When I think about how I expect a horse to act, I think about the classic prey animal behavior. I think about the creatures who are born skeptics, cowards, claustrophobics, and panic-aholics, and this describes my Arabian mare perfectly. This is the horse we are taught about in 4-H and riding camps. We are taught to expect prey animal behavior from our horses, and we either learn how to avoid it, cope with it, or maybe even shape it into something new (My good friend, Emily talks about that more here). However, what about the horses that don't quite fit this traditional mold of the flighty, reactive horse? What about the horses who are thinkers, the ones who are curious (sometimes too curious for their own good), and the one's who will come up with plenty of things to keep themselves occupied if and when you can't think of anything? I bet if you think about it, you probably know a horse or two just like this. Well, these horses are "Left Brain" horses, and my Curly Horse, Sailor is one of them.
 |
| My silly boy! |
While I might not be accustomed to the mischievous, playful, and fun-loving nature of the Left Brain horse, I am certainly learning to love them. Sailor is pretty brave and trusting of people, he runs to me in the pasture and demands treats and scratches. I must say, being sought out so quickly is a refreshing change from skeptical RBI who took years to fully gain her trust. Alternatively, Left Brain horses require a lot of leadership from their human partners. I didn't realize my leadership wasn't as strong as it should be, until I had a horse who really challenged it. This is what brings me to my next point...
The Story of the Fly:
The key to Left Brain horses is to utilize their brain. These horses are thinkers and are ready to outsmart you at every turn. Using psychology, for any horse, rather than fear, force, and intimidation, is how you will achieve real results. Part of this psychology is determining what motivates them, and for Left Brain horses it usually requires some creativity!
To drive this point home, Linda recounts the story of a particularly "stubborn" mule and his owner attending one of her courses. Linda states that in order to get lunch, the students must jump their horses out of the small (maybe 1 foot) railing encircling the dressage arena in which they were playing. Most horse/human pairs accomplish this with ease, but the Mule and his partner are left struggling. The mule is entirely unmotivated and refuses to jump despite the man upping his phases and adding more and more pressure with his stick. After observing the couple for a few minutes, Linda jumps in to help. While watching, Linda noticed that while the man's pressure on the Mule's hindquarters with his stick hardly phased the Mule, a tiny fly landing on the Mule's nose caused a big reaction from him, leading him to shake his head violently. With this, Linda took the man's carrot stick, and starting at phase one (suggesting with her finger, that the Mule go over the jump), she increased her phases until getting to phase four, at which point she gently, but accurately flicked the end of the string across the Mule's nose, achieving the same unpleasant reaction as did the fly. After a few times of this, the Mule was so motivated by the unpleasant sensation on his nose, that he jumped out of the arena when Linda suggested he do so by pointing her finger.
So, what is the point of this paraphrased story you might ask? The point is that phase four (what you have to do to be effective with your horse) might look very different for different horses, and for Left Brain horses, in particular, you have to be creative. This is something I am still experimenting with every day. I do feel pretty good about how willing Sailor is to play with me and express his opinions, and now that I have the strategies and knowledge to understand and influence his behavior, I feel must more equipped to be the strong and provocative leader that he needs me to be!
Comment below: Is your horse Left Brain or Right Brain, and what have you learned from your horse's Horsenality™?
To learn more about Horsenality™ and strategies for your individual horse, please click here.
