Friday, March 8, 2013

Riding An Alpha Horse

And Why I Appreciate My Horse's Place In The Pecking Order

Somehow, I managed to squeeze in a short ride yesterday between work, dinner and an evening meeting.  I have been thinking a lot lately about how much I appreciate my horse.  He is right for me in so many ways, from his size to his personality and work ethic.  Yesterday, I thought of another reason why I love my horse: he is an alpha.

Harley is a leader of other horses.  Since I have owned him, he has gone from a somewhat delinquent horse who did not understand the basic physical cues of his paddock mates to a master of the equine language.  I have written a memoir documenting my observations of his transformation:

A Girl's Horse Learns the Horse Language


Even though my horse only has one paddock mate, he is very clearly the one in charge.  Harley is always first at the gate for meals and he gets first shot at the hay and water.  He can sniff his paddock mate freely and and will greet him when they have been apart.  He may choose to share piles of hay with his friend or chase him from a more desirable pile.  He can move his friend around the paddock with subtle gestures and corrects any overstepping of boundaries with an escalated response.  Sometimes he stands watch while his friend sleeps on the ground.  In addition to this, he will assert himself with other horses if necessary.  For example:

Harley will defend himself.  Harley is a great trail horse, but if the rider behind him allows his horse to repeatedly run up Harley's butt, he will kick the offending horse.  Interestingly, he has only had to do this twice and both horses were big-chested Fjords with poor brakes.  They each backed-off after my horse delivered his swift justice.  Harley also loves to lead on the trail (Most other horses are too slow for him, anyway.)

Harley will protect a timid horse.  I observed this interesting behavior, again, on the trail.  We used to ride with a nice paint horse that was well-matched with my horse in pace, but this horse had a nervous personality.  He seemed to get comfort from being in contact with Harley's backside when we were standing at a halt.  Unlike Harley's corrective response with pushy horses, my horse allowed the paint to rest his face against his hip.  He never made an attempt to correct this horse and showed no resentment toward him.  The support he was lending the nervous paint, became very clear on a fateful trail ride when a women's horse bolted dangerously through the woods and she fell off face-first.  She suffered some minor injuries and was extremely shaken up, which required that the entire group stop and wait.  Her horse was high-strung and nervous.  Harley remained stoic, almost indifferent to the wacky horse.  His demeanor was not influenced at all, which put me at ease (while I silently vowed never to ride with a wacky horse/rider combination again).  The nervous paint buried his face in my horse's flank for the entire time that we had to wait.  His rider was very grateful for this, as she felt must safer knowing that her horse was glued, almost literally, to mine.

Harley does not tolerate rudeness from other horses.  There have been a couple instances where my horse was grazing outside his paddock and another horse (in a paddock) said or did something rude.  The rude thing was either sniffing Harley without permission or saying something "explicit" in horse, which I did not understand and could not detect at the time.  In both cases, Harley sent one of his hind feet toward the face of the offending horse with lightning speed.  If you ever see how quickly horses can deliver a kick, you will realize how lucky we are that they are rarely aggressive toward humans.  One of these kicks sent the top fence board flying.  He drove it right off the nails without splitting the board.  In each situation, his muzzle never left the grass and he never missed a mouthful.  His hoof did not make contact with the rude horse, but the horse still backed away and left Harley to enjoy his grazing.

Harley knows when to ignore other horses.  I find this behavior to be particularly interesting.  There is one horse on the farm who is also an alpha of sorts.  He is much younger than Harley and has a very different style.  He can be pretty aggressive toward his paddock mates if they fall out of line and he has much less subtle gestures and tactics.  I kind of consider him a "poser".  I think that if he and Harley ever went head-to-head, my horse would be the victor, but I am NOT interested in testing this theory.  If I walk my horse by this horse's stall, the horse will bare his teeth and pin his ears.  He makes horrible dinosaur faces at Harley and on occasion kicks his stall door.  These gestures are very clearly directed at my horse, although they have never been paddock mates and rarely interact.  I expect my horse to retaliate against this very rude horse behavior, but Harley never does.  His response is to completely and utterly ignore the young horse.  He doesn't even flick an ear in the angry horse's direction and sometimes has a noticeably sweet look on his face.  It is difficult for me to tell exactly what is going on here.  Is my horse purposely insulting the aggressive horse by not responding to him and sending the message that his assertions are not important or is he so uninterested in the young horse's advances that they literally do not register?  This behavior is so intriguing and has led me to believe that the young horse is a "false alpha" attempting in vain to fool Harley into submission or fear.

So what do these things have to do with riding an alpha horse?  Based on my observations and experiences with my horse, I have concluded that his alpha status contributes to his reliability under saddle.  He is not upset by other horses who are upset and he does not imitate the behavior of other horses.  When horses in the paddock immediately adjacent to the riding ring play and run, sometimes at a dead gallop, he carries on with our ride, as if they are not there exploding with energy.  He ignored a fiery mare on the Turkey Trot a few years ago, who was so unpredictable that she reared several times in the company of strangers (As an aside, I think her helmet-less rider should not have brought her to a public trail ride.).  Harley considers himself the one who gives direction, not the one who receives it, at least as far as other horses are concerned, and I see this as an asset in a riding horse.

Despite his alpha status, my horse is far from dominant or disobedient towards humans.  Harley likes taking direction from me and wants to communicate.  He is not timid, nervous, or dull (passive aggressive) under saddle, which I think a horse lower in the pecking order may be.  The only downside to his alpha status that I can think of is that he will anticipate movements (but I can even use this to my advantage).  He is also opinionated and will object if I "do it wrong".  For example, if I put my legs too far back when traveling forward he may stop ("You're blocking me.") and if use too much leg in asking for the canter he will leap or bound into the gait ("Don't shout at me!") to remind me to whisper my aids.  On the upside, he seems to know what I am thinking and will often begin moving sideways, changing gear, or changing his bend before I physically change my aids.  I attribute these qualities to the confidence and free-thinking that is required of the lead horse.

17 comments:

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    1. He is my dream horse. I had to wait for him for 24 years, because I have wanted a horse since age 3 and I was not able to make that happen until I was 27. :)

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  2. Interesting thoughts! Watching them interact is always fascinating, and I like the fact that you don't attribute human motivations to the horses.

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    1. Thanks. I try not to. I understand that we as humans can have similar emotions and responses, but I like that they are also different from us.

      I love my horse and want him to love me, but when he nickers and it is close to dinnertime, well, I know what he is really nickering about! (FOOD)

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  3. Harley has a distinctive personality for sure. I think it's wonderful when a horse person like yourself is so in tune to their horse. I love reading about horse's personalities and love watching them interact with other horses. It's better than TV and we learn so much.

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    1. Thank you so much Grey Horse Matters.

      I do love watching them, too. My understanding and interpretation has changed greatly over the years, yet I still feel like I pick up on new things. They are complex, social animals.

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  4. I really enjoyed reading this- you have brilliant insight into Harley's personality and work with him so well.

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  5. So interesting! Now you've really got me wondering, because Cash does much of what you describe under saddle, but he is at the absolute bottom of the pecking order and always has been.

    On trail rides, he almost has to be in front, but he doesn't like another horse coming up behind him. However, he's the calm, dependable one when it comes to dogs, bikes, snakes, etc. Other horses running around like lunatics don't bother him.

    Under saddle, he anticipates your every move. He's always offering things that he thinks might be right. "Ooh, we're going across the diagonal, would you like an extended trot?" A turn of your head, hips, and shoulders and you'll be on a 15 meter circle, no reins required. Any shift in weight or position elicits some sort of response - he's constantly trying to do what you want, even if he's not sure what it might be.

    I wonder if the under saddle part is less of a dominance thing and more of a sensitivity thing? It seems that Cash and Harley would ride similarly even though I'm sure Harley would kick Cash's butt in the field. SO fascinating to see how our horses are similar yet so different!

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    1. Wow, that is interesting. I do not see Harley's alpha status as dominance towards people. I have come across low-pecking-order horses that were dominant towards people. I think this was out of insecurity or passive aggressiveness. I have also met low-pecking-order horses that were nervous nillies and had to be reassured constantly. You could see the worry on their faces. One mare I used to ride was the alpha mare and was very easy for people to handle, BUT she did not have Harley's work ethic. She was sensitive though and would kick out if pinched by too much leg. And of course I have met alphas that were nasty to people, too.

      I agree that Cash and Harley have a lot in common, especially the mind-reading and willing work ethic. Sensitivity must be a parallel trait, not dependent upon social status. I was surprised to read that Cash is not upset by other horses or dogs/snakes/etc. That just shows complex these creatures are. Of course the possibility is that he was getting his confidence from you. :)

      Cash could/can jump Harley under the table, for sure!

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  6. That was a cool post and I really liked your insight. As humans we have a natural tendency to humanize our horses (all animals) but you did not. I think knowing that about your horse, being able to see who he is as a horse, is the basis of the strong relationship that the two of you have.

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    1. Thank you for your wonderful compliment!

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  7. I love this post! I ride an alpha horse too, and sometimes it makes me anxious when he tells other horses to back off, or that he'll push the others off the hay.

    You reminded me that he has taught ME how to be more assertive. Also, after reading this, I noticed how gentle he is with his pasture-mate. Sunny protects him.

    Anyway, thanks again for your insights.

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    1. And thanks for your comment!

      I agree that horses can teach us a great many things, whether it be by demonstration or by being our mirror. I think it is sweet that a horse can be in charge, but still be kind to his friend like your horse, Sunny, and his pasture-mate.

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  8. I too really enjoyed this post! I think I could sit forever and just observe animal bahavior, it is truly fascinating for me. I can only speak about my observations with Fred for now, but he is so far from alpha that I almost feel sorry for him. The few times that I have taken him to an "organized" small dog play date, he shuts down, it's as if he really needs to know who is in charge and nobody really takes that initiative. He ends up mostly staying on the perimeter of all the activity, drooling and unsure of himself. I wrote about it a while back and admittedly made light of it, but the truth is, it breaks my heart that he doesn't know how to play with others. I can tell he wants to, he's just not sure how to get it started. I think it is a sensory overload for him. I know I should have socialized him more when he was younger, there's no doubt about that. Now that he's 5, I'm not sure if should continue to press the issue.
    Any way, I didn't mean to go on like that.
    I think Harley is just so wonderful and the relationship that you both have is so pure. Your understanding of him has really turned him into the wonderful boy that he is. I am his #1 fan.

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    1. I can picture cute, little Fred fretting at his doggie play date. It must be tough for dogs to learn their own language when many of them are the sole dog of the household. Could he start out by just playing with one dog?

      Thanks for your lovely compliments!

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  9. Fascinating. Yes, imagine if horses ever found out we are the weaker beings, unfit to be leader ... ;P My Oberon is very confident, not the leader, but he is the leaders best buddy and he gets to share his food. Is that a brown noser? ha

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