Autism and Horse Training

Don Pecos du Cheval, the beginning of his bending 'problem': carrying his head to the left

I decided to address Don Pecos' bending 'problem' with the solution posed to me by absolutely everyone: the whip. In carriage driving the whip is an aid in lieu of leg aides as in riding. The idea is that the whip uses the whip to touch the side of the horse to encourage bending. I have been loathe to use the whip in this way with Don Pecos because his idea of the whip touching his sides is more closely attuned to sticking him with a cattle prod. Yet, I wondered, "Could everyone else be wrong?"

So, yesterday, I hitched him with the plan of only walking, encouraging him to accept the bend with a whisper from the whip. It was hot, a dry wind whipped around and the damned flies were busy tormenting us both. Don Pecos was still a little gimpy from slipping in the mud two weeks ago. Walk, walk, walk.

Yeah, right. The first time I touched him with the whip- note, I said touched, not clobbered, not lashed, not whipped- touched, he jumped out of his skin and took off trotting like a Saddlebred. The second, third and fiftieth time I touched him with the whip was the same. I spent an hour and a half trying to get him to walk, accept the aid and calm down. In the end, he kind of moved over, kind of walked and so I quit, ready to cry.

I thought about my post about Dashiell and Autism. It seemed so wrong to impose my world on Don Pecos when he was just trying to get by without any fuss, just doing the wrong job because that was what we were telling him to do, albeit inadvertently. I thought about how painful it is for Dashiell when the world changes its mind and its agenda. That is exactly how Don Pecos was reacting to the whip.

I know the whip is an important aid. I rarely use it, and as a result, I had a frightened, fire breathing locomotive in my hands yesterday. I will have to try again today and I'm dreading it. Some times horse training sucks. I guess this is what my sister feels about being a mother to her precious boy. So, as she's taught me, I'll do what I have to with empathy and great love and hope everyone else is right about the solution.

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

Serendipity

www.hossbiz.com

Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.