THE POWER OF QUESTIONS

Learning to Analyze Problems and Find Solutions

First, a note of caution.
This article presents information for your consideration. This article does not attempt to suggest to you how to approach any individual horse in any individual situation. Each horse is different and each situation is different. Horses can be dangerous, and there is inherent risk associated with working with horses. You must use your own judgment to decide what is appropriate or inappropriate for you and your horse at any particular moment. You assume all responsibility for the risks involved in the horse related activities you choose to pursue. By reading this article and using the concepts it presents, you agree to the above statements and agree that the laws of the State of Texas will apply to any dispute. The publication of this article is an act within in the Equine Liability Law of the state of Texas. That law and all other immunity provisions apply to the publication and use of this article. Authors note: For simplicity and readability, I refer to the rider as she and the horse as he.

CORNERSTONES

Family there is several cornerstones that serve as the foundation for the evaluation process.

RIDING IS A TEAM SPORT All

Athletes must learn the physical skills, balance and coordination for their chosen sport, as well as learning to balance and control themselves mentally and emotionally. Some people might relate riding to other two-person team sports such as doubles tennis or pairs ice skating. You have two individuals with different abilities, thoughts and emotions, working together as a team. Teammates often develop very strong mental and emotional connections with each other. That can certainly be true between riders and their horses. However there is a rather unique additional element in working with horses that doesn't exist in other team sports. There is a direct physical, mental and emotional connection to another species  the horse. Then consider that the smaller and weaker member of the team is attempting to direct the movement of the larger and stronger member. And of course the two teammates don't speak the same language. It all makes for some very interesting dynamics.
When a horse is having difficulty, it can be easy to take his behavior personally. Weve all probably had the thought .Why is my horse doing this to me at one time or another. Emotions can significantly cloud our objectivity. Horses act like horses and think like horses. They do not think and act like people. We may realize that we sometimes find ourselves in an adversarial relationship with the horse. We end up viewing situations asus against them. This mindset can be damaging to any team and does not help build a strong team bond. When our partner is having trouble, we need to take ownership of the problem. Challenges that arise should become OUR problem instead of HIS problem. We are a team, and we are both on the same side.

TEACHING OR TRAINING

I try to think of myself as a teacher to my horse and not as a trainer. This seemingly simple thing can make some rather significant changes in how I approach working wit horses. If the student is having difficulty understanding the lesson, is it helpful for the teacher to say You are stupid, learn faster How effective is it to give the student a firm smack on the hindquarters for not understanding the lesson Sounds pretty silly, doesn't it And yet I can think of countless situations where I have done exactly that when I was working with horses because I got to thinking I was a trainer. When I work with a student I choose to believe she is doing the very best she can. Similarly, if the horse understands what I am asking of him and is comfortable doing what I'm asking, he will willingly do it for me. The horse is doing the very best he can. One of the first things I say to a new riding student is If you are having trouble understanding something, it is MY fault, not your fault. The student typically looks at me as if she is positive she must have misunderstood what I said. I just repeat myself, and let her know I'm very serious about what I'm saying. I can almost always think of a different way to explain a concept. I can give more examples that might help her understand what I'm trying to convey. I can also give her more exercises to help develop her skills. If we assume the student is doing the best she can, then it is up to the teacher to make adjustments when the student struggles. Patience and compassion are important all the time, but especially so when a student is struggling. The student is trying her best to learn and understand, and is never intentionally trying to make things difficult for the teacher. It is also important to recognize that the student may not be able to learn as quickly as the teacher is able to teach. It is the teacher's responsibility to help find a way to present the material so that the student is able to understand. Now, take just a moment and reread that paragraph. How might approach training with the attitude that we are the teacher and the horse is the student change things. Good teachers put a lot of effort into setting situations up so the student can win. Learning becomes a very positive experience and something the student looks forward too. As the student learns, their confidence grows. I believe this is a very worthwhile goal to apply to working with horses. It is easy for most of us to become overly focused on the things that aren't working as well as we would like with our horse. This can quickly kill the joy and fun that most of us are looking for in our relationship with our horses. If instead we focus on the things that are going well and build on them, training sessions will generally be a much more positive experience.

ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING

Each of us has complete and total control over our attitude when we approach challenging situations. We can learn to use this in some very powerful ways. Solving problems isn't about finding someone to blame, whether they have four hooves or two feet. It's about exploring options, making adjustments and helping the horse. Blaming the horse or blaming ourselves does nothing at all to help us overcome the situation we are facing. Whatever it is that we are asking the horse to do, the horse has a reason for his behavior. We have to discover that reason and find an appropriate solution. Remember, the horse is doing the very best he can. This attitude helps us stay objective in our evaluation and helps us avoid taking the horses behavior personally. Horses are thoroughly and completely honest with their actions and reactions. If a horse acts worried, he IS worried. If a horse acts afraid, he IS afraid. A horse never acts. He simply is. He will always let you know how he feels about any situation. The horse's honesty is one of his numerous admirable traits. The horse is never out to get us, being stubborn, or trying to get even with us. Horses simply don't waste their time thinking in those terms. I have yet to meet an honest horseman who claims to have all the answers. None of us have all the answers and we never will. It seems to me that the more I learn, the less I know! That can sometimes be overwhelming. We may sometimes feel a little lost and unsure of what to do next to help the horse. It is important to give ourselves credit for doing the best we can and the best we know how in a given situation. No matter how much experience we have, there will continue to be times when we find ourselves facing a new or different situation with a horse. The journey of horsemanship is rarely boring! We are all growing and learning every time we interact with any horse. That is where some of the magic of the whole experience of working with horses lies. We shouldn't waste our time criticizing ourselves for something we didn't know, didn't understand or weren't aware of. It isn't helpful or productive. Problems will always seem bigger to us when we don't see a potential solution. We have to learn to step back, slow down and take some time to evaluate the problem. It helps put things in perspective. Then we can begin to identify our options and potential solutions. Our attitude can have a significant impact on how we approach helping the horse through a problem. Working with horses can provide us with many opportunities for personal growth, sometimes in rather surprising and startling ways. There may be times when a lesson the horse puts before us can is intimidating, overwhelming, and difficult to face. However, these lessons can also be the most meaningful. Keep in mind that horsemanship is an ongoing and lifelong process, not an event.

MISTAKES ARE NECESSARY

When we work with our horses, we need to allow ourselves to experiment. As we are learning, we will be venturing into unexplored territories and trying new things. Sometimes it will take quite a bit of time and practice for us to develop the new skills we are attempting to master. There are very few guarantees in working with horses, but there is one surefire certainty. We ALL will make some mistakes with our horses. Horses are incredibly forgiving animals, and they are typically quite generous with their forgiveness. That is another equine character trait that I am very thankful for. Mistakes are opportunities to learn, gain experience and develop skills. Learning what NOT to do can be valuable information too, and is sometimes just as important as learning what TO do. Experience is made up of our successes as well as our mistakes, and both create opportunities for us to learn. As we gain experience, we develop our skills. Lee Iococca once said we are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems. The only real mistake is when we don't learn from it. A question that is interesting to ask ourselves is What would I do if I knew I couldn't fail Asking this question can help us to see how our fear of making mistakes may be holding us back.

AWARENESS AND ATTENTION

One of the ways we can really help ourselves and help our horses is to make sure we are truly paying attention to our horse. There should be no such thing as going through the motions whenever we are working with horses. The horse should be the center of our attention. If we aren't paying attention, we are going to miss so much of what our horse is trying to tell us. Our primary responsibility must be to stay focused and aware of what is going on with our horse. With practice we can develop a level of awareness which will allow us to carry on a conversation and still stay focused and aware of the horse underneath us. Clinicians do this all the time. It just takes a little practice. Awareness enables us to recognize that there is a potential problem developing. When the horse begins struggling with something we are asking of him, we will recognize that he is having difficulty. We won't ask him for more at that point, because we are aware that he is already having trouble. He is asking us for help. Asking more of him when his already struggling would run the risk of overloading him.  Our awareness allows us to get help to the horse when the problem is still relatively small and easier to resolve. Most horses will begin displaying small behaviors to let us know they are having a problem. When we miss those small requests for help from our horse we learn that he must resort to making his behavior BIG enough for us to recognize that there is a problem.

TIME ZONE - PAST, PRESENT OR FUTURE

One component necessary to develop awareness is to remain totally in the moment with our horse. This tends to be quite a bit easier said than done. When young kids ride horses they tend to stay in the moment quite naturally. Somehow, as adults we often lose this ability. Dwelling in the past (what was) or thinking too far ahead to the future (what might happen) significantly dulls our awareness. It will degrade our timing and keep us out of sync with our horse. The Horse may have had some trouble yesterday, but how is he doing RIGHT NOW Our Cues and responses to our horse need to be based on what he is actually doing, Not what he did yesterday or what we are concerned that he might do? Staying focused on what is happening right now helps us stay much more in tune with our horse. It helps us to be more accurate with how we present our cues to the horse and improves our ability to feel what is going on. As a result we are able to quickly recognize the horse's attempts to do what we are asking.

HORSES ARE INDIVIDUALS
Every horse is the same and yet every horse is different. The same horse can be quite different from one moment to the next. Horses are living, breathing creatures with their own thoughts, attitudes and temperament. Horses are not machines! What works for a horse in one situation may need considerable adjustment to work in another situation. For example, a horse that canters comfortably at home may have some tension when you take him to his first show or canter him on the trail for the first time. This doesn't mean there is anything wrong with your training approach. It simply means your horse needs more support and direction from you in one situation than he does in the other. As the horse gains positive experiences in new situations his confidence should grow. The bottom line is that what works with one horse may not work with another horse. Some horses are a bit more individualistic than others, but all horses will have their own strengths and weaknesses.

PROBLEM SOURCES VERSUS SYMPTOMS

When a horse is having difficulty it is always best to find the source of the problem, as opposed to just addressing the symptoms. We can inadvertently create additional problems if we try to continue with the horses training without addressing the areas where he is having difficulty. For example: using a tie down to stop a horse from tossing his head can eliminate the behavior, but it does nothing to address the real cause of the head tossing. If we can identify and address the source of the problem, we can usually resolve the problem much more effectively. However, there are sometimes situations where finding the cause of the horses difficulty isn't always possible. If the horses training and handling history is unknown, sometimes we have to do a good bit of guesswork. Finding the source of the problem is ideal, but occasionally it is not always possible or productive.

TAKE ONE STEP AT A TIME

When I am sorting through a problem it can be tempting to make a lot of changes all at once. For example: I could try a new saddle, a new bit and make some major adjustments to my riding position. This can make it difficult to determine which one change was THE change that really helped the horse through the problem. I find it generally works best if I methodically change one thing at a time. It's also critical that I allow myself a little time to evaluate if the change is making a difference. I can't recall ever hearing anyone say they felt like they caused some problems for their horse by going too slow. However, I can recall quite a few times I've heard someone say they felt like they created some trouble spots by going too fast!

IS IT WORKING

There are only three possible outcomes when we ask the question is the change I made helping my horse the problem is getting better, staying the same or getting worse. If the problem is getting better then the horse is giving us feedback that what we are doing is helping him. He is letting us know that were probably on the right track. If the problem is staying the same, it may be that what we are doing isn't helping the horse. It may be that we are doing the right thing, but we are not doing it enough or doing it too much. If the problem is getting worse, we may be: asking too much of the horse presenting cues that is inconsistent or ineffectiveDoing something that is creating confusion and frustration. When the problem isn't getting better, the first action we take may need to be to stop. Step back and think through what has happened. Keep searching, keep evaluating and keep exploring and experimenting. We may need to approach the problem in a completely different way. We need to find an approach that will make sense to the horse.

DIGGING DEEPER

I can just about guarantee that you will have to pursue other resources to find the solution to a specific problem you may be facing. Many of the topics I mention in my evaluation process have dozens of books written about them. There are many excellent resources throughout this website www.goodhorsemanship.net on other websites, in books, in videos, etc. which can help you in your search to find information for a specific problem you are dealing with.

SEEKING PROFESSIONAL HELP

It is crucial to acknowledge that there may be situations that require more experience or more skill than we currently possess. Safety is always a concern when working with horses. Some problem behaviors that horses have can be quite dangerous, to us as well as to the horse. Nothing is worth getting the rider or the horse hurt.

Successfully solving some training problems requires us to realistically assess our experience and skill in relationship to the seriousness of problem. We must be able to recognize when our horse needs more help than we are going to be able to offer him. We may need to acknowledge that we just don't know what to do next. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that! This is not only smart; it is doing the right thing by the It would be pretty unlikely for a person to go out and buy a book about flying planes, read it through and then go hop in a plane, fire up the engine, taxi down the runway and fly! No aspiring pilot would feel the least bit silly about going to take flying lessons. Additional help may come from a trainer, riding instructor, or clinician. Seeking professional help can be critical to staying safe around horses and keeping the horse safe. We all want to be able to enjoy the experience we gain along the way. We shouldn't ever feel ashamed or embarrassed to admit when we need help. Choose your resources carefully, and be very selective. It can be a good way to help both you and your horse through a difficult situation.

The Power of Questions
Intro
Jodi Denning.

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No portion of this article may be reproduced, copied, transmitted or stored in any mechanical or electronic form for commercial use, without written permission of the author. Jodi Denning has a varied background with horses, including competition in both Western and English disciplines. Jodi considers herself to be a lifelong student of good horsemanship, and she has had the opportunity to study and work with several top horsemen and horsewomen over the years. Jodi currently resides in Texas with her husband and their 5 horses, and will soon be relocating to New México She teaches riding lessons, occasionally takes horses in for training, and also volunteers at a therapeutic riding center schooling therapy horses and working in therapeutic riding classes.

Jodi can be reached at  This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it