Episode 285: Five levels of distraction you can see in a horse.

Episode 285_ Five levels of distraction you can see in a horse..mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Episode 285_ Five levels of distraction you can see in a horse..mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Stacy Westfall:
So remember, the horse will remain focused when the rider remains focused. But if the rider loses focus, you actually kind of slide back down. This is like Chutes and Ladders now. You actually slide back down to that ground floor level.

Announcer:
Podcasting from a little cabin on a hill. This is the Stacy Westfall podcast. Stacy's goal is simple to teach you to understand why horses do what they do, as well as the action steps for creating clear, confident communication with your horses.

Stacy Westfall:
Hi, I'm Stacy Westfall and I'm here to help you understand, enjoy and successfully train your own horses. In this podcast, I want to share with you an idea that there are five different levels of distraction that you can see in a horse, and the reason I want to outline it like this is because it's important to think about layers in horse training. And a lot of times when people use the word distraction, they have a tendency to be describing a wide range of behaviors, and it can be so wide that the solutions for that distraction actually change depending on what layer you're talking about. So what I want to outline today is the idea that a horse can be distracted on many different levels. So when I think about this, I think about there being a safety line when we're training the horse. So when I outline these five layers, maybe the easiest way for you to picture it is imagine that you're looking at the blueprints for a house, and you can see that there's a basement level, but there's actually two levels to the basement, and then you've got the ground level, and then you've got a level above that, and then you've got the rooftop. So to just give you a visual, I want you to think that that ground floor is the safety line when we're talking about your horses training. So for me that means it's a safety line, not just of handling them from the ground, but it's also a safety line as far as being able to ride them.

Stacy Westfall:
So keep that in mind. So when I think about using the word distracted across all five of these layers, the very bottom layer, the furthest down in the basement that you could go at the foundation, if a horse is distracted to the core, then that level of distracted I would also call checked out. Now I want to give you a way to understand that checked out distracted at this level means you can't get the horse back. So there's a term out there. If a horse starts bucking, there's a term called bucking blindly, and that is the horse is in – if you want to look at it, you can go all the way down because it's truly a safety level issue. So it's in like a flight or fight kind of a move right there. So the very base, the horse is completely checked out. This is obviously below the safety line. Now let's go just one more level up. We're still below the safety line. But one more level up. What I want you to think about is that there is a way that a horse can have a reaction, let's say be very spooked. But in that situation, the horse is still self-aware. Now, this might seem like a minor difference, but what I want you to listen for is what's changing in the horse's experience between the different layers. So the very base base level, if they're triggered down that deep, then they can actually become blind to the fact that they could be injuring themselves.

Stacy Westfall:
So these are the types of horses that would run through fences because injury to themselves, they're so deeply blind. That's an option that next level up, that second level in the basement before we get to the safety line, that's a horse that gets very spooked, very disturbed, but is still self-aware. They're still showing signs of self-preservation. So I actually just saw a really good example of this on a Facebook video the other day. There was a video of a horse running down the highway, had a saddle on, had a bridle on, did not have a rider on. Now this horse was clearly at some point very spooked and was running. But if you watch the horse, it was actually navigating quite well around cars and around turns and around people and around people trying to catch it, and around a whole group of bicycle riders. And so the horse was still operating at a level of presence to be making these decisions. But obviously this horse at some point had gotten very spooked and hadn't come down off from that yet. Now, a much more common and more mild version of this would be a horse that is below the safety line. Panics in a certain situation, like maybe it's tied up. It panics, pulls back fights like crazy, breaks free, and then recovers. So for me, that is closer to the safety line.

Stacy Westfall:
It's a true panic, but it's a quicker recovery than the horse that's at the lowest level that's checked out. So the checked out horse often keeps going. So I've kind of given you three illustrations inside of these basement levels. And the point here isn't to draw hard, fast lines between these levels. The whole point of this podcast is to get you viewing the concept of being distracted in layers. So now we've worked our way up to that ground level. So this one, I visualize it. It's like the ground floor of the house. We're out of the basement, but we're still on the ground level. When a horse is transitioning from just below the safety line to just above the safety line, there is a time period where you're kind of right on the edge of both. But what I want you to think about is one of the key points to being just above the safety line is not whether or not the horse gets distracted. The question becomes, does the horse respond to you when you make a request? So as we are just coming up out of the basement and we're just crossing over into the safety line, I think it's actually important to talk about where horses start on this journey. This is also a great time to talk about where you might be observing these things in a horse's training. When I think about starting a horse under saddle, it's natural for me to think there's going to be a time period when they're under the safety line, and then they're going to move to just at the safety line, and then they're going to move above the safety line, and then they're going to continue moving up.

Stacy Westfall:
So the fact that the horse has a safety line doesn't mean something has necessarily gone wrong. When we think about starting a horse under saddle, because the day that a horse has never had a saddle and bridle on to the day that the horse is wearing the saddle, wearing the bridle and being ridden by a rider, to me that's a very clear it was unsafe before it was introduced to all of this stuff, and learned the language of being communicated with in this way. At that point it would have been unsafe, and now it's transitioned to just at the safety line and then progressing further up. So just because I use safety line there doesn't necessarily mean that anything traumatic had to happen. The horses start with not understanding how to be ridden and they have to progress up through. And that naturally involves negotiating this safety line. Now let's go back to that house analogy. Now we're at that safety line. We're at the ground floor of the house. We're out of the basement, but we're on the ground level. So this is at or just barely above that safety line. The way that distraction shows up here at this level is that you will get the horses that are looking around, that are exhibiting things that you really dislike, that could be pawing when they're tied up.

Stacy Westfall:
It could be looking really just anxious. This level of distraction. The thing for me that separates it from below the safety line to above the safety line is the answer to this question. Does the horse recover or respond when a request is made? So don't get too caught up in, if you like, how much you have to work to get the request. The answer to me is does the horse respond? Even if it does take more effort than the rider would like. So let's go to a non riding example for just a second. So a non riding example of a horse that's just above the safety line would be if you were taking a horse and tying it up. And when you tied that horse up, if they were pawing and anxious and whinnying and occasionally like walking back and pulling just slightly, not really setting back, but pulling, you kind of can see the beginning of it, but then they step forward and then maybe they step forward and maybe they press down really hard with their head, maybe they rear. These are all things, by the way Ember was doing when I brought her. Home and tied her up. And so she was exhibiting all of this distraction, all of this anxiety or stress or questions, whatever you want to label it. But she had enough understanding to respond to, in this case, the rope pressure while she was tied up.

Stacy Westfall:
So it was just enough to qualify being above the safety line, because even if she thought about pulling back, she would kind of back up, literally walk backwards, back up, feel the end of the line. So it's not a panic situation. She's literally feeling for it. And then she would kind of lean on it, and then she would kind of pop forward, and then she would go into pawing or hopping up and down or doing different things. So that's a perfect example of a horse that is right at the safety line. It's exhibiting all kinds of things that point towards I could pull back and really be a problem, but I'm actually responding to the pressure when it's there. So a riding example would be if you had a horse that you're out trail riding and you want the horse to slow down and you can get the horse to slow down, but there's a lot of resistance head tossing, maybe they slow down and they start swinging their body left or right. So yes, you slowed down the miles per hour, but now it feels like it's the energy is swinging to the left. The swing energy is swinging to the right. They're pulling on the reins. So at this point, I want to pause and actually discuss why I chose to label all of these things distractions. Because especially when you start all the way in the basement and you start working your way up, maybe it doesn't seem like distraction is the right word, but the reason I want you to consider it being the word to use often is because when I think about a horse being distracted, what that means to me is that the mind is somewhere else.

Stacy Westfall:
So when you think about Ember tied to the wall, pawing, rearing, going backwards, feeling the end of the tension on the rope coming forward, where is her mind? Her mind is elsewhere. Her mind is somewhere else. When you're riding that horse and you're trying to slow it down and it's pulling on the reins or speeding up or tossing its head and slowing down a little bit, but then it speeds right back up again as soon as you loosen up the reins. Where is the horse's mind? Maybe the horse's mind is back at the barn with its friends. Maybe it's further up the road. Maybe it's ahead of the next horse. Its mind is not here. So I'm calling it distracted because the distraction is the mind being somewhere else, even in the super checked out. That to me is a level of distraction. Obviously an extreme one, but it's distracted because that horse's brain is switched so far over that it's it's out of its mind with distraction because it's switched over into a safety level. So when I look at these things as distractions, then I can start to think about how they maybe are on a spectrum, on this teeter totter, on this arc where we can start to say, oh, that's interesting.

Stacy Westfall:
If we look at it as a distraction, how can we work our way through this? How can we bring the mind back into focus? Now, going back to this ground level, a lot of the things that would happen in this very close to the safety line area tend to be things that are super annoying for many riders, as I've already described. It can be that consistent struggle with slowing the horse down. The horse is pulling on the reins. It can be that consistent problem with the horse. That's just testing the edge of pulling back. It can be a consistent problem with a whole bunch of different things, but it's this really annoying stage where you're right on the edge of not feeling safe. But technically, they're not quite crossing that line. What I want you to remember here is that although it is super annoying to be riddled with all of these problems, notice this horse is responding when the request is made, even if it loops right back into can I go faster again? Can I go faster again? But the horse is responding. So to me that's what the dividing line is to where we're just above the safety line. Now let's move one level up. So if we go back to picturing this house we got out of the basement, we got up to that ground level.

Stacy Westfall:
Now we're going up to this second story so we can call it a room with a view. It's also further away from the safety line. In these examples, the riders will still use the word distracted, but sometimes they'll start switching it up and they'll say he, you know, loses his focus. And you know, this is what happens. He's he's good in these situations. Here's how I determine if you're operating at the ground level or at this second story level. The big difference with this level is that if the rider pays attention, they will begin to notice that if you're at this second story, this room with a view, you'll actually notice that if the rider really focuses, then the horse will really focus. That's actually a difference from all the levels below it. So when you're in the basement, you're not having that experience. When your safety is being threatened, there's a very good chance that you are very focused. And you also notice that it's not improving your horse's focus. That's because you're not to the second story yet. If you've ever ridden a horse where you noticed that if you really focused, really concentrated, then the horse would feel focused and would feel like it was there. Then you were at the second story. In this level of focus, a horse in this stage of training can teach you a lot. Now, technically, all the stages can teach you a lot, but this is the stage that feels the most like the horse is a reflection of you.

Stacy Westfall:
So unlike the previous stages where you could have been very focused, especially if danger was involved, but you did not see an improvement in things. In this stage, you're going to notice that as you really focus, the horse really focuses. The other thing you'll notice about this stage are that the rider will notice, if they've been in any of those previous stages, that they really like this stage. There's a great improvement being here. It may feel like work for the rider to focus to this degree, but it also feels safer because they do have a way to create a level of focus. The other thing that riders in this stage tend to notice is that if they lose their own focus, then the horse slips back into the previous stage. So remember, the horse will remain focused when the rider remains focused. But if the rider loses focus, you actually kind of slide back down. This is like Chutes and Ladders. Now you actually slide back down to that ground floor level, and you get some of those other behaviors that come back. So this stage is a huge improvement over the basement where you were below the safety line. And it's actually a very pleasant place to be compared to always being just barely above the safety line on that ground floor level. And the more time that a rider spends here at this second story, this room with a view, the more time that a rider spends here, the more they recognize the struggle when they slip back to just above the safety line.

Stacy Westfall:
This is also a stage where as that rider goes ground floor, second floor, ground floor, second floor, as that rider does that this is also where riders will start to wonder, how do I get to the next level? So the final level in these five I'm going to call the rooftop. And this is the level where once you've ridden it, you'll never unfeel it at this level. It's where it feels like the horse is focused, and it looks like from an outside view that it doesn't take much visible support from the rider. So this is a really fun stage to get to. You are several stories above the safety line, so you're far enough up that safety's not a word you use very often. Now this is an interesting point. Also, have you ever noticed that when you feel safe, you almost take it for granted? When's the last time that you drove to the grocery store, stepped out of your car and thought, wow, I feel really safe. I've got a guess on what your answer is on that. Either you can't remember getting to the grocery store, stepping out and thinking about how safe you felt because you kind of take it for granted. Or you do remember arriving at the grocery store and marveling at the feeling of safety. And if you're in that category, the reason you're there is because you touched the safety line somewhere near that experience.

Stacy Westfall:
So for me, it's been a little over a year since I was in a car accident where I broke my hand. Somebody pulled out in front of me while I was driving, and I notice times when I actually appreciate feeling safe when I arrive somewhere that's coming from my recent brush with the safety line when driving my car. So it's kind of weird. But before I had the accident and the injury, I went to the grocery store, taking for granted the safety of getting to the grocery store. But now I actually appreciate that feeling of safety. So the thought about being unsafe hadn't really occurred to me, although I theoretically knew car accidents happened. But it's interesting just to notice that when you are actually at this highest level with the horse, you can get far enough from the safety line that safety is not one of the words you often use. I've had the privilege of enjoying many horses in this stage where I've got this rooftop view, where the horse is focused without much visible support from the rider. This doesn't mean everything is perfect. So I was actually riding Willow earlier today, and when I'm riding Willow out on the trail, I have a sense of safety and that communication feels easy. But at one point it was getting dark. She still had her fly mask on and something legitimately moved over in the woods, and she startled a little bit.

Stacy Westfall:
But what's interesting about the horse that's at this rooftop view, this highest level up, this focused without much visible support from the rider, is that when the spook began to happen, I have the muscle memory for how to support her. But what's fascinating about it is that. When the spook happens, she recovers faster than I can pick up to close and hug and support her. So that's how I know she's at such a high level of focus, because she's actually recovering on her own before I can even get it executed, which is impressive because my body and muscle memory executes it pretty automatically. So again, arriving at this rooftop doesn't mean everything's perfect. And there's never a startle from your horse. It means there's this overriding sense of safety. And the communication feels easy. The horse doesn't feel innately distracted. What's really fun about this stage is that if anyone feels distracted in this situation, it's often the rider. So on Willow, I can text, I can record videos from the trail, I can pony another horse. I can act a little bit like a distracted driver, because my horse is actually stepping in with a little bit of autopilot. So it feels like my focus can wander a little bit and my horse stays steady. Another way that I like to describe it is that Willow has learned how to handle a lot of responsibility. When I look at it, it also involves the fact that she's in a situation she understands.

Stacy Westfall:
When she was new on the job, she had a lot of questions. She wasn't this responsible in her job duties. Now that she's been taught how to do her job, she's very capable, and she fills in the gaps with what I would call valuable things. So when I'm not clearly guiding her, when I'm not telling her exactly what to do, when I lose my focus, or I'm ponying another horse and it's splitting my attention, she fills in the gaps with things that I like. She doesn't fill in the gaps with fears or random questions. She fills in the gaps with the things I've shown her to do. And this happened because I've answered the questions now again, I ended up at the rooftop level here, where I get to be a little bit distracted and she fills in for me, not because she didn't have questions. That's not how we got here. We got here because she had questions and I answered them. So now what happens is I have a horse that looks very focused without much visible support from the rider. Now, technically when I'm riding her, I feel like I'm still supporting her physically, but it feels like second nature. If you look, my reins are loose, but my legs are kind of wrapped around her a little bit. It literally feels so easy that it feels like breathing. It does not feel like work, but I am supporting her in the way that I show up.

Stacy Westfall:
So that same confidence that you might have when you feel safe about jumping in your vehicle and driving to the grocery store, there's a level of confidence when you're not thinking about the fact an accident could happen. I have that kind of feeling when I'm riding Willow, so I truly believe the ride is going to go well. I'm not pretending, so I am supporting her in both that belief and that physical way of being that has developed to where it feels like second nature. So again, my favorite part about this rooftop level is that the horse doesn't feel distracted and I can actually afford some distractions. So that is the five different levels that I see. Two of them are below the safety line, three of them are above. I wanted to use the word distracted in this broad way and show you five different presentations. That to me are different levels of distraction all the way up through. But I wanted to stick with the term distracted so you could possibly see that it's actually a mental shift that's going on for the horse all the way down from the safety, all the way up through what looks like a very focused horse because of what they've been trained. So can you see that what we're labeling distractions are actually the horse's emotional responses in these different situations. The other reason that I wanted to describe it in this way is because oftentimes riders will say, my horse is distracted, and when they say that, they're using it as a broad description, where one person who hears that a horse is distracted may actually picture a horse that's below the safety line, while another person who hears the horse is distracted may hear a horse that is slipping from the rooftop back down to second level.

Stacy Westfall:
So at some point we have to get more detailed about what's going on there. Next week, I want to share with you some additional thoughts that I have about this concept. But for now, what I'd like you to do is put this into action. If you haven't already identified what level you and your horse are operating at, go ahead and pick one. Ponder the levels that I presented and then think about how did you arrive at your answer? If you picked that, you're at the ground level. How did you decide that you weren't below and slipping down below? How did you decide that you weren't at the second level? Are you solidly in the middle of the ground floor level? Are you solidly on the second story? Do you slip from the ground level to below the safety line repeatedly? Is that once a month? Is that once a year? How high up these levels have you been? These are the questions I want you to answer before next week. And that's what I have for you this week. And I'll talk to you again in the next episode.

Announcer:
If you enjoy listening to Stacy's podcast, please visit Stacy Westfall.com for articles, videos and tips to help you and your horse succeed.

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