Reading the Eyes

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When I first got back into horses several years ago, I remember learning how to train horses.  One evening my teacher and I were working with a green* pony on some groundwork exercises. I remember her saying, “Do you see the change in the eyes?  When the eyes soften, we stop the exercise.”

I’m looking at this pony’s eyes as we’re doing the exercise.  They were big and dark, and I remember thinking, “Ok, I see the eyes, but I don’t see the change.”  This was one of my very first lessons in training horses, and at the time, it was too subtle for me to recognize.

Today, after years of experience, I see the change.  In rehabbing old horses, often times they come with distant, withdrawn eyes.  Healthy horses are curious by nature, and when you look at their eyes they are engaged.  Sometimes you will hear people describe curious eyes as being bright.  My long-term goal in rehabbing old horses, is for them to have bright curious eyes and engaged with life.

Practice observing horses’ eyes.  Are their eyes drawing you in, or is there a wall between you and them?  The eyes can tell you a lot about a horse before you ever touch them.

Today, as I rehab old horses, I get to see the change in their eyes from withdrawn and distant to bright and curious.  It doesn’t happen overnight, but given the right environment, diet and exercise, it will happen.  And in a senior horse who has given years of service to humans, it’s wonderful to see them come back to life.

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Thunder’s eyes in his first year of rehab.

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Thunder’s eyes after three years of rehab.

*green means a horse who has just started training

Connection Without Touching

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The second senior horse I took in, Thunder, did not want to be touched or groomed when he first came.  He had just retired from eight years as a therapy horse, and I think he was done with being touched.

Once a week I brushed him just to check his coat.  Other than that, I didn’t touch him.  To the naked eye, you would think that I didn’t love Thunder.  But the opposite was true.  I cared so much about his long-term well-being that I respected his current need not to be touched.  I figured eventually he would touch me, rather than me touch him.

One morning after I had finished feeding all the horses, I realized I was tired and really wanted to take a nap.  I was about to drive home to do that when I remembered I had a foam camping mat in the trunk of my car.  It was a beautiful day, and I saw Thunder taking a nap under the trees.  I got my foam mat, and headed to the same grove of trees.

So as not to inadvertently put any pressure on Thunder, I  kept my distance and ignored him as I walked by to find a tree off the beaten path for my nap.  As I set up my mat, Thunder left his own napping spot and started walking toward me.  I continued to ignore him, curious to see what he had in mind without any interference from me.  To my surprise, he stopped 15 feet away (10-15 feet is a horse’s sense of personal space).  Facing me, he cocked a hind leg in relaxation and took a nap.

I was honored.

He didn’t want to be touched, but he did want connection.  For months he taught me about all the communication that goes on among horses before they ever physically touch each other.  It was a whole new experience.  Then it dawned on me, this horse that didn’t want to be touched was sharing something far more important with me: his experience of his world.

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Thunder in his grove of trees.

 

Nutrition and Vet Bills

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Nutrition is the cornerstone of rehabbing a senior horse.  Without proper nutrition, all the other work you may do will not be nearly as effective.

Several years ago, I started rehabbing senior horses with one horse who was a hard keeper.  My intention was to bring about a fully alive, thriving senior horse.  I started with evaluating his diet.

I decided to feed him the highest quality hay I could find, and not skimp.  Yes, it was more expensive, but I wanted to give him the best diet possible, so I might just have a chance at improving his health and well-being in his golden years.

That first year I owned him, I had $1000 in vet bills.  I still stuck with my plan of feeding him the best diet possible, with the cornerstone being high quality eastern Washington hay and a mineral supplement to balance the nutritional profile of the hay.  Six years later, I haven’t had any vet bills since that first year, other than routine maintenance.  My horse feels great, is thriving, and is going on 33 years old.  I couldn’t ask for anything more.

The better food you feed your horse, the better your horse can maintain itself and the lower the vet bills will be.  I figure I’m going to spend money somewhere.  I’d rather have it be on high quality hay.

Curing the Cribbing Horse – Clue #5

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After our first trip to eastern Washington the previous summer, my horse, Chaco and I visited the same place again a year later.  This time I had learned a new way to trim his feet that did not cause him pain.  I was looking forward to two weeks of no cribbing.

A few days into our trip he started cribbing.   I hadn’t trimmed his feet, so I knew that wasn’t the cause, but two days earlier we had opened the gate to another field.  I asked the owner, what was growing in that field.  The answer was some clover.  I later learned that clover can be high in starch (so can grain), and that causes him to crib.

That same summer the local vet had a record number of founders in horses.  For whatever reason with the weather and the plants, horses were foundering and my horse was cribbing.

Clue #5 – Starch causes Chaco to crib.

Stress in Horses

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We hear about the harmful effects of long-term stress in people.  We often hear of ways to reduce stress in our lives.  Stress management in people is a fairly common topic.

What about horses?  Do horses experience long-term stress like people do?  If so, what are the long-term effects on their body?

Wild horse researcher, Mary Ann Simonds, wrote a book about stress management in horses.  Unfortunately, it is only available in German.  She said the Germans were more receptive to the topic than the English speaking world.

Equine nutritionist, Juliet Getty, PhD, in her book, Equine Cushings Disease – Nutritional Management, writes about stress and its relationship to cushings.  The following excerpt is a fascinating look at stress inside the horse’s physical body:

http://gettyequinenutrition.biz/TeleSeminars/TeleseminarBooks/ExcerptCushings.htm

Stress is a normal part of being alive, whether horse or human.  However, a long-term chronic stress state can cause damage to the physical body.

In my work of rehabbing old horses, I see the effects of long-term chronic stress when a horse first comes to me.  The good news is simple measures can be taken to reverse the downward spiral of diminishing health.  Given the right environment, nutrition, exercise and emotional/mental support, senior horses can thrive in their golden years.  What an inspiring process to witness.

My first horse the day I picked him up. 26 years old.
My first horse the day I picked him up. 26 years old.
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Same horse six years later. Age 32.

 

 

Curing the Cribbing Horse – Clue #5

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The following summer my horse, Chaco, and I, took another trip to the same place in eastern Washington.  (See earlier post for the first part of this story).   This time I had learned a new way to trim his feet that did not cause him pain.  I was looking forward to two weeks of no cribbing.

A few days into our trip he started cribbing.   I hadn’t trimmed his feet, so I knew that wasn’t the cause, but two days earlier we had opened the gate to another field.  I asked the owner, what was growing in that field.  The answer was some clover.  I later learned that clover can be high in starch (so can grain), and that causes him to crib.

That same summer the local vet had a record number of founders in horses.  For whatever reason with the weather and the plants, horses were foundering and my horse was cribbing.

Clue #5 – Starch causes Chaco to crib.

Curing the Cribbing Horse – Clue #4

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My first summer of horse ownership, I took my horse, Chaco, to eastern Washington for vacation.  His home for those two weeks was a 45-acre sagebrush hillside and 90 degree heat with his pasture mate.  The first morning we were there I took him for a walk just as the sun came up at 6:30 a.m.  I let him out to the end of the 15-foot lead rope, and he picked up a trot and threw his front legs out in joy.  His eyes and ears were alert, and his expression exuded curiosity.SANYO DIGITAL CAMERA

It was great to see him so happy.  I had owned him for almost a year, and all my hard work of changing his environment, his diet and exercise was paying off.  He still cribbed, although it was less than when he first came.  In eastern Washington several days went by when I realized he hadn’t cribbed.  Eleven days into our vacation he still hadn’t cribbed at all.  In the several years I had known him, that had never happened.  I was secretly excited that maybe cribbing could become a thing of the past.  Then the eleventh day came, and I trimmed his feet.  That night, I could hear him crib all night long.

The next morning I knew my trim had caused him pain, and he cribbed to relieve it.  Nothing else had changed in his diet or environment.  When I saw him walk, he was now tender-footed.  I put two and two together and reality stared me in the face:  he cribs to relieve pain.

Clue #4 – Pain causes Chaco to crib.

Hair Coat Color and Nutrition

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100_0642Have you ever seen a black horse with reddish colored hairs in its mane or tail?  Or how about a black horse with areas in its coat where instead of black, it is faded and brown?  What’s going on?

Typically, these coat color changes are associated with nutritional deficiencies.  A healthy coat on a black horse will be all black with no “faded” areas.

The picture on the right is an example of fading in a black coat.  Also notice the reddish hairs in the tail.  If I see this in a horse, I want to take a close look at the diet to make sure the horse is getting all the nutrients it needs.  (Sometimes the horse is being fed a nutritionally balanced diet, but another problem is going on and the body can’t absorb all the nutrients).

As long as a body is alive it wants to heal itself.  Proper nutrition supports the body in this endeavor.  When a horse lacks good nutrition the body will use whatever nutrients it does have where it is most needed for its survival.  The coat is the last place the body will spend nutrients.  A really healthy horse has enough nutrients to go around to maintain a spectacular coat as well.

Senior horses can thrive in their golden years, but it requires a good diet.  Taking a nutrition class or consulting an equine nutritionist is well worth the effort.  If you are short on time, Platinum Performance offers quality supplements.  They have an equine nutritionist on staff and advisors to answer your questions.    Your horse will thank you, and you will have more wonderful years to spend with your horse.

Petting Animals

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I go for regular walks through the country neighborhood with my horses.  A few times a year we cross paths with a young boy who lives nearby.  He’s fascinated by my horse, Chaco, and wants to pet him.  One particular afternoon I suggest that he approach Chaco at his shoulder, but don’t look directly in his eyes.  (A straight on approach is the move a predator would make.  Prey animals, like horses, feel safer with a less direct approach).  Instead come up alongside him with your eyes looking past him, then see if you can pet his shoulder.

The boy reached out his hand with his eyes averted, and in his exuberance, pet Chaco with short, quick strokes.  I watched Chaco’s eyes, and they were big and held open.  They indicated stress to me.  He was tolerating being touched.

I suggested to the boy to pet slower.  Way slower.  As best as a little boy can, he pet Chaco with his version of slower, which was still fairly quick, and Chaco’s eyes stayed big.  I then suggested he pet Chaco even slower, as if he were a slug.  Slower…  Slower…  Even slower…  How slow can you go and still call it petting?  And then Chaco’s eyes started to change.  He blinked.  His eyes softened.  He no longer held them wide open.  In relaxation, he dropped his head slightly and curled his neck around the boy, breathing on him in acknowledgment.  (Horses breathe into each other nostrils as a greeting).

The boy was thrilled.  Yes, he wanted to pet Chaco, but perhaps more than that, he wanted to connect with this big animal and be seen.  He received more than he expected, and was soon saying goodbye to us and bounding down the road.

Petting animals is so common place as humans, but how often do we read the body language of the animal to see if how we are touching feels good to them?  Watching the eyes is a great first place to start.  Blinking = yes.  Fixed eyes = no.  (Try holding your own eyes open with no blinking for 30 seconds.  It’s stressful).

Learning to read the eyes will open lines of communication between you and your animal friend.  Many times, just moving considerably slower ourselves, and even consciously breathing while touching will bring about a whole new level of understanding.

What is your experience with petting your animals?

Heart Rate

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I attended a classical dressage clinic that focused on in-hand work, in other words, dressage moves from the ground.  We learned exercises to promote self-carriage in the horse.  In this class the instructor pointed out that the resting heart rate of a horse is around 40 beats per minute.  The resting heart rate of a human is about 70 beats per minute.  Interestingly enough, the heart rate of a horse at the trot is about 70 beats per minute.  A friend of mine once commented, “No wonder I felt most at east at the trot.”  Her resting heart rate and the horse’s heart rate at the trot must have been synchronized.

As I thought about the difference in resting heart rate between horses and humans, I marveled at what it must feel like for a horse to be around us.  To us, we’re relaxed, but to a horse it feels like we’re trotting.  What if we really are move quickly?  They must think we’re crazy.

Over the several years I’ve been rehabbing horses, I’ve found that what used take an hour or two, now takes more like 4 or 5.  The more I am with them, the slower I go myself.  There is no, “Quick.  Do this.”  Instead, I find that the magical moments with horses abound when going slow, and it is what keeps bringing me back to them.

I came upon the following article that speaks to this magic and the science behind it.  The Science of the Horse Human Heart Connection.  Enjoy.