He Thought He Knew Horses. Then He Learned to Really Listen.
November 21, 2024 at 01:27AMSterry Butcher profiles Warwick Stiller, focusing on a horse training approach Schiller developed after closely observing what seemed to be a very shut-down horse named Sherlock. Only after looking closely, did Schiller discover that Sherlock was communicating, but he was doing so in such a subtle way that Schiller had completely missed what his horse had been trying to tell him about what he needed in order to bond.
Horses are exquisite machines. As prey animals, their greatest survival tools are designed for flight, and every sense is finely geared toward safety. In the wild, they spend the entirety of their lives within the eyesight of another horse. Even domestic horses who don’t venture beyond their pasture will take turns staying awake while others sleep. They can see nearly 360 degrees and can focus on two objects at once, one from each eye. They evolved to mosey along, grazing for up to 16 hours a day, using whiskers on their muzzle to discern, in part, tender grass from rocks. Their hide is so sensitive to touch that they can feel a single fly land on their body and wriggle the skin underneath to send it aloft. Their sense of smell is almost as keen as a dog’s.
They’ll rake their teeth against the other’s withers or back, scratching places the other cannot reach on his own. Where our brains are outfitted with a prefrontal cortex that allows for planning, organizing, setting goals and decision making, a horse has virtually none. They experience thoughts and emotions without the benefit of evaluation, and although they can remember a great deal, they don’t think about what they want to do tomorrow, which makes them geniuses at living in the present. Since they fear they may die without the collective protection of the group, they are experts at coexisting. They just want to get along.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2024/11/20/he-thought-he-knew-horses-then-he-learned-to-really-listen/
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