Reviews of Learning About Animals Events

Equine Behaviour Day with Ben Hart, 31st May 2008
The Horse Human Relationship from Both Points of View

A day very well spent, it’s always wonderful to go on a course and be filled with expectation but it can be disappointing if the speaker doesn’t live up to expectations - the Horse Behaviour Day with Ben Hart was not disappointing.  Ben gave everyone a warm welcome, explained what he was going to cover during the day and encouraged questions and points of view right from the start.  He recognised the amount of knowledge in the room and spoke about his subject with  true desire to teach and share his knowledge, this day was not about lecturing it was about sharing and expanding our perceptions and thoughts. Ben’s knowledge is not just restricted to horses, donkeys and mules, he understands extremely well the theory of learning from the human point of view.

The workshop
Ben started by finding out what people wanted to gain from the day and the questions varied, I set out some examples:
 if you cared about your horse would you ride it?
 to how to correct unwanted behaviour  
 ways to improve the horse/owner relationship
 are the problems we encounter me or the horse?
 how to be confident in one’s own knowledge.  

Ben’s open initial approach got people speaking up and participating right from the start and the audience varied; general owners wanting to increase their knowledge, breeders, a vet, complementary therapists, Equine Iridiologist, Equine Bowen Therapist and Equine Flower Essence Therapists and competitors in varies disciplines.

Exploring anthropomorphism...
Ben got the different tables working together and talking to each other very quickly – he showed us a very anthropomorphic (Disney style) video clip and gave a sheet of questions to explore how we felt about animals being perceived and shown in this way – exploring why we feel the need to give human characteristics to animals.  He questioned whether this was in the animals’ interests or if it’s just easier for us to give an animal a human character so that we don’t need to think about the behaviour and take responsibility for it.  Labelling is important as it affects the way that we perceive an animal and does our perception have an effect on how that animal ultimately behaves e.g. calling a horse ‘Spook’ will often make think people think it’s because it’s a spooky horse.  

Understanding ourselves...
When talking about behaviour problems Ben discussed all the issues and how problems are individual to each person, one person might like a horse rubbing it’s head up and down them but another might not like it and consider it bad behaviour.   We need to make our assumptions with awareness and be prepared to adjust our assumptions as characteristics change all the time.  Ben related this to humans as well and how we often treat each other in a way that was appropriate once upon a time but we need to move with the times and recognise when someone has changed.

Other topics covered
Ben is very good at giving relevant and easy to understand examples to increase the understanding of what he’s teaching.  He talked about learning, testing of intelligence and how it’s harder for horses that are classically trained through punishment to learn how to problem solve, they are reluctant to offer new behaviours due to the fear of punishment/negative reinforcement.  Over-training may result in a horse that’s unable to solve problems and think for itself, they end up not ever wanting to make a decision.  So much of what he talked about is simple but too often we like to over-complicate things which is not always the best or easiest approach.

Ben’s methodical approach firstly exploring the theory then looking at the conclusions that can be drawn appealed to my organised mind.  The day was very interactive, he has excellent knowledge, clear delivery, kept the audience very engaged and understands motivation and behaviour of humans well enough to get across his knowledge of horses and their behaviour.

There was good and appropriate use of questionnaires to get people thinking (audience enjoyed getting something to look at and think about, lots of concentration and writing).  During the breaks lots of talking between people so Ben really gets everyone communicating and thinking.

Equine emotions and communication
We investigated jealousy and if it is or in fact is it some sort of hierarchy, there may be a simpler explanation than putting our own emotion and thought onto the behaviour.  Jealousy can be resource guarding – the behaviour needs to be put into context and into horse terms rather than human terms.  It can be hard to deal with a diverse audience with very varied levels of experience but Ben dealt with questions and observations concisely and in a rewarding and encouraging way and injected humour and fun into his talk.  He treads a clever line exploring thoughts and ideas without stating personal opinions, I observed the body language of the audience to be very positive and as the day went on the debate and sharing of thoughts got more lively.  Ben didn’t use power point presentation too much or much video, he employs a personal and interactive approach to teaching.

Miscommunication between humans and animals is common – how do humans attempt to make themselves better understood?  Ben showed good video clip of donkey very clearly saying what it doesn’t want and how human approach and body language can change the outcome.  Blaming the horse is easy, we need to have an understanding of self and recognise our own emotions and beliefs and the impact that our behaviour has on other species.

The horse-human relationship
Ben stressed the importance of balance in life and in our dealings with our horses, our relationship with horses should be respectful and not a dictatorship.  It’s how we do the things we do with them, how appropriate is the equipment that we are using, are they suited to the tasks we want them to do, some horses may be uncomfortable and not particularly gifted at jumping and my be happier doing dressage or just hacking.  Use the horse’s strengths and work with those rather than against.    Horses have natural needs that require meeting and they differ in the amount of stimulation that each individual needs.  There are many ways to achieve what we want but finding the individual way for each situation is very important.  Force is not acceptable.

Ben feels that we should all make our own decisions and follow our own path and instincts but society often dictates that we should do things that are against our gut instincts.   He reinforced that the individual is all important whether in horses, dogs, humans or any other specie.  He raised probably more questions than he answered but was generous with his time in the breaks and at the end going into individual questions in more depth.

I could write so much about what I learned on Saturday but really you need to go and see him and learn for yourself, I can highly recommend Ben’s courses whatever your connection with horses.

‘Horses can be our best teachers if we listen and observe. ‘

©Winkie Spiers

www.winkiespiers.com

June 2008