What do you believe?

Old School Philosophy for Modern Day Horsepeople

Warren Bengston has a heart for horses and people. He's spent 42 years as a farrier, 3 years breaking horses, and 10 years as a missionary to the Ojibwe Indians. You will find pieces from each part of his diverse background interwoven into the fabric of his writings.

What Do You Believe?

There are some basic premises that give confidence to horse owners and clarity to our horses.

Whether we realize it or not, we all function on the basis of ideas or concepts that we believe to be true—unless we choose to ignore them.

The law of gravity is true no matter what we believe about it. It doesn’t regard our sincerity or any complaints we have about it. Because not everything we believe is as provable as the law of gravity, we are stuck with the problem of sorting through all the ideas we come in contact with. We all know better than to jump off a barn roof because we all agree that there is a law of gravity and it always does the same thing.

When we believe something to be true we are able on that basis to come to a conclusion. That is a premise. Premises can be and often are challenged. We get in an airplane and challenge the law of gravity. We can’t nullify it and our challenge to it will only be as good as the plane we’re flying in. To function in confidence and clarity with our horses, we need to have a solid grasp of some basic premises. Here are a few to consider:

A HORSE IS WIRED FOR FLIGHT IF POSSIBLE AND WILL FIGHT IF NECESSARY.
As a prey animal, he views his environment as though it could be threatening or dangerous. He will run from the suspicious but if that is not possible he will fight to the death. He regards his own world (life in the herd) differently. In his own society he is:

WIRED TO DOMINATE IF HE CAN AND SUBMIT IF HE MUST.
At first he views us as being outside of his world. His initial suspicion is natural. Our goal is to move from his outside world into his inside world. When we are allowed into his world we begin to maneuver him into our world. There are many ways to do this. Round penning has become the most popular.

A HORSE HAS NO PERSONAL OR NATURAL INTEREST IN ALLOWING HUMANS INTO HIS WORLD.
That is true 99 percent of the time. In order to relate to a horse we have to defy that premise and force the horse into the round pen and force him to run by scaring him with a rope. It is not likely that the horse brought you to the round pen and shut the gate and requested that you begin your training procedure. If he didn’t volunteer, you forced him. It is no different than the airplane forcing its way into the sky, defying the law of gravity. Forcing him doesn’t mean we drag him into the pen with a tractor. It simply means that we ignore his point of view. The round pen ordeal is not his idea. We are challenging his premise. If our technique or the application of our technique is faulty, our defiance of the premise will fail and the plane is coming down. A perfectly good plane can come down if there is a serious pilot error.

Does a pilot feel guilty about violating the law of gravity? If he did, the resulting emotional stress would damage his piloting skills. If we are going to feel guilty about violating the horse’s comfort zone and his point of view, we might as well forget it. The horse will sense that our plane is sputtering, take over the controls and make sure that we crash. This explains the majority of horse wrecks.

The plane doesn’t need to know about gravity. The pilot knows about the laws of aerodynamics and he knows those laws properly used will put his plane in the air in spite of the law of gravity. Remember, you are flying this plane and you have taken your horse on board. The question is, will your horse be comfortable and at ease on the trip? When he watches you in the cockpit, what does he see? Are you confident and at ease? Can you read the control panel? Do you know how much fuel you have? Do you know where you are going to land to refuel? Can you assure him the landing will be smooth?

There are two flight attendants that will make all the difference for the horse if they are on board. Their names are trust and respect. Never attempt a flight without them. They will help the horse remain calm when the plane hits turbulence. When we get him in the plane we have brought him into our world, uniting it with his world. We are now dealing with the inside issues of dominance and submission. If we dominate the horse graciously, he will not begrudge the submission he gives us. Graciously has not as much to do with what we do to or with a horse as it does with how, when or why it is done.

The most important issue in a horse’s world is peace and security.
HE DOES NOT LIKE TURMOIL AND CONFUSION.
That premise is immediately challenged when round pen work starts. The handler throws the rope at the horse and scares him into running away. Peace and security are taken away and turmoil and confusion are introduced. The horse can’t run away from it as he would like to (his point of view). The handler uses the horse’s natural fear by scaring him into running away. This is always unpleasant for a horse. After the initial panic wears off and the horse begins to make observations, he discovers that the handler is giving him a chance to be a participant and not just a subject. He begins to realize that it is in his power to bring peace and security back into his life. While it is not on his terms, he is able by certain responses to regain a quiet life. That alone is a tremendous motivation for a horse.

WHEN A HORSE DISCOVERS THAT IT IS IN HIS BEST INTEREST TO RESPOND A CERTAIN WAY, HE DOES.
He is now on the road to becoming a willing participant with the human he finds himself stuck with. If his attitude and responses are not what they should be, he is confused, afraid or has a sense of entitlement. The chosen technique may not be a good choice for the particular horse or the technique is not being applied in a way the horse can understand.

A frightened horse can’t learn. A confused horse is too troubled to be interested in learning. An entitled horse is too busy training his people. Attempting to train a horse with any or all of these characteristics is like trying to take off in a plane with no fuel. Ain’t gonna happen! Now here’s where the rub comes. Most of the horse world would agree with these concepts. The problem is what we mean by what we say and how we act (on the basis of what we believe).

Simply owning a round pen will no sooner make me a trainer than owning a scalpel will make me a surgeon. There is no magic in the tools we use. If there is any magic (I seriously doubt that there is) it is in our minds and hearts. Only our mind and heart can touch and affect the heart and mind of the horse.

If a plane is mechanically sound, filled with fuel and operated by a competent pilot, it will fly. It will make use of the laws of aerodynamics and successfully challenge gravity. It does no good to believe something if we don’t act on that belief. Our horses recognize what we believe and they recognize whether or not we are able and willing to take action on that belief. If our horses don’t behave and obey it is because they are reading our mail. If our horses are calm and obedient it is because they are reading our mail. If a horse is continually fearful, confused, unruly or disobedient it is because he knows that our premises are faulty and our understanding of his premises are faulty.

We can fool ourselves but we can’t fool a horse. Sound premises carry solid promises. Faulty premises can only promise confusion, frustration and some degree of danger! What do you believe and why do you believe it?

"For what it's worth..."

Warren Bengston

It's a Shame	Intentions and Actions
Why can't I pick up my horse's feet?	Power Lost, Power Gained
Poison in the Cup	Is it Legal to be Young?
Horse Handling	The LBD Syndrome
Pain in the Process = Joy in the Journey	The Wonder of Metamorphosis

Old School Philosophy for Modern Day Horsepeople