Horse-breaking

Horses, unlike domestic animals of the pet variety, such as cats and dogs, have never formed a voluntary symbiotic relationship with their human keepers. Horses are prey animals which run in herds, and have a highly developed flight instinct in order to avoid becoming food for a predator. Nonetheless, because their physiology is peculiarly suited to the accomplishment of a number of human-related jobs and entertainments, humans have domesticated horses and pressed them into service for centuries.

In order to make use of a horse, it must first be "broken" - that is, it must have its native flight instinct curbed to the point where it will aquiesce to human handling and follow commands. There are two general schools of horse-breaking on the whole, one based on restraint, punishment and pain, and one utilizing efforts to obtain the animal's cooperation through the use of encouragements based on the way horses relate to each other.

One reads historical accounts and sees movie depictions of a horseman pursuing a feral horse, capturing it by force, and penning it. He then utilizes the restraint of halter tied to a snubbing post to wear the animal down until, sweating, trembling and blowing, it can be saddled. Once the saddle is in place, the horseman will climb aboard and signal a helper to release the restraint tying the horse's head to the snubbing post and try to stay in the saddle while the animal frantically attempts to dislodge him. To remain aboard a gyrating horse requires a good deal of athleticism and skill, not to mention a disregard for one's own bodily safety bordering on contempt. The attending commotion can be quite entertaining, and may attract the rapt attention of a number of standers-by, who may cheer the horseman in his efforts to subdue the wild beast. This, generally, is the origin of the sport of rodeo.

Further breaking techniques through hobbling a horse, tying up one or more legs, throwing the animal the ground and preventing it from rising, beating it until it falls, and other inflictions of overwhelming force have been known to be employed.

When the horse if finally broken it will, to greater or lesser degree, suffer the attentions of humans without making a serious attempt to flee. It may then be trained further into one or a number of different disciplines.

A school of horse-breaking which is gaining increasing popularity eschews violent means and makes use of what may be termed a horse's natural "body language"

Horses in the wild have developed a number of social behaviors and signals which obtain to the survival of the herd. They appear to be uniform in all horses around the world. There is a "pecking order" within the herd whereby senior animals exercise leadership and enforce discipline, and there are certain observable cooperative behaviors.

Perhaps the foremost and best-known advocate and the use of "horse language" as a training tool would be Monty Roberts, known the world over as the "horse whisperer]." Roberts has a knack and a knowledge for curing horse fear and flight behaviors which he gained from observing herds of horses in the wild. Other proponents of the same or similar methods include [[Jim Lyons with his "round pen reasoning," Richard Schraik and "resistance-free training," and others.

A commonality between the above-mentioned training methods is the way in which they advocate breaking a green or wild horse. In the wild, horses use a number of threatening or warning behaviors to drive other members of the herd into motion or warn them away. Likewise, certain motions and body postures are used to signal safety, acceptance, compliance and non-agression. These signals have been adopted to human use in achieving a status between trainer and horse whereby the horse accepts the human as the "boss" or next above it on the pecking order, and yet is no more threatened by the presence of the human than by a senior horse.

The clearest and most fundamental pecking-order relationship in horse herds is that between mare and foal. Foals and young horses display subservience and a "don't hurt me - I'm harmless" message to other members of the herd by drawing back the corners of their mouth, chewing dramtically, and lowering their head. Mares exhibit this same behavior (among others) to signal acquiescence to a breeding stallion. In mature horses, simple acquiesence is signalled by a less dramatic chewing motion, lowered head, and cautious approaching walk.

A mare will discipline and reassert her mastery over a foal by raising her head and tail, and moving agressivly toward it. If it fails to retreat, she may make eye contact as a further threat, bite it at the rump or withers, or even resort to a mild kick. She will keep the foal at a distance and keep it moving away with these actions until it offers to return meekly with lowered head and chewing motions, indicating sumission. She will in turn accept the contrite foal with her own lowered head, turning sideways, and perhaps engaging in mutual grooming. The pecking order is firmly established when she moves slowly away and the foal follows at her shoulder no matter which way she turns.

A senior mare or "herd mare" will assert her daminance over all the other mares in the herd in much the same way.

Non-violent horse-breaking begins in a similar fashion, as the human attempts to attain the "herd mare" position relative to the horse being broken, while offering it no cause to believe its life is in danger.

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