Today I had to work with a yearling Hereford that I will halter break for a class. It got me thinking about what that means exactly. In history class we learned that horses were utilized by Native Americans for hunting buffalo and war. They learned that them and the horse could act as one unit, which was more efficient then just the person alone. However before this could happen the horses had to be as many say "broken." Where they learn to accept a person riding them and tack on their back. This takes time and patience. We are training our yearling to accept a halter on their face, a person leading them and basic human interaction.
People go about halter-breaking a number of ways. One is to tie the calf to a fence for short increments of time. This teaches the calf to respect in halter, and the feeling or pressure of it on the calf's face. You can also keep the halter on the calf and let them walk and stand with it. This way when they step on it it applies pressure to the nose and chin area, but their head will also be jerked down. This will get the calf to stop fighting the halter and accept that when they pull on it they will get jerked back. After a while they learn not to pull at all. When you teach it to be led then start with little in a small pen and when the calf responds to you pulling it then give it slack as a reward. (Longhorn Network)
This can seem harsh or cruel in its methods, but its not if does responsibly. Cows and horses are large and powerful animals so some force must be taken or they will just overpower or ignore you. I see it as teaching the cattle how to interact with humans so that they can be handled safely. However sometimes it can be interpreted as breaking the animals spirit which couldn't be farther from the truth. It is about trust and human and beast working as one, like they used to when it first started.
No comments:
Post a Comment