working with your horse: from the new horse-powered farm

7292019 Working with your Horse From The New Horse-Powered Farm

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullworking-with-your-horse-from-the-new-horse-powered-farm 17

TOOLS AND SYSTEMS FOR THE SMALL-SCALE

SUSTAINABLE MARKET GROWER

STEPHEN LESLIE

Foreword by Lynn Miller

The New

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983142983137983154983149



and relationships to the animal kingdom For some ous working our land with horses can become the catalyst or entering into a whole new way o living moregently and wisely upon the earthmdasha way that seeks tosaeguard her precious bounty or uture generations

Working with horses can have a humanizing effecon the teamster As sentient beings we canrsquot help buenter into a relationship with a living breathing horsethat is going to be prooundly different rom our rela

tionship to a tractor I I become impatient in my workand abuse or bust a piece o arm machinery then I haveto deal with the economic consequences o my poodecisionmdashtime and money spent fixing it I I abuse obreak a arm animal however there are moral consequences to ace as well Horses serve as an instant bioeedback mechanism I I can approach my work in acalm and collected manner horses will respond and

perorm in kind I I am empathetic to their needs amembers o the equine species and ask them to work in

a way that takes into account their worldview I wilachieve much better results than i I simply coerce theminto perorming by ear o punishment A horse thathas been gently persuaded that it is in his own besinterests to be an obedient work partner is also morelikely to comport himsel intelligently and to help keepthings sae during the potential crisis moments o anequipment or harness ailure in which the teamster hatemporarily lost control

Working with horses will help those in need o assertiveness training o establish a sae partnership wemust treat our horses with kindness but we must alsoback that up with firmness Te horse is a large and ormidably armed animal and i he chose to he could dous great bodily harm in the blink o an eye I he doesnrsquoharm us it is either because he has been cowed intosubmission or because he has come to understand tha

we are not a threat at best it is because he recognizeus as a dominant herd mate Te dominant herd mate

In this chapter we will discuss how to get started withharnessing and hitching your horses or work Tisbasic orientation takes into account not only the practi-cal steps o how to put on the harness the setup o thedriving lines how to communicate commands and soon but also treats the mental and emotional prepara-tion required o the horse owner in order to becomean effective teamster Even or the most pragmatic

personality a workhorse can never simply be a means

to an end (meaning just thought o as traction powerto accomplish a arm task) As highly intelligent andsensitive creatures horses o necessity engage us in arelationship It is in our hands to decide i that relation-ship will be one characterized by ear and dominationor trust and cooperation

983150983137983124983157983154983137983148 983144983151983154983155983141983149983137983150983155983144983145983120

Tese days a new approach to training and working

with horses is catching hold worldwidemdashnaturalhorsemanship On one level natural horsemanship is aseries o techniques or training horses that is based onthe observation o horses in the wild It relies on the useo positive reinorcement to achieve its goals within thecontext o round-pen training Tis type o innovativegentler training has several leading proponentsmdashchar-ismatic and talented horsemen and women who pub-lish teaching materials and conduct clinics nationwideMonty Roberts John Lyons Pat Parelli and BuckBrannaman are a ew o the pioneering veterans othis movement and Doc Hammill is a Montana-based

veterinarian armer rancher and teamster who hasapplied the principles o natural horsemanship to thetraining o draf horses

On another level natural horsemanship can be seenas part o a greater paradigmatic shif seeking to restorethe rupture between the human community and thenatural world and repairing our damaged ecosystems

Working with Your Horse983092



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tense body Te hard-mouthed horse has respondto heavy-handed training by tensing all its musclein that way it can resist the bit Ofen what ollows an escalating cycle o harsher bits and brutal trainintechniques that result in an even more tense horse Teasy-to-handle horse on the other hand has learned relax into the pressure o the bit to keep its body suppuntil specific muscle groups need to be engaged or

particular action Tis horse can be handled with thands light and sensitive on the lines

983140983154983145983158983145983150983143 983106983137983155983145983139983155

Te art o driving horses calls into play both our ratinal and our intuitive aculties Te rational part comrom receiving basic instructions on such practical maters as hand grip body positioning and voi

is not a horse that arbitrarily or cruelly rules over theother horses it is a horse that by dint o exceptional witand strength helps to ensure the survival o the entireherd All horses are instinctually programmed to ollowa dominant herd mate out o their own sel-interestAs horse owners we need to ask ourselves Would werather work with a horse that obeys us out o ear or onethat obeys us out o respect

Vermont-based horse trainer Neal Perry has saidthat there are no hard-mouthed horses He explainsthat i you were to put a horse with a reputation as hard-mouthed into a stall next to a horse that is responsive tothe bit and then sent a veterinarian in to examine themto see which one has the hard mouth the vet would notbe able to detect any physical difference between thetwo Neal believes this is because the hard-to-handlehorse does not have a hard mouthmdashwhat it has is a

Resting horse bull colored woodcut by Franz Marc



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When we are driving horses it ofen becomes neces

sary to lengthen or shorten the lines o do this saelyand without risk o dropping a line hold both linefirmly in one hand and slide the other hand up or downto gather in or lengthen the line to be adjusted Overtime it will become second nature or you to lengthenor shorten the length o the lines in your hands withouhaving to think about it

In the next sidebar wersquoll hear again rom DonnHewes who earlier in the book introduced us to theexcellent qualities o the mule as a driving animal Donn

is a tall and powerully built man (he is employed as afirefighter when he is not working on his arm) and i would be easy to assume that his success in managingNorthland Sheep Dairy with horses and mules comerom an ability to dominate them with strength Buhaving had the opportunity on several occasions to

watch him working with teams and multiple hitches can attest that this teamster is all about finesse Whenhe drives his heart and his mind are concentrated onmaking the task something that the draf animalnaturally want to put their effort into Te no-pressuredriving he describes is the gold standard or any aspiring teamster to aim or

commands Te intuitive part is developed through

repetition and practice by which you gain an intimateamiliarity with your horse or team

Driving basics begin with learning to comortablyhandle the lines Tere are multiple choices or handgrips that have been developed both or work and orthe show ring A ull description o them all is beyondthe scope o this book Personally I preer to keep itsimple by working with the ldquocomortable griprdquo in whichthe lines lay in the flat o the palm with the thumbs or-

ward Gentle line pressure is exerted on both or either

line by flexing the wrists in order to tip the thumbs backtoward your body Where extra grip strength may berequired the English grip can be useul Here the linesare held in the hands with the pinkie fingers down andthe lines threading up through the finger grip and pass-ing back over the base knuckle o the thumbs

o maintain good driving orm it is importantto keep an upright posture and to extend the armsslightly out in ront o your torso I the hands are heldtoo close to the body and you need to suddenly stopthe horses you then have to gather in line in order toreestablish ull contact with the horsersquos bits Any lateralarm movement should be minimal I like to envision anarrow box or window in ront o me through whichmy arms are extended when driving I I let my handsdo the talking (and the position o my body relative tothe horses when ground driving) then my arms canremain airly neutral and relaxed within the confines omy imaginary window

The comfortable grip and the English grip (left to right)

983124983144983141 983139983151983149983149983137983150983140983155

I have a Polish American riend who was raised in acommunity where almost all the men were employedin Pennsylvania coal mines His Polish-speaking ather



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No-pressure driving is a method I try to teach my

horses and mules as well as all the apprentices andother olks that come here to learn to drive It is reallya continuation o things I have learned rom readingSteve Bowers and Doc Hammill as well as watchingand learning rom the many teamsters I have beenaround [Steve Bowersrsquos book on driving is listed inthe bibliography and Doc Hammillrsquos teaching mate-rials are listed in the resources section o appendix A]

Beore I describe what I am doing let me explain why or it is not to create a ldquono-pressure horserdquo or

a ldquono-pressure teamsterrdquo While those would be finethings to achieve the real purpose is to help a horseor mule become calm relaxed and alert while at

work I believe this is a natural state or horses butit is easy or people to disrupt it and not even know

we are doing so But the calm relaxed and alert stateis a must or successul armwork and it contributesdirectly to our saety as it provides an early warn-ing system when things are no longer going the way

we want Tis provides the environment or a calm

relaxed and alert teamster as wellTe calm relaxed and alert horse or mule alsomakes our work easier and more enjoyable Yourorearms wonrsquot be so tired afer driving a team oour all afernoon It also makes the craf o a team-ster more accessible to olks who canrsquot just rely onbrawn to control every situation (again somethingI donrsquot recommend)

Te driving method goes like this Tere is no pressure put on the lines that isnrsquot delivered as amessage and expecting a response rom the horseIn other words the teamster does not hold 5 or 10

pounds o steady pressure just to keep the animals walking straight ahead (which is the conventionalnorm or driving horses) Instead the animals geta steady stream o little verbal messages almost likea sof banter ldquolook hererdquo ldquowatch your steprdquo ldquoeasyrdquoldquowill be turningrdquo ldquoturningrdquo et cetera Te horses

Three-abreast on the spreader bull photo courtesy of Donn Hewes

Leading the herd in from pasture bull photo courtesy of Donn Hewes

Suffolk mare at Northland Sheep Dairy bull photo courtesy of Donn Hewes

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been reduced any slack in the system leads to nosteering and on the other hand extra pressure justgives the animal something to push against Teldquono-pressure drivingrdquo happens in the middle ground

between these extremesI believe that when we have mastered all the other

skills o being a teamster our hands will still be justbeginning to discover how they can communicate

with an animalmdasha lie pursuit that will give us greatrewards over time

recognize your presence and the meaning o the ver-bal signals and acknowledge each in kind with alittle step in the right direction When the responsedoesnrsquot match the request the teamster can use a

little more energy in the lines to make the pointSometimes ldquono pressurerdquo seems like a misnomer

as you really use as much pressure as is needed tomake your point I have ound no-pressure drivingto be a difficult skill to teach On the one hand

when the point o contact with your animal has

to assert our authoritymdashand in most cases a gentlerapproach will achieve much better results When I was a

rank beginner working with horses or example I used acommanding voice When the horses werenrsquot listeningmy voice would get louder and would reflect my anxious irritation Gradually it dawned on me that almos

without exception all the skilled teamsters I had th privilege to observe spoke to their horses in sof soothingtones and especially so when working with a nervouor conused animal We know that horsesrsquo hearing is armore sensitive than our ownmdashthey can hear sounds oboth higher and lower pitch Shouting at them is almos

always utile Tere will be certain situations and certainhorses that may on occasion require a big voice and alarge projected presence to keep things under controlbut this should be the exception rather than the rule

A trained draf horse understands with perect com prehension the verbal commands o her teamster Sucha horse can be expected to respond to the voice firstthe driving lines become a secondary cue Once a horseknows a practiced routine such as the path back up theskid trail the words used simply become part o theritual It is nonetheless an important ritual as even a

very smart horse might get you into trouble by overanticipating your requests What we are aiming to achievis a subtle level o communication that combines thecues rom our hands and our voice

As ar as the words themselves there is a long tradition among horsemen whose etymology extends backinto the mists o medieval Europe And even todaythere exist many regional twists and variations For th

along with all his Polish-speaking uncles and cousins worked in those mines even the teamsters who drove

the mule teams to haul the coal up to the suracespoke Polish So when the miners went on strike andthe bosses brought in scab workers rom elsewhere toreplace them the mules reused to work they onlyunderstood Polish and would not respond to Englishcommands We might not always think so but ourhorses are listening to every word we say Tey are alsoconstantly reading all the subtle nonverbal cues we givethat we ourselves may not even be aware o the scento our bodies and the smell o our breath the set o our

shoulders the hardness or sofness o our eyes When we speak o the verbal instructions that weissue to our horses in the course o work it is commonto reer to them as commands Yet in our heart o hearts

we know that what we are really doing is asking them to perorm various tasks or us And even i we are working with horses that we have raised rom oals and trainedevery step o the way we still must admit to a certainmystery and wonder that these gentle giants concedeto obey us at all In this light our commands might be

properly understood as requestsIt is true that teamsters must to a certain degree

impose their will upon the team but the aim is not totalcontrol or its own sake but rather to find that space

where everyone is working comortably A teamster who constantly makes things uncomortable or thehorses may get work out o them with an overbearinghand but such a teamster will never get joy out o themor out o the experience We need not be harsh in order



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o slow or calm down the horses we say ldquoEasyrdquo (andrag it out as in ldquo Eeeasyrdquo) and i they donrsquot responreinorce with gentle line pressure While we madmire the talents o the five-gaited El Paso Fino w

want our workhorses to have but one gait walking

may be a slow walk on the plow or a brisk walk on thhay rake but it is all walking

When it comes to the command to stop ldquowhoshould only and ever mean just that Tere should bno nuance to your ldquowhoardquo Absolute obedience to thcommand is a must or sae driving it may even sathe lie o you and your horses in a situation o harneor equipment ailure

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I like to keep routines as consistent as possible with th

horses because I eel that they stay more relaxed whe

they know what to expect rom me so I always bru

them down and pick out their eet beore harnessin

up Consistency is one o the principal keys to success

getting horses to respond as you wish I view time spen

grooming or example as an important transition

the horses to begin to put their heads into work mod

Grooming the horses is also a pleasant social interactio

In addition it a ords the opportunity to be sure th

horses are healthy and sound It is the time when an

incipient issues o sores or cuts and scrapes will mo

likely be detected I once had a horse out on pasture th

got a nasty scrape rom old barbed wire above the bulb

the heel on his hind oot I I hadnrsquot taken the time to pi

up his eet that cut would assuredly have grown inecte

A basic kit or grooming your horses will includ

hoo pick curry comb sof brush sweat scraper man

and tail brush Te essentials o grooming includ

picking out the hooves vigorous use o curry comb

loosen dirt rom the coat (but only on the main body

the horsemdashnot over bony suraces) ollowed by use

the sof brush to smooth down hair again by ollowin

the natural growth patterns Te mane and tail bru

is optional we usually only use this when the hors

have gotten into some kind o stickers or burrs (th

orelock and tail will actually keep a uller look i yo

donrsquot brush them out excessively)

words to have their maximum effect it is important tokeep commands simple and consistent Te way the

words are spoken is also important For instance ldquoGetuprdquo is usually spoken with a rising inflection whileldquoWhoardquo will be spoken with a lower descending tone

Te five most basic commands or working horsesare commonly spoken as ollows

1 Get up (or Step up) accompanied by a kissingsound or smack o the lips to start the horses out

2 Whoa to stop the horses 3 Gee means turn to the right 4 Haw means turn to the lef 5 Back means back up

In addition to these five basic commands there areseveral nuanced phrases that can be introduced to the

willing workhorse I we say ldquoone steprdquo we are askingthe horses to do just that Tere are countless instancesin real work situations where having a horse or teamtrained to take just one stride orward is useul

Many teamsters preer to say the horsersquos name beore pronouncing a start-up command Te idea is to firstget the horsersquos attention so that she wonrsquot be taken bysurprise and start up with a jolt or out o unison with

her teammate When the two horses in a team learn tostart out together the wear and tear on their shouldersand joints is greatly reduced

Te turn signals gee and haw can be nuanced by say-ing ldquocome geerdquo or ldquocome hawrdquo (or alternatively ldquoovergeerdquo or ldquoover hawrdquo) to indicate that a shif to the lef orright is whatrsquos needed rather than an outright turn Ihowever we want to make a complete turn and headback in the direction rom which we have come wesay ldquoGee come aroundrdquo or ldquoHaw come aroundrdquo Andgetting back to the one-step command we may findourselves in a situation where we wish the horse to takeldquoone step geerdquo to get that log around a stump or to startthe cultivator down the correct row

Te ldquobackrdquo or backing up request is probably mostofen used in the orest but there are many occasions inthe field where it will also come into play such as whenhitching up to an implement or backing a manurespreader into a stable



and relationships to the animal kingdom For some ous working our land with horses can become the catalyst or entering into a whole new way o living moregently and wisely upon the earthmdasha way that seeks tosaeguard her precious bounty or uture generations

Working with horses can have a humanizing effecon the teamster As sentient beings we canrsquot help buenter into a relationship with a living breathing horsethat is going to be prooundly different rom our rela

tionship to a tractor I I become impatient in my workand abuse or bust a piece o arm machinery then I haveto deal with the economic consequences o my poodecisionmdashtime and money spent fixing it I I abuse obreak a arm animal however there are moral consequences to ace as well Horses serve as an instant bioeedback mechanism I I can approach my work in acalm and collected manner horses will respond and

perorm in kind I I am empathetic to their needs amembers o the equine species and ask them to work in

a way that takes into account their worldview I wilachieve much better results than i I simply coerce theminto perorming by ear o punishment A horse thathas been gently persuaded that it is in his own besinterests to be an obedient work partner is also morelikely to comport himsel intelligently and to help keepthings sae during the potential crisis moments o anequipment or harness ailure in which the teamster hatemporarily lost control

Working with horses will help those in need o assertiveness training o establish a sae partnership wemust treat our horses with kindness but we must alsoback that up with firmness Te horse is a large and ormidably armed animal and i he chose to he could dous great bodily harm in the blink o an eye I he doesnrsquoharm us it is either because he has been cowed intosubmission or because he has come to understand tha

we are not a threat at best it is because he recognizeus as a dominant herd mate Te dominant herd mate

In this chapter we will discuss how to get started withharnessing and hitching your horses or work Tisbasic orientation takes into account not only the practi-cal steps o how to put on the harness the setup o thedriving lines how to communicate commands and soon but also treats the mental and emotional prepara-tion required o the horse owner in order to becomean effective teamster Even or the most pragmatic

personality a workhorse can never simply be a means

to an end (meaning just thought o as traction powerto accomplish a arm task) As highly intelligent andsensitive creatures horses o necessity engage us in arelationship It is in our hands to decide i that relation-ship will be one characterized by ear and dominationor trust and cooperation

983150983137983124983157983154983137983148 983144983151983154983155983141983149983137983150983155983144983145983120

Tese days a new approach to training and working

with horses is catching hold worldwidemdashnaturalhorsemanship On one level natural horsemanship is aseries o techniques or training horses that is based onthe observation o horses in the wild It relies on the useo positive reinorcement to achieve its goals within thecontext o round-pen training Tis type o innovativegentler training has several leading proponentsmdashchar-ismatic and talented horsemen and women who pub-lish teaching materials and conduct clinics nationwideMonty Roberts John Lyons Pat Parelli and BuckBrannaman are a ew o the pioneering veterans othis movement and Doc Hammill is a Montana-based

veterinarian armer rancher and teamster who hasapplied the principles o natural horsemanship to thetraining o draf horses

On another level natural horsemanship can be seenas part o a greater paradigmatic shif seeking to restorethe rupture between the human community and thenatural world and repairing our damaged ecosystems

Working with Your Horse983092



W983151983154983147983145983150983143 983159983145983124983144 Y983151983157983154 H983151983154983155983141 4



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working with your horse: from the new horse-powered farm

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