When I attended the Elementary School Heads Association annual conference earlier this month, along with the more academic offerings, the group had the chance to hear and watch a horse whisperer at work. In telling about the philosophy behind this practice, Grant Golliher explained that the idea was not to physically coerce, whip, or break the horse into submission as has been the historical practice. Instead it was to work with the horse's natural inclinations and intelligence, and to systematically lead it toward behaviors that would be mutually beneficial. Boiled down, horse whispering is a humane method of training a horse. Admittedly it still has the goal of making the human dominant, but as I witnessed Golliher's work, I couldn't help thinking that it was a technique that largely depended on respect, The Country School value for October, and that it had stunning similarities to good parenting and teaching.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠIn the course of about two hours, Golliher worked with a horse that had only been ridden once (and that was only very briefly as part of an initial evaluation when the young animal was first brought to him two weeks before). He said he had done very little work with the horse up to that point, and as the horse entered the demonstration ring, its wild nature was clear. Yet using seemingly simple and common sense techniques, Golliher was progressively able to get the horse to act in ways both of them seemed to want, to gain its trust, to ease its fears, and to provide it with a sense of security and comfort. The horse eventually let Golliher put a saddle on and ride her. It was mesmerizing to watch.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠIn the course of the demonstration, Golliher softly explained what he was doing and why he was doing it. He was quite a philosopher and something of a poet. In fact, at a few points he recited some poems he thought relevant. It was clear we were not in the presence of an ordinary cowboy.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠWhat was relevant to parenting and teaching from this horse whispering demonstration? Golliher's emphasis on utter consistency; his taking the time to figure out the nature, fears, and instincts of his “beast”; his requisite underlying confidence; his ability to catch the horse doing the right thing and praising that; his way of doing “just enough” to get his desired response; and his constant efforts to “make the right thing feel good.” And then some of what he said was so just very poignant:
•ﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠ“You've got to make the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy.”
•ﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠ“Do as little as you can but as much as you have to.”
•ﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠ“If you can harness a positive attitude, you won't have to deal with negative actions.”
•ﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠ“Discipline without love is abuse, but so is love without discipline.”
ﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠGolliher was clearly a master of his art. Yet his secret seemed to reside in the deeply respectful, consistent, and insightful manner with which he approached his “student.”