Ever wondered why we attribute human traits to our horses or pets? This intriguing concept, known as anthropomorphism, is the key theme for this episode of Horse Fix. We journey into this fascinating world and discuss how, despite our pets' inability to fully understand us, they can still offer us immense emotional comfort. Hal Herzog's insights shed light on how naturally we talk to our pets and ascribe thoughts and meanings to other facets of our lives.
The exploration doesn't stop there. We delve into the striking similarities and the curious differences between horses and humans. You'll gain insights into common health problems, behavioral issues, and even sensory perceptions that both species share. Plus, we'll unpack the instinctual fear response horses have, the benefits and risks of teaching them to contemplate consequences and why it's crucial to respect these unique quirks. More than just a casual chat, this episode uncovers how by acknowledging our shared traits and respecting our differences, we can foster safer, more fulfilling relationships with our beloved equine companions. Tune in and let's unravel these connections together.
May all your blues be ribbons
Ever wondered why we attribute human traits to our horses or pets? This intriguing concept, known as anthropomorphism, is the key theme for this episode of Horse Fix. We journey into this fascinating world and discuss how, despite our pets' inability to fully understand us, they can still offer us immense emotional comfort. Hal Herzog's insights shed light on how naturally we talk to our pets and ascribe thoughts and meanings to other facets of our lives.
The exploration doesn't stop there. We delve into the striking similarities and the curious differences between horses and humans. You'll gain insights into common health problems, behavioral issues, and even sensory perceptions that both species share. Plus, we'll unpack the instinctual fear response horses have, the benefits and risks of teaching them to contemplate consequences and why it's crucial to respect these unique quirks. More than just a casual chat, this episode uncovers how by acknowledging our shared traits and respecting our differences, we can foster safer, more fulfilling relationships with our beloved equine companions. Tune in and let's unravel these connections together.
May all your blues be ribbons
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Horse Fix, where you can get that much needed horse fix and perhaps fix your horse at the same time. I'm Dr Sandra Holt and I'm coming to you from Longview, texas, that's right. I moved. I sold my ranch in Aubrey and got out of the horseboarding business, as well as brawn tents and purposes, stopped training outside horses here in Longview I'm still surrounded by horses I wouldn't have it any other way and I also am training my horse and showing it. So I'm keeping busy as far as the horse is concerned.
Speaker 1:But you know, the move itself selling the ranch, buying a new place and moving was pretty taxing, even though a lot of fun and exciting did take a lot out of me, energy and time wise. In addition, I unfortunately had to relocate my mother from my home to a care facility. You know she's 93 and it got to the point where she needed extra help and so sad as it was for me and actually very devastating and emotional, I did make that decision for her and all seems to be well now. I think she's getting along very nicely there and so I feel blessed for that. At any rate, that's the reason you haven't heard from me in the past three months. I look back, I couldn't believe it's actually been since last May that I did an episode and I really missed it, and I hope you missed listening. Now I'm back in a role and I'm excited I have so much information to share with you. It's been milling around in my brain and my heart for these past few months and so I'm ready to get started and to go back at it. I'm probably a little rusty, so bear with me on that part of it, but let's go ahead and get started. Since I left Dalbury, I should say that I really missed my friends there and all the horses. There was a wonderful chapter or wonderful book. In my life I've met people that will be forever friends and never forget them and all that they did for me and all they allowed me to do for them and just a very precious, precious part of my life and will stay in my heart forever.
Speaker 1:Now, those of you that have listened at all to my podcast know that it's not all about the horse. Yes, the horse is definitely in every episode, but it's also about you, the listener, and whether you're a horse person or not, or whether you even like horses. I like to introduce the equine as a way to help you navigate your way through the challenges that you might have in your life, and to help you to develop a self-awareness and a mindset for growth and learning and becoming a better person every single day. You know, I believe, that the horse helps us do this in many ways, and that the horse is very much like us, more so than you would realize. Also, though, it's important to know that the horse is not the same as the human, and I'm going to get into that today.
Speaker 1:Hence the subject for this episode. It's anthropomorphism. Yeah, that's a mouthful, and, as hard as it is to pronounce, sometimes it's even harder to recognize that. We are demonstrating it. For those of you that are not familiar with the term, it's applying attributes to non-human entities, like an animal or a bicycle, or a car or a plant, and putting attributes on to them that are humanistic. For example, raise your hand if you've ever talked to a plant or a dog or a cat, or have named your car, come home from work and have explained your whole day to your fish. We all have done it, admit it, and therefore that's exercising anthropomorphism. By the way, I had to practice saying that word before I started this podcast because it sometimes will come out of my mouth kind of twisted, so bear with me on that. But here's what I know about anthropomorphism it's that sometimes it's good and sometimes it's not so good.
Speaker 1:Although it's very common for people to put human attributes on our pets particularly in this episode, the horse it is not always safe for one thing and it's not always beneficial to the horse or to the person, and I'm going to get into that in a minute. But first let's just talk about why we anthropomorphize our pets and our horses. There are many reasons why we do so. One of the reasons that we humans will talk to our animals and kind of put them in the category of being able to understand us is that we're trying to make sense out of our relationship. We are doing it for our sake.
Speaker 1:And when we anthropomorphize in other ways as well, most of the time we're doing it for us, not for them. For example, I truly believe and I've read a lot about this and researched it most of time when we put our horses or our pets in a humanistic category, for the most part we do know they don't completely understand us. We do know that they sometimes they'll get the emotion, they'll get our mood and therefore we're doing some form of communication with them, but they're not really getting it and when we talk to them we're not expecting them to answer. This, of course, would be remiss in saying that they don't give something back to us when we are putting them in the category of a listening companion or a consoling companion. They do have a way of giving back to us and I recently read an article and it was talking about a gentleman named Hal Herzog and he said this quote first of all, he said talking to our pets is absolutely natural.
Speaker 1:Human beings are natural anthropomorphizers, meaning we naturally tend to ascribe all kinds of thoughts and meanings to other things in our lives. That led me to think about my grandson Harrison. When he was about three or four he had the huge box of crayons with I don't know 64 different colors or whatever, and he felt sorry for the maroon crayon because it rarely got used and he thought it must be sad. So he went to the maroon crayon and said I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's sad. So he would take that crayon first to color and sometimes would only use that crayon, and eventually declared the maroon crayon his favorite color, just so the crayon would feel good about himself. And that's a perfect example of why sometimes we humans anthropomorphize other objects or pets because we have empathy and real, unrealistic or realistic, it doesn't matter we still possess a sensitivity toward the feelings of that other entity. So if I were you, I would not feel bad about talking to your car or talking to your horse, and it actually studies have shown that it's a sign of intelligence and not of silliness or not of stupidity.
Speaker 1:To back that up, there's a lady named Mary Hood Latrell and she's written many articles and done lots of research and studies on human and horse behavior. And she says this she explains that anthropomorphism is a positive, she says animal-centric tendencies. That allows humans to recognize the similarities we share with animals. She explains that by allowing ourselves to recognize similarities between ourselves and animals, while obviously respecting differences too that's important we are better able to see the whole animal. And by seeing the whole animal we're less likely to commodify its individual parts, like its skin, its fur, its physical confirmation or athletic abilities, its usefulness for human purposes or gain, and rather to see now these are my words rather to see the horse in this case as a living, breathing creature that deserves respect and empathy.
Speaker 1:I doubt that there's a rational horse or human anywhere who would deny that there are differences between our species. Many of these differences are immediately obvious, which is why both humans and horses are naturally cautious and nervous the first time we encountered one another. But other differences, such as the fact that horses can't breathe through their mouths or they cannot vomit, but no two individuals, even within the same species, are the same in every way. So it's only common sense to presume that our differences, both innate and acquired, are there. And shouldn't it be equally common sense to assume there are similarities? So here are some similarities in health conditions that you may not have thought of, including heart disease, lyme disease, joint disease, tendon issues and cancers. Also, the horse and the human exhibit similar clinical signs, even when the root causes may be different, for example, equine grass sickness and Alzheimer's or self-mutabilization in horses and cutting disorders in humans. Yes, in case you're wondering, some horses wake up in the morning trying to hurt themselves, and some of you may be aware of that. Full rejection in mares and postpartum depression in women. Equine metabolic syndrome in horses and diabetes in people. Asthma in humans versus what was classically called heaves and horses.
Speaker 1:So how can we not empathize and how can we not at least anthropomorphize a horse in some of those ways? Of course, you know I'm always wanting to learn everything I can possibly learn about the horse and I, but I never blindly believe anything without doing the research. But I'm also a staunch advocate for using one's intuition and following your gut. You know your horse. Anytime you interact with horses, you're building a bond and a relationship, and the best way to build a relationship of trust and to stay safe with the horses is to practice guess what anthropomorphism. So up until now, I think I've probably convinced you that anthropomorphism is not a bad thing, and it's actually what many of us trainers do when we are training and working with our horses.
Speaker 1:Where the trouble lies is with anthropomorphizing our horses when we forget that the horse has a huge sensory input center. It lives for the here and now and it lives in the here and now. It's entire body, which responds to the slightest touch, sight or sound that can be dangerous to us or our veterinarians or our ferriers or others, is what they are all about. So, as horse owners, it is our job to demonstrate to our horses that we respect their sensory perception and that we do not put such attributes on them as emotional love. Now, what I mean by that is sure you love your horse and you think your horse loves you, but actually it's more of a bond that you have with your horse and your horse has with you, and to explain that your horse doesn't have a sense of logic in the frame of mind of his or her relationship with you.
Speaker 1:So, logically speaking, if you love someone and they loved you back and you surprise them and went up behind them, they would react in a way that they might be startled but they would not physically hurt you from that surprise. But with a horse they will physically hurt you because their first instinct is fear and their second is perseverance. So they want to preserve themselves in their life and they will hurt you. They will kick you or bite you If they feel threatened. They may buck you off and even though you feel the deepest love for your horse, they might not feel it back the same way a human would feel it back. And I think you know, guys, that's so important to realize and know that horses are horses and although they do have similarities, they are not the same as us, and so you can't put the same emotion on a horse that you would be able to put on a person.
Speaker 1:I think we can all logically agree that horses do not reflect on their purpose or their origin like we do, and they do live in the here and now. In the moment, they rely on their sensory input, which evokes instinct. But what about self-awareness and the ability to contemplate consequences? Well, they really can't. Although to be devil's advocate here isn't itself awareness and contemplation of consequences exactly what we are teaching our horses when we train them, we tell them lift your back when I press the spur, and when you lift your back I stop pressing the spur. So they're learning consequences, aren't they? But are we not anthropomorphizing our horses by bridging their sensory input with their brains to think before they respond or react? And what about training to contemplate consequences? Are we not doing that too? So there's a big question there to ponder, especially for me. I bounce back and forth that am I training them realistically, or am I training them how I think I would train a human? It's a big question.
Speaker 1:I think it's important to know that horses are not compassionate. They do feel, I believe, and anyone who can categorically deny that horses do bond with other horses and humans and do not feel any emotion. I think they're wrong. But then let's look at this what about the excessive objection of anthropomorphism? In the trainer world, as I am in, I see over and over again people who trainers slash writers, who do not empathize with the horse. My own cowboy husband has very little empathy for the horse. Now, he's not cruel by any stretch and he does recognize a horse if it's in pain, but he does not empathize with the horses perhaps for lack of a better word feelings about what's going on. So I feel like people who reject anthropomorphism 100% leads to a devastating denial of the very real and vast similarities that we do share with the horse. With my experience, this denial is far more rampant in the horse industry, more than it should be. Good news is there are trainers out there who do get barred from certain associations like AQHA etc. These people are far more dangerous to themselves and to their horses, you know, more dangerous than excessive anthropomorphism would ever be.
Speaker 1:It's okay not to be totally empathetic and to realize that horses are not the same, but they do experience the same types and frequencies of physical pain or discomfort in their bodies, or agitation or anxiety. So one should, I think one should recognize that pain does exist in them one way or the other. And how often do humans choose to ignore or deny the fact that horses form incredibly deep bonds or friendships with other horses, and even with particular UNs, and that they have strong preferences about who they live with, spend their time with and interact with? You know, how often do humans choose to pretend that horses somehow naturally enjoy being ridden and they feel comfortable wearing excessive tag or voluntarily giving up their little control that they have ever had in their lives, or control of their bodies or their choices? So there you have it, the pros and cons of anthropomorphism.
Speaker 1:I'm kind of down the middle with this. I do have empathy for the horse, I love the horse and I can look at a horse and I can feel what they're feeling. But I also know that, again, they are not the same as us. They do not have the emotional bond, the loving bond that we have with them. Their love language is completely different. But my personal feeling and here's what I know is that I will always feel that the horse has similarities and that by my recognizing that I can recognize what they need, and by recognizing the horse's need for understanding, I can better understand myself. If you have any questions, folks, please do not hesitate, or if you have comments about this particular episode, let me know and I will definitely put you on the next podcast. I think it's controversial as well as very enlightening for many people to think about anthropomorphism.
Speaker 1:Now, then, just a little plug for my newest venture. I have started Facebook episodes that are live mostly and that are videos of training horses. So you can find it on Sandra Holt Facebook and I think it might be on my horsefix Facebook. I'm working toward figuring that one out at the moment, but at any rate, tune in. The first episode is about five minutes long and it's just a quick shorty on how to lunge a horse and the do's and don'ts and how to be effective. Some people don't realize that there is a real purpose for lunging other than just wearing your horse out, so tune in to that.
Speaker 1:I want to give a shout out and a thank you to Royal Point Equestrian. I really appreciate you letting me use your arena this morning for my newest venture, my Facebook tutorial on horsemanship, and just wanted to say you know, I have a lecture there and I'm so happy to be there. Melissa, the owner takes such good care of her property and takes even better care of the horses, so I couldn't be happier being here in long view at the Royal Point Equestrian with my horse Elector. And, as always, I want to thank my friends and my relatives for staying loyal and listening. You all know who you are and I am thinking of each and every one of you every time I do a podcast and in between. So thanks again, everyone, and until next time may all your blues be ribbons Bye-bye.