Do you suppose he beats his kids, too?

That was the question that came in the email I got today sharing the newsletter of an internationally known clinician who seems to be giving people free rein to beat on their horses. At least that’s what it sounds like to me. See what you think.

In his August 10 newsletter, natural horsemanship golden boy Clinton Anderson includes a “training tip” describing for his readers the necessary mental state required to successfully work with a horse. “Do what you have to do to get the job done. Do it as easy as possible, but as firm as necessary.”

Now, I don’t disagree with that advice in general. I believe that creating a successful working partnership with a horse requires a person to be present and to always communicate as clearly as possible. That means the rider has a responsibility to sensitize the horse to his or her own version of the cues, starting with a leg or seat aid and adding a well-regulated tap with a dressage whip to the side or croup if the horse doesn’t respond. I find it generally takes about three repetitions of this series (leg/seat aid – insufficient response – leg/seat aid with tap – desired response) to help the horse understand exactly what the rider expects.

My problem with this newsletter item begins with the next sentence (bold added): “Whether it takes just a look to make the horse move, or whacking him ten times as hard as you can, do whatever it takes to get the job done.”

What?! Other than to save life or limb, I don’t think anyone, anywhere, anyhow has either the right or the need to hit a horse as hard as he or she can. If a horse is coming at me with feet and teeth bent on doing some serious damage, you’re darn right I’m going to do whatever I can to stop him and keep myself safe. I got charged once when I was a kid and hit a horse hard right between the eyes with the brass bull snap on a leadrope flung with accuracy fueled by adrenaline. Stopped him right in his tracks before he mowed me down. And rightly so, I’d still say today.

But what if I was working with a horse on the ground trying to teach him to back away from me and he just wasn’t doing it, instead was barging into my space in a way that wasn’t particularly dangerous but certainly wasn’t respectful. Say I waggled my leadrope and motioned my arms and waved my stick and he still didn’t back up. Is it okay for me to hit that horse with my leadrope snap or some other implement? I say “no way.”

It’s pretty clear to me in this situation that either I haven’t done a very good job of preparing the horse for this exercise or I’m not communicating clearly with him right now or there is some physical reason he can’t do what I’m asking. Hitting him isn’t going to help me resolve any of those.

So, do I raise my energy and get “big” with a horse sometimes? Absolutely. But I can modulate that right back down the second I see the horse even begin to respond in the way I want him to. That helps him learn the lesson I’m trying to teach and retain what he figures out. If I’m “whacking” him with all my might, am I likely to be tuned in enough to see that “try” and make full use of the nuances of the teaching/learning relationship? Would you be, in this situation? Oh, and do you think a horse who is being hit is in any frame of mind to learn and retain anything? I don’t.

What I find most distressing about this particular “tip” is that it seems to me the vast majority of people who are devoted to this type of clinician/marketer are the newbies, the nice people who have their first horse and do not begin to have the skill or the feel to evaluate when a horse is trying, when he’s confused or when he’s being disrespectful bordering on dangerous. With many of those people, lack of knowledge and the accompanying fear dictate that any time a horse doesn’t do exactly what they think they are telling him, that horse is “being bad.”

I have seen over and over again that the people who know the least are the ones who are the most prone to over-react to everything. The horse just stomps a foot at a fly, but they think he is “trying to kick me.” On the lead or longe, he turns his head to look in the direction of a sound and the horse is “pulling on me.” The horse gets off balance and leans in when the handler pulls his head and neck toward himself and suddenly that horse is “crowding me.” And these are the people whom Clinton Anderson is telling to use as much force as they think is necessary. Yikes. Recipe for abuse if ever I saw one.

I can’t help wondering whether this was written in a fit of frustration about people who are so passive with their horses they never make any progress at mastering the requisite skills for Anderson’s program. Maybe.

He goes on to lament the people who just can’t seem to be firm enough with their horses, and even takes what seems to me to be a mocking tone about those who get uncomfortable and quit. Well, I’d say you can hardly go wrong if you listen to your gut, and if you feel uncomfortable at a visceral level about something you’re doing with your horse, it might be good time to at least step back and consider what’s going on.

That said, I don’t disagree with the basic premise of the rest of the “training tip.” Consistency, following through with each exercise, is very important both to the horse/human relationship and to the learning environment. If our rider above who is working to sensitize her horse to her aids responds too passively, she will never succeed because there is no clarity. If she gives a seat aid and the horse doesn’t respond (and she’s relatively sure she has both herself and the horse positioned correctly to give and respond to the aid, respectively), she needs to tap the coup with just the right amount of force to elicit the desired response. If she tap, tap, taps away too lightly and allows the horse to continue not to respond, she is teaching him to ignore her. If she “whacks” him too hard and he jumps forward reflexively, she got a response (usually a short-lived one, though) but he didn’t really learn anything because he was not responding in a way he can repeat from a lighter cue. The real, useful question from the rider and answer from the horse lies somewhere in between those extremes.

As an instructor who wants to help students become mindful horsemen and horsewomen, it is my job to help them learn what is too little, what is too much and what is just right, Goldilocks. I talk a lot, especially with my female clients, about the very important distinction between aggression and assertiveness. Former, not productive and not tolerated with my horses. Latter, one of the gifts horses give us for learning to live more honestly in all aspects of our lives. I encourage all my students to step up and take responsibility for their more-than-half of the partnership and the line “do it easy as possible, but as firmly as necessary” would fit right in to that part of the curriculum. But never, ever, would that involve “whacking (the horse) ten times as hard as you can.”

I know who I’d like to whack ten times right about now, and he doesn’t have four legs or fur. Oh, and is it just me, or is it very interesting that the photo illustrating this “training tip” doesn’t show the horse’s face?