March 3, 2007

Today, as I was taking Gus, a big draft horse, from the paddock Sunny and Romeo came busting out with him. Maybe Nitro's tactic of keeping the other horses fifty feet away wasn't such a bad idea after all. Had a nice talk with Nitro today about it. When walking, I place my hand on his head between his ears he drops his head and communicates as we walk. He tells me much of his behavior is based on pure instinct and some horses, like humans, are smarter then others, and can rely more on training. He tells me it's a lot like he sees going on in the ring. "People chase horses with whips and plastic bags to get them to respect the human, but the horse is acting out of instinct as the human represents a predicator,or alpha." "You're right," I said, "I remember people trying to chase you with a whip and you turned and reared and tried to kill them. Was that instinct?"

"Funny man, you know I can't tolerate pushy people." Nitro said, "people should learn to act more like, horses. Horses respect communication more then anything and if we think our human is smart enough to do what's right for us we give in once we know what thing they want us to do. Our mares guide us through all our endeavors and discipline us by rejection. We fear that more then anything. We would rather be with someone mean then alone and rejected. That is why after a lesson we always want to bond for fear of rejection. We soon learn to do what the mare or human wishes. Once we respect, we learn, but learning out of fear is based more on instinct and can vary. The horses barging from the gate are acting instinctively. If I trained them that would never happen they would respect my wishes more then their own; that's learning. You need to immediately discipline them for rushing the gate. They must respect your space. It's basic. Get it, dumb dumb?"