was eager to learn about any new ideas for working successfully with horses and with people.

What I in fact learned was how to put myself in the horse?s place, and this is a lesson that can be applied equally well to all species with which we interact.  Here are three examples that immediately come to mind.  If you?re leading a horse on a halter, you might stop suddenly and then say, ?Whoa.?  If you have a leashed dog beside you, you might walk off briskly and then give a sharp command to ?heel.?  If you?re teaching mathematics to a child, you might demand the answer to 4x4 before the child understands multiplication.

In these examples, the horse will get jerked back and have to twist towards you, if it stops at all.  The dog will get jerked forward, since it must follow where its neck leads.  The child will feel like a failure for not getting the right answer.  Three different species, but all three will soon be not happy.

So how does a person learn to walk a mile in a horse?s shoes?

One of the exercises we did at the clinic was to put a bridle on our foreheads and then hold the bit in our hands while a fellow participant gave us directions from the reins.  We would move the bit lightly back and forth, the way a horse?s head would move.  If our partner followed the movement softly with his or her hands, there was a comfortable feeling, but when our partner held the reins tightly with a closed fist, the feeling was hard and uncomfortable.  It was at this point that we might resist and become ?bad horses.?

We also practiced ground driving, and once again we took turns being the horse.  My driver was Camille, a kindly owner who meant well.  Despite her good intentions, her signals were often confusing to me and I found myself stopping repeatedly as I tried to figure out what it was she was asking.

Meeting people like the effervescent Camille added greatly to the pleasure of our holiday.  Camille was from North Potomac, Maryland, and she and I soon discovered that we both owned five-year-old female Jack Russell Terriers named Daisy.  As diverse as the fourteen clinic participants were, it seemed we were all united by our interest in animal training and animal welfare.

Many of the clinic participants were from the United States.  Ann and Dave Mowry and their daughter Chancy came from Texas, and they attended as a family unit in the hopes of finding an Icelandic horse for Ann.  By the end of the clinic, they had purchased a sweet little chestnut mare.

While we spent much of our time learning the Tellington circular touches that work so well on people as well as on horses (Tellington Touch is often called ?the touch that teaches?), we also got to ride some of the farm?s Icelandic horses.  The Icelandic horse is a small, sturdy horse with a special extra gait called the tolt ? an incredibly smooth, fast, four-beat gait.  Some Icelandics also perform a fifth gait called the flying pace, which is a lateral racing gait in which horses can reach speeds of up to 45 mph (75 kph).

Although the riders were for the most part inexperienced with the tolt, the horses we rode all tolted well, and most of us managed to achieve it at least for short periods of time on the outside track around the riding ring.  Centered riding instructor and TTEAM practitioner Sue Falkner-March from Canmore, Alberta gave us instruction.  We did various imagery exercises, and most of us felt we were more fluid, flexible and ?centered? as a result.  One exercise that caused a lot of giggles was pretending there was a pencil underneath us that was drawing a picture, and describing the shape the pencil was making on the saddle.

All experiences at the Icelandic Horse Farm were positive for both horse and rider.  In recent years I?ve been delighted to see a movement away from the concept of ?breaking? a horse towards the concept of training a horse with positive reinforcement.  Of course, this method has always existed alongside harsher methods, but books like The Horse Whisperer have helped bring gentle handling to the forefront.

             I purchased several training books before we left the farm, and in them I found affirmation for much of what I already believed.  In Improve Your Horse?s Well-Being, A Step-by-Step Guide to TTouch and TTEAM Training by Linda Tellington-Jones, the introduction tells us:  ?One of the basic tenets of TTEAM is to treat your horse the way you like to be treated.  I have seen many rider and horse relationships transformed once this simple rule is applied in a consistent manner.?

In Let?s Ride! With Linda Tellington-Jones, there are actually little boxes called?Angie Says? that speak from the horse?s point of view.  The first box tells children, ?I?m Angie, the Guardian Angel of Horses.  Horses are misunderstood and treated poorly too often.  It?s my wish that you will always be friendly and fair to your horse.  In this book I speak for the horses, so you?ll be able to understand them better.  Then they?ll really be your friends, and they can teach you so much!?

We?re asked to imagine what it would be like to be a horse and constantly have a rider?s flapping legs hitting your sides.  We?re asked to imagine how unpleasant it would be to have to do a lesson over and over again when you understand it perfectly and can do it well.

Imagine what it would be like to be asked to go forward in a saddle that pinches, or with a bit that catches on the corners of your mouth.

Besides books, Jill and I also purchased the long white whips or wands used in many of the TTEAM ground exercises.  These wands are used both for indicating direction, and for gentle stroking of the horse?s legs and body.  I wrapped the whips in plastic garbage bags and secured them with elastics, wondering what the luggage checkers would think.

?Going fishing, ladies?? asked one airport attendant.  It was easier not to explain.

We spent four days in Edmonton with my sister before preceding home, and when the morning came to leave, we arrived at the airport early.  We had agreed if we were asked directly what we had in the plastic bags, we would say ?wands.?

?What do you have in the plastic bags?? asked the friendly attendant.

?Whips,? said Jill.

There was a dead silence.  Then, thoughtfully, the attendant said:

            ?Excuse me.  I just had a visual image.?

            Once we were safely home, I recalled how at the end of our five-day clinic at the Icelandic Horse Farm we had all been asked what had impressed us most.

?Drawing a picture with my butt,? said Dave, a surfer who had excellent balance.

What impressed me most in retrospect was the TTEAM philosophy, although it was implicit at the clinic and never stated.  Here, then, is the TEAM philosophy as recorded in Let?s Ride!:

?        To honor the role of animals as our teachers.

?        To bring awareness to the importance of animals in our lives.

?        To encourage harmony, cooperation and trust between humans and animals as well as amongst humans.

?        To recognize the individual learning process of every human and animal.

?        To respect each animal as an individual.

?        To teach interspecies communication through the TTouch.

?      To work with animals using understanding in place of dominance.

Colleen Archer is the author of several books, a contributing author of the Horse Tales for the Soul series, writer of magazine articles and a seasoned horsemen.  Learn more about Colleen and her books that are available here on TheCompletePet.com.