A Day Among Horses

If you've seen our website, you've probably looked at the 'Condominiums and Horses' section to see what it's all about. I get frequent comments from people about the article I wrote, describing our staff experience last fall.

This past weekend a friend and I spent a wonderful afternoon in the pastoral setting of Maria's farm, enjoying the sunshine and the company of her horses. We always start by clarifying our intentions regarding the space where we work with the horses. We carry a riding crop, just for the purpose of making sure that we're always safely out of the horses' kick zone, but the crop never touches the horses.

It's an interesting experience being asked to pick a spot under one of the horses that we would like to occupy, and then proceeding to it, in spite of the obviously large obstacle that stands over our objective. Every first-timer starts to hesitate as they approach the horse, or draw back the riding crop so that it doesn't touch a horse. Sometimes we take a less direct route to the horse to avoid 'sneaking up on it,' or approaching it from behind.

The objective is to establish leadership within the herd. In a herd, the leader is free to occupy any space in the arena; the second horse can occupy any space except that occupied by the leader; the third any space that the other two aren't occupying, and so it goes. Once we humans get the hang of it, we swing the crop in front of us in a sweeping motion, and the horses will move from the space we want, as long as we're clear enough in our intention to lay claim to it.

Our human tendency is to inject emotion into this process, and to not feel comfortable 'taking something away' from the horse. The horse sees this from an entirely different vantage point, and takes no offense to having to move for a human being or another horse. As Maria put it "The horses know exactly how to take care of themselves. The only one you're responsible for when you're working with them is you." Sometimes it takes a while for that to sink in.

Last Saturday, I moved the horses around a bit, and the instant that I decided that I'd like Jack to come into my space and let me pet him, he turned to me and seconds later nuzzled my arm, and we spent a good five minutes having a tender moment together. It was a very emotional and awe-inspiring experience. It was also a lesson in leadership; learning how to ask for what I want in my work and for myself.