Are you your horse's alpha or partner?

April 9, 8:45 AMClicker Training ExaminerEve Alexander

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Clicker Training Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Liz and April enjoy a happy partnership.

If you’ve spent any amount of time involved in conventional training, you’ve probably been told to become ‘the alpha leader’ to your horse. People who observed horses in a herd noticed one horse who would boss around the other horses. The horses seemed to respect the authority of the ‘alpha’, moving out of the way whenever he or she moved in. Therefore, conventional trainers presumed humans must take the role of the alpha.

When horseman and author Mark Rashid observed horses in the herd, he also noted the so-called alpha horse – “it’s the horse that dominates through fear and intimidation, controlling the other horses by kicking, biting and charging.” While the other horses moved away from the bully, Mark realized they did not respect the bully, and did not consider him to be their leader.

Mark documented what he calls ‘the passive leader’ in the herd. This is “a horse that leads by example, not force. A horse that is extremely dependable and confident, one that the vast majority of horses will not only willingly choose to follow, but they actually seek out.”

Think about the people you work with or go to school with. Do you have teachers or bosses who are always looking for fault and then seem to delight in humiliating the person who made the mistake, who have bad tempers and whose anger seems capricious? Do you have a teacher or supervisor who is kind and helpful, who seems to want everyone to succeed, an even-tempered person you genuinely admire and respect?

If you think about bullies in human terms, people who are bullies become that way to hide the fact that they actually have poor self-esteem. When they bully someone else it makes them feel strong and powerful, but it’s not a lasting feeling like confidence, which is why they have to keep up the bullying behavior to make themselves feel good.

This is the difference between conventional training’s ‘alpha horse’ and Mark Rashid’s ‘passive leader’. Why on earth would you want to emulate the bully horse instead of the truly inspiring horse? Do you want your horse to cringe from your touch or to seek it?

Pat Parelli describes his partnership with his horses as 51%-49%. That’s almost equal, and it makes sense since humans have brought horses into our world, that we should take responsibility for helping to guide the horse through it. However, if Pat were lost in the woods, he would give his horse the 51% lead role because he trusts the horse to make better decisions than he can in the wilderness.

Have a question? Send it to eve@tricknclick.com