revamping

Apparently I am in need of a shift in focus. I've been talking to Hannah and she said when she changed her topic she felt so relieved. Sara's progress reports give the same message. I know I am really interested in natural horsemanship and "horse whisperers". I might move more towards analyzing the efficacy of these methods in horse training versus alternative methods....  could be interesting but not so original.

thoughts on narrowing

After our thesis buddies meeting today I've gotten one step closer to narrowing my thesis. I'm definitely going to focus on the specific type of relationship between horses and humans. I like the idea that no other animal and human have the same relationship. It seems to me that horses don't do as they are told because they are told but because they like to succeed. Horses seem to be more competitive and driven than other species. I mean if an 1000 pound animal didn't feel like going over the jump, I'm sure it would choose not to. So I've been thinking that maybe my purpose statement should be...

  I am interested in the factors that create the unique relationship between a horse and a human and why this relationship isn't replicated in any other species. 

list

Animal Psychology: New trends and innovations

By: Rajpal Kaur

How to Think Like a Horse

By: Cherry Hill

The Man Who Listens to Horses

By: Monty Roberts

be the leader.

I don't know if any of this makes sense, so don't feel like you need to read it. I'm just in a zone and typing away.

Although I've known how to ride for a while, I've never really thought about the dangers involved. You are trusting a 1000 pound animal to not get pissed and kill you. Hmmmm. A little risky if you ask me. After all, they were once wild animals that fought for survival. 6000 or so years of domestication can't take away natural instincts. 

One of the most important things you have to learn to be a successful rider is confidence. Horses can sense your emotions, so if you are nervous they will a. get nervous too, or b. take advantage of you. Neither of which make for a safe experience. Lots of horse whisperers or people who start training horses use a technique which mimics a horse's natural environment. 

They start by letting the horse loose in an enclosed area and chasing the horse away. Every time the horse tries to come close, they get chased back out to continue working on the rail. This is like the treatment a horse would get from the herd leader. The horse would come to the conclusion that it is safer to trust the leader and reside under its control than to be alone on the outside of the ring. 

This is considered trust building, and is one of the most humane ways to "break" a horse. The other option is throwing on a saddle and rider and trying to stay on until the horse gets tired of fighting. Not so fun. 

When you prove to a horse that you are the leader and the superior power in the relationship, it will trust you. This doesn't seem to be true in all animal relationships. For dogs, a human is more like a friend. For a  cat, they are slaves. Horses treat humans as their leaders who offer them protection, which, I think, forges a special bond that isn't reproduced in any other animal-human relationship. 

Although some people think treating a horse as inferior is inhumane, it is just mimicking the natural behaviors of wild horses. By bringing horses back to their natural instincts, we are in fact making training less confusing and more instinctive. It requires much less reprimanding in a harmful way, since being forced away from the "leader" is considered punishment to the horse. 

More on this later...

Horses as property...

I was reading articles that had to do with equine psychology when I came upon a project called WHEEP which keeps a herd of horses in a wild but contained environment for studying. The project is shut down now, but the research is not being written. I was reading part of a blog on the topic and thought it was really interesting how we hardly now anything at all about the natural characteristics of the horse. In the wild they are like mystical creatures that no one can pin down. However, now that most horses are domesticated, they are treated like property and no one gives a second thought to allowing them to be "natural" instead of conforming to our standards. Like most domesticated animals I guess.

Sarabrent "But that's where the hole is"

So its time for me to do some serious narrowing down. I've decided I don't want to deal with dogs or cats since they are so domesticated that their natural behaviors have been skewed. I wish I could focus on wild animals like lions or elephants but I'm not sure how I could research this besides interviewing zookeepers. Even zoo animals' behaviors are affected by captivity so that's getting away from my main idea. I wish I could do something with horses since I've been riding for 11 years and have a horse so research would be easy. However I'm not sure if this topic would be too narrow. I could talk to my trainer and the two or three vets that I know really well and I know would let me do rounds and get to see lots of horses. But then again that might be moving more towards medicine and further away from the actual behavior. AHHH I can't seem to pin down a topic. I'm curious about to many things that only fit under a broad category. Help. I think we need to have a meditation day to destress.