Interview with Marissa Shotwell-Tabke
1. I am interested in studying wild horses and
training them. What can you tell me about it?
·
First thing to do is to understand the animal by
knowing that the horse has had no human experience so you have to take all of
their instincts into account. This means that they probably think that you are
going to eat them. So you would have to start with the very basics.
2.
From your perspective, what could I study that
would be significant to other people?
·
Animal behavior or in general horse behavior.
And wild horses in America and their history in America.
3.
Who else would you recommend I talk to?
·
Bureau of Land Management (BLM), trainers who
have specifically have had experiences with wild horses and getting them broke.
4.
What kinds of places or activates do you
recommend I do for the mentorship component?
·
Working with your trainer and working here is
great learning about horses in general. Working with someone who has done the
mustang challenge several times.
5.
What materials should I read in this field? Who
else can I interview?
·
Reading about animal behavior and BLM
documentation on wild horses and any trainers that do any type of work with
wild horses.
6.
What are the basic ages for different types of
training?
·
There are different types of training you do all
throughout a horses’ life time. So when we have baby horses here we start
desensitizing them and handling them and start getting them used to people when
they are born. When they are yearlings they get really well halter broke. Late
in their two year old year we teach them to wear tack and start them on the
process of getting broke. That is what we do with the domestic horse so
obviously with a wild horse you start from the very beginning with an adult
horse.
7.
When do you start training them to be handled by
a vet and farrier?
·
It really depends on the baby, if we have a baby
that has some kind of issue with their feet we will have the farrier on them
pretty early. The earliest is three months old. And then they all get their vaccinations
when they are about six months when they are getting weaned and are not getting
their passive immunity from their mothers any more.
8.
How fast do you move between stages of training?
·
It really depends on the horse. It’s just like
people they learn at different rates so some will get certain concepts easier
than others. All of them have something they are good at and all of them have
something they are really bad at. So it really depends on what skill you are
working on.
9.
What is the most memorable horse that you have
had that went pretty quickly?
·
We actually have a horse in the barn named Lyman
Legacy and he was so easy with everything. He was just like okay let’s go, make
me a show horse. I actually took him all the way to the National Futurity as a
three year old. He was brand new to everything and handled it like a champ and
did great.
10.
How do you reward a horse for good behavior?
·
We base our training off of operant conditioning
so there is pressure and when they create the correct response we release the
pressure. So if I am asking a horse to move off my leg and they don’t know what
that means I’ll squeeze them on and then push a little harder and if needed
kick them a little bit until they move away off the leg I will remove my leg so
there is no pressure. That is how we teach them to do things. So there is
pressure and accommodating to the pressure.
11.
When the horse moves away from the pressure how
do you reward them for that?
·
Really the release of the pressure is the reward
in itself but you can give them a pat or tell them that they are a good horse.
12.
What are the basic things you start with for
each step?
·
The first thing I do is to teach them how to
lunge. When the babies come in from the pasture they don’t know anything about
how to work. I will take them into the bullpen and teach them that they have to
stay out to the wall and to move away from me. And once they get that we start
putting tack on them. So they will wear a surcingle to teach them about belly pressure,
then they will wear a bit in their mouth and learn that its fine in their mouth
and that they don’t have to try to spit it out all the time. Once they get that
we’ll start to put some rein pressure on them so they know they have to accommodate
that and to wear long lines, saddles, and eventually a rider.
13.
What techniques do you use for building trust?
·
I do a lot of talking since that is my type of
personality. It’s also a lot of body language. Horses communicate through body
language so you have to be very aware of what your body language is saying, so
if I am working with a baby that is nervous I make sure that my body language
is very passive and so they know that I am not there to hurt them. If they are extremely
nervous I will go and stand in the stall with them for a while, hopefully we
get to the point where I go in the stall and they come over and let me pet them
and are fine with me being around them we can go on to the next step.
14.
When you said that your body language has to be
passive what kind of things will you do to reinforce this?
·
I make sure that my breathing is really come and
slow. I try to relax my shoulders and try to make sure that anything that is seen
as aggression is taken out.
15.
Do you do anything different from any other
trainers?
·
Every trainer does everything a little bit
differently. They have their own style and way to do things. I have done work
with many other trainers and pick and choose what things that they do that I
really like and see good results from. I think that everyone along their path
of becoming a trainer kind of does the same thing.
16.
For different horses do you do things
differently or do you keep things the same?
·
I keep things pretty much the same but if a
horse is having issues with something then I might vary it a little and see
what might work for that horse in that situation.
17.
How do you know when to end a training session?
·
Usually I try to end on a good note, so I try to
end with something I know the horse is successful at. So if I am have a
training session with a horse learning something new and are not getting it I
will take a step back and ask them to do something they know so that we can
finish with a reward and successful.
18.
How do you prepare a horse to have something on
their back?
·
The first step is the surcingle then go ahead
and put the saddle on and let them lunge around with it. A lot of them want to
buck around with it because they feel it flapping around up there. That is
another thing that I teach the babies pretty quickly is that when I am working
with them they are in school so they are not allowed to play in class. So if
they want to buck and jump around they are not allowed to do that in school
because it’s like a kid playing in the classroom they aren’t allowed to do
that. So if they try to jump around I will remind them that no they aren’t
allowed to do that, usually it works pretty well. After that I like to kind of
smack around the saddle and make it make loud noises and make it seem scary and
have them just stand there with me. Then I will put my foot in the saddle and
start bouncing up and down in the stirrup. Then I will stand in the stirrup and
make sure that they can see me from both sides and if they are ok with that
then it is time to swing the other leg over.
19.
When you get on the horse for the first time
what do you usually do?
·
Usually we just turn them in a little circle
usually to the left because we do everything from the left they are used to
turning left. Let them walk around a bit and then turn them around the other
way because sometimes when they see you from the off eye they will be like whoa
where did you come from even though they just saw you on the other side. If they
are feeling okay with that I like to trot, a lot of horses think about it and
start to get wound up and need somewhere to go then they are thinking about
going somewhere and going.
20.
When you are teaching a horse to lead on the
ground how do you go about that?
·
We start when they are really young and how to
move off of poll pressure. The foals actually have a natural response to what
the mares use right by their tail head. If you see a foal down on the ground
and see the mare go up to it and nip it right by the tail head the baby will
get up so we call it the “go button.” It is a natural response that they have
so kind of use that to our advantage and start teaching them by putting a
little bit of pressure then pressing the “go button” and pretty soon they start
to making the connection of pull pressure and going forward.
21.
How do you teach them to back up?
·
Usually by the time we teach them to back we
have had them lunging for a while so they are starting to understand the directionality
with the halter so backing is one of the last things I teach the horse leading
wise. Most of the time I use their instinct to go forward to teach them to back
up.
Link to interview audio: https://soundcloud.com/kiley-moore/interview-1
