The Mane Event: Pedagogy between a trainer and a horse

10 years ago, my first principal at my first school in Surrey used to utter a proverb. The old adage "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink" was often spoken by him to many that he worked with. 

He used to finish it up with the question:

"....so how do you make the horse drink?” leaving me at a loss. 

He would shortly thereafter provide the answer: "Salt the oats."



For the longest time, I had an idea of what he was saying. Yet what he was doing was attempting to communicate an idea that required more depth than a simple proverb uttered could illustrate. 

I understood his saying to mean that as a teacher, one had to provide incentive for the student to want to learn. If that is the case, what then is the intrinsic or extrinsic motivator for that student? I have pondered the concept of what makes a person—a student--intrinsically motivated to want to want to learn.

Back then I had no sweet clue how to salt those oats.

The Mane Event made the depth of his statement clear to me.

The Mane Event  horse trade show was the first field trip for the M.Ed Heal program on Saturday October 26th. The show was essentially like any trade show for geeks of any discipline. In this case, the term 'geek' runs in conflict with who these folks really are: cowboys and cowgirls. 

Salt of the earth folk, for sure.

Being green to the whole horse-person subculture, it was pretty cool to see so many out to take in this event. Our purpose with SFU HEAL was to take in an exhibition called the trainer's challenge. The trainer's challenge was a judged competition that paired three horse trainer-cowboys up with a 3 two year old colts. All three trainers; Cayley Wilson of BC, Paul Clarkson of Australia, and Kerry Kuhn of Kansas; competed in the Trainer's Challenge exhibition to show off their master skills as horsemen. The colts were from the Nicola Valley/Quilchena ranch area of BC, near to where I grew up in Kamloops. The challenge consisted of the trainers attempting to train/break the colts over a three day period, each trainer taking a one hour session per day in a round pen. 

Just three hours over three days to train a colt? I would not know where to start. 

It was fascinating to see how a trainer who, by very nature of our species, obviously does not speak the horse's language, could use a variety of methods to gain the horses trust, build confidence in the horse, and essential get a very stubborn, untrained animal to do what he wanted of it in a short time frame. The challenge was an exhibition in improvisation, patience, experience, pressure and release, and teaching, among others.

What I was most intrigued with was how the trainers managed to manipulate the horses all through a series of reassuring touches, ramping up to more assertive signals established over the course of the session. For nearly all the sessions at the beginning, the horse would avoid the trainer in the round pen, running away from him. Through a series of approaches and retreats, the trainer was able to encourage the horse to approach him. Then after a series of gentle touches, the trainer was able to begin to develop a trusting relationship with the animal, one that was constantly reassured by the initial contact made by the trainer. In these cases, it was a simple, gentle rub on the nose, or variation of. The trainer would often return to that gesture in order to communicate a variety of things to the horse. That reassuring gesture repeated time and time again was the base of the relationship, and it began to represent many different ideas that the trainer wanted to communicate to the horse.

The rub on the head of the animal was used in a variety of different ways as if the trainer was trying to say: 

"Trust me"
"Good job"
"That's right--you are doing what I want"
"Calm down"
"Easy"

Every time the trainer used the rub, it was purposeful, a small tactic used to achieve a greater objective. In fact, many times the trainer would come around the backside of the horse. I was certain that the animal would kick him as he passed out of the horse's sight, but it never did. I did note that the reason the horse did not kick was perhaps due to the face that the trainer maintained touch contact with the horse from the rub on the nose, transition to a rub on its back, to keeping contact with animal as he passed behind the horse, thus, assuring the horse that everything was cool.

It became very clear that as the trust between the horse and trainer increased, the horse's confidence increased, along with the trainer's confidence in what the next challenge the horse would be able to take on next. In nearly all of the interactions between horse and trainer, the trainer engaged in non aggressive interaction with the animal. Any form of confrontation or aggression and the trainer would back right off.  In nearly all of the sessions, all trainers would give the horse time to process what was going on and what just happened with a few short moments of a break between training activities, and allow the horse to believe that what it just accomplished was the horse’s idea. Whether that was allowing the trainer to put a saddle on its back, allowing the trainer to get up on the saddle, allowing the trainer to place the bridal or bit over its own mouth and face, and allowing the trainer to see it cross over a blue tarp, the trainer had to give over to the horse so that the horse felt comfortable and in control--that it was the horses idea.

By the end it was apparent that training a horse, as these men have done countless times in their lives, is equal parts experience, different approaches, failure, game plans, relationship building, and improvisation. Also, there is clearly no set practical way to train a horse; there are many ways that show similarities, but all varieties have common threads:

The trainer does not try to control the horse.
The trainer goes with the flow, and uses what the horse gives, rather than imposing his will on the horse.
The trainer adjusts to the horse's temperament.
The trainer does not use punitive measures or corporal punishment tactics in the training of the horse. 
The trainer constantly reacts to the horse’s body language.
The trainer used patience in all methods in order to develop trust. 

In all situations in the trainers challenge, it appeared that the trainer was attempting to find a balance of power and comfort between himself and the horse.

Case and point: in session two, the trainer needed the horse to be comfortable with a lasso being swung. The trainer used the lasso, touched the lasso to the horses body, and inevitable developed a level of comforts for the horse with the lasso. The lasso became a tool and signal for the horse. Tapping the lasso on the horse communicated the horse should move. When the horse moved, the trainer would stop using the lasso. In order to get the horse moving again, the trainer would then tap the lasso, along with a gentle spur of the horse under the ribs with his boot.

The third session of the day was very enlightening. The trainer's practice of an increase in pressure on the horse, then release, was a very interesting concept. In doing so, the trainer developed a foundation with the horse and was able to work on areas of weakness. In essence, the trainer was playing to the strengths of the horse then tackling the areas the trainer assessed to be weak.

The methods that the trainers were using seem transferable over to pedagogical interaction between a human teacher and student in many ways. I even attempted to try some of the horse training methods on my six year old son who refused to clean up after himself that afternoon. I gave him the option of pitching in with the family and taking part in cleaning up the pumpkin carving session, or taking some time out to play alone in his room, all the while speaking softly and reassuringly rubbing his back as I spoke to him. He chose his room, which allowed the rest of the family to work without distraction. I let him think that it was his idea to play in his room, defining the boundaries of what he could and could not do. He could clean up, or he could play alone. The choice was his. He chose what he wanted to do.

I had two objectives myself: have him clean up, or have him out of the equation. I did not try to impose my will on him, reminding him that he chose to play when he came out of the room too early. It seemed to work, and it was all in my approach to the situation. 

I am reminded of a difficult student at school: one who has not shown a tremendous amount of talent or skill in my classroom drama program, who does not put in the best effort, who is very social and disruptive to the learning process. My approach to him this year has been different than in previous years. 

I have backed off of his confrontational personality. I have gone with what he gives me, encouraging him any chance that I get. I would classify this year's as a relationship building year with a student who is much like the two year old colt. Slowly I am seeing his confidence in my student increase, and his skills improve as time passes. I show him the reassurance that he requires, and as he becomes more comfortable in his skills and abilities. It has been a great relationship that we are building, all due to not him changing much, but my approach to him and how I interact with him changing. 

Regarding my principal's original statement, it is clear to me now. 

Students need to engage in and take ownership of their learning. They need to feel in control of what they are learning, as well as in control of the situation that they are in, all the while working to the end goal of the instructor. That ownership is a significant part of making education meaningful for the learner, and crucial to inspiring passionate and lifelong learning. In doing so, the teacher makes themselves obsolete, as students take ownership of their own learning. The trainer will not always be with the horses that he or she leads through training. The horse needs to become independent and able to work as it is intended to do, without the trainer at hand.

That independence is something that all teachers strive for, for all of their students. In order to get there, strong, sound positive reinforcement (pedagogy) is the base to work from.