I wish I could find words to help people understand what this type of communication is. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, there are no words to explain it. It can only be understood once you have experienced it for yourself. This way of communicating is not something abstract, magical, or supernatural. It is very real, very natural, and it is obtainable to anyone who cares to put forth the work and expanded thinking required to understand it. Expanded thinking is something that seems to scare a lot of people off, but expanding your thinking in order to understand this communication is very simple. It boils down to our willingness to explore our attitudes, beliefs, and definitions.
If we explore the meanings or definitions of cues and conditioned responses, and compare those meanings to communicate, communication, and commune, we will begin to see there is much more to communication than there is to a cue or a conditioned response. And if we rely solely on cues and conditioned responses, we will leave out some of the most profound and fundamental elements of true communication. Below is a comparison of definitions:
Cue: an action from the human serving as a signal to the horse to engage in a certain reaction.
Conditioned Response: to condition or mold the horse into a specific state for each cue or set of cues.
Communicate: 1a: to make known. b: transfer, transmit. 2: to be in communication. 3: join, connect.
Communication: 1: an act or instance of transmitting. 2: MESSAGE. 3: an exchange of information.
Commune: (as I am using it in this article) 1: to communicate intimately.
There is a much deeper meaning to communicating than just doing a physical thing and expecting a physical response. As we can see in the above meanings, communicate means not only to make known, but also to be in communication with and to join or connect. Communication not only means to transmit a message, but also an exchange of information. Commune means to communicate intimately.
Although teaching a horse from cues and/or conditioned responses alone may be forms of communication, they are primitive and inadequate forms because they consist of the human getting his/her point across, but do not consider the horse’s point of view. They do not consider the harmony and unity that can come from understanding that communication on a deeper level involves both parties listening and speaking. Communication on a deeper level is a continual conversation back and forth that brings forth the joining and connecting—the intimacy from the communication.
It is with the realization of intimacy that the relationship with the horse becomes an experience of a very personal nature. When we connect with the intimacy, we begin to reach our deepest nature and awaken this form of communication through “feel.” This form of communication is something that very few people ever consider or are even aware exists.
So why bother learning this communication I speak of? It seems much easier to stick with something as simple as cues. And staying in this mentality does seem to work—doesn’t it? True, it is easier, and it does seem to work. But what seems to be and what truly is—is not always the same thing. It comes down to the differences in our definition of what it is that works. I have come to see that there is much more than the mere mechanics of a movement. Although the movement may be technically perfect, there is something behind that movement—something in the attitude and in the spirit of the horse that creates a difference between a movement that is simply correct, or a movement that is exceptional, skillful, and inspiring.
When a person begins to communicate, think, and behave from this deeper level of understanding, he or she can begin to see and know how the horse and human can move as one unit. How a feel becomes—a feel following a feel. How a thought becomes—a thought following a thought. How the horse’s legs become your legs; how the horse’s feet are in your hands. All this creates a horse that is physically handier than a horse that is simply “trained” to be “mechanically perfect” through cues and conditioned responses. It creates a horse that does things because his “free will” is inspired and he wants to. He performs with a grace and beauty that words cannot define. But when we witness it, each and every one of us can see and feel it in the core of our being. It is an experience of watching a dance between man and horse that moves your spirit. And many of us wonder—how did they do that? They did it through more than just a cue or a conditioned response. They did it through understanding how to engage with the horse in a deeper level of communication. A level of communication that joins and connects us with the “whole” horse—mind, body, emotion, and spirit!
All content © Clay Wright Horsemanship Schools 2006
© Uniting the Spirits 2006