further thoughts on Blinders

Donn, I also read that piece by Bekah and Neal, and as always, found it interesting.

My take on blinders is a bit different. My comments are not meant to disparage any other interpretation, or to advocate one way or the other.

I have been accustoming a new pair of horses to my handling, and was covering some of my approach with my daughter, who has been studying with me, and the folks who are boarding them for me. I have been testing their responsiveness and trust through a series of pressure and release exercises.

As I was working on handling their feet, questions came up about doing foot-work myself versus hiring a farrier. My answer is that handling their feet builds fundamental communication and trust, so I will not give that over to someone else. Horses’ power is in their ability to run, so having them willingly give me their feet is a very big conduit to building trust.

The same thing can be attributed to blinders. Particularly with the sight capabilities of equine, putting blinders on them prevents them from having sight to nearly half of their curiosity zone. This makes them much more dependent on us for directing them. Of course animals that have not become trusting, or those given inconsistent direction, can be made even more uncomfortable, but the sensitive teamster can use this mechanism to reinforce their trustworthiness as guide.

Another component of this for me is that blinders actually interrupt the visual dependency that animals have, just like humans. Think about how innately we try to turn our heads to see what is behind us. Think about taking direction from someone behind you entirely through voice and point contact such as a bit. This level of dependency can really enhance the level of trust that the animal can develop for the teamster.

I recently had an experience with an intern who was trying to straighten out my horses by applying pressure to align them with a line of travel, then relaxing, only to find that they would again veer off that line. I do not look to my horses to make up even the simplest direction such as walking straight. My contact is constant, and I take full responsibility for a perpetual direction, so I cannot say that I have ever tried to use blinders for straightness.

Also by interrupting the sight, the animal must rely more heavily on other senses such as hearing and feel, which augments the lines of communication used by the teamster. This enhanced sensitivity is for me the greatest aspect of directing horses in work. As I am sensitive to the handicap that I create through blocking sight, I take more responsibility for compensating for the animal, both assisting and directing, building a dynamic momentary communication.

I am not saying that this cannot be done without blinders, but I offer that, from my experience, it is the most significant reason why blinders are a traditional component of the working relationship with horses.

Carl

Donn, I knew what you meant. I was speaking mostly in reference to the article. I didn’t mean to look defensive…..

I’m enjoying this discussion since I am experimenting with having one horse without blinders. I wanted to talk about Carl’s point about removing much of the horses’s curiosity zone. My off horse tends to try to check things out around him, especially wanting to make sure that the teamster is still there behind him. He displays this behavior a lot more when driven single and it at least appears that when he doesn’t know where I am, he wants to turn around and check.

This horse also joins up very easily, especially to me. I have repeatedly seen him display the tendency to want to turn around and join up when driving single. A lot of this behavior fades when he’s in better shape, but still he carries a much more anxious gait when he has blinders. I tried switching him to a blinderless bridle this fall and he immediately carried his head much lower and generally responded better to commands. I’m still wary of things behind him, but he seems to respond better to knowing what is behind him. I haven’t had any issues so far with driving him single or double without a blinder.

As Donn mentioned, I try to keep aware of where his head is and make sure he is paying attention where and when he needs to be. I am also planning on treating most implements as if they were new to him even though he’s been on them all with blinders on. FYI, his teammate still has blinders and does fine.

I had been of the thought that blinders were a better idea than not and I still generally am, but am becoming more comfortable with the notion that trust can be built with or without blinders.