A MEMORY OF FEAR?

Submitted by...Ghost Writer

Lately I have been thinking of the intelligence of the horse. Every time I do I can hear someone once saying." If they are so smart why do they let us control them." Hmm do they? I mean really,, I have taken orders from people, bosses, mothers, fathers, wives..but, that is at the time and in the scheme of things a short term or area. They have never really controlled every aspect of my being. And truth be told I have ' gone along ' at times when it would have been my choice anyway's, but not letting them know that. I think that intelligence may have a lot to do with it but only in the fact that they want to be with us..( which may argue against higher intelligence, however.)

The question of fear in a horse has to involve their intelligence. I believe that you need  some intelligence to have fear. I had a friend that was thought to have no fear of anything, man nor beast..but truth be told those of us that knew him well realized that there was a screw loose and it was just that the part of a normal persons brain that controlled such things wasn't connected in him. He was actually too stupid to have fear...He was not able to see consequences, or even imagine what might happen. He lived in a tv hero world, and he was Superman. Even more so he had the ability to ' forget ' when things went wrong.

Now even my horse is smarter than that, he has a memory like an elephant. " What try that again, don't you remember last time we tried that?" There is still one bit that he will not even look at because when we put it  in his mouth just about everything that could go wrong did, the saddle was too wide, pinched his whithers, slipped sideways on him, causing me to hang on sideways. He snagged the lead rope etc. Now I can approach him with another similar bit but not that one. So they have memory, but not only that but a specific memory path.

I was told that my horse had a fear of quail, pigeons and other birds that move along the ground. True enough, At first I thought it was just if they made a dash for safer ground or airspace thus startling him. Not really, they could pretend they were grouse, close their eyes and freeze and he would still spook. I'm assuming that quail or doves or whatever flew out from under his feet one time and he knew that all birds were scary ...Associative memory.

Then I got chickens, and discovered that a four foot fence meant nothing to them ...around the coop, but a four foot fence around the yard was another matter. Anyway's, for the first few days it was interesting to watch. He is king of his corrals, he gets fed munches down then bolts for edge cause a chicken wants to see what is so good. After a while they make a sort of peace. then I get ducks, and they don't pay much attention to their fence,,and at feeding time leave their food to see what the horses are eating. Aha, more fun but alas you watch and see the ducks walk over and munch down with my horse..and the chickens...Same with the geese later on. He still gets miffed when they bathe in his drinking trough though, and always gives me the stink eye when they do...Now the interesting part, as he was growing up one of my roosters had a set to with my horse. He didn't like my horse and the horse didn't like him. They had their moments,,,the rooster would jump up a rail or to and flutter into the corral straight at him and try pecking his nose etc. just generally cause grief. They started to avoid each other. The odd time however he will try to follow one of the chickens into the corral only to get kicked at by a front hoof, not so strange except that he looks almost exactly like another rooster, ( we even have to look close to tell them apart). He will let the other one in but not his antagonist, further they will both come in and flap at each other ( the roosters not the horse ) and he will drive off the one he doesn't like even try stomping him. If you want a laugh watch a horse ( not really trying hard ) stomping at a rooster who thinks he's all that and won't leave the corral..So this would show a re cognitive memory.

Hey I got the smarts, now he is used to birds, so we go riding in the BLM a while later and I see a couple of quail on the side of the trail. They see us coming...( " hey guys, here comes that horse that's scared of us, let's wait until he's close and cross in front of him ....great laffs huh? " )    "stupid quail " ( my opinion..). So waiting to see what will happen we proceed. He stops and very calmly watches them cross in front of us then proceeds forward with a somewhat haughty attitude. ( very polite horse tho, it was like watching a car stop to let school kids cross the road ) Hey wow, problem solved except maybe for the ones that fly up in front of his feet...nope that is not a problem either unless they are hidden right under his feet and even then he just gives a start. So he has judged that even away from his domain ( the corral ) birds are birds and no big matter.  discerning memory.

Now on the trail ravens are nothing to him at all he barely pays attention no matter how close they get, but in his corral they have a five foot danger zone.So I ( ahem ) trained him well.. ( Hey let me delude myself a bit..). Months later we are riding in the BLM and there are some quail on the side again starting across the trail. He snorts and fidgets and starts stepping back ..trying to turn.." huh ?" once they go by he settles down and looks sheepish at first then obstinate as if to say " didn't you see it? " I for the life of me couldn't see any difference in them or their actions then the dozens or more through various encounters. But to him they were monty pythons killer rabbits, or the killer quail from Mars.. so .. (lapse ? ) in memory? or maybe a more dicerning memory than I.

Of course being able to pen, saddle, ride and cue him amoung other things, shows a learned memory.

Now we have a horse that is scared of water ( or just doesn't like it and fakes it well..) and out on the trail will even jump a three inch trickle.. ( have to work on that ) and on wider areas good luck.. like volunteering someone to see the dentist minus Novocain, no way. Yet I have led him across many feet of water to get him out of a flooded corral with little or no trouble ( horses and hoses, a foal that loves playing with hoses and water in with one scared of water.. smart huh? ) . I have even gone out in the rain to see him standing on a foot of dry island to avoid a puddle,but stand ankle deep in it while getting bathed. People have said that he must of had a bad experience when younger but I wonder if that is it and if so what part memory type/path is he using.

Now the foal has a faith in me that is something to be proud of. I have taken him through things the first time and it is more a curiosity than apprehension. Even with something he doesn't trust it isn't a major deal. Part of this is he is a clown, the other part is he likes to show off for the old ( scairdy cat ) guy. When he floods the corral you will see him prancing back and forth through the puddles in front of the scared one ( and I suppose snickering in horse tongue to boot ) while the other one has all four feet on a teacup sized dry spot.. But take the other one out and he loses interest. The only time you really see anything akin to fear ( except when it would be insane not to see it, like the basest instinctual stuff, fire etc.) is when he gets stubborn, and then he gets a really good act going. If you didn't know him you would believe it. I started thinking, what if in tense situations,( trying to move him after a flood across what I thought was a solid dirt bridge he sinks up to his knees, Oh Oh? but he just stood there, I backed him up and went another way, no panic, another time in a wind storm leading him across a downed panel,first time no problem. ) he is concentrating on me more than the environment around him. Or rather is it my determination that spell binds him, ( Call me Mesmer?) or is it simply a trust issue, ( like a little kid that trusts their parents judgment enough to cancel the fear ).

Back to my horse I have had an experience or two when he spooked at something or balked and I thought well that's that, here's a lifelong obstacle in the making having to force him through or go another way even,( due to holding up others and such,) where the next time or two no problem. Or taking him up to something you know he will be scared of and other horses are balking at , that with very little urging he plods right through. ( although he is related to the foal and likes his one upmanship to the other horses and shows off at times ).

So I am really left wondering on the mechanics of fear in horses, Instinctual, acquired, or other, and how really deep rooted it is. Trust certainly may be able to dull it ( my rider wouldn't let it hurt me ), the riders attitude as well, " well, if my rider isn't bothered why should I care about it " or even as I have seen in mine and others, the show off factor. ( two or three horses balking at crossing a stream at crystal, 2 or 3 feet wide, 12 to 18 inches deep, and moving, he walks up as if to say "chickens , let me show you how it's done " and plods right through, calm as you please. whereas before without other horses right there he was not at all pleased to do it.

Now not all fear is based in memory although after the first instance of something specific it becomes part of their memory. By example is the first time they encounter something they have no experience with and we generally think it is instinct ' different = danger' but we still tack this up to instinctive memory. Maybe even more simply in the horse world it may just be common sense. How much domestication would nullify instinct?

These and many other instances make me think that a lot of my preconceived ideas on fear in horses and many of the cut and dried explanations may not be as solid as I thought. True, many fears can seem to be trained out of them quite easily, while others seem to be much harder or seem impossible. I have always thought that it depended on the type of  fear and how they got it, but usually just got the canned ' fear is fear ' answer with the same formula for solving it. I think a lot of it, maybe even the root of it, is more complicated and the amount and type of trust between both the horse/rider is more important than trying to numb them to it.