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.

Horse training is all about transformation. The horse has to change from useless to useful. If all we want to do is look at him, not much change is needed, unless the horse needs the care of a vet or farrier. Because they would like to be able to walk back to their truck they will view the pet horse differently than the pet owner. So the pet horse is no different than the useful horse in as much as he has to submit to us and be comfortable in the submission.

That implies that he has to give up his power or his will to resist us. Unless this happens, the humans in his life (owner, farrier, vet) are probably going to get hurt. Stripping a horse of his power will involve both truth and deception. We deceive the horse first by way of round pen or rope because we are no physical match for him. Whatever our method, we convince him that as long as he is stuck with us, he might as well deal with us. In the natural or herd setting, horses are truthful and straightforward with each other without pity or mercy. Their version of mercy is to simply leave a subordinate alone as soon as compliance is made. The reward for compliance is the cessation of consequences.

When we bring him into our world he is introduced to the human view of pity and mercy. Our view of those qualities has to do with our power of abstract thinking and what we have been taught about them. The way they were exemplified by the authorities in our childhood or impressed upon us in higher education is what forms our own understanding and version of pity and mercy. The common human view of pity and mercy is viewed as weakness by a horse. In a horse’s world, weakness is despised more than rewarded as a virtue. Being kind and reasonable is not the same as, and should not include a paralyzing fear of, damaging a horse’s psyche. That does not mean that we don’t regard the horse as a living being with feelings and viewpoints. These issues seem to be skewed in modern thinking. Disagreement on these issues is fed by mutual objection to the extremes. There are many types of horse owners but for the sake of illustration we’ll look at two of them.

Horse lovers and wannabe cowboy types make up a large part of the horse world. This is not a reflection on real cowboys. Regardless of roots and leanings, real horsemen are more alike than different. They may have different methods and terminology, but upon close examination, they will be shown to be more alike than different.

They each have their own way of stripping the horse of his power. Roughness or gentleness are non-issues in that regard. What is effective and appropriate for each individual horse is what counts. Horse lovers will tend to make all kinds of excuses for bad horse behavior. Wannabe cowboys will tend to simply “show ’em who’s boss.” They are both wrong. Cowboys who are horsemen will be as gentle as possible and as rough as necessary. Cowboys who are bullies don’t get it. Instead of simply taking a horse’s power away, they are on a power trip.

The horse lover often feels so sorry for the horse that he or she cannot or refuses to be the leader the horse needs. The bully subjugates the horse in such a way that the horse has no personal interest in following his leadership.

Horse lovers who break out of deception and paralysis begin to function in truth because they have discovered an inner teamwork. Their head and heart are now functioning simultaneously. It is the ultimate system of checks and balances. In my view, there is more hope for a helpless horse lover than for a bully. He is so self-deceived that it will take a major wake-up call to jar him loose.

Benevolent dictatorship probably best describes a favorable horse-human relationship. Democracy is out of the question. The horse votes one way and the human votes the other way. With no tie breaker there is a stalemate. He doesn’t get a vote. Because that is the case (or should be), the burden is on us to be reasonable in our leadership.

Stripping a horse of his power is necessary for one reason. He no longer lives unto himself in his own little world. He is in our world to be used, enjoyed, appreciated and trusted by us. His resistance to us interferes with our agenda. Our resistance to him interferes with his agenda. Something has to give. Somebody has to lose and somebody has to win. But do they? In an ideal relationship the horse’s loss of power sets him free to become empowered by us in a way that is mutually acceptable and even pleasant.

If you are continually nagging and scolding your horse, he doesn’t regard your leadership. He still enjoys some degree of personal power and nothing is being done about it. This probably has to do with a faulty understanding of the power issue. We do not do our horses a favor by allowing them to wander in the no-man’s land of confused power issues. That is a burden they should not have to bear. If that exists and continues there will probably come a time where the horse will clear it up for us and that might not be very pretty.

Horses that are wandering around in confused power issues will have varying degrees of unpredictability. This is probably due to a combination of a horse's basic nature and the absence of predictability from their human handlers. When we don’t have a grip on positive, confident and consistent leadership, we can’t be an example to our horses. The more predictable we are, the more predictable our horses will be.

If we are confused about the role of a benevolent dictator, our inconsistency will be consistent and our unpredictability will be predictable. That is exactly what is going on when we are constantly nagging at our horses. A very tangible sign of this dilemma is our tendency to be irritated by what a horse is doing. Irritability on our part is a flashing red light warning us of confused power issues.

If a horse keeps doing something that irritates us, it is because we have not clarified to that horse who is in charge, which in turn betrays the confusion in our own minds. The horse is confused because we are confused. This should clearly illustrate the folly of green people owning and handling green horses. Functioning in confusion is the greatest gift we can give our sworn enemy, Murphy. He is delighted with confused power issues because it saves him a lot of work. Really, all he has to do is stand back and watch the accidents happen.

Is it cruel to take a horse’s power away? Is it cruel for a surgeon to cut somebody open? Is it cruel to imprison someone for life? Is it cruel to stifle a child’s exploration of his world by forbidding him to stick a paper clip in an electrical receptacle? When the doctor tells you that only surgery will save your life, do you tell the surgeon, “Doc, you gotta save me from the enemy inside me but don’t you dare cut me open!” Maybe he has your best interest in mind. Maybe he’ll be careful. Maybe he understands that the treatment is worth the trauma. Maybe he’s been through this before and he knows something you don’t. Maybe when it’s all over you will say “It was worth it.” Maybe whatever was unpleasant will dim in your memory because of the new lease on life. You had to submit to the power of the surgeon so he could empower you to live a meaningful life.

Power is as destructive as it is constructive. In war the one with the biggest stick wins. Power is used to destroy and to build. Power is needed in our personal lives. If something has invaded our lives and is holding some kind of power over us, then another power is needed to liberate us. These are the very power issues we need to have a grip on if we are to make any sense to a horse that is wired for flight or flight.

Any kind of war has collateral damage whether it be personal or national. When we strip a horse of his power, we are making a preemptive strike. We are making our horse-human world safe. When we fight this “war” both sides must be winners. The horse must lose his power over us. We then must empower him to live with us in a way that causes him to believe it was worth it all. The bottom line is always transformation. For transformation to be constant, a renewing in the horse’s mind will occasionally be necessary. Surprises will come and must be dealt with when they show up. Rightly dealing with power issues will provide growth and progress in our horse-human relationship. This mountain we are climbing has no top and every part and aspect of the climb have their own rewards.

Warren Bengston