How do you teach your horse something new?  How can you explain a new concept to your four-footed equine friend?  How do you ask him to bend that way you want and to give you more impulsion? What the heck is impulsion?

In order to teach your horse something new or reinforce things he already knows, you must be able to have a conversation with your horse. Now standing in front of him and clearly explaining the ideas using your best vocabulary will have absolutely no impact on your horse friend.

In fact, your friends and family may seriously question your mental state if they observe you engaging in this activity. The answer lies in conversing in “horse”.  If you study a group of horses, you will see that there are clear lines of communication without a sound even being uttered. So, how are they communicating?  Closer examination of their behavior will reveal horses communicate with body language, proximity (invading another horses’ personal space), touch, the occasional nip or fancy footwork and sometimes a squeal or knicker. Our challenge is to translate all of this into things we can do to make our intentions and wishes clear to our horse.

Jay Winfield teaches his student Storm. (Photo by Kathleen Winfield)

We can certainly communicate with the horse using our body language. This begins with how we approach our horse. If we boldly walk directly to the head while making eye contact, the horse will readily interpret this as “here comes a nasty predator who may want to eat me!!!” and the horse will respond by walking (or trotting) away. If we walk at a normal pace looking at the shoulder and speak quietly to the horse, chances are he will interpret this as “here comes that nice two-legged critter” and the horse will remain in place. Folks who have worked their horses in a round pen or on a lunge line already know that pointing their belly button at the horses’ hindquarters will generally make the horse move forward and speed up while just turning and pointing their belly button and the head of the horse will cause him to slow down or even stop. These are example of really good body language as a communication tool between horse and human.

Body language as a communication tool works both ways. The horse can clearly tell us what he thinks about what we are doing by how he positions his own body. For example, if you are approaching a horse and he swings his butt towards you, this is a major sign of disrespect and an indicator that bad things could follow so beware! If a horse swings his head towards you with his ears pinned back, that is a clear message to “back off”. If the horse faces you and lowers his head and stands quietly with you, that is a sign of respect and calm submission to your authority.

Proximity is another means of communication. If a horse pushes into you, he is clearly telling you that he is the boss and not you – not good! You must teach your horse that he cannot come in to your personal space unless you invite him. Again you can use body language to push him away just like a stronger herd member would do. It is really fascinating how subtle movements by horse or human can communicate information!

Touch  and feel are powerful tools of communication. These tools are most frequently used by humans to convey information to our horses. The touch and feel may be direct contact, such as patting or rubbing our horses, putting pressure with our legs on the sides of the horse as we ride, or it may be felt through the reins connected to the bit.

Many, many books and videos have been dedicated to trying to teach us humans how to use these tools effectively in communicating with our horses. Future columns will discuss some of these topics in more detail.

Just a note to all you readers — if there is an equine topic you would like more information about, please let me know at kjwinfield@netkaster.ca and I would be happy to explore it in one of my columns.

Kathleen Winfield is, an Equine Canada certified driving coach, who teaches clinics and has had the good fortune to grow up with horses.

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