The Throwaway

Karen Murdock on August 04, 2010

An astonishing fact:  My horse Lukas receives over 100 e-mails a day! How can that be you might ask, what could anyone possibly write to a horse about? Let me give you a few examples - “Thank you, Karen and Lukas, for changing people’s perception of horses - I own a horse rescue and I have been getting more calls than ever from prospective adopters. Lukas is helping to bring greater understanding and vast improvement into the lives of horses world-wide”. “Lukas makes my autistic son smile, thank you from the bottom of my heart.” “Lukas is like a beacon to the world - showing how truly remarkable and wonderful our equine friends are. I always knew they had intelligence and emotions, now I can prove it to the skeptics I know.” And one of my favorites, “I just had to tell you how much I love Lukas - since losing my horse 2 years ago, I’ve been so depressed I haven’t wanted to ride. I saw Lukas’ videos on you-tube and realized how much I miss being around horses after seeing the bond that you two share. Now, I’m going to half lease a friend’s mare. I’m so excited, thank you, Lukas!”

As glowing as all this sounds, it wasn’t always this way. Lukas (race name Just Ask Mike) left the track as a two year old with two bowed tendons after three unmemorable race finishes, changed hands several times and ended up emaciated and neglected in a back yard. He was rescued by a neighbor, who took pity on the then 8 year old chestnut gelding - “You could see every rib and his tail was a solid bat of dried mud.” The neighbor, Sue Smith, a local trainer had hoped to eventually include him in her amateur jumping program. After two years though, he still wasn’t fitting in, according to Smith, and I purchased him from her after seeing his picture ad in the local Horsetrader.

Working full-time as a psychiatric nurse, I had our (then) barn trainer begin some basic lessons on him with the plan to take over myself and show him at lower level dressage shows. In a very short time Lukas became sullen and resistant to the point of being extremely dangerous - bucking, bolting and spooking (even in his own stall!).  “He’s a throwaway, Karen, what do you expect?  Quit wasting your time on him,” I was told by more than a few well meaning observers. After 30 years of training horses, I had just about met my match with Lukas.

Before giving up, I decided to fall back on my many years of behavioral training experience (these types of dangerous behaviors are best dealt with by professionals) and also try to find out what he would enjoy doing. My approach uses a very broad base of shaping (successive approximation) techniques, a specialized version of clicker training and lots of positive reinforcement. So, I set about UN-training by replacing unwanted behaviors with desirable responses. The particular responses that I chose to substitute happened to be tricks - fun and play being at the core of my system. I’ve always used the trick training games as a way to create a connection and build confidence, willingness, focus and trust. I also ascribe to strictly liberty (free/loose and without any equipment - I don’t even own a whip) work to show the true significance and effectiveness of my style It must also be said that I employ patience and kindness, affection and appreciation - without which none of this would have been possible.

“Something that he would enjoy doing,” as I said - well, that was certainly the case! We started with the smile and we’re still going strong. To date, Lukas’ liberty repertoire includes:  posing, nodding yes and shaking his head no, a dry and wet kiss, fetching, being “blindfolded”, catching, yawning, waving, pedestal work, Spanish Walk (forward and backward), the stay and come, jambette (3 legged pivot), reverence, passage, bow, crossing his front legs, laying down while I sit on him, feet together (front and back), hide and seek (with his beloved green towel), acting lame, pushing a cart, and the rear. Most of his acclaim, however, comes from his abilities to spell, count, identify shapes and discriminate colors. In addition, he’s also grasped the concepts of proportion, spatial relationships, same/different and absentness. These talents along with our bond have attracted global attention.

This once-upon-a -time “throwaway” - now a “million hit” horse - has been on NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, HLN, Inside Edition, World Entertainment News Network, Equisearch, EquineVIP, Equestrian Examiner, Discover Horses, Pet Life Radio, Pet Talk Live Radio, RFD-Radio and many more. The Associated Press and America On Line released feature stories on him. And his journey - which has really become a message of hope and kindness - has been in countless magazines, newsletters, blogs and newspapers world-wide. Lukas is ranked on Yahoo, Google and the World Records Academy as “The World’s Smartest Horse” and Guinness is reviewing a record attempt by him: “Most numbers identified by a horse in one minute.” All to show the happy results of gentle training and how wonderful and intelligent animals are. Children especially are part of Lukas’ mission - his appearances are geared toward including families with an emphasis on responsible pet ownership. He is also the official Spokeshorse for TROTT (Training Racehorses Off The Track) and a poster -boy for the California Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association. Horse rescues across the country have claimed him as their shining example and he’s even been invited to Washington to lobby for legislation. Many equine assisted groups have befriended him - his Facebook fans exceed seven thousand. Lukas is also associated with HEAL (Human-Equine Alliances for Learning) - an equine assisted therapy group helping trauma victims (Lukas’ services are donated to help others). In addition, he was nominated for the 2010 Equine Vision Award sponsored by Pfizer and American Horse Publications. A documentary of his life is currently being filmed with a release scheduled for this summer (2010). Lukas’ new book is available on Lulu (http://www.lulu.com) as an e-book or print version: “Playing With Lukas.” Now, if only I could teach him to answer his own mail!

Lukas’ Home Page