need your opinion

Question
QUESTION: Hi Denise!
I hope the new year is treating you well. My wild child appy has been nothing but interesting. We had some quality one on one time to bond when he decided to play stallion fighting with the neighbors gelding and got completely entangled in the back fence ADOT put up. barb wire! what a nightmare and to wild to let us help him. I held my breath as he pulled free and ran a few short steps away before the blood started. He ripped his leg from chest to coronet in multiple pieces. He has been a learning experience. Our vet was over 200 miles away and talked this faint heart through what to do. I learned how to use perma bond and put in stitches. It will be a long process to bring him back but he looks good, the real blessing here is he KNOWS I was the one to help and he absolutely let me doctor him with no qualms. I removed the pressure bandages this week and we are still cold hosing the swollen knee and fetlock. he appears to be going to make a complete recovery with no noticeable gimp. We feared he cut the tendon but it seems he only knicked the sheath. we are hand walking and he is getting lots and lots of hands on ,gotta stand still training. our bond we have forged over the last several weeks is so astounding I dared to believe it was possible with his macho attitude he usually gives me.I was able to get him to lower his head to the ground with light pressure on his poll. I thought I might faint with excitement. I ran all over to find someone to tell and everyone was busy. shoot!
well , that catches us up, here is my question. he does not appear to have both sides of the brain hooked up. if I do something on the right and then attempt it on the left he acts clueless. my other horses don't seem to have this problem. it is a sort of answer why he only does limited things. it depends what side I teach on. currently I do everything in doubles once or more on each side. this has produced some good effects. I wonder though is he playing with me or are some horses right/left brained and some use the whole thing?
Siski aki

ANSWER: Hi Siski!

So nice to hear from you again.  It seems your App is offering you quite an education!  This is one of those times where you really appreciate the saying "ignorance is bliss."  I'm sure you NEVER wanted to know how to suture a horse or examine close up the blood volume of an injured horse, or field dressing, wet to dry bandaging, and pressure wrapping.   I too have had to have this type of education.  You will now be a valuable resource to others in your horse community...see, a silver lining!  

I LOVE your question.  It tells me you are really a student of the horse and are searching and learning on a much deeper level.  Wonderful!  There is much debate yet on this issue of interocular transfer (IOT) and the role of the corpus callosum as it pertains to the behavior of the horse.  It has long been thought that that there was little need for co-processing of information from each eye of the horse due to the placement of the eye and the needs of the horse in a ferrel environment.  In dolphin studies, scientists believe that the horse is very similar in that the animals sleep separately in both halves of the brain.  This allows for constant vigilance and thus survival in their environment.  There have only been limited studies of visual discrimination tasks in horses and most of the information of left/right brain learning has been anecdotal.

It has long been thought that the function of the corpus callosum, the bundle of nerves that allows the hemispheres of the brain to communicate, is very different in the horse and is quite different than in the human.  So, we make sure to "teach" both the left and right side of the horse independently knowing that the brain function, for many good reasons, is different.  

What you stumbled on in watching and observing your horse is what good horseman have known and relied on for hundreds of years.  Horses can react independently on each side.  Information coming from each hemisphere of the brain is allowed equal attention and reaction.  You really are riding two horses at the same time.  This increased awareness on the part of the horse and lack of understanding on how a horse actually thinks, sees and behaves is what gets the human into the most trouble.  Humans think like humans when we need to think like the horse when we are around the horse.  Just this tiny realization of the biomechanics of brain function will open a whole new world of understanding for you.  It is something that people like the Dorrence Brothers and Ray Hunt learned by observation, comparison and remembering the behavior.  They watched the horse with a very keen eye.  They did not have the science to prove what they were observing as fact, what they did have was a deep and involved life with the horse and an openness to the creatures they were so bonded with.

Much hearty Congratulations to you Siski!  You are reaching a very different place with your horses and your horsemanship!

Smiles!  Denise

Hi Siski...Is everything okay?  I noticed that you have not read my answer yet and you are usually right on it.  No more accidents I hope.  I'll chock it up to a very busy life and go with the "no news is good news" adage.  Hope all is well.  Smiles!  Denise

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thank you so much for your response Denise. I offer my apologies for such a long time in getting back to you. My faithful fur companion of 13 yrs had to have surgery to repair her ear and between work on gates and after care I neglected my computer. My appy ran yesterday!!!! I am so thrilled. He still has an almost unnoticeable flop to the foot, I hear it, I can't see it. We are starting back to work in the roundpen after he has a few days to get the wiggles out and I make sure that the deepest cut and scabs are well adhered. I had to make sure of your answer before I started though. I have been rethinking my training program. I am going to touch base from the very beginning again and make sure our work is solid ; on both sides. I have spent an extraordinary amount of time watching him and watching how my old mustang makes him behave. My foolhardy husband threw himself against the appy as he charged out of a gate. Luckily neither one was hurt and both were shaken up. This has made some really tense moments around here, I have gotten a lot of guff to get rid of him. I had to rethink having a horse that is not beginner safe around people who are not always thinking. To that end, the appy wins,I know he would go on that crazy auction mill and I will not let that happen.our bond is so tight he nickers when he hears me leave the house now. :) my own personal black beauty,yeah I'm a died in the wool romantic. I built new gates and pens with some help that will 'funnel' him to the turn out area without anyone getting in harm's way. what a project! I even made a sign that I post on all the gates when he is loose. I can't believe how many people who are supposed to know horses do the silliest things that are dangerous.
I wanted to tell you about a new behavior he is now doing. He literally looks twice at everything we do. He will turn and look at me on the right then move his head and look at me with the left. It's like he gets 'it' that he was not getting the whole picture. I did not know if you ever had a horse do this.He still shakes his head up and down at me at times and for the life of me I can't figure out if this is aggression or what. I do know he learned a long time ago he can intimadate man and he still tries. Just the other day while I was inspecting his leg he slid his foot over to see if I would move. I didn't and gave him a pointy elbow, while he did not move his foot he did lean his body away. after about a minute he moved his foot back, it seemed so deliberate, his eyes were narrowed and I redirected his attention to in front of him and he just seemed like he forgot what he was planning. whew! I sure gotta be on my toes with him. Am I personalizing that, or are they that subtle?
well friday is the big day when he and I enter the roundpen again to see where we are at. Some days I am afraid he is over my head, and others days when he comes to me and lifts his foot and pulls on my sleeve to help him I just know I am doing the right thing. sigh, oh well what are you gonna do? yeah, just love them for being a social sentient being.
Siski aki

Answer
Hi Siski!

I'm so glad that everything is working out!  I LOVE,LOVE,LOVE your Tail!  It is a great idea!  Use it just like your mustang uses his!  Make sure your husband only goes into the pasture when he has a flag or tail.  Let him know to use these tools and if he does not have the presence to move your app away, get out of the way and stay safe first.

You will be amazed at just how subtle the horse is and also when you really understand horse behavior, how overt they are.  We humans are just slow.  Horses must think we are SO dumb!  We can't smell, can't see movement, can't see at night, can't hear, we don't notice body cues...gosh, they are wonderful for putting up with US!  

Sometimes the shaking head up and down is pure frustration.  Jett, my gelding does it when I have failed to figure out what he is telling me.  This last week was another clear example of how I missed what he was telling me.  I thought he had injured a suspensory ligament.  The swelling, pain etc...all looked like ligament injury.  He had only a slight bit of heat in the bulb of his heel.  I kept attending to the ligament just below the knee and he kept tossing his head up and down.  He even resorted to biting a chunk out of the bandage right at the bulb of his heel and I still didn't pay attention.  Sigh...a day and a half later the abscess had ruptured out the heel and at the cornet band.  Poor guy is very lame.  At least now I'm on the right track and guess what?  No more head tossing.  He looks at me with pity and a bit of disgust, though.  I can't say that I blame him.

We can have very deep and close relationships with our horses so long as we always remember that they are HORSES!  I never want them to be anything but a horse and I respect them.  I also know that I am the leader of the herd.  It has to be that way.  It is how the universe works for the horse.  With the lead mare in a herd, there is NO question that she is in control, period.  She can be soft and loving, or hard as nails depending on the circumstance.  You can be the same to your horses.  Clear, dependable, wise, and fair.  Harsh to the core when the need arises, and then soft.  For the human, you may need to use the wooden end of your tail or the handle of your flag to tell your App when he has gone or is ABOUT to go too far.  You may really need to thump him to have him understand.  Just make sure your timing and feel are spot on.  Do your ground work and try and set things up for your horse to find the answer, but be prepared mentally and physically to go the distance without fear if you need to.  

I'm so proud of you, Siski!  I'm always tickled to hear from you and your latest discovery!  I'm a romantic too.  I know horses feel that intent and that openness.  Makes for very special connections.  Enjoy.

Smiles! Denise