"Catching Your Horse at Pasture" was one of the first lesson I watched when I joined the Uni a few yrs ago. I didn't think much more about the sunglasses theme because I don't often wear them. Now I am older my optician has been warning me that I will develop a cataract if I don't protect my eyes. So today I did as I was told and had a large round old pair of sunglasses on while I worked round the yard. I forgot I had them on, went over to our pony's stable to put her head collar on and bring her out - and she freaked... if she had been a Thelwell (cartoon) pony her mane would have been standing on end! She rushed up the back of the stable with her back to me and shook while still watching me out of the corner of her eye. Now this pony has done the IHA Foundation Course with me, has done several Join-Ups and is a 23yr old branded New Forest pony so was born in the Forest, been in 2 riding schools and now doing some agility. So has seen a few things in her time, can be a bit reactive but comes to call and calls to me from her stable and paddock. Took me a moment to register what had happened before I walked away took my sunglasses off and went back to the stable. Lo and behold she came to me from the back of the stable, still looking a bit worried but was gradually reassured now she could see ME! then was back to normal. So Mr Roberts, once again you are RIGHT Sir! Our pony thought I was an alien from outer space come to eat her up! So folks DON'T WEAR YOUR SUNGLASSES GOING TO CATCH YOUR HORSE OR YOUR HORSE WILL RUN AWAY...just like the man says!!!!
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So true Dora, eye contact is such an important part of communication and not being able to see your eyes would upset your horse; I've tested this theory out myself and yep, it's true!
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Just for a bit of information, it's also why people are told to remove sunglasses if they are in a confrontational situation and as a dog trainer I NEVER wear sunglasses when I'm working with dogs. Such a flippin' nuisance eh?!! I sear that's why my eyes are wrinkled (couldn't possibly be the fact that I'm nearly 50 could it?!!)
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Hi. Sorry Vicci - no sympathy from me as 58 in June. I have reactive lenses. In bright sunshine they are dark but this is Scotland so often they are clear or less dark. Bless my 5 - they love me even when I have devilish dark eyes. They worry more over my hat! I have an old Australian leather hat which they also wear sometimes, albeit for very short periods. The youngsters steal it off my head & flap it at each other. It's something of a trophy. Today I saw yet another example of total co operation. Bo, my rescue pony, is just starting his training journey. Yesterday I took a cane to the field with just rubber taped on one end & a tiny amount of plastic to the other end. This was accepted quite well so the session ended in about 8 minutes. Today I took two canes to the field, the second one having a few plastic bags on one end & lots of plastic, including some split bags that hung long from the cane. We started with the first cane - no issues. We moved to the second cane, easier end. No problems. Turned it round & some unease came over Bo. Kirk, my 2 year old gelding, came over & wanted to join in. At present I'm working in the field. Bo was in the dually on a 30 ft line. I turned my attention to Kirk who has seen similar before - no equipment on Kirk. He showed Bo what to do with the big plastic, standing rock still as it was bounced from the ground to his back & then flopped between his ears over his face. Bo watched gobsmacked! Then he followed his juniors - about half Bo's age, lead. Perfect! So we stopped there to reward Bo. Later, Bo came rushing to greet me & tried to exclude Kirk & Moley so hat was waved. As these babies have been with me from day 1 I can't & won't let Bo shove them out. But it's great that Bo is now coming around & at some speed. So, horses ( and ponies ) do learn by example. Monty always works on a 1 to 1 basis but the recent lessons on working foals in the early stages emphasised the importance of the mare's help. I like having my precocious assistant involved - it's an opportunity to progress his education too. Cheers, Jo.
I totally agree. No sunglasses and clear few of your face. However eye contact is a bit different between dogs and horses. I raise rotweillers as well as horses. You dont want the direct eye contact with your horse as you do your dog. Horses can take it as threat. Dogs can too take it as a threat but they also see it as you are the alfa. Horses worry you want to eat them dogs take it as stand off. With my dogs i actually point my two fingers at their eyes and back to my eyes and back again telling them look here til i can establish direct eye contact letting them know to pay attention and im not wanting to scrap and then i can move on to next lesson. But yes its important that your horse gets a clear view of your face and eyes
Hmm...I am a dog trainer and I have to tell you that the whole "alpha dog" thing is not true; it has no scientific basis at all. Dogs eyes are more akin to human eyes than are horses and it can be a stand off, or it can be a "watch me" command as you suggest :-)
It's amazing how much the horse relies on the eyes for communication, they show fear, sadness, happiness and go away from me all in the eyes, so when they see the stone hard glare of the sunglasses they can't read what our eyes are saying. I caught an excellent photo of my mum and BamBam a few years ago, my mum has react alight glasses and as she stood there looking at BamBam, his face showed exactly the same expression as my mum. Blank with tight lips lol.
This is a good reference lesson regarding sunglasses http://www.montyrobertsuniversity.com/training/2031188652
Monty was pleased to hear of this thread and how well the concepts are being taken up and deliberated. Well done! Let's keep the Equus language evolving :)
No funny hats either!
I wore an unusual winter hat the other day and my horses headed for the hills!
Lol, share a photo on the Facebook pages ;) x