Oscar, an LBE in the Parelli system
When I was a school teacher, it was drummed into us to always remember that no two students learn exactly the same way. Some would be primarily auditory learners, some visual, some kinaesthetic, and so on. Planning lessons to suit a range of students’ learning styles is always in the back of a teacher’s mind. Yet when it comes to our horses, I think many of us fall into habits of communicating with our horses the same way. For example, if I put pressure here, you should respond this way. If I try to worm you this way, it should work, because that’s how I’ve wormed all my horses. If I want you to pick up your foot, I only have to pinch here and you should respond quickly.
But what if our horse doesn’t understand us? And what if we don’t understand our horse? And if we understood a horse’s learning style and personality (or ‘horsenality’ as Parelli calls it), would it help us get along better with our equine partners?
Sadly, a lot of abuse, neglect and ‘throwing away’ of horses occurs because the person involved simply doesn’t have the knowledge or insight into why the horse is behaving as he is. Fortunately, there are now systems that can help us navigate through perceived horse problems to a place of mutual respect.
Just as there a variety of ways to analyse your own personality, there are also several systems available to look at your horse’s personality and, consequently, the way he sees and understands the world, the way he tries to communicate with you and the way he learns.
Pat Parelli says that horses predominantly fall into one of four horsenalities: Left Brain Extrovert, Left Brain Introvert, Right Brain Extrovert and Right Brain Introvert. The Extroverts tend to have ‘more go than whoa’ whereas the Introverts tend to have ‘more whoa than go’. The right-brained horses tend to be more submissive and fearful, whereas the left-brained horses tend to be more dominant and confident. (See www.parellinaturalhorsetraining.com for more information.)
Jo McInnes created a horse and owner personality decoder that groups horses into four basic ‘colours’: Blue, Red, Yellow and Purple. Blue horses are quick learners and expressive horses that like to play. Repetition drives them mad. Red horses are sensitive and emotional and are very willing as they like to avoid pressure. They can also be fearful and have a tendency to worry. Yellow horses internalise feelings until they boil over. Trust is very important to these horses. And Purple horses are what are generally known as a ‘bombproof’ horse, unflappable and reliable. But this also means they can be defiant and stubborn. (See www.holisticequitation.com.au for more information.)
And Madalyn Ward (DVM) groups horses into five elements, based on the Traditional Chinese Medicine approach of constitutional typing: fire, earth, water, wood and metal. She says that Fire horses love to be the centre of attention and make the perfect show horse. Wood horses are the ultimate competitors and must be kept active or will begin bad habits like kicking or biting. Earth horses are solid citizens that love respect and food and can be the dependable lesson horse. The Metal horse is a hard worker who can take big and tough demands — think, hard-working stock horse. The Water horse can be a wonderful show horse, performing well in tasks that require animation and excitement, but can be frightened easily and require calm, steady riders to help them through. (See www.holistichorsekeeping.com for more information.)
Understanding your horse’s base personality and emotional and intellectual processes can help you both to develop a stronger connection and respect for each other. We are lucky to be living in a time in which we have such a large array of resources for us to take advantage of, and how much more improved a horse’s life can be with such information at our fingertips.
Joanne Schoenwald, President
