76 SIDELINES JUNE 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
the trust and confdence of your horse. A good starting point is
ensuring that you can rub your horse all over. With her being head
shy, you’ll probably need to spend some time convincing her that
when you touch her head or ears, it’s not meant to be a source of
stress, but rather one of comfort.
As you’re working on her confdence, however, make sure you
don’t get fxated on her ears, or that alone puts the pressure on!
Remember that horses are masters at interpreting intention. If it’s a
big deal to you, she’ll pick up on that anxiousness. Continue working
on her confdence - both on the ground and while riding - and pretty
soon you’ll fnd she doesn’t mind you touching her ears at all. This
is all about trust. As you build the relationship, you will learn how
to earn it. To learn more about the Seven Games, visit http://www.
parellinaturalhorsetraining.com/parelli-7-games-the-friendly-game/
Question:
I’ve had my nine-
year-old mare for about
fve years. Early on, she
would strike and kick at
other horses that came
too close to her bubble.
I’ve gotten to be a better
leader lately; she has a
smaller bubble and is
more tolerant of having
horses closer to her.
Three times in this
past year, though, other
horses have gone out of their way to lunge at her, seemingly
unprovoked. Once, when she was tied to the trailer for un-tacking
after a trail ride, a lady and her gelding that we had ridden with
were walking past. I was turned around, putting my saddle in
the tack room, so I didn’t see what happened. I heard my mare
squeal, and came out blaming her for what I assumed was her
aggression. Instead I was told that the gelding lunged at her! I
am wondering if it was the other horse’s lack of confdence or
leadership in those instances, or did it involve communication
from my mare that would provoke the other horses?
Answer:
We never really know what horses say under their breath to each
other, do we? Dominance games are such a big part of their lives,
and I expect that what you were seeing was another horse feeling the
need to put your mare in her place! It’s hard when you cannot be there
to protect her 24/7, but it is also the responsibility of others to keep
their horses under control. But I am glad to hear that you are making
progress with her. It sounds like she’s seriously lacking in confdence
around other horses, and her “defensive” stance probably appears
to other horses to be dominance, and
that’s why they challenge her. She
needs your leadership to keep her safe
and help her be more confdent. As
she becomes more confdent, her body
language will refect the same.
Photos courtesy of Parelli Natural Horsemanship
e
By Linda Parelli
Question:
Have you found that certain breeds are more likely to have
particular behavior characteristics or trends?
Answer:
Not really; every breed features every personality type. In Parelli,
we refer to these personality types as “Horsenalities.” Every horse sits
somewhere on the “extrovert/introvert” spectrum, as well as the “right-
brain/left-brain” spectrum. A right-brained horse is more emotionally
driven, fearful and impulsive; a left-brained horse is dominant,
stubborn, confdent and playful. You may have taken – or at least
heard of – human personality tests with similar terminology. We’ve
applied that same idea to horses in order to understand and explain
their behavior.
While each breed does indeed feature all four core “Horsenalities”
(Right-Brain Extrovert, Left-Brain Introvert, etc), what is different is
their genetic “type” and what they are bred for. Let’s look at Arabians
vs. draft horses. Their bodies are completely different – one designed
for long distance travel and racing, the other for short distance and
pulling heavy loads. The Arabian has no trouble running, but the
introverted Arabian will still not move its feet as much as the extrovert.
And the extroverted draft horse will not be nearly as agile or have as
much speed, but he will still be an extrovert and run off (though not
particularly fast, of course), and be spooky and impulsive.
Question:
I recently purchased a new
horse who will turn 20 later
this month. She’s great, but
I’m pretty sure that when she
was young, someone really
messed with her ears! At frst
I couldn’t even touch them;
now, after being patient,
working on her confdence,
and spending some time
just being in her area, she
has really come a long way!
She now walks or trots to me
when I call, and sometimes
just when I step out into the
pasture. I can touch her ears
if I’m very slow, but I still
cannot put a bridle over her
ears – she immediately goes
into panic mode. What can I
do about my head shy mare?
Answer:
First off, you’ve been doing a great job when it comes to respecting
her space and taking the time she needs. At this point, I would say
that you should work on playing what Parelli refers to as the “Seven
Games” – the games that horses naturally play within the herd – in
order to improve her comfort with all areas of her body being touched.
Particularly what we call the Friendly Game, which is all about gaining
Linda Parelli’s experience with Pat Parelli as co-founder of Parelli Natural Horsemanship, coupled with her time studying with classical
dressage master Walter Zettl, has given her unique insight into horse psychology and development. Linda’s gift for identifying and
interpreting horse behavior and teaching her students to bring out the best in their unique horse makes her one of the most sought-
after natural horsemanship experts in the world today.
A head shy horse needs to
develop confdence – the Parelli
Seven Games can help.
When horses act like this, what are
they saying to each other?
Horse Behavior Decoded