:: HorsesDiaries.com ::

Have you ever had a horse respond to you in such a way that
you were convinced it was expressing an emotion?

Well, you may have been right. A recent pilot study, titled
“Horses and Human Energetics: The Study of Heart Rate
Variability (HRV) Between Horses and Humans” suggests a
connection between the heat rate of horses and the emotional
states of the people nearby.

There’s an old adage that horses can smell fear. And I do
know, as a former trail guide, that horses can, the minute a
new rider gets on their backs, tell exactly how much they’ll
be able to get away with. Horses that would spend thirty
minutes of a one-hour ride stopping by the trailside to
snack with a novice rider would, with an experienced one,
behave like equitation champions. And they could tell the
difference as soon as they were mounted.

I have to believe that a rider communicates either
confidence, of nervousness, to a horse. Some horses will
respond to nerves by becoming nervous themselves, but others
will see an opening and take charge of the outing by doing
as they please.

So the results of the new study, done by the Institute of
Heart Math and Professor Ellen Gehrke of Alliant
International University, in San Diego, CA, don’t really
surprise me.

Dr. Gehrke participated directly in the study, which she
conducted at her ranch with four of her own horses. She and
the horses wore ECG (electrocardiogram) monitors for a
24-hour period, and followed their accustomed schedule of
care and activity, being fed, groomed, ridden, or left alone
as they normally were.

Research on humans has shown that stress will have a
detrimental effect on the “coherence” of their heart rhythm
variability–the intervals between heartbeats. A high
HRV–longer period between heartbeats—indicates fitness and
a smoothly functioning circulatory system, while a low HRV
means that the heart is not getting much rest and can often
be traced to hypertension or shock. Stress can also be a
factor in HRV coherence. Dr. Gehrke’s study indicated that
her horses” HRV coherence was greatest during her “quiet
times’ with them, suggesting that the horses’ emotions were
responding to her relaxed state.

One of my family’s legendary equines was a cross-bred cow
pony named “Cammy”. Cammy was our only gelding, and as such
was the protector of our herd of mares, which ranged in size
over the years from six to ten. During the winter, Cammy
and his harem would be turned out to get lazy and fat on our
seven hundred acres of pasture, but as we of the younger
generation grew up, and were able to spend less time at the
ranch, our family would periodically donate one of the mares
to a riding school which offered lessons to disabled
children.

I don’t know how Cammy knew, but every couple of years, when
the truck would come transport one of his mares away, he
would be waiting. It was never the same truck, and he never
had a problem when we would bring other trailers to collect
the mares for our own summer’s riding. But when the school
sent a truck, he would spend hours herding the mares away
from it, and once even tried to grab the driver by the
collar and shake him.

I have always toyed with the idea that Cammy was a mind
reader. It now appears that I was right!

If you are a fan of the wild horses of Canada, you might
want to send some support to the Wild Horses of Alberta
Society, who are offering a $4500 reward for information
leading to the identity of the parties responsible for the
shooting deaths, in the past two years, of sixteen mustangs.

The Society’s spokesperson, Bob Henderson, is of the opinion
that the Alberta government, as evidenced by its “horse
capture regulation”, is not averse to having the entire wild
horse population removed from the area around Alberta’s
western foothills.

The herd of mustangs, which numbered as high as 1000 in the
mid 1980’s, has been reduced to only two hundred today, and
if their numbers are further diminished, will not be able to
sustain a gene pool diverse enough to produce healthy
offspring.

The horse capture regulation allows anyone to track and
capture the animals, and it has been suggested that most of
the captured mustangs are sold for slaughter. But the
animals which have been found shot, were shot for no
discernible purpose.

The mustangs are considered neither livestock nor wildlife,
so they are supposed to fall under the protection of
Alberta’s Sustainable Resources Development Ministry. One
has to question, however, exactly who is working at
sustaining them.

You can contact the Wild Horses of Alberta Society, and read
more about the plight of the Alberta mustangs, at:

http://northernhorse.com/wildhorses/index.php/category/supp
ort-us

Or here’s a suggestion: if the Alberta government actually
does want to be rid of the horses, give them to Nevada’s
Wild Horse and burro Expo, which has been set up as a
non-profit organization and uses its funding, in part, to
make sure the Nevada’s wild horses and burros have
sufficient habitat available. And they are doing this in
spite of the fact that Nevada is currently the fastest
growing state in the U.S., with land prices steadily
increasing. Where there’s a will…

On another somewhat discouraging note, Kentucky Derby winner
Barbaro has suffered a recurrence of the laminitis in his
left hind hoof which was such a grave cause of concern
earlier this summer.

The flare-up has necessitated further surgery to remove
damaged hoof tissue, and to cut his left digital flexor
tendon so that it stopped pulling on the coffin bone which
attaches to the hoof wall, and required that Barbaro, who
had been enjoying daily outdoor grazing sessions, and was
close to being moved from the New Bolton Veterinary Center
to complete his recovery in a regular facility, is now back
to using a body sling to support his weight for several
hours each day.

The good news, if there is any, is that both of Barbaro’s
hind legs are infection-free, and that his primary doctor,
Dean Richardson, says that, in spite of the setback,
Barbaro’s left hind hoof still has more healthy tissue than
it did following his first laminitis surgery in July.

On the bright side, we are already in the Thoroughbred
foaling season, and spring CANNOT be far behind!

We humans who live in climates where the winters are cold,
dark, and long can often go stir-crazy from not getting
enough time outdoors. Some of us are lucky enough to be
able to get away to sunny places for a while–that’s why
North American winter is a top tourist season for the in the
Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America.

In the years when I worked as a trail guide for a local
riding stable, one of my guide horses was a striking
sixteen-hand liver chestnut Saddlebred gelding named
Doolittle.

Doolittle was one of those horses who would, whenever he was
in the mood, do exactly as his rider wished, but if he was
not in the mood, the entire world knew about it, and on the
days when Doolittle did not feel like escorting the novice
riders out on the trail, he was apt to get as far as the
ranch gate, and then dig in his feet, start bucking and
kicking, and bring the whole procession to a halt.

I was “assigned” to work with Doolittle over the course
of a summer so that he would learn to have a better attitude
towards his work. I had often enough seen other guides
struggle with him, kicking, hitting, and yelling with all
their might. But that behavior always brought to mind what
one of my earliest riding teachers taught me about horses:
“They’re bigger, so you have to be smarter.”

Knowing that Doolittle, for a horse, was exceptionally
intelligent, I decided to start from scratch with him, and
try to understand what was going on in his mind. I think,
because horses have been domesticated for so long, and
because so few of us have ever seen them in the wild, we
forget that their first instinct, when they are in
situations they don’t like, is to flee.

Horses have no natural defenses, except their hooves, teeth,
and speed, with which to combat predators; and one of the
most effective ways a predator has to bring down a horse is
to attack it from above–in other words, from on the
horse’s back. And that’s exactly where we sit when we
ride, meaning that any horse, before it can be ridden, has
to overcome its survival instinct and learn that a rider on
the back is not the same as a predator.

So whenever Doolittle began his antics, and his riders began
punishing him with their heels, quirts, and yelling, I
thought, maybe Doolittle was responding to them as
predators. I decided to try a different approach, and every
day would take Doolittle out to the ranch gate which seemed
to be, in his mind, the point where he needed to assert
himself. The first few times we did it, he would buck,
kick, and even once rubbed up against the barbed wire fence
so that, even though he got jabbed, I did as well. Through
it all, I just stayed quiet, stayed on him, and kept control
of his head, but did not do anything that I thought might
stir his survival instinct.

After about a week, we would get to the ranch gate, and
Doolittle would pause. I would let him stand as long as he
liked; I just would not let him turn around and head back to
the barn. Whenever he started turning I would rein him
to turn in continuing circles until he was either too dizzy,
or distracted–I’m not sure which– to remember that he
wanted to go home. When we were facing the trail again I
nudged him and we were on our way. After about another week
Doolittle would pass the ranch gate without giving it a
second glance, and we had our Doolittle “doing more” once
again!

So if you have a horse “misbehaving” ask yourself if it
isn’t really just behaving like a horse needs to behave
to survive, and see if there’s not something you can do
that will make the situation less threatening, so that the
survival instinct isn’t triggered.

Over the holidays I had a chance to view the Clydesdale herd
stabled at the Anheuser-Busch estate at Grant’s Farm outside
of Saint Louis, Missouri. I confess that the only reason I
pay attention to the U.S. Super Bowl of football is to see
latest Budweiser beer commercial featuring the wonderful
Clydesdales.

My favorite all-time commercial, in fact, and one which
broke my heart to watch, was aired in 2002 after the
September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. It showed
the one of the eight-horse Clydesdale teams being hitched up
in full regalia, and driven to a spot across the Hudson
river from where the site of the World Trade center was
visible, being halted at the river’s edge, and bowing in
honor of the victims.

I understand that the New York City actually shut down the
Brooklyn Bridge so that the commercial could be filmed.
That’s the kind of treatment usually reserved or American
heroes on their way to ticker-tape parades, but I suppose
there isn’t a more beloved symbol of America than the
gentle, heroic giants of the Budweiser Clydesdale herd.

Although the official Grant’s Farm tour was closed while I
was there, I accompanied some friends on a hike along a
public bike trail which passes within ten feet of the
Clydesdales’ paddock and stabling area. We saw two
stallions in separate paddocks, about half a dozen mature
geldings–the geldings are the herd’s “performers”–and
several mares, yearlings, and younger geldings which will
begin training, according to one of my friends, when they
are four years old.

In order to qualify for a place in one of the Budweiser
hitches, a Clydesdale must be a bay at least eighteen hands
high and have the trademark white blaze and four white
stockings. The hitches are set up so that the tallest
geldings–some of them standing twenty hands–are at its
rear, with the stockier animals as the lead horses.

Each gelding is first trained to harness alone, and then
worked with a more experienced hitch horse before joining
the professional hitch. And each horse is always used in
the same position in the hitch.

According to my friends, who are regular visitors to the
facility, Grant’s farm produces about thirty Clydesdale
foals a year, and the ones which do not qualify for use in
the Budweiser hitch are kept for breeding purposes, or sold
to those Clydesdale owners who meet Anheuser-Busch’s very
high standards.

The horses we see in the Budweiser television commercials
are not the same ones who regularly perform in the hitches,
but are given special training when they are between three
and four years of age. One of my friends has a photo taken
of him and the Clydesdale gelding “Matt”, who, because of
his calm personality and perfect Clydesdale good looks, is
the poster boy of the Grant’s Farm herd.

I’ll be looking forward to the Super Bowl this year, to see
if I can catch a glimpse of “Matt” when the Budweiser
Clydesdales latest commercial is shown!