Communication through Scratching

I had just come in from spending some time scratching my stud colt Globetrotter Moth in all his favorite places when an email on that very topic appeared in my inbox. While there are lots of training tasks I could do with Moth right now, what seems to be benefiting our relationship most is these short, focused, quiet times together. I know from experience that when he turns two later this year, he’ll eventually cross a mental threshold where he’ll be more interested in tasks. For now, companionship is good enough.

If you are on horsemanship clinician Warwick Schiller’s email list, then you will have seen his “Scratching for Connection” message. I could easily put pictures to his story in my mind because I was once in the spot that his client was. Twenty years ago, I had to be shown that a very stoic Fell Pony I owned actually did have an itchy spot and did enjoy being scratched there. Now I’m pretty good at eventually finding the itchy spot on any pony I spend time with. And scratching my foals is how I begin establishing our relationship. It’s then easy to move on to building their basic skills, such as wearing a halter, yielding their quarters, not using me as a chew toy, leading, having their feet handled, and loading into a trailer.

Schiller uses different terminology, but in general what we’re doing is establishing a language that lets us communicate. We can scratch and then quit at a particular point of achievement to let them know what their achievement was, or as Schiller describes, we can scratch and quit when a stoic equine indicates they notice what we’re doing, acknowledging their choice to acknowledge us. Or we can scratch in reaction to an achievement to express our appreciation. By establishing these patterns of communication, we can build on them in ways that may be unique to the two of us but nonetheless enrich our relationship.

At the moment, I wouldn’t call Moth stoic. He’s quite willing to express himself about what he thinks of his world and the beings in it. When I am scratching Moth, he interacts with me almost continually. And then when I leave, he stands still. I know by that stillness, and that he stays with me when I’m scratching him rather than walk off, that I have made a favorable impression on him. And that’s good enough for right now.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024