Trafford Publishing: The Harmony Project: Part One

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The Harmony Project: Part One

by Kate Farmer

150 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-2148; ISBN 1-4120-1771-8; US$26.00, C$35.00, EUR22.50, £14.99

A unique insight into the equine mind plus ideas and practial excercises to help you achieve a better understanding with your horse.

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about the book about the author sample excerpts or Table of Contents catalogue info

About the Book

The Harmony Project is a unique concept to give horse lovers a deeper insighet into the equine mind. The project follows the training and development of a filly foal called "Harmony", from 6 months and separation from the mare, up to 3 and a half years and carrying her first rider.
Harmony's behaviour and training are explainedin terms of her view of the world, and show how we can present ourselves to our horses in a way that is more meaningful to them, and therefore more effective.
Harmony is being trained primarily under the principles of natural horsemanship taught by the top American trainer, Richard Thompson, who is the mentor of Harmony's owner and trainer, Kate Farmer. Date comes from a classical British riding background, and aims to show in the Harmony Project that the principles of natural horsemanship are equally relevant to all equestrian desciplines, and not, as many suppose, mostly of help to western riders.
Part 1 of The Harmony Project follows harmony from 6 monts to 18 months, and presents the first stages of her training in a clear, easy to follow way. Each chapter focusses on one or two specific aspects of equine psychology, and the ex ercises that relate to them. It offers an excellent introduction ot natural horsemanship for newcomers to these methods, and a very useful companion for those who have already started working on NH principles.

About the Author

Kate Farmer was born and brought up in Surrey, England. She started riding regulaly at the age of 6, and soon begged and cajoled a pony, then a horse out of her parents. After graduating from St. Andrews University in psychology and economics, she persued a career in radio as a journalist and producer, but horses were never far away. She moved to Austria in 1992, to join the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation's English language service. From here, a chance meeting on a plane brought the horses back in the picture, and in particular, a horse called Sunny, who she agreed to help train. Sunny had been rescued from starvation, and had such severe behavioural problems that Kate started to look for alternative methods to "get through" to her. This search led her to the top natural horsemanhip trainer, Richard Thompson, who offered to cross the atlantic to help, if she could get a group of friends together to take a course. Richard became a regular visitor, coming to Austria twice a year, and Kate became one of his keenest students, earing his "approved trainer" certificate four years later. The Harmony Project brings together Kate's journalistic and horse training skills with the aim of showing that natural horsemanship is available and helpful to everyone, from the beginner rider to the professional.

Sample Excerpts (actual book includes photographic illustrations)

CHAPTER 1 : NOVEMBER
THE FIRST INKLING
November around Vienna can be a rather cheerless month. The romantic "goldener Oktober", with its soft orange-yellow light, its explosion of Autumn colour in the Vienna Woods, and its mellow, misty air with just has a hint of frost at dawn and dusk, is fading and November is often just grey. 2002 year was no exception. November arrived like a wet turnout rug * throwing a heavy, dank, soggy blanket over the valley. The sky was grey, the buildings looked grey, the people looked grey. Even the mare who arrived at the yard with her 6 month old foal on November 1st, was grey.
The grey mare was called "Shirly", a 5 year old Hungarian warmblood with a nice conformation, but a rather "switched off" expression. A strange name for a horse, to my mind, but some Austrians seem to like to give horses human names. I have even met a horse called "Kevin"! The filly foal was not grey. She was very dark bay, with a nearly black coat and just a touch of light hair around the muzzle to suggest that in summer she would probably turn deep mahogany bay, and one white hoof with just a tiny strip white hair above the coronet. She, too, was rather switched off to the humans * but very involved indeed with her mum, with particular interest in the milk-bar area!
As if reflecting the gloomy weather, the owner of the mare and foal promptly announced she was broke, and that the foal had to go. If she could sell it she would, if not she would give it away, and if she could not give it away, it would have to go to slaughter. As she had known she would be parting with the foal, she said, it did not have a proper name * it was just dubbed Zsutty * Hungarian for Thursday. I asked whether this was because she had been born on a Thursday * but no, apparently it was actually Friday. I did not pursue the point any further. Perhaps Friday in Hungarian is something unspeakable in German. Who knows.
Shirly and foal came off the trailer calmly, but with an air of authority, and spying the pile of hay we had prepared for them, purposefully towed the owner off into the box that was waiting for them, completely oblivious to the fact they had a small human attached to the ends of the lead ropes. They were in a world of their own * and it did not include humans.
There had been a mix up over the box they were meant to have, so I had to phone the yard owner, who was on holiday in England. She resolved the confusion and gave me the number of an acquaintance who might be interested in the foal. I did not pass it on. We have had 3 or 4 horses from this person through our stables and every one has either been a nervous wreck or had serious phobias about anything around its head. There had to be a better solution than that; I just could not think what.
Within a week, I had thought what. Here was a golden opportunity to take a foal that had had virtually no handling and put it through the Thompson training system so that it would never know anything else. This foal's behaviour and learning could illustrate how the instinct patterns are inborn and apply to ALL horses, wherever they are, whatever their lifestyle.
This foal could help show that a real understanding of equine behaviour, and the ability to use this in practical terms is something that is within the reach of every rider. All it takes is an open mind, a willingness to learn, a little determination and a lot of practice! Her development and training would be written up month by month, and posted in the Internet. This would make it accessible and user friendly, especially to younger riders, and it could be put together as a book, or series of books, later for permanent reference.
Concept found, I approached the foal's owner, who immediately agreed to formally hand her over to me for the princely sum of *10, which she at once donated back to the cause. I had a strong sense of déjà vu. I seem to be developing a habit of acquiring horses this way! (Even when a horse is effectively gifted, as in the case of Sunny and Harmony, it is best that a nominal amount should stand on the bill of sale, or it can potentially lead to legal complications later. If there is no "price", there can technically be a dispute over "ownership".)
Then, of course, the foal needed a proper name. "Harmony" came to mind and seemed ideal. It means the same in English and German, it fits the concept perfectly, and it is suitable name for a mare anyway.
A couple more days of boring details like finances and organisation * and we were ready to start on the fun bit - the rather grandiose idea of bringing Harmony's view of life to the world.
HARMONY'S VIEW AT 6 MONTHS OLD...
At 6 months, Harmony is just starting to get curious about the world around her, but is always quick to run back to mum's side if she is unsure of anything, pressing up tightly against her. The need to be close to other horses is her instinctive reaction to something that might be a threat, and this instinct will be there for life.
At this moment, Harmony has very little learned behaviour - she is a mass of instincts that nature has put there to give her the best chance of survival if she were living in the wild. A horse cannot wait until it has been caught by a lion to learn that lions are dangerous. Her instincts tell her that everything is a potential threat and should be treated as such until proved otherwise. Even then, things can change from one day to the next. Although these instincts will always be there, with careful training we can show her we understand her world and way of thinking, and that she can look to us for support and guidance in the same way she now runs to her mum's side.
Horses are herd animals, and flight animals. They feel secure when they are together, and if under threat, they run first and ask questions later. In the wild, a herd will spread out quite a bit while they are grazing and have quite large areas of personal space. This personal space forms a sort of "bubble" around each horse that they claim for their own, and unwelcome intruders are quickly shown where the boundaries of that bubble are. The size of this personal space usually reflects that horse's rank in the herd, so the lead mare will generally have the largest bubble, and the lowest ranking horses the smallest. (The herd stallion has the largest bubble of all, but this is a different kind of bubble that surrounds the whole herd and marks the boundary of the group.) However, if there is danger, and the herd prepares to flee, the individual bubbles quickly shrink to almost nothing and the whole herd bunches tightly together.
The reason for this bunching together is that most natural predators on the horse (the big cats etc.) have good close up vision, but poor long sight. If a lion is chasing a herd of galloping horses it finds it difficult to pick out one. The whole herd looks like a jumbled blur. However, if one horse is separated, the lion can easily pick it out, and that horse is likely to be on a one way trip to horse heaven! For this reason, nature has given horses a very strong drive to be in the herd and not to get separated. To survive you need to stick to the others and move with them - get separated or stand out, and you are dead.
HERD BEHAVIOUR AND THE DOMESTIC HORSE
Nature came up with this design around 5 million years ago, and had to make the instincts strong and general enough to cater for all sorts of eventualities. Man has only been on the horse scene for a few thousand years, so next time you are out riding and there is a rustle in the bushes or a lorry goes past, and your horse pushes tightly up to the next one, or when your horse does not want to leave the group - just remember, he is not stupid, stubborn or naughty, he is just trying to save his life! From his point of view this is the logical, intelligent thing to do - and if we think getting separated from, or leaving the herd is a good idea - we must be CRAZY!
We can start to overcome this instinct by winning the horse's trust and respect to the point that it treats us as sufficient companionship for it to be safe to leave the group. This means offering a calm leadership, just as the lead mare would do. Trying to get the horse that is stuck to the group to leave with anger or whipping is likely to make the problem worse. The more under threat the horse feels, the stronger the instinct to stick to his equine friends becomes. The human who cannot read these instincts labels this horse "naughty" or "stubborn". The true horse person knows this horse needs to be given the confidence to leave. It can not be terrorised into it.
HERD MOVEMENT
Once the herd has bunched together, this tight group of bodies has to be able to move at full speed together, without tripping up or falling over each other.
Watching Harmony and Shirly running and playing together in the paddock you can see the mechanism that allows this movement very clearly. Whether they are close side by side, or half the paddock apart, they can stop, turn, go faster or slower exactly together. This is the "herd brain" at work. A whole herd will move in the same way - all stopping, starting and turning together as if controlled by one brain.
If you get the chance to see a group of horses running free together - even if it is just on film - take the time to watch how the individuals blend into the movement, and how, even though they are bunched up, the herd hierarchy and personal space still applies, but in a condensed form. It really is "poetry in motion"!
FIRST TRAINING
Harmony is now taking short trips from mum's side to explore some of the fascinating items around the stables and paddocks. Buckets are holding particular appeal at the moment, along with bags, brushes and anything she can pick up in her mouth.
Like all horses, she explores her world on an "approach and retreat" principle - edging a little closer to the unknown object at each approach, then backing off, then approaching again. This again is instinctive behaviour. If the bucket or the ball should prove to be dangerous, she is always ready to run.
Fromour point of view, the first things she needs to learn are to wear, trust and respect the halter so she can be lead safely, and to pick up her feet so they can be cleaned and trimmed. When Harmony arrived she was already wearing a halter, but had not really accepted it, or learned to lead properly. So for her own safety and that of everyone around her, halter training has to come first.
HALTER TRAINING
The first consideration is that it is perfectly natural for a horse to be worried about a halter. Anything that restricts its movement in any way reduces its ability to flee, and is therefore potentially life threatening.
As humans, we know that if we can control the head, we have a fair bit of control over the horse. The horse knows that too - and the experience of anything clamping down on its head is terrifying. To take the fear out of the whole thing, I need to show Harmony that the halter is something pleasant that will give her support and guidance, not something I am going to use to hurt her or tie her down.
To get her to accept it properly, I used the system she uses herself - approach and retreat. She has already had one experience of rearing up against a halter and hurting her head - so she was worried about anything behind her ears. To overcome this, I started just stroking and massaging her neck, about half way up, then moving up a little, back down again, up a bit further and so on, until I could rub behind her ears. Each time she looked uncomfortable, I moved my hand back down again, then edged up again until she accepted it.
After a couple of days, I could handle all around her head without it bothering her in the slightest. Harmony is little now, but she is probably going to end up at about 16hh (165 cm). I do not want to be reaching over my head to put on her halter or bridle, so I am starting now to teach her to bring her head to me when I ask her to.
When I can touch her head all over, the next stage is to ask her to bend her head towards me. Standing on her left, I put my right hand lightly on her poll, and my left hand around her nose. Then I exert just a little pressure with my fingertips on the right side of her nose. At first she tried just to push my hand out of the way, but I left it there until her left eye just flicked towards me, and in that instant I released and stroked her. Her eye turning towards me is a sign she is "reaching" for me, and considering that I might hold the solution to the problem. She will then think about what she needs to do to get me to release the pressure. A couple more tries, and she starts tipping her head towards me, away from the pressure. I repeated the whole process on the other side, then left it for the day.
Harmony has learned a very important lesson that will apply to just about everything in her training. Move away from the pressure, and the pressure will release. It is her job to move away from the pressure, it is my responsibility to release it immediately so she understands when she has made the right move.
I apply the same technique of approach and retreat to getting the halter on. First I just put the nose band over her nose, accompanied with lots of stroking and gradually moving on to putting the tie strings over her head, then to fastening it. (If using a conventional halter, I'm careful to tip her ears FORWARD and slide the headpiece over them. This is far more comfortable for her than letting her ears get pushed back by the headpiece, then pulling them forward.)
After a couple of days she is tipping her head round to me to have the halter put on, and thoroughly enjoying all the stroking and petting that goes along with it! The halter is no longer a threat; it is something that comes with a nice secure feeling. As we progress, she learns to follow the feel on the halter rope, turning her head left and right, raising and lowering her head according to the direction of the pressure. Total training time - probably less than an hour, spread over 5 or 6 days.
If you have a horse that is difficult with the halter this same technique will work, even if the horse is much older. A horse that is properly halter trained, and respects and trusts the halter, is light in the hand and a pleasure to work with. A horse that ignores or disrepects the halter, and barges around pulling the handler along is both exhausting and dangerous. These few hours getting the initial halter training right are time well spent, whatever the horse's age or stage of training.

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