Cause and Effect

While volunteering at Fox Lake Farms hippotherapy center, I was asked to help corral some of the horses into a pen to let them have some exercise. Even though feeling slightly drained of energy from not having a decent breakfast, I was handed a striped rope object used to make a whip crack noise in the air to help lead the horses in the pen. I also had a groggy sensation from a bad night of sleep, and slightly annoyed by the fact that I had no prior knowledge of how to keep horses on track. After the brief demonstration of the rope object, some of the horses were trotting towards the pen, but some did not. As I unsuccessfully attempted to use the rope object, I began to see the outcomes of what might have been due to my attempts to lead the horses.  One of the horses ended up nearly ramming into me after many frantic swings to move it, before swerving back to the pen’s direction. Another horse unfortunately ignored the noise from my rope object and just ended up eating grass near me. However, one horse seemed to have heard my whipping, but went to a different path away from the pen.