Observation (Dr. Dyson Lecture)
Some time ago I attended a wonderful Webinar hosted by World Horse Welfare, with Dr. Sue Dyson as the keynote educator. Dr. Dyson has a rich history with horses, a diverse career as a competitor and veterinarian, and many, many research studies under her belt.
Recently Dr. Dyson has developed an ethogram (a catalog or table of all the different kinds of behavior or activity observed in an animal) for observation of pain in the ridden horse. Historically, pain in the ridden horse is not something we’ve been able to quantify, but with extensive research, Dr. Dyson has developed a list of characteristics, which when seen in certain quantities, are indicative of a horse in pain. It’s groundbreaking research, and it’s my genuine hope her work will change the way ridden horse behavior is perceived.
At the end of the Q and A, in answer to a question I do not remember, Dr. Dyson made a call for owners to “observe your horse!” This hit a chord with me, because it's a fundamental element of my training program.
It’s rather difficult to know what to do with your horse, if you don’t know where you’re starting. There are several things I do on a daily basis to evaluate where I am with each individual horse, here are a few:
I take an ABSURD amount of pictures and video of my horses. I mean ABSURD. I take pictures of them standing in the field, of their feet before and after trims, video free schooling, and now that I have my PIVO, I video most of my rides. Seriously, it’s insane. HOWEVER, I can also now show empirically the changes in my horses over time. Want to know what their habitual resting posture was in the field 18 months ago? Got it. What did their trim look like this time last year? Gimme a sec, I’ll pull that up for you. Wondering how their most recent trim affected their movement? Standby, here’s video of the day before and the day after.
So, what am I assessing? To start with, absolutely nothing, I’m simply observing. I want to know what IS, not make a judgment about it. I started using the phrase Non-Judgemental Observation quite a few years ago, and I think the Non-Judgmental part is key. If I attach a value judgment to it, it suggests what I see is either positive or negative. I don’t really care about that, because it’s just one moment in time. I prefer just to notice what I see, so that I can make a plan. Sure, I have an ideal in my head, but horses and the training process are multifactorial so I can’t make clear-cut assertions about one moment in time. All I can do is allow my observations to suggest one of the many optional paths, and see if the path I choose changes what I see.
I mentioned above some things that I track: Habitual resting posture, hoof morphology, loose movement, and under saddle work. Other things I pay attention to are harder to document unless you’re much better than I at keeping a training journal, but are equally important and a part of my daily observation practice: What’s my horse's mood when I go out to get them from the field? Are they walking in keen and alert, or draggy? What is the sound of their footfalls? Are they even, or is one step consistently louder than the others? What areas on my horse’s body are sensitive to grooming? What area do they encourage me to groom? Noticing these things will allow me to observe for my current “normal,” guide my bodywork and training decisions, and notice when things change. This is key to tracking behavioral changes in your horse, which can be used as indicators of pain, as per Dr. Dyson’s ethogram.
No single one of these observations will tell me everything, and rather often I don’t know what the observations “mean” straight away, but they do help me to begin to build a story about the horse which in turn allows me to better understand them, the challenges they face, and what I might be able to expect about their individual training process and needs. In addition, it gives me the info I need to track early warning signs of possible maladies.
To be fair, it takes quite a lot of time to begin to “see” horses. It’s easiest to see things that are external (a horse standing with one hind leg always out behind them, for example, or preferring one canter lead over the other) but quite a bit harder to train your eye to see things that are more internal (like posture, core engagement, intrinsic vs extrinsic balance), but those are things we need to develop an eye for in order to approach our horses with a level of sophistication that can truly result in optimization. Like any other skill, it takes time, but is well worth the effort.
One last word on Non-Judgemental Observation: One variable that is constant with your process with your horse is YOU. A massive part of being a successful leader and trainer is the ability to observe yourself so you know what you’re bringing to the table each day. More about this in the future!
One More Thing! I’ve put together a mini-course on Non-Judgmental Observation. This will be available to folks who subscribe to the newsletter I’m developing. This weekly newsletter will include 5 topics, ideas, or training concepts that have been present throughout the week. Subscribes will receive first-access to news, events, courses, and any other opportunities we offer. We hope you join us on this new adventure!