Paramananda - Chapt 2 - Ox Power - Ki Jaya!

[Guest guest]

Gunagrahi Maharaja --

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. Here's an unedited chapter 2 to tide you

over.

 

your servant,

 

Hare Krsna dasi

 

*****************************

 

Lesson 1 in the Ring, Teaching the Command "Get-up!"

 

Once the ox has entered the ring, close the gate behind him, and just let him

explore, to begin with. When he notices you shut the gate behind him, he may

walk back to it and sniff it, trying to see if he can get back out again. Then

he will walk around to different places in the ring, stand still and look

around. Maybe he'll look around for some other cows. If he sees anybody, he

may start mooing -- "help, help." Let him to freely explore the ring. That

will give him a chance to calm down a little, as he will probably be somewhat

nervous.

 

After a few minutes, when he settles down, approach him and comfort him a

little bit. It is important to be very demonstrative, both when you are

pleased

with the ox and when you are displeased with him. There should be a clear

distinction between your pleasure and your displeasure. As I mentioned

previously, everything should be overemphasized because you are dealing with a

dumb brute who doesn't speak the English language.

To let him know that you are his friend and that he is not actually in a

dangerous or threatening situation, you should approach him slowly. Hold out

your hand and pat him. Stroke him on the head and behind the ears. At the same

time speak some reassuring words like, "Good boy, good boy." Be very

demonstratively, very clear. Make it clear that you are being kind to him, you

are complimenting him. Your pleasure or displeasure will motivate the ox and

show him when he has done right or wrong. When you compliment and comfort him

and indicate that you are pleased with him, you will see a change in him. His

anxiety will be greatly reduced.

 

A lot depends on how you give rewards. If you reward the ox in such a way

that

he fully comprehends that he has done what you wanted, it will be a big help to

you in fixing an impression on his brain. More than anything else, it is his

fear of you that makes him resist training. That fear can be removed by

systematically rewarding the ox when he does the right thing. If he has

confidence in his master and understands what the master wants of him, he will

be ready and willing to obey every command given to him.

 

As soon as you see that he is calmed down and is waiting to see what will

happen next, you can begin to teach him the first command: "Get-up!" That

means

"go forward."

 

* * * *

 

This is a good point to say something about the lash. The lash is a vital

tool

in training and working the oxen. It should be made from a fairly rigid green

stick that has some spring in it. It shouldn't be too heavy or you won't be

able to move it quickly and easily.

 

The lash should be an inch at most at the butt, tapering down to a half an

inch

at the tip. In the training ring it's good to have a long lash, the stick

about

four feet long. On the tip of the stick, fasten a piece of rope with a knot on

the end -- not heavy rope, but rope that is very flexible and snaps easily, or

else a strip of leather, also not too thick. That piece should be about two

feet long.

 

With the lash you hit the ox in different places to indicate what you want him

to do. With each command there is a certain way to use the lash to indicate to

the ox what he should do. He learns that if he doesn't respond, the more he

resists, the harder the lash comes down. So he is actually working under this

fear principle. That has to be understood. You must establish this very

clearly and strongly from the beginning.

 

Once he has understood a command, if he doesn't obey it, the alternative is

immediately pain. The ox must understand that this is not a partnership: you

are going to have it your way all the time. But as soon as he becomes

submissive and obeys your commands promptly, stroke his head and treat him

kindly. If he is smart, he will very quickly adapt to this new situation and

it

will almost never be necessary to hit him hard. With some oxen, the training

may take longer but eventually they get the idea and it becomes no longer

necessary to hit them.

 

Ideally, the lash is just an emergency tool that you carry with you. After

having been fully trained, the ox should respond to the commands without any

indication of the use by the lash, just by the word. Old timers call this

"broke

to the word." That means that when you simply say the commands, the ox

responds

fully.

 

At that point, it is not necessary even to tap the ox with the lash, unless

there is some emergency situation and something has to be done quickly. For

instance, you might need him to stop all of a sudden when he isn't expecting

it.

Just for extra security you use the lash, to make sure that he understands,

because if he doesn't stop right away, there will be some sort of catastrophe.

 

You don't want to become dependent on the lash. It should be an emergency

tool

that you keep with you all the time. And, you use it on oxen that aren't fully

trained. The lash should be used only for temporary situations, not for

routine

use. The standard should be that oxen are broke to word. If they are not

trained to this level of cooperation, they won't be useful for as many kinds of

work. You cannot always be right next to every ox using the lash to tap him

and

show him what you want him to do. If you want to ride on a wagon or if you are

working big teams of oxen and it won't be practical if the oxen can only

respond

when you are walking right next to them with a lash. So there is good reason

for this careful method of training.

 

* * * * *

 

To return to your ox in the ring, at this point you are standing in the center

of the training ring with your lash. the ox is standing somewhere in the ring,

probably near the edge along the fence facing away from you. Now we are going

to teach him to go forward. We start with this because the easiest, most

natural, and obvious thing for the ox to do is to just start walking forward.

 

The command is "Get-up," and the accompanying signal from the lash is a swat

on

the ox's rump. At the same time as you hit him, say "Get-up!" That will

indicate

the command. Your voice command and the swat from the lash must be done

simultaneously, so the ox understands the relationship. When you hit him on

this command, "Get-up," you can also start walking toward him thereby

indicating

with your whole body that you want him to move forward.

 

When you hit an animal on the rump, it is natural for him to be propelled

forward because he wants to get away from the lash. He'll probably start

walking around the edge of the ring. He may only take a few steps at first and

then stop, not really understanding what you want him to do or what's going on.

So then you hit him again right away. Again, shout, "Get-up!" at the same time

and follow after him. Walk behind him and make him go forward. If you like,

you can give him a little push to show him you want him to go forward. He will

start again, maybe walk a few more feet and then stop.

 

At this point you might stop if you think he has understood that you wanted

him

to go forward, and he has actually done it. Now you can reward him. You

should

have a whole act that you do when you are pleased with him, that you repeat the

same way every time so that he gets to know when you are pleased. Put the lash

under your arm. Hold it there so it is sticking out behind you. When he notices

that you are not holding it in front of you, he won't be afraid that you will

hit him with it.

 

 

 

Walk up to him slowly. Pt him on the head and say, "Good boy, good boy."

When

you see that he is calmed down again, step back. This time just hold the lash

up in the air, don't even hit him with it. Just threaten him from behind and

shout, "Get-up!" See if he has understood. If an ox is smart, it is possible

that even that quickly, even after a couple of times, he will have made the

connection between the word and the action and understands what you want him to

do. So try it.

 

Don't be over anxious to hit him. You don't want to hit the ox ever when it

is

not necessary. If you do he will start to develop a fear of you in a bad way.

The less excitement and punishment used, the better. Just like with people, if

they are well-intentioned and we, out of intolerance or impatience, get angry

at

them, then they become mistrusting.

 

So test the ox to see if he understood the command. If you yell, "Get-up!"

and

he doesn't move, hit him on the rump, hard, so that there is no hesitation on

his part, "Should I do it or should I not do it?" No! The command and motion

should be so strong that there is no mental doubt. "I must go forward. This

is

so severe and extreme that I can't even think of not doing what he said. No

question about it." Once again he will step forward.

 

I would like to interject here that during training, the individual nature and

disposition of your ox must be considered carefully. It is not possible to

give

hard and fast rules for teaching a command. I can give the basic principles

and

guidelines and methods but it is going to differ according to the animal that

you are working with. He may be very smart, stupid, lazy, or nervous.

 

You have to be sensitive to what is going through this animal's mind and

respond accordingly. In other words, if you sense that the animal understands

your command, but won't comply because he is just obstinate, then there is a

call for severity and discipline. But if you sense that he doesn't understand

you, that he hasn't learned anything, which is the case just as often as not,

then you cannot discipline him. To discipline an ox when he doesn't understand

what you are asking of him will just make things worse. He will just develop

fear of you and he won't be able to listen to anything you say. He will become

filled with anxiety when he sees you approaching him.

 

Remember! When we are dealing with a dumb creature, it must be very difficult

for him to understand our motions, signs, and language, something like

ourselves

trying to understand a foreign language. We should never get impatient with an

animal because he doesn't understand us or be surprised when he does things

wrong.

 

We should find some simple means to work on his understanding rather than on

the different parts of his body. That is why I said that the trainer should

have worked with cows and bulls for two years. There are very sensitive and

subtle perceptions involved here in order to not spoil the ox. This surrender

you are demanding from him is difficult.

 

So you have to be very familiar with these animals and be able to interpret

their motions. You have to know how to use your body and voice so that they

understand you. If a person hasn't had this experience, there is a very great

chance that he is going to spoil this ox right from the very beginning because

he won't be able to tell whether the ox is being obstinate or if he is actually

just confused about what he is supposed to do.

 

The full import of the command, "Get-up!" is to go forward with no question of

stopping until told to stop. Right now, we are not concerned with teaching the

ox to stop. We just want him to start walking upon hearing "Get-up" and to

continue walking around the edge of the ring without stopping. The more he

understands the command, the longer he will continue to walk.

 

In the beginning you follow him, standing a little bit towards the center of

the ring but behind him so it is clear to him that you want him to continue

walking. It is almost like he is running away from you. If he starts to slow

down, he might be preparing to stop, so be ready with the lash. Have the lash

poised up in the air so if he looks back at you and sees it, that may be

sufficient to keep him going. But if you see that he is about to stop anyway,

then come down with the lash and hit him again and say, "Get-up!" and he will

start going again.

 

Then when you see that he has got the idea, let him stop. Or if he starts to

get in too much anxiety about the whole thing, becoming bewildered by so much

pressure being put on him to do something new confined in a little ring, then

let him stop. Let him calm down. Go up to him again with the lash under you

arm, stroke him and tell him, "Good boy, good boy." He has been a good boy. He

did what you wanted. After he has calmed down step back and tell him again,

"Get-up!" Don't hit him hard unless it is necessary. If you think that he has

got the idea a little bit, then just tap him on the rump with the lash and say,

"Get-up!" and he will probably go with just that. But once again, if he just

takes one step and then stops, hit him harder.

 

You will find that a half-hour is the maximum time that you can spend in one

lesson, teaching one command. The pressure and anxiety on the ox becomes more

and more, due to being confined for so long in such a new situation. After

that

length of time, he can't really learn anything more. It is just a matter after

that, of practice.

 

It is good to have a lesson every day for up to a half an hour. Never teach

more than one command in a lesson because it's confusing to the ox. Repeat

each

lesson daily until it is learned perfectly. Then go on to the next command.

Every day you can go over the commands that you have already done. Don't go

into the lesson with great expectations. You should be prepared for the ox to

make small increments of advancement every day. You may come across an ox that

will learn quickly, but you also don't want to be too pushy. Don't be

frustrated

if all that happens the first day in the ring is that the ox just gets used to

being in the ring.

 

When you first bring the ox into the ring, there is a lot that you might not

know about him. It is even possible that he is untrainable. This has to be

considered. I have had some oxen that were so nervous and spooked that they

were untrainable. Even after repeated lessons, they were like an insane

person. I was unable to reach them no matter what I did. Some of these oxen

changed as they got older. We went back to them when they were three or four

years old and they were completely different and able to be trained. So the

fact that an ox can't be worked with at a younger age doesn't necessarily mean

that he will always be useless.

 

When an ox doesn't understand in his first lesson that he is expected to walk

around in a circle in the ring, it is indication that he is not going to be

trainable, because it is so obvious and natural in this situation to walk

around

in a circle. Actually the training can hardly be done unless the ox will do

this. In several cases, I found that such an ox, at least for the time being,

is useless. If, when you hit him and tell him to get up, he just backs up and

walks around in circles or walks across the ring, and has no idea what is going

on, this is a strong indication that he is useless.

 

Another thing that might happen that indicates that an ox is not really

qualified to be trained, at least for the time being, is if he actually tries

to

jump over the fence. This is a very bad sign. It has happened to me, so I

thought I would mention something about how to deal with that situation.

 

Suppose you have a big ox and even though the fence is six feet high, he tries

to jump over it. He gets his front leges over it, but of course, he can't jump

high enough. So his whole body comes down on the fence and breaks the boards

and he ends up stuck on the fence, front legs on one side and back legs on the

other side. He is hanging on some boards and he can't move. He can't go

backwards and he can't go forwards. In a situation like that, you have to be

very careful because already something very bad has happened. He became so

scared that he did this crazy thing, and now he has gotten hurt, which can have

a permanent effect on his relationship with you.

 

The psychology is that being in a training ring is a new and frightening

situation for an animal like this. He is simple-minded. He doesn't have any

intellectual capacity. His reasoning powers are limited to his past

experience,

so he is looking at your actions to try to understand what is going on. If

somehow or other in this situation he actually gets injured, he connects this

with you. So it is a psychological disadvantage for you in trying to get him

to

surrender to you and trust you.

 

When he first comes into a training situation, he already fears some bodily

harm, so if harm actually does come to him, then his fear has been justified.

It

may make a lasting impression on him. First impressions are the most lasting.

If, in spite of his fear, no harm comes to him, then he should gradually lose

the fear.

 

At all times when training or working oxen, you should be extremely careful

not

to let them get injured while trying to sincerely and submissively follow your

commands. For example, if you tell an ox to "Get-up," he takes one step, falls

down in a hole and hurts his leg, then next time you tell him to "Get-up," he

may hesitate. As soon as he hears the sound, "Get-up!" he may become filled

with anxiety because last time he got up for you, he hurt his leg. So you have

to be careful.

 

Now this ox is stuck on the fence, so don't try to make him jump backwards or

forwards. First of all, just try to calm him down. Approach him slowly and

pet

him. If he is very big and heavy and you can't lift him up over the fence,

have

someone stand with him to see that he doesn't get excited and start struggling

and injure himself. Get some tools and take the boards off the fence so he can

become free of this position without further excitement.

 

I have seen an animal fall down and get stuck and the teamster, out of

impatience and brutishness, just hit him to make him get up, instead of taking

off the yoke, or with a horse, taking off the harness, and making it easy for

him to get up. Just to assume that he is being obstinate and start hitting him

only aggravates the situation. The animal may hopelessly struggle to get up,

only to hurt himself further in the process.

 

Once the ox is freed from being stuck on the fence, I would hook a good strong

rope onto his halter and tie him up inside the ring so he can get used to it

there. If you immediately turn the ox loose after he tried to jump out, he

might conclude that his attempted escape was successful and that would

encourage

him to do it again. It would reinforce this very foolish thing that he did; he

tried to escape and succeeded.

 

Getting stuck like that is a very negative experience when you are trying to

train the ox to be obedient. So, without further ado, just tie him up inside

the ring and leave him there until you think that when you let him out, he

won't

feel like he succeeded in escaping from the ring. You might want to leave him

in there a whole day. Maybe even bring him some hay and water. Let him get

used to being in there.

 

Whenever you tie up an animal, the rope should not be long. It should be

short

enough so that he can't get his leg over the rope. That means that the

distance

from his nose to the post to which he is tied would be, at most, two feet.

That

way he would have enough rope to lie down, but it is not so long that he could

try to jump over the fence again, nor could he get tangled up in the rope by

putting his feet over it.

 

If you have an animal on a long rope, there is always a chance that the rope

will get tangled around his fee, and then he may fall down and start struggling

to get free and get seriously injured. This is especially dangerous on a

hillside, but certainly a training ring would be on flat ground. Just for your

information, you should never leave an animal tied on a hill or a slope,

because

if he falls down, he can get tangled up in the rope or stuck in some awkward

position, and break his neck. I have seen that happen both with horses and

with

oxen. Having been left tied somewhere, the animal got tangled in a long rope,

fell down, and, while struggling to free himself, broke his neck and died. So

certainly this danger is something to be taken seriously and avoided at all

cost.

 

When you have finished the lesson, the return from the ring should be done in

the same way as the trip that I described to the ring in the last lesson. It

should be uneventful, and you shouldn't try to teach the ox anything on this

trip. I never like just turning the ox loose from the ring, because it makes

him feel more inclined to get out of the ring during the lesson.

 

If the moment the gate is opened, he is going to be free, it will encourage

him

to anticipate his release too much. So I always like to lead him somewhere, to

the barn or to some pasture where he is staying, any facility some distance

away

from the ring. Once he learns a little bit how to "Get-up," you can use that

command to make him walk, but don't make a big thing out of it. You want the

trip back to be uneventful.

 

Lesson 2: Reviewing the Command "Get-up," Teaching the Command "Whoa!"