Post by Calaminty Jane on Feb 12, 2009 13:09:38 GMT -5
Should I give my horse treats??
Horses are no different than the rest of us: they love treats! And we love giving them! We love to watch our horse munch contentedly on a gift given out of the goodness of our hearts. Or is it?
Who out there hasn’t given their horse a carrot before tacking up and prayed, deep down, that they would be good that day with no tantrums or spooks or anything that could get you hurt?
Who out there hasn’t come in from an exhilarating ride where their horse was as good as gold
and couldn’t wait to give them an extra helping of grain or sweet feed or something to let them
know how grateful they were? And who out there hasn’t coaxed (or at least tried to coax)
their horse into a trailer or out of a pasture with carrots? It is so natural for us to use food as a bribe or reward for positive behavior (Pavlov certainly made it work for him!). It’s just our nature.
So, too, is it natural for our dogs. They operate with a hardwired pack mentality where the
“boss dog” literally “brings home the bacon” and then “shares the wealth” with their underlings who are, in turn, devoted and respectful for their well-being being attended to by one so powerful.
The giving of treats (on top of food) encourages even more adoration, and they do everything
they can to please the boss dog, in hopes of more and better treats! Ah, life in the balance.
Horses, on the other hand, will bite the hand that feeds them. It is highly unnatural for a horse to
associate food with relationships. It’s just food for goodness sake. What’s the big deal?
So yes, they will always take a treat, and relish every morsel of it, but many times you will find that hand-feeding horses can unleash a quite unbecoming Mr. Hyde personality. When we introduce such a concept as treats into their reality, it plain makes no sense to them, so they can become very single-minded, even obsessive, about it – i.e. pushy, mouthy, intrusive, uppity,
demanding, distracted, and high-strung. A nuisance at best, a menace at worst. So why is this? In their natural state, horses fend for themselves for their food and find it on the ground all around them. Even domesticated herds, where horses have learned to rely on humans for food, will squabble over whose hay is whose according to hierarchy, and maybe share their food with a friend. But you’ll never see the alpha horse “sharing the wealth” and giving her/his chosen flake of hay to those less fortunate in the pecking order. Not a chance. Dependency has no place in a herd mentality. “Mine! All mine!” is more the mantra for a horse. So the problem with treats and horses is that they don’t always work. A horse, when they feel like it, will “take the bait” of a treat. But, when they don’t feel like it, they will give you a withering look as if to say: “You’ve got to be kidding. Do I look like a fool to you?” And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just the way they are. And we’re just the way we are. A problem only develops if we mistakenly project the way we are onto the way they are. It just won’t work. As ultra-aware and astute as your horse is (their survival depends on it), he will sniff out a trick disguised as a treat in a heartbeat (we’ve all seen horses reach in and nab a treat and, just as quickly, duck away to avoid being haltered). So, if you have nothing better to offer them than a treat, they know it, and, well, okay, they’ll take it. But they’re not impressed. And we’re really missing the point if we mistakenly associate the giving of treats with their liking us, respecting us, or even, heaven forbid, loving us. The best thing you do can for your relationship with your horse is to exchange the bribe for something that really matters to him: communication skills. Your taking the time to learn his language and then discover how to ask him, politely and courteously, to come with you (think the kind of “catch” it takes to catch a ball – i.e. draw back and absorb), will completely take the need for mints out of the picture. When your horse realizes that the two of you can carry on an interesting and mutually respectful dialogue with each other, body to body, all of the time; when he can count on you to be the one that makes him feel safe and content and understood, he can begin to genuinely like you… for you. And I think that’s what really matters most to us all.
Carol
ourlifeonthefarm.blogspot.com/
Horses are no different than the rest of us: they love treats! And we love giving them! We love to watch our horse munch contentedly on a gift given out of the goodness of our hearts. Or is it?
Who out there hasn’t given their horse a carrot before tacking up and prayed, deep down, that they would be good that day with no tantrums or spooks or anything that could get you hurt?
Who out there hasn’t come in from an exhilarating ride where their horse was as good as gold
and couldn’t wait to give them an extra helping of grain or sweet feed or something to let them
know how grateful they were? And who out there hasn’t coaxed (or at least tried to coax)
their horse into a trailer or out of a pasture with carrots? It is so natural for us to use food as a bribe or reward for positive behavior (Pavlov certainly made it work for him!). It’s just our nature.
So, too, is it natural for our dogs. They operate with a hardwired pack mentality where the
“boss dog” literally “brings home the bacon” and then “shares the wealth” with their underlings who are, in turn, devoted and respectful for their well-being being attended to by one so powerful.
The giving of treats (on top of food) encourages even more adoration, and they do everything
they can to please the boss dog, in hopes of more and better treats! Ah, life in the balance.
Horses, on the other hand, will bite the hand that feeds them. It is highly unnatural for a horse to
associate food with relationships. It’s just food for goodness sake. What’s the big deal?
So yes, they will always take a treat, and relish every morsel of it, but many times you will find that hand-feeding horses can unleash a quite unbecoming Mr. Hyde personality. When we introduce such a concept as treats into their reality, it plain makes no sense to them, so they can become very single-minded, even obsessive, about it – i.e. pushy, mouthy, intrusive, uppity,
demanding, distracted, and high-strung. A nuisance at best, a menace at worst. So why is this? In their natural state, horses fend for themselves for their food and find it on the ground all around them. Even domesticated herds, where horses have learned to rely on humans for food, will squabble over whose hay is whose according to hierarchy, and maybe share their food with a friend. But you’ll never see the alpha horse “sharing the wealth” and giving her/his chosen flake of hay to those less fortunate in the pecking order. Not a chance. Dependency has no place in a herd mentality. “Mine! All mine!” is more the mantra for a horse. So the problem with treats and horses is that they don’t always work. A horse, when they feel like it, will “take the bait” of a treat. But, when they don’t feel like it, they will give you a withering look as if to say: “You’ve got to be kidding. Do I look like a fool to you?” And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just the way they are. And we’re just the way we are. A problem only develops if we mistakenly project the way we are onto the way they are. It just won’t work. As ultra-aware and astute as your horse is (their survival depends on it), he will sniff out a trick disguised as a treat in a heartbeat (we’ve all seen horses reach in and nab a treat and, just as quickly, duck away to avoid being haltered). So, if you have nothing better to offer them than a treat, they know it, and, well, okay, they’ll take it. But they’re not impressed. And we’re really missing the point if we mistakenly associate the giving of treats with their liking us, respecting us, or even, heaven forbid, loving us. The best thing you do can for your relationship with your horse is to exchange the bribe for something that really matters to him: communication skills. Your taking the time to learn his language and then discover how to ask him, politely and courteously, to come with you (think the kind of “catch” it takes to catch a ball – i.e. draw back and absorb), will completely take the need for mints out of the picture. When your horse realizes that the two of you can carry on an interesting and mutually respectful dialogue with each other, body to body, all of the time; when he can count on you to be the one that makes him feel safe and content and understood, he can begin to genuinely like you… for you. And I think that’s what really matters most to us all.
Carol
ourlifeonthefarm.blogspot.com/