You Don't Have to do The Trainer Dance

I enjoy watching trainer Sue Gasperson interact in a warm but matter-of-fact way with her horses.

Over the course of many years of watching various horse trainers, I've come to appreciate the trainers who are just themselves, who don't insist that their followers do what I call, “the trainer's dance.”

Years ago, people walked right up to horses, or if a horse was timid, they approached him cautiously, giving the horse time to recognize that the person wasn't a threat. Old time horsemen 't didn't all use the 2 x 4 method. Each generation has had abusive trainers and wonderful, empathetic horsemen.

Recent years have seen improvements in horsemanship, as in so many fields. One area is that of more specifically using body language to communicate.

Some trainers take that to an extreme, however, developing a whole dance out of ground training. No one's going to get hurt by dancing, so I think they're free to approach a horse any way they like. And exaggerating a motion for the purposes of demonstration is helpful to an extent, in the way that enunciating the syllables of an unfamiliar word helps people to be able to repeat the word.

The problem comes when the novice horseperson is made to feel that there's only one right way, and that he or she has to be a clone of the trainer to be effective in communicating with the horse. I've talked with lots of discouraged people who feel that they'll never get it right.

Sure, there are better and worse ways to interact with horses, as there are with people. But in the end, getting along with horses is all about relationships. And if a person is comfortable in his own skin, not trying to be somebody else or locked into obeying artificial rules, he's going to be able to communicate with a horse just fine.

So while it's intriguing to watch various trainers do their thing — and there are trainers of all styles who do a great job — realize that you don't have to be a dancer to work with your horse. If you're just yourself — however coordinated or awkward — you'll be consistent in your actions, and it won't take long for your horse to figure out how to do your kind of dance.