Dan's Papers - June 22, 2007

Next week, Oreo and I are having a lesson in communication courtesy of Tim Hayes, the East End's famous horse whisperer. While my equine-savvy friends are excited for the outcome and have no doubts that it will make Oreo and I a more successful team, people who are unfamiliar with the concept seemed to think that asking a horse whisperer to come work with your horse is akin to having an animal psychic come in to read his mind. So this week, I am setting the record straight about all things concerning horse whisperers and the wonderful, scientifically sound work they do.

First off, horse whisperers don't whisper to the horses. In fact, most horse whisperers don't use their voices at all. Monty Roberts, the man who single-handedly brought horse whispering into the limelight, has broken down horse communication into a language that human beings can understand. He calls the language "Equus" and uses it to translate horses' complex body language into terms and motions that people can use to listen to what their horses are trying to say to them and respond accordingly. In essence, a horse whisperer is simply a translator who understands both human and equine language and helps people who are unfamiliar with the language of Equus communicate with their horses.

The reason this can correct so many problems is that human body language is very different than horse body language and movements that seem benign to us may be confrontational or even aggressive in a horse's eyes. While squaring your shoulders and making eye contact while facing a horse head-on might seem like a natural stance to a human being, most horses will feel the need to bolt when approached in this way. This does not mean that horses are stupid and can't tell that you mean them no harm. On the contrary, making eye contact and facing them head-on sends a very clear message in their language: run away. In a herd, if a horse is out of line and bothering other horses, the lead horse will make eye contact with the troublemaker, pushing them out of the herd as a reprimand. When the lead horse takes his eyes off of the punished horse, the punished horse knows that he may rejoin the herd. Miscommunications such as this are the root of most conflicts between humans and horses. If you and your horse are not communicating, working together in a happy, relaxed manner is nearly impossible.

Using a step-by-step process called "join-up," horse whisperers first establish communication with the horse they are working with. Usually, join-up happens in a round pen, where the horse and the horse whisperer are free to communicate without distraction. Even the most seemingly incorrigible horses are afraid to be alone, so after realizing that the other creature in the round pen speaks their language and wants to communicate with them, the horse's natural inclination is to try to join the other creature's herd. At this point, the horse drops his head to the ground as a gesture of submission and walks over to his new herd leader, asking to be part of his group. Once the herd order has been established, the horse sees the horse whisperer as his leader and will trust his judgment, even in situations the horse would normally fear.

The next step is working through whatever issues the horse might have, calmly and at his own pace. Because the horse whisperer knows how to reassure the horse in his own language, horse whisperers are remarkably adept at acclimating young horses to being ridden and helping older horses overcome phobias.

This method of training horses is not new, nor is it always referred to as "horse whispering." I went to Colorado last summer and observed Jim Hitt, an accomplished Western trainer and rider, using the same techniques on his horses as those described in Monty Roberts' books. When I asked him if he had studied "horse whispering," Jim told me that he had always worked with horses that way and that it was just common sense. Jim Hitt and Monty Roberts seem to have a natural affinity for listening to horses. But for those who were not born with that gift, or do not have the opportunity to observe horses enough to learn their complex language, horse whisperers can help establish a bond between horse and rider based on trust and mutual respect.