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[RC] Alpha Horse vs Race Horse [was - following / leading] - Beverley H. Kane, MD

To my observation, there is a difference between a horse that's racing and
an alpha horse. The former isn't necessarily the latter.

My horse lives in a natural herd of 8-10 mares and geldings. (He is the
dominant gelding x/ around food with the dominant chow hound*.) I have spent
hours and hours watching their interactions in pasture. Also, I teach
Medicine and Horsemanship, both the clinical skills version and the
leadership development version, with a natural herd of 45 mares and
geldings. The first 15 minutes of class is observing dominance body language
and other non-verbal communication after the herd is rounded up from a large
pasture into a small catch corral.

Alpha animals don't lead by racing in front. They drive from behind, usually
with ears pinned or head flicked at the submissive horse's rump. (Dominance
and submission are also dynamic, changeable, *situation-dependent roles.)

This distinction might not make a heck of a lot of difference in training
and correction, but it seems to me that with a true alpha horse, one needs
to do a lot more ground work, e.g., in a round pen, to establish
leadership/partnership.

Beverley
_______________
Beverley Kane, MD
Horsensei Equine-Assisted Learning & Therapy
Woodside, CA
http://www.horsensei.com

The Manual of Medicine and Horsemanship--
Transforming the Doctor-Patient Relationship with Equine-Assisted Learning
http://www.authorhouse.com/bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=49669

On 4/8/09 7:18 PM, "Rae Callaway" <tallcarabians@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

An alpha can still be trained.  Ask anyone, Scarlet is a Queen B and is
definitely the ruler around here.

Rae


-----Original Message-----
From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Tiffany D'Virgilio
Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 8:00 PM
To: Nancy Sturm
Cc: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [RC] since we're on the subject... - following / leading

well, I think I am stuck with an alpha. Even when we were regularly
riding in groups, she would still throw a tizzy. She isn't hot, only
when she wants to be in front. 



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Replies
RE: [RC] since we're on the subject... - following / leading, Rae Callaway