Patterns of Behavior, Patterns of Motion

Position paper by

Kerry M Thomas/Founder of THT

Over the years I have made what I personally feel are vital discoveries. Some of the more profound things I have discovered are; that Mother Nature uses unique ways to conceal her leadership within the Herd Dynamics, patterns of behavior translate to patterns of motion, the sensory system governs efficiency of motion and that stress drastically impacts body control.

Considering the fact that a herd of horses has a hierarchy that need be kept a mystery from the predator, the higher level horses simply hide in plain sight by becoming nearly invisible. They do this through the avenue of very subtle, highly controlled movements; body language that becomes so unnoticeable to the naked eye that in reality it is merely a subtle accent to the intent of emotional communication. The lower down in the ranks a horse is, the louder they need be to be heard in the herd, if you will, and they do this with profound body-language. This profound body language also makes the underlings and the infirm a target; and makes this type of horse more reliant on their peers for actual direction and ultimately, survival.

*Keep in mind, the snap-shot we see at the finish line showing the horses right to left in descending order of physical placement, may well be vastly different than the actual psychological hierarchy, because high level horses can control others in any direction. The horse, which sees the world largely in a circle, naturally cares less about directional placement then we do.

Recently having turned my focus to the sensory system and its impact on behavioral traits / idiosyncrasies and the control it has over efficiency of motion, more interesting puzzle pieces begin to show themselves. Many horses at all levels of the herd dynamics and hierarchy can have physical ability, tactical speed and power. The horses at the higher levels, elevated there because they have the tactical psychologies that allow them to get maximum benefit from their physical abilities, oft-times supersede their physical abilities to become better than they may otherwise have been. An efficient tactical mind allows the horse to adjust more easily their in-race stride & running style to both herd chaos and track conditions. This is directly related to the efficiency of their individual sensory system.

The equine sensory system is directly related to the control of the body; whether animate or inanimate. In my ongoing study of horses in variable environments and at various ages of their lives from weanlings to aged stallions and mares, the one constant remains; the more efficient the sensory system, the more control of the body they have and the more adaptability to the environment they display. This is a direct link the elite minded horses have to their respective leadership roles in the herd itself; both in the natural and unnatural environments. This too, regardless of age, has been clearly showing itself as true. Youthful horses beginning to display emergent properties of leadership, or what I dub, Elite Potentials, begin to remove themselves from arbitrary herd activities.

Elite Potentials: Youthful horses that begin to display emergent properties of body control and leadership of peers based upon developing efficiency of their sensory system.

Psychology in motion impacts actual physical motion as seen in horses that have a tendency to be aloof mentally and or too internally focused, thus unaware of the stimuli around them at all times. The impact is on speed and pace, causing the horse to wait for, seek out, or wish to linger near other horses in motion; there is safety in numbers creating for these horses a tendency I call “flock-affect”.

Flock Affect: The naturally occurring pattern-of-motion where an individual horse (mid to lower level individuals within the herd hierarchy as well as the infirm) seeks the safety of the herd when high levels of stress and chaos are impressed upon them regardless of physical ability. This stems from the naturally occurring “safety in numbers” aspect of a social species living in a group in open space and is first introduced as a foal when encouraged to stay near the mother for safety; thus becoming a naturally imprinted behavior.

Sensory Soundness and Efficiency: Controls the mind and body in the gate, where starting from a standing position, requiring a high level of body control, demands the race horse to have synchronicity of the senses to break purposely and in control.

Sensory Soundness and Efficiency: Allows the horse self-awareness in space and body control; this is one of the clear markers for elite minded horses and natural herd leadership skills. *Loss of body control in motion has the resulting affect similar to a car hydroplaning and to regain control the pace must be slowed. This is indicative of the horse that loses a sense of self awareness in the chaos of motion.

Sensory Soundness and Efficiency: Optimum synergy and synchronicity of the sensory system allows the athlete to adapt to rapid environmental changes and chaos of motion, a requirement to compete effectively at the highest levels. (Body control also lends itself to a lessoning of injury owing to knee jerk, uncontrolled reactions to everyday stimulus.)

Let’s consider the horse that is not entirely focused while operating in the GHD (Group Herd Dynamic) who doesn’t always have control of their sensory system and often improperly interprets stimuli around them as they bounce like a pin-ball. This behavior pattern shows a gap between the mind and body, so to speak, because the mind can be in one place and the body going off in another direction as it were resulting in uncontrolled physical motion. The faster a horse moves physically the more pronounced their mental deficiencies become resulting in their being more reliant on other horses to show them “where I should be” : flock affect.

The Importance of Balance in the Sensory System cannot be overstated.

The same herd dependency can also occur for the horse that is the opposite of aloof, making them too internally focused in the IHD (Individual Herd Dynamic). When a horse is entirely focused on one stimuli or point of direction, relying on only one sensory avenue to manage motion, it is not unlike a person that is so “focused” on one task or point that the world around them is suddenly in the background. Until such moment that something, or someone, suddenly “pops” them back into “reality”, and to the world around them. It can cause a serious near panic attack until our wits are back with us and we can feel a sense of adrenaline run through us.

*Think of it this way, a horse is moving along and one of their senses identifies a stimulus as they pass, but sticks to it owing to a lag in the actual interpretation of that stimuli. It’s like a rubber band stuck and stretching, creating more and more tension and stress until it breaks or is forced free, snapping back with all the built up energy, in this case emotional energy. The resulting ‘sting’ will impact physical motion.

The transitional process operating efficiently is stimuli identification, stimuli interpretation, resulting in control of the body.

The horse who is sticky and hits psychological pot-holes in motion counters this with the need to find the safety of others until clarity of environment returns. Even for the higher level competitors this impacts speed and pace, and in racing a moment of hesitation, any pot-hole in the psychology, has a profound impact on the efficiency of that motion. These things may not show themselves in an individual performance, but will impact the collection of performances and ultimate outcome over time.

The bottom line for me is each horse can only be defined so far in physical degrees; it is the uniqueness of behavioral genetics that draws our favor and leaves us to realize that the economics of behavior simply makes sense. You may well have a physical freight train, tactical speed at your behest, but it takes a tactical mind, an efficient conductor, to truly achieve optimum performance.