The Mane Event

When I said that this course is so much fun, last Saturday outing to the Mane Event certainly top it off. This was my first experience to watch a live show with animals. Everything was fresh and interesting. I wasn’t expecting the smell and I was holding my breath at first. But how long could one do that! Before long  I gave up and was taking small breaths and soon found that  my nose was no longer sensitive. I am really grateful to our incredible ability to adapt so quickly. Believe it or not, I could even eat my lunch during the break.

The event we went to was the Trainers Challenge whereby we watched 3 trainers put their skill to work to show the public their abilities and methods of training an unbroke colt, teaching their colt to turn, gallop, walk backwards, stop and saddled. The training usually is done 30 to 60 days or more but now the trainers will have 1 hour for 3 consecutive days. The 3 trainers of the day were Paul Clarkson from Australia, Kerry Kuhn from Kansas and Cayley Wilson from British Columbia.

It is always a good idea to have some fun even while training.  For instance Kerry was having fun by startling the colt which later played that trick on him. The colt looked so comical with his position of flight or fight stance.  It was so funny thinking even animals want to have fun. I have seen online that owners are buying toys such as big balls for their horses to keep them entertained. This reminded me very much of our HEAL class.

Cayley used 2 long ropes to guide the colt to the right or left. It seemed to be easier on the horse as the ropes were kept loose and guiding the horse gently to each side. I reflected that this is the way how we teach our children, kind of giving them the space to learn on their own, keeping a loose rein on them.

According to Erich Fromm, productive love always includes care, responsibility, respect and knowledge. In this sense, Cayley showed true love for his horse because he listened to the horse. Cayley showed the colt respect by letting it chose to continue with the training or not, calling it ‘Buddy’ and working on the side that the horse was more comfortable with so to build its confidence. He did not force the horse to complete the task, giving it time to get comfortable. His approach is similar to the system we used at our non-profit organisation. We encourage members to contribute according to their strengths or availability of resources. After they become more confident and comfortable, then they will be encouraged to explore new activities.

Even though the training was done without verbal communication, I could see the connection between the horse and its trainer, especially for Kerry and Cayley whereby the horses followed them wherever they went. It is said that horses need leaders so they obviously accepted their trainers as their leaders. Whereas for Paul, the Australian trainer, seemed to assume superior status from the beginning. His horse did not show interest or became friendly with him. It was probably just going through the motion since it was kept in the pen, it had nowhere to run and hide.

The connection between human and animals requires time, encouragement and guidance. The trainers would pat or rub the horses to praise, assure or calm them. We, humans, have come to see that even animals have feelings like happiness, love, sadness, anger and fear. Now, we are loving these animals like friends, companions and part of our family. This is also part of my teaching that animals are living beings with feelings and intelligence, so we should not slaughter or hurt them. Hence my family and I have been vegetarians for past 18 years to avoid causing suffering to all living beings.

I am thankful to Dr Smith and SFU for organising this event. I enjoyed it immensely, learning more about Canadian culture and the spirit of the Wild West.