A horse whisperer's story

By Ryann Chappell
Herald-Banner Staff

GREENVILLE June 29, 2009 03:40 pm

— Legend has it that long ago in England, Gypsies — with a mere whisper — could coerce a horse to leave its pen and follow them to their camp. From this, whenever people would see someone interacting with horses in ways they couldn’t easily explain, they would call it horse whispering.
Today the term applies to horse trainers who understand the language of horses, their body language, that is. They use this knowledge to form a bond with the animal that enables the whisperer to gain the horse’s cooperation.
Mikal Robinson is one such horse whisperer.
“You don’t do as much whispering as listening,” explained Robinson, who lives in rural Hunt County between Greenville and Wolfe City. “A lot of what we do is we’ll read what the horse is saying — most folks don’t notice it and if they do they don’t know what to do with it — and use it to get him settled down and quiet. There’s a lot of interpretation going on. The whispering part is where we use our body language. It’s not something you can see very well, but the horse is able to feel it.”
A horse whisperer’s job deals less with the physical aspect and more with the mental status of the horse.
“The physical work is always there, but what you’re actually trying to train is his mind,” he said. “If you can train his mind then his body will follow. It’s getting the horse to settle on the inside.”
Robinson grew up in Garland playing baseball, eventually heading off to college in Oklahoma with a baseball scholarship. It wasn’t too much longer when he tore his rotator cuff. Unable to play baseball, Robinson looked for a new diversion.
“I had never done anything other than baseball, so I had all this time and energy and I had to put it into something,” he said. “I started riding other people’s horses and training them. I kinda started figuring things out and it became a job. I worked with horses all the time, and it’s been like this ever since. It was a real quick departure from first working with them to being really handy with them. It was something I just understood. I can’t explain it really. There were a lot of people around that helped me, but it was just one of those thing that I absorbed quickly.”
Robinson’s father had owned Tennessee Walkers — a breed of horse known for its gentle disposition — when he was growing up, so Robinson was already familiar with some breeds of horses. It wasn’t until he injured his rotator cuff that he really started to connect with them.
“I really began discovering what you can do with a horse in college,” he said. “It’s been about 11 years now. Watching people who didn’t have to do as much physical work as others, and with better results, made me curious. I started following guys around and asking them questions, trying to learn as much as I could.”
According to Robinson, everyone has a natural ability — whether they’ve found it or not — and being able to connect with horses is his.
“I was kind of born with it,” he said. “It took a lot of work to develop and I had a lot of help, but it was something that I just naturally understood.”
Now Robinson trains horses that others can’t.
“We focus on young and troubled horses,” he said. “That’s what our forté is. But whatever horse needs help, we’ll do it.”
Robinson’s training program is unique.
“I started experimenting with different techniques about 10 years ago,” he said. “Just trying different things and not trying to be in such a regimented program where every horse has to fit in. It’s produced better results faster.”
Robinson doesn’t like to take more than five client horses at a time.
“We try to only take that many so we can focus on them and get our jobs done,” said Robinson. “Everybody expects different things out of the training and our goal is to get the horses quiet, safe and ready for their next trainer.”
Robinson’s program is pretty flexible.
“As far as technique goes, we do whatever we have to do for that day,” he said. “So we’ll only do what the horse ‘tells’ me we need to do. Our program changes daily because we adapt to each horse each day.”
According to Robinson, the first important lesson the horse receives is one in manners.
“I do a lot of work at the end of the lead rope,” he said. “We try to get them to be safe and respectful. That’s always the number one thing because you have people out here and I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”
The next task is to discover the horse’s particular talent and skill level.
“We can be specific to each discipline and figure out what they’re gonna do,” he said. “We get them used to the saddle and try to put a basic reining pattern on all of them. That way all the horses know when to stop and turn around. Then we start getting into specifics.”
There are many types of disciplines that a horse can go into. Robinson begins the training process of jumping, cutting, roping and hunting horses, just to name a few. Then he usually turns them over to another trainer to finish the process.
“The main thing is that when they leave here they’re safe to ride,” said Robinson. “You should never take a horse for granted, but you shouldn’t have to worry about them when you ride, either.”
One of the most important things for a horse to develop is its social skills.
“The horse population is like the human population,” said Robinson. “Each horse is different and they’re social animals. Some are more social and others just want to stay in their stall and never come out. Getting those to want to come out and play is
really rewarding.”
There’s no particular pattern as far as a horse’s reactions to Robinson’s training.
“It’s a real challenge at first to start breaking ground and creating some kind of bond or relationship,” he said. “Each horse varies. Some are stubborn, some are eager to come around and some are just looking for a little help.”
Some of the horses Robinson trains have gone years without the proper handling.
“For these it’s like unscrambling an egg,” he said. “You just don’t know where to begin. Then you get some horses that are so scared or intimidated because something has happened, so that makes them feel like they need to be intimidating in return.”
Surprisingly, it’s these harder horses that Robinson enjoys the most.
“You kinda seek them out, because you learn so much every time you get one of those tough ones,” he explained. “We always get phone calls, ‘Hey, we have a tough horse here. You wanna buy it?’ We always like to take in horses like that.”
According to Robinson, one of the most important things is to break bad habits and replace them with beneficial ones.
“Horses are real habitual creatures, so once they have a habit made, you’ve gotta break the habit and form a new one,” he said. “Those horses take longer.”
Probably some of the most difficult horses to train, according to Robinson, are those that have been treated like pets.
“They no longer have a flee instinct,” he said. “They no longer have a bubble. They like to be on you. It’s getting them to move away that’s the hard part. They have no respect for the human and without that respect it makes the horse real tough to train. You can make any horse better. How much better is the limiting factor. It depends on the money and time you’re willing to spend.”
For Robinson, the hardest part of his job is training those individuals who will be working closely with the horse.
“We’ve gotta get the people at home caught up on what’s going on,” he said. “People never do anything wrong, but horses are really regimented. They need strict guidelines for what they need to do for their behavior. A lot of times people see them as pets when they’re more like children. They need to behave. They need to have respect. There are times when you just have to draw the line and say ‘OK, we’ve got to straighten something out.’ They just need to be redirected.”
Robinson is sometimes more comfortable communicating with horses than with their owners.
“You can say something to a person, and they can interpret it fifty different ways,” he reasoned. “With a horse, it’s easier for me to work with. Getting people to understand, and gain confidence in themselves that they can actually do this (be consistent with the training) can be difficult.”
While Robinson truly enjoyed playing baseball he prefers his current occupation.
“It’s way more fulfilling and rewarding,” he said. “I don’t know how I could do anything else.”

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