Horses Offer Their Healing Touch
By Patch HutchinsonThe Country Star, Vernon, BC
Vernon – Horse whispering is not a secret. Anna Heiberg can teach you the technique within an hour at Horse Play at Work, the ranch that she operates with her mother, Karen Heiberg.
Anna is a horse professional who teaches riding lessons and natural horse training. Karen has a master's degree in counseling psychology. Both mother and daughter are trained and certified through the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association, a leader in the field of assisted psychotherapy for humans. They have combined their talents to offer personal and professional development to individuals, groups and families at their BX Ranch just minutes from downtown Vernon. .
“But therapy sounds scary and we want to promote fun,” said Karen, who grew tired of just sitting in an office, counseling. “This is a safe and relaxing place to heal, which is what you do in counseling. Horses are such a safe and loving creature to be with and people love to be around horses, even people that have a fear of them.”
Horse whispering is one of many fun activities used at the ranch, where learning comes naturally though the use of horse play techniques. To demonstrate, Anna entered the round pen with her gelding. She sent him away from her, so he cantered around the outer perimeter.
“Horses have a hierarchy in the herd and we want the horse to be convinced that we are the leader,” she said, adding that food rewards were not the most effective method for training horses, whose priorities are safety, comfort and then food.
Since the time when wild herds roamed the prairies, an old mare was usually the herd leader. She watched for predators when the equines grazed and took charge of teaching younger members how to behave. Kicking was bad for the herd because injured animals were easy prey, so she disciplined offenders by ostracizing them.
“They would be killed by a predator within 72 hours of being on their own,” said Anna, who rotated her body to keep her shoulders squarely facing the animal. “I am imitating the old mares movements. He is reading my body all the time.”
She also observed the horse's body language and wanted his inside ear to be alert and forward, the first of three signs that he was attending to her.
“Like a kid goofing off in class, no attention means no respect,” said the trainer.
The gelding's eyes began blinking more than usual, an indication that he was thinking and not feeling threatened. He lowered his neck and hung his head, the second sign of submission. The third was licking and chewing, a signal that meant ‘let me come in'”.
Then Anna turned her shoulders away, almost turning her back on the horse and he approached behind her, bowing his head. To test the relationship, she walked away and he followed her, staying behind respectfully and keeping his neck and head low.
“Horses are happiest when they have found a good leader,” she said, and invited me into the round pen to try the technique for myself.
Under her direction, I shooed the horse away, mouthing noises that agitated him so that he cantered around the outside of the pen in an effort to get away. Mimicking Anna’s body language, I faced the steed squarely at all times.
The family herd of nine is composed of horses that have been rescued from the meat dealer. During my mini-lesson, they moved into the nearby pasture and distracted the gelding. So I began again from the beginning, first getting the attention of the inside ear. After a few minutes the gelding had lowered his neck and began the chewing.
“With horses it is a game of who pushes whom. If he is above, he pushes me: if lower, I push him. They are a great teacher of boundaries, invading your space,” said the trainer.
Within a few minutes the steed was moving his hindquarters out of my way – an indication of respect, and following me around the pen – an indication that he accepted me as herd leader.
Without any lecture, I had learned a valuable lesson. Natural leaders first gain trust and respect and if I want to communicate I must make the effort to speak their language. This would be typical of the equine-assisted growth and learning at the Horse Play Ranch.
“Love, language and leadership are the three great components of building a great relationship with horses as well as with people,” said Anna, borrowing her words from Parelli. “You are never going to get a mixed message from horses. They do not have the ability to say one thing and body language another.”
Corporate teambuilding is one focus at the ranch. Using games like equine billiards, team members are on the ground and not on horseback. With no talking other than the initial planning session, and no touching or bribing the horses, teams must get a horse into a specific “pocket” area of the arena.
“It is not so much about winning. Sometimes the greatest learning comes when the task does not get finished, gaining insights into our behaviour and body language.”
There is debriefing afterwards to talk about the dynamics of the group. Were all team members involved? What was their role?
“Horses demand respect and that is great for at-risk youth,” said Karen Heiberg as she imitated the body language of one charismatic kid who stood before the herd with wide stance, arms akimbo and hands on hips. “The horses lined up in a face-off to him and that said more than any thing I could have told him.”
Typical clients have included youth groups and adults in government-funded social programs for life skills, such as North Okanagan Youth Source (NOYS) and the Bridges Program for Women.
But Horse Play is not just for healing. Anna gives basic and advanced riding lessons and natural horsemanship training to individuals and parent and child pairs. Upcoming events will include women’s weekends.
“My main focus is just for fun riding,” said the instructor. “Some people have had a bad experience and want to regain their confidence, so it does not even have to involve riding. They will not be put on the horse’s back unless they are ready for it. “
Horse Play at Work will host an open house May 16. Parents and grandparents, teens and tots will have an opportunity to play horse games, become horse whisperers and view demonstrations by a visiting farrier. For further information contact horseplay@junction.net or call 260-3225.
