Paul Roten of Harrison doesn't consider himself a horse whisperer. He prefers being known as a man who practices "horsemanship" by using body language, hand gestures and subtle pressure.
After studying his skills and learning about his life's calling that spans most of his 71 years, I prefer to call him both. In my mind (as a horsey greenhorn), the terms aren't mutually exclusive since it looks to me like he's continually whispering encouragement to his trainees.
Clad in faded jeans, worn leather boots and a straw cowboy hat, the silver-haired great-grandfather certainly fits the image of one who's lived a life of passion for horses of all types.
Working closely with Dr. Louie Keener (a former high school classmate of mine) and Keener's magnificent Missouri Foxtrotters at his Triple K Ranch, Paul spends hours training the animals by applying gentle pressure and gestures rather than physical force to gain trust and obedience.
I watched as he began training a four-month-old Foxtrotter colt and a 6-month-old filly the other day using only a slender rope connected to a halter, hand pressure and movements to encourage them to do his bidding.
No yanking or shouting when they failed to comply as they walked together in continuous circles while Paul uttered soft clicking and kissing sounds.
"Horses quickly learn what to do and want to please you when you approach," he said. "By applying those pressures to different parts of their bodies, depending on your objective, you can teach them to follow your lead using your hand and body motions without needing a halter."
Seldom around horses myself, I found it especially interesting watching Paul work both Foxtrotters in Keener's sprawling stable and barn with a red-dirt floor. He led the colt over and asked me to lay my open palm on his forehead, leave it only a second or two, then step away.
"In this way you're applying slight pressure while also assuring the horse that feeling is temporary. This helps it understand pressure itself isn't bad and doesn't last long when he acts like I want him to." Sure enough, the horse responded to my touch and withdrawal.
"You have to remind a horse that you are the boss with certain expectations that it must learn from working together," said Paul, as he gently slipped a halter around the colt's nose before leading it slowly around the barn, all the while using those pressures and gestures to trigger the reactions he wanted.
"It's ideal to get them accustomed to various expectations of behavior while they're young," he said. "I can teach one some things one day and return the next to see what it retained from our earlier session. I call that making a report card on their progress."
And all this time I'd mistakenly believed that training something as large as a horse required forceful tugging and harsh shouting to capture and hold their attention. That misconception meant Paul was educating both me and these equine youngsters.
Paul rewards compliant behavior by softly stroking their manes or backs when they oblige his gestures. No need for treats like we use with our Taco Terrier, Benji.
"Horses are extremely aware of everything around them," he explained. "And they have such exceptional memories. They seldom, if ever, forget whatever they learn."
His soft and thoughtful style of horsemanship struck me as the "whispering" part of his skills. Over the decades of working with so many kinds of horses, his nonverbal relationships have earned Paul a widespread reputation for horsemanship.
Paul jokingly says he was born in lower LA in 1949 (nearby Leslie, Ark.). A basketball star on Harrison's 1967 AA state championship team, he went to the University of Arkansas, graduating in 1971 with a bachelor of science degree.
His parents, Rev. Chester and Bernice Roten, moved to Harrison in 1960 where Chester became pastor of the Emmanuel Baptist Church.
Paul said he acquired his first pony at age 11 from Joe Holt, a member of the congregation who boarded Paul's horse while the youngster visited often and worked at Holt's farm to help pay for its keep.
Returning to Harrison after college, Paul became an environmental health specialist for the Boone County Health Unit. He spent off hours over the next decade pursuing his true passion by team-roping in smaller local rodeos.
In 1982, Haley Pigue of Harrison interested Paul in some informative articles by Ray Hunt, a nationally recognized horse trainer. They attended one of Hunt's informative clinics together in Memphis. "That alone was life-changing for me," he said.
"Hunt didn't sneak halters on them and say, 'gotcha!'" Instead, he moved horses around the round pen without a halter or rope in a way that educated them on what he wanted. The horse accepted his leadership." That kind of seemingly magical control was something Paul had never seen, and he wanted to know more.
Horses communicate fluently in body language, which easygoing Paul has worked to master. The questions behind such language quickly became apparent: "Did the horse do what I wanted it to from my gestures? Did it overreact or react at all?"
Horses never lie, he said. "The horse is very honest. He may not do what you're wanting, but when you try to get a response to your gesture, it will be completely honest."
When training, Paul said, he studies responses rather than reactions. "When we don't have an attached rope to use in correcting our mistakes, or a horse's misunderstanding of our gestures, it's very important to learn from each horse how well we are communicating to them through body language.
"When I don't get the response I want," Paul said, "I look at myself and ask what do I need to do to get the horse to give back to me, and when the horse is reading my body language and am I also learning from its responses."
Paul credits what he's learned from clinics, celebrated trainers and programs on RFD-TV with stitching together the respected place he's earned for himself in horsemanship.
"What I've done is copy what I've learned for all these years and applied it to become Paul," he said. "It's a mix of lots of accumulated experience."
For example, Ray Hunt taught him how to make "the wrong thing hard and right thing easy. He also taught me how he couldn't teach me experience, but he sure could tell me about his own."
From John Lyons he learned how to teach a horse to move its feet without resistance while avoiding anxiety for him and the horse.
Clinton Anderson taught him "frustration begins where knowledge ends."
Before embarking on his lengthy education as a horseman, Paul said, his inexperience as a younger man was evident. "I got mad, loud and aggressive toward horses," he said.
Over time, Paul gained experience and learned how to modify his approach to actually teach horses, rather than trying to force them to "perform."
"By their nature, horses all have fairly consistent traits. They are very retentive and can repeat what you've taught years later. The sad part is everything they learn is neither good nor beneficial. They also tend to be claustrophobic. Horses are prone to lean into pressure, but it's our job to teach them to yield to it."
Loading a naturally claustrophobic animal into a horse trailer can be challenging. Paul said one of the many clinics he's attended over three decades helped him learn. "I'd loaded several horses before that educational experience, but never learned how to load and unload one 'quietly' until then."
Today, he usually loads and unloads without problems. "That method has yet to fail."
The process of teaching means any trainer needs to closely examine the actions that trigger a response. For instance, a larger bit doesn't translate to more control. And correctly applying, then releasing, pressure with the reins and bit are key to what the horse will learn from its rider.
Paul spends hours training each week at Keener's Triple K near Harrison. "At threescore and 10, my timing today often isn't good. And the balance is a bit off. I'm just showing my age," he said, flashing a grin.
Nonetheless, he continues to apply his strengths in horsemanship. "My methods in training are basically fundamental," he said. "I ask them to move their feet when I say, you must go where I say to go, it won't harm you, it's okay for you to question, but don't resist. Be calm and so will I. And stand still whenever I ask you to.
"God has blessed me with the opportunity to experience teachings from some truly great trainers and my good health, while hinting I really don't need to seek any more serious challenges," he chuckled.
Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist, was editor of three Arkansas dailies and headed the master's journalism program at Ohio State University. Email him at [email protected].