Chris Lombard

Photo by Amy Disarro

WHY ON EARTH DO THEY LET US RIDE THEM?

Recent archaeological and animal behavior studies strongly support the idea that domestication was not the human invention it was long supposed to have been, but rather a long, slow process of mutual adaptation, of “co-evolution,” in which the horses that began to hang around the first permanent human settlements gained more than they lost… for it appears that the modern horse was likely snatched from the jaws of extinction by a single act of human daring and inspiration in a remote corner of the civilized world.

---- Stephen Budiansky
The Nature of Horses

I was working with Rocky, an almost 3 year-old Quarter/Thoroughbred cross, and he was ready for his first ride.
            Rocky was a PMU foal (Pregnant Mare Urine for the drug Premarin) that was rescued by a couple of great people named Deb and Linda. The Premarin foals, as I understand it, are either adopted at five months of age by people thousands of miles away from them, or given to slaughter. Deb and Linda are a couple of amazing horse people, and their main goal is to keep horses safe and happy. They snatched Rocky from the jaws of extinction with a single act of human daring and inspiration in a remote corner of the civilized world.
When I first met 5 month year-old Rocky he had a rope halter around his head that was so tight it was buried deep into his winter coat hair. It had probably been there for months and not been adjusted as he grew. He also had a sticker stamped on his rear with a number on it. A number. And he wouldn’t let people get anywhere near him.
            Now he was ready for his first ride.
            I don’t like to begin serious riding training with horses until they are four years old. The radial/cannon/pastern joints and the thoracic/lumbar vertebrae are not fully fused until around then. But I will work with a horse from the first day it is born and through out its’ young years on all aspects of groundwork, creating a solid foundation for the future. Then at some point when they are nearing three years old I will go for a first ride. I’ll sit in the saddle for a moment and then get down, making that first ride a successful and easy ride for everybody. Then I may get up again and ask the horse to turn, maybe walk forward a few steps and stop. Walk around a bit. And that’s pretty much it. A quiet two minute ride. I’ll do this on a regular basis, once every couple of weeks to a month, maybe doing a trot here and there, until the horse is fit enough to begin riding training. The whole idea though is to make riding easy and non-eventful for the horse, so much to the point that they don’t see it as anything different from the groundwork we do with them. We’re leader, they’re follower, we’re safe, they’re safe, we’re relaxed, they’re relaxed.
            I’ve had people come out to watch a horse’s first riding like they were getting ready to watch a rodeo show. As I go with the horse I see those people getting bored.
            For me, when I get down of that horse after it’s first ride and that ride goes perfect, even if that ride was ten seconds long, I love congratulating the horse and showering it with praise. It was the horse’s first ride.
            I saddled Rocky and tightened the girth. No big deal, he had the saddle on many times before. I spent some time going through some groundwork with him, with and without halter and lead. He had always been good with everything. I then put the soft rope hackamore on him and worked him a little on the basic hack cues. Yup, today was the day, I could feel it. One of my rules was only do something with a horse when you saw the end result in your mind and it was all good. A done deal.
            I walked him a little and I got that feeling in my stomach. Some sort of quiet aliveness. The universe shrinks away until it’s just you and the horse floating there. When that leg goes over the saddle and I sit there for the first time it’s like I can see the whole horse—past, present, and future. That first moment when the horse says yes, I will carry you…
            I step up into the stirrup and raise myself like I had done before. I step down and rub him on his withers. Good boy. I then do it again, this time leaning over the saddle and patting his other side shoulder and his hips. I then get down. Good boy.
I walk him a few steps, feeling the rhythm between him and I. We’re together, I need him here and he needs me.
            From the ground and with the reins still gathered in my hands I look into the eye that was back on me calmly blinking. I don’t look horses directly eye to eye a lot in training. But the universe was shrinking even more, being swallowed up into this gentle concentration, until now it was just me and that eye.
            Why? Why on earth was he now going to let me get up on his back and direct him from up there? How is this possible?
            With the reins gathered, I looked into that eye, and it looked back into mine...

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            I’m lucky. I have some pretty good friends. Human I’m talking about. We have a lot of fun. Sometimes somebody gets down though for some reason or another. But when you know good people, when you have good friends, they will be there to pick you back up again. To carry you.
            Because you know them and they know you and you have been there for each other, and the connection that is built over time through that is priceless.
            Most horses are born into the human world and their lives will forever be tied into the human way of things. We’re constantly introducing them to new things and trying to teach them new things. This can be scary and confusing sometimes for them. They adapt exceptionally well though and they are amazing learners. As Budiansky also wrote in The Nature of Horses, horses have developed an expanded neocortex—the part of the brain that is responsible for learning. Combine all that with the way their social mind works and how they always look to who they can trust and respect as a leader, and they’ll just give and give. When this leader teaches them about the human world and helps them to deal with their fear, this relaxes the horses and they are able to enjoy the world much more, and it creates a bond with whoever is helping them to understand the world around them. And when this leader is also a trusted friend, then the relationship can really grow. You need me and I need you.
            Horses pick me up and carry me in so many ways I cannot hope to list them all here. They make me a better person—in how they are polite, in how they give, in how they see trust as everything, and in how they bond. I also believe horses know what they do for us. I believe they feel good when they know they have done something well for us and we shower them with praise, and this makes them want to do it again. When we are working with them it is under the guise of us teaching them, but when I walk away, I feel like the student.
            All in all, I feel we knew the horses before we ever met them, and we were meant to meet.

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            The layer of dirt and sweat mixed on my arms felt the heat of the sun. I liked it—my time as a cowboy somehow had me equating getting dirty with getting stuff done. I wiped the sweat from my eyes and as I did the classic smell of horse passed by my nose sending a thousand good feelings through me. I gathered the reins and I turned just slightly to look into that eye that was back on me. One, clear, dark eye. It looks black—a horse’s eye. It’s the largest eye of any land mammal. It blinks as if beckoning me to step in and see behind it, to catch a glimpse of the world behind that glassy surface.
            What was he thinking as he looked back at me, into my eye.
I stepped up into the stirrup and with one easy and clean motion like I’m getting on one of those quarter horses outside of Wal-Mart I swing my leg over and sit in the saddle. Rocky stands well, doesn’t move. Above all, he stays relaxed. His eye is still on me as I sit on his back.
            He knows. He knows I’m still the same guy up here that I am on the ground.
            I get down and stand at his shoulder while rubbing and scratching him. Good boy, buddy, good boy! I say with a big smile on my face. A great and wonderful first ride. He drops his head and squints his eyes as I scratch behind them and then looks at me like he’s all happy and proud of himself. I walk him a few steps and then get up again.
A first ride is special, but I’ll be danged if I don’t get a bit of that great and heart-stirring quiet aliveness when I get up on any horse, no matter how many rides it has under its belt. They’re carrying me to some greater place, time and time again. All I can do is try and return the favor to them in any way I can.
Horses to me are quite complete in their quiet world. Us humans sometimes need help to be complete. We need them to make us complete. When I got up on Rocky, I felt the entire history of the partnership between horse and human that started almost 6,000 years ago. What really excites me is where it can go from here.

I asked Rocky to walk forward with me, and he did. Carrying me.