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The barn was chilly and the lighting dim. Small puffs of dust
rose up from the horse’s hooves as my friend, Janie, led the
gelding around the indoor arena. The owner of the horse and I
watched from the sidelines as the pair went through a leading
exercise. Apparently, the horse did not have a lot of ground
training. He wasn’t jumpy, nervous or excited; he was simply
disrespectful. The gelding stepped into Janie’s space and ignored
her signals to move away. Janie led the horse in my direction, and
they came to an undisciplined stop, the horse lagging behind.
“He’s awfully red sorrel,” Janie said, glancing at me while
keeping the horse in her vision.
“Actually, I believe he’s gray,” I replied.
Curiosity got the better of the owner. “He’s registered as a
bay,” she said, showing some concern that we were unable to
recognize the color of the horse. The owner was correct. The weak
fluorescent lighting glistened off the gelding’s bay coat.
“We were talking about the ‘inside’ color of your horse; the
color of his personality. It helps us determine if he will make a
good match for my friend. My friend is looking for a laid-back,
easy-going horse. We call that kind of personality ‘gray’,” I
explained. I didn’t add that the downside to gray horses was
exactly the kind of behaviors this gelding was exhibiting—laziness
and a tendency toward disrespect.
As Janie and I drove away from the barn, we discussed the pros
and cons of the horse. She thought that the gelding must be red
sorrel because of the disrespectful attitude he had shown. We
talked about the differences in red sorrel and gray personalities,
and Janie came up with a parallel from her experience as a sixth
grade teacher.
“So, it’s just like the difference between Chad and Mike, two
boys in my class room. Chad is generally agreeable, but if I try
to push him beyond his comfort level, he will quit trying. Chad
can be incredibly stubborn if he thinks he can’t do some thing. I
have to show strong leadership with Chad and let him know I have
high expectations for him and that he has my support,” she said.
I nodded my head. “Just like the gelding, Chad needs that
strong leadership.”
Janie continued, “It’s hard for me to read Chad. I can’t tell
if he’s afraid of failure, being lazy or being stubborn.”
“Grays tend to be hard to read, and that’s true of horses and
humans,” I agreed. “It’s often very hard to tell if a gray horse
is fearful. Its fear often looks like stubbornness. A gray horse
might be very afraid of loading in a trailer but in stead of
snorting, jumping around and shying, he might just plant his feet
and re fuse to move. It’s only when you make an issue of it and
push him that the gray horse explodes and shows emotion.”
“Hmmm, I never thought about using the horse colors with
people, but what you’re saying makes sense. Tell me how you would
motivate a gray horse, and maybe I can apply similar principles to
motivate Chad,” Janie said.
“To improve the performance of a gray horse, you give it stress
followed by recovery time. Chad will need you to increase your
expectations and hold him account able. But remember, grays are
motivated by peace, so their reward is not just praise but also
private time and autonomy. Maybe you could arrange for Chad to do
some independent study as a reward,” I suggested.
Janie looked thoughtful. “That’s an idea. Mike, another boy in
my class, has a red sorrel personality. Mike is very smart and
athletic, but he is likely to challenge every thing and anything I
say. You always have to be on your toes with Mike because he can
lead the rest of the class room down the wrong path so quickly.
Mike’s very talented and a good student, but he takes a lot of my
energy just to keep him occupied in a positive way,” she
explained.
“Red sorrels tend to be leaders with strong opinions. It sounds
like you’re do ing the right thing by keeping him channeled in a
positive way. Putting that work ethic and leadership to work for
you in stead of against you makes sense. Set firm but fair
boundaries and high but realistic expectations. Red sorrels have
an amazing ability to perform and meet goals. But, get into a
fight with him and you’ll lose every time. I’ve had that happen
with a red sorrel horse. Red sorrels want boundaries, but the
boundaries have to be strong, consistent and fair. If you’re
unfair to a red sorrel, it will fight back.”
Janie nodded. “I can see opportunities to apply the colors to
other kids in my class. For instance, I think Jimmy must be a
palomino. He’s always pulling something, but he’s so funny that
sometimes it’s hard for me to discipline him. He’s very bright and
well…just plain likeable. However, he does tend to draw the class
off track and make them laugh at inappropriate times. I know he’s
smart, but he doesn’t get very good grades. He has a short
attention span and doesn’t get things done on time. He’s also
disorganized. He has a hard time getting the homework turned in
that he does complete.”
“That sounds like a palomino,” I re plied. “Palomino horses are
likeable too, and very charismatic, but they can be a challenge.
They’re always into something, and they lack focus and work ethic.
In order to get them to perform, you have to provide them with
structure and discipline. That doesn’t mean drill them
continually. It means focusing on specific parts of a maneuver
until you see improvement and then letting them do some thing
else. It also means you have to let them have plenty of play and
free time. My suggestion for motivating Jimmy is to let him move
around in the classroom whenever possible. Make sure that the
majority of his day is structured so he knows what’s coming next,
but create variety in the activities within the structure of the
day. Help him learn to focus in short bursts, and allow him to
change activities when he’s done some thing well. Don’t take away
his recess time as a punishment. That would be like locking a
palomino horse in a stall with no turn out time. Pretty soon the
horse would be climbing the walls, and that’s what Jimmy will do,
too.”
“Wow, I think I’ve been approaching him all wrong. The busier
Jimmy gets, the more I try to control his behavior. It sounds like
a better idea would be to give him an opportunity to get rid of
some energy,” Janie said.
“Give it a try,” I replied. “It doesn’t surprise me that your
first reaction is to try to control him. That’s natural for your
blue roan personality. Jimmy can really benefit from your
structure and focus if you will work with his need for creativity
and his boundless energy.”
“I know I have a blue roan personality, and I think I get along
with other blue roans very well, but tell me what you’ve learned
from working with blue roan horses,” Janie asked.
“You know that blue roan horses are motivated by relationships.
So are blue roan people. Acknowledging and reward ing their effort
is important to keep blue roans motivated. You must be very fair
with blue roans, especially when you discipline them. If they
perceive that you have been unfair, or if you hurt their feelings,
they will hold a grudge. If a blue roan horse thinks it has been
abused, it will become defensive. Blue roan horses that have been
mistreated are often mis read as red sorrels because they will
fight back. If trainers treat the blue horse like they would a red
horse, it compounds the problem, as the blue roan horse will see
that as further abuse. It can be a down ward spiral. The important
thing is to find a place where you can reward a blue roan horse.
Give a blue roan some grace when they make a mistake. Take your
time and develop your relationship with a blue roan, and you can
turn things around. The same is true with blue roan people. If
they believe you have mistreated them, they will hold it against
you. Develop a trusting, forgiving relationship with them, and
they will work with you in incredible ways,” I said.
Janie looked at me. “You know, it’s wonderful how much you can
learn about people through studying horse behavior and
personalities. I think I will be able to recognize human
personalities and motivations much easier by applying what I know
about the horse colors. Just think, this whole conversation
started as a horse shopping trip. I guess that means we should go
horse shopping more often!” |
