Horse Trainer Speaks Equine

By Gregory John Harbert, The Valley Press

Last weekend a group of explorers set forth into the Santa Cruz Mountains looking for things to learn and discover. Unlike most groups who camp these days, these individuals spent most of their time with their horses. The event that they were participating in was a blend of horse riding lessons with elements of a retreat for horse lovers, creating what could be called "horse encounter sessions."

Ben Lomond local Julie Carpenter, who organized the event, seems like a traditional trainer during riding lessons. She's firm, direct, patient and intuitive. As her students work on various techniques, she offers quick directions only when they are needed. The students listen, apply the advice offered, and the challenge is overcome.

Yet, the technique that Carpenter follows to work with her horses is very new and innovative, allowing the rider to communicate with the horse in ways that the horse can more easily understand.

"Back-up, switch your hands, have your hands ready…She's going to come right on in. Close your hands, and she'll come right on in. Now look at her yawning and releasing all that anxiety in her jaws. That's all resistance in her body. Now do some ground school. Have her work on something she knows. End the lesson on a positive note," says Carpenter to a student. All this advice that Carpenter is giving out refers to body language that horses seem to understand as much as the tug of a bridle.
Carpenter asserts that certain human body language is recognizable to horses. When using this system, the horse will respond to small gestures and sounds, dispensing with the need to discipline the horse.

Lola Blevins, an intermediate rider who has been training with Carpenter for about a year and a half, gave Carpenter glowing evaluations, "She's great. A miracle worker. This horse was wild and crazy when I got her, but with Julie's help and her training with the horse, and with me too, we're starting to get together." Blevins believes that the riders and horses both work hard, but that ultimately it was the riders who learned the language of the horse rather than the horse learning the language of the rider.
Some of the horses that Carpenter trains and rides came with backgrounds that made them potentially very hard to train, if not impossible. For example, she works with horses going through an adoption process, and need to unlearn some bad behavior patterns. These horses often find loving owners who have no trouble riding them. Carpenter has even worked with the legendary wild desert stallions.

"There was a time when getting on a horse meant kicking them to move forward and pulling back to stop. Now there is a whole new universal language with the animals. There are now people riding without a bridle, including a 16 year old I work with. The horse understands exactly what she wants. In a sense, the Indians rode like this. When I teach somebody to ride, if they can't understand how to communicate through their body and just the halter, I don't want them to use a bit, because they're going to be pulling back and hurting them. The horse doesn't know it means 'to stop', so the horse becomes very frustrated. Eventually, they can develop behaviors that people chalk up to being a 'bad horse.' Then they sell them off, and the horse gets a bad rap because of the rider."

As Carpenter scans her students, she indicates one of the horses. "She's only been under saddle five times, and hasn't even offered to buck."

She believes that the most important element between horse and rider is trust.

Carpenter has been training for nine years, and riding since she was eight. She always wanted to teach, but it wasn't until she met some trainers who were working with this new technique that she knew that she wanted to teach it. "The gentlemen that I learned from in the beginning took a two year old [colt], that nobody's been on before. It had a little rope halter, and in 45 minutes [he] was standing on the horses back, and it was standing still. The horse never offered to buck or showed aggression. Just learning to communicate: making the right thing really comfortable and the wrong thing uncomfortable."

After years of study, Carpenter has learned to look for the slightest signs of communication from the horse. She looks to the ear moving, or the eye. When the horse starts to understand something, she believes the horse will do a 'lick and a chew.'
She claims that one of the most difficult challenges is that true animal/horse nature has an instinct that creates distrust against humans. Therefore, horses must know that they can trust their riders to respond to them well.

"It's Natural Horsemanship Universal. That's the name for the system," says Carpenter. "You listen to the horses language, and find what the horse has to say. It's a language that's been ignored for so many years, but it's not a secret. People can listen and learn what their bodies are telling them."

Carpenter also feels that understanding animal language can help lead people to better understanding each other. Just like with horses, bad communication can lead to resentment that can lead to bad behavior patterns.

Carpenter observes that her students often take what they learn with their horses and integrate it into their lives. Carpenter and many of her students agree that what they do with the horses represents a universal communication. It works from the same principal that relates to whatever school you can think of in the modern horse training pantheon, including horse whispering.

Carpenter's training with horses and riders begins simply enough; with the basic one-hour lessons. But the classes build until you're ready for some overnight adventures. Some as long as four days, such as this one at Graham Hill Show grounds.
Carpenter feels that it's a good idea to work the horse and the rider to the point where they are able to take on a challenge. The work with the horse and rider builds until they feel comfortable enough to take on a long ride with many obstacles. The 'final exam' being a ride on the Skyline-to-Sea trail through Big Basin.