Preparing the Horse to not Hurt the Farrier

Preparing the Horse How Not to Hurt the Farrier
 
Two big challenges for many horse owners are trailer loading and having their horse stand well for the farrier.

Horse Skills - Refining Understanding of Pressure


Horses, Humans, and Pressure

When we work with a horse we primarily use two forms of pressure to communicate, physical (the lead rope attached to the halter, the rein, the leg, the seat, etc.) or spatial (not touching the horse but being able to influence his brain and movement.) Vocal commands are a third, less common form of pressure.
A horse’s natural response to human pressure is to flee from it, become defensive towards it, or physically “challenge” it, which causes him to be unable to “hear” the person. The horse needs to learn that pressure offered by a person can be similar to feedback he'd receive from interacting with other horses.
Author Quote: Unknown

Increasingly Chaotic & Resistant Horse Behavior



Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series Normalizing chaotic and resistant horse behavior


Join Alternative Horsemanship the Remote Horse Coach in this thought-provoking YouTube video as she sheds light on the ongoing issue of chaotic horses and the intricate web of unwanted and resistant behaviors.


Exclusive LIVE Content with Q & A Opportunities https://bit.ly/ExclusiveHorseContent In-Person Learning https://learnhorses.com Distance Horse Coaching & Consultations http://www.remotehorsecoach.com Alternative Horsemanship Video Catalog https://remotehorsecoach.uscreen.io

Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series Cinch or Girth Tension

 Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series 

Horse Tack Tips : Cinch or Girth Tension 





Discussing cinch or girth tension, tack fit, horses with past or current pain issues, types of tack, etc that affect the tightening and stability of the saddle.


Click the link  to watch on the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel.



Horsemanship Skills : Following a Feel

 "Following a Feel"




Those words had no value to me in my initial years of riding (groundwork was nonexistent.) I interacted with the horse offering unintentional, continuous tension- on the lead rope, on the rein, in my leg, etc.  There was never a pause, time for mental processing, recognizing separating directing the thought from movement, adaptability in my aids or any conscious release of pressure towards the horse (other than during a jump.)

Horse Skills & Tips : Breath and Tension

 Tips for Resetting your Breathing and Releasing Tension at the Halt



Without realizing it, many riders hold their breath quite frequently when interacting with or riding the horse.


This unintentional simple act creates continuous containment of the horse due to the rigidity the human then carries in their body causing constant chaotic, miscommunication with the horse.

Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series 

Horse Riding: Acknowledging the Equine 




Alternative Horsemanship the Remote Horse Coach discusses the importance of learning equine behavior and communication to create a solid foundation in the horse rider's education.

Click the link to watch. New videos posted every Friday on the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel.

#alternativehorsemanship #RemoteHorseCoach #dearsamhorseseries #horses #horse #horsebehavior #horsebehaviour 


Horses "Following a Feel"

 "Following a Feel"


Those words had no value to me in my initial years of riding (groundwork was nonexistent.) I interacted with the horse offering unintentional, continuous tension- on the lead rope, on the rein, in my leg, etc. There was never a pause, time for mental processing, recognizing separating directing the thought from movement, adaptability in my aids or any conscious release of pressure towards the horse (other than during a jump.)

Connecting the Groundwork with Horseback Riding

Connecting Groundwork and Riding


One of the challenges in offering instruction is to communicate clearly with students AND horses. As I overhear, read, or watch many “horse training” sessions/clinics I find that there’s a general lack of “connection” in the student’s ability to understand how the “here and now,” especially in how the quality of their groundwork is, relates to their future ride.

Horse Training Help : Containment or Skills

Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series 

Tying the Horse: Are you teaching unwanted equine behaviors?



Horse Training Basics

Teaching containment or adaptability in the equine? So many unwanted equine behaviors are taught by human interactions that challenge the horse without ever teaching the horse the skills to think, search, try, and retain.

Click the link to watch on the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel 

New videos posted every Friday 

Livestreams with Alternative Horsemanship the Remote Horse Coach


November Alternative Horsemanship Livestreams in the Locals Community

Changing mindless patterned horse interactions leads to unwanted equine behaviors.

Part 1 Mental AnticipationsSaturday Nov 5th 9am pst

Part 2 Physical Behaviors
Saturday Nov 11th 9am pst

Part 3 Specificity & Timing
Saturday Nov 25th 9am pst

 Watch the November Livestreams now


Empathy and Equines



Empathy + Horses = Weakness


There is a constant human imposition upon each other and horses...
Unrealistic ego-based demands without having accountability as to how a person's clarity of thoughts and intention, quality of communication, adaptability in energy, accuracy of timing, and everyday mindless interactions, are constantly "teaching" horses unwanted responses that people then criticize and chastise the equine for.

Horse Rider Tips- Anticipation and Unwanted Equine Behaviors



The urgency of the stories in our head...
So many good-intentioned equine enthusiasts unintentionally get pressured and distracted by the "story" of
*last time...
*that one time...
*what if...
*what others think...
*I hope...


Horse Behavior: Engaging the Mind before the Movement

 Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series

Horse Behavior: Engaging the Mind before the Movement
Alternative Horsemanship the Remote Horse Coach discusses the importance of separating engaging the horse's mind from his movement to diminish unwanted common equine behaviors that create mindless, chaotic, excessive, movement.
Click to watch on the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel
New videos are posted every Friday

Horses Pressure & Release Part 2

Pressure & Release Part 2


The reality is that many riders feel like they are begging for the horse to acknowledge them. Other folks’ approach is to “make” the horse do something through physical dominance; this fuels the horse’s defensiveness. Then there are riders who learn to work “around” the horse, limiting what they ask of them to avoid potential resistance or conflict.

Pressure and release… The missing language of a quality equine partnership Part 1

 Pressure and release… The missing language of a quality partnership Part 1

A majority of unwanted horse behavior stems from the animal responding with defensiveness toward any form of pressure. Spatial and physical are the most common types of pressure people use to communicate with horses. If there is physical resistance and mental distrust towards pressure, this can lead to a wary partnership between horse and human.

Groundwork and Horses

 Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series

Groundwork: Help or Hindrance
Alternative Horsemanship the Remote Horse Coach discusses the perception of groundwork, and whether it is helping to improve your equine partnership or decreasing the horse's trust.
Click to watch on the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel

Are you teaching the horse anticipation and fear?

Are you teaching the horse anticipation and fear?


Most people never consider how the horse responds to just the sight of tack or notice if there are Quality Conversations while tacking up.

Each aspect of the equine interaction influences the mental reasonableness and physical softness that follows.
While the norm (often out of convenience) is to tie the horse while tacking, the degree of bother or concern a horse may have while doing so, is frequently suppressed.

Horse Interactions : Human Goals vs Quality Partnerships


Goals vs Quality
It is very easy to fall into a pattern of setting goals and getting fixated on accomplishing them to feel successful with the horse.
In more scenarios than not, the goal is frequently prioritized over assessing if there's quality during the interaction with the horse.



I will often hear people excitedly telling me about how much they have accomplished with the horse.
Then as I watch their equine's behavior and see things like: chomping on the bit
pinned ears
tails swishing
fidgeting or excessive movement
"grumpy" faces
physical tension
rigid nostrils
wide eyes
inability to stand still (mentally and physically)
avoidance at being caught/ led/ tacked/ loaded into the trailer loading or mounted
or if every time the halter is removed the horse goes running off

Helping the Highly Reactive Horse


Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series
The Highly Reactive Horse
Alternative Horsemanship the Remote Horse Coach discusses the overlooked contributors in everyday human patterns and interactions that create highly reactive horses and unwanted equine behaviors.
Click the link in the comments to watch on the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel


 

Behaviors Sabotaging the Human and Horse Partnership



What is the most common issue I see sabotaging the human & horse partnership?
Containment
I define it as:
When a person is physically trying to "stop" an unwanted equine behavior, which is usually the symptom and not the underlying "issue," without acknowledging and addressing all the constant equine communication reflecting holes in the horse's education or understanding.

Misconceptions of a Confident Horse


Just because a horse is going through the motions of "doing things" and is "learning" does not mean that he is gaining confidence and or more curiosity from his experiences.


The horse may "quietly" tolerate a situation a few or even many times before he starts to show more obvious signs of stress, insecurity, or fear about what is being presented if he is being pushed to physically comply with the task given.

The Human Emotional Filter Sabatoging our Equine Partnership

The Human Emotional Filter
Frequently I've had posts shared with me about how "cute" something is in a horse, mule, or donkey's behavior. Unfortunately, when folks filter their interpretation of an animal's behavior with human emotions, it clouds their judgment in learning, recognizing, or believing what the animal is experiencing and communicating.

Curiosity in the Horse and Human


Curiosity in Horses... and Humans
One of the greatest challenges I have in so many cases of Equine Rehabilitation and Re-education is stimulating Curiosity in humans.

Horses amazingly enough, despite their past trauma, in most scenarios will still try, if given clear support and communication. As their fear diminishes, their curiosity increases.

But humans? Such a struggle. They become self-absorbed with fears, anticipation, what-ifs, distractions, and stories about "last time" which often become a fixation or mental block in their ability to be present in what is happening in "real-time."

Re Sensitizing the De Sensitized Horse

 Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series



Resensitizing the Dysfunctional Desensitized Horse
Explaining the increasingly common problems with desensitizing the horse, creating dangerous behaviors because of the equine's inability to think, try, or be adaptable to change.
Click the link to watch on the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel.

Fearful and Reactive Horse Behavior

Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series 

Fearful and Reactive Horse Behavior 




Alternative Horsemanship the Remote Horse Coach discusses breaking down and understanding unwanted horse behavior recognizing the equine's feedback and differences between symptoms and root cause(s).

New videos posted on the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel every Friday.

Click the link to watch now. https://youtu.be/_oIaZxvmj4I

Adaptability, Humans, and Horses

 Adaptability



People and horses get stuck in mental and physical patterns during daily interactions. There is often a lack of clarity or specific communication offered during many familiar scenarios.

Patience, Horses, and Humans

 Patience, Humans & Horses

I've had many comments over the years about how I seem to never lose patience with the horse during moments that for most people would trigger a rollercoaster of emotions... such as in the scenarios of when a horse:


Resists being caught

Difficult to Trailer Load

Bolts when Led

Won't stand quietly tied

Avoidant towards the farrier

Has excessive movement when tacked or mounted

Is sensitive about fly spray or bathing

Is buddy or "barn" sour

Alternative Horsemanship Livestream- Improving Rider Specificity and Timing of Communication


Refining Rider Biomechanics to Improve Specificity & Timing of Communication
Part 3



Join the Alternative Horsemanship Livestream in the Locals community for a discussion on the biomechanics that influence the rider’s ability to improve the specificity and timing of communication offered to the horse.


Watch Now in the Alternative Horsemanship Locals Community
Saturday, September 30, 9am pst
Replay available

PC: Cassandra Kendall

Are you teaching the horse Unwanted Behaviors?

Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series 

Teaching the Horse Unwanted Behaviors

Are you teaching the horse fearful, defensive, avoidant, or dangerous behaviors? Alternative Horsemanship the Remote Horse Coach shares insight into common human interactions causing unwanted equine responses. 



Weekly LIVESTREAMS Content with Q & A Opportunities  

Horse Questions, Beahviors, and Interactions


Horse Interaction, Communication, Training, and Behavior Questions to assess the quality of the equine interaction. This BLM Mustang was Untouchable because of human "training" trauma when I met her.

Alternative Horsemanship the Remote Horse Coach shares a glimpse into what groundwork with the horse could look like when the horse's mind is engaged, without fear or flee.

Subscribe to the YOUTUBE Channel for weekly videos.
 

Assessing the Horse's Diet

 Assessing your horse's diet

Folks often create an initial feed program with a new horse. Years later, they tend to still be feeding the same thing, without really assessing if it is appropriate for the horse's current health, work regime, health, seasonal changes, etc.

Unwanted Horse Behavior- Pain the Equine an Unaddressed Contributor

 Pain - the Unacknowledged Frequent Contributor to Unwanted Equine Behaviors

Many horses and humans live with pain to varying degrees on a daily basis. If you've ever been injured or have ongoing pain, think about the all-consuming feeling and emotional state the pain triggered in you.
Horses don't "just" pin their ears when you saddle, get tight or twitch their skin when you touch them, and move away every time you go to mount. If the horse is showing concern, tension, or defensive, please, BEFORE you focus on the "training" first start with your horse's behavior, and assess it for potential pain or discomfort.

Rider Skills Finessing the Feel Livestream

 Refining Biomechanics Part 2

Finessing the Feel

Discussing limiting contributors that affect the rider’s ability to have sensitivity, awareness, and availability towards the horse's communication. 

Watch the Livestream in the Alternative Horsemanship Locals Community 

Saturday September 23rd 9am pst

Watch Now

Replays Available

PC Cassandra Kendall Art Bonita 

Avoiding Triggering the Fearful Horse


Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series

Avoiding Triggering the Fearful Horse

Discussing Horse Help and Problems when trying to avoid triggering the Fearful and Distrustful Horse.

Weekly videos posted in the series on the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel.


Horse Question Helping The Fixated Equine

 Thoughts on using the Human's Body to "intervene" with a scary object.

Answer:

One of the members of my Facebook coaching group asked me about the video with a dog where the owner used their body to "show" that a triggering object for the canine was "safe." They asked if a horse had a similar response and if I would approach it using my body the same way as what they tried to do with the dog.
The simple answer is no not at all.

Detrimental Patterned Human & Horse Interactions


Changing the pattern in
the small day-to-day interactions can be a great opportunity to safely assess Holes in your Horsemanship, refine, communicate, and build trust.
If there are any "holes," it can be a safe time and place to start changing up the Conversation, and refining influencing thoughts, without the equine getting overwhelmed. All in preparation for future unfamiliar situations.
Improving the Quality of communication builds trust and reinforces your support towards the horse. Establishing this before the day of unexpected events allows for less traumatic or overwhelming scenarios for both humans and horses.

Tying the Horse Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series


 Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series

Tying the Horse
Discussing the commonly overlooked aspects of preparing the horse in his education that affect and influence him standing tied without offering chaos and unwanted equine behavior.
Click the link to watch on the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel.

Refining Horse Rider Communication- Alternative Horsemanship Livestreams

Refining rider self-awareness to improve the quality of communication offered to the horse.


Part 1 Biomechanics of Rein Handling
Saturday Oct 16th 9am pst

Part 2 Finessing the Feel
Saturday Oct 23rd 9am pst

Part 3 Specificity & Timing
Monday Oct 25th 9am pst

Watch in the Alternative Horsemanship Locals Community
All LIVESTREAMS are available for replay.

Improving Horse Transitions

 Horse Transitions- Mental and Physical

Most horses I meet fall into two categories:
*Fearful or defensive (tight, rigid, lethargic movement) when moving forward
Or
*Hyperreactive and overreacting with fast, fleeing movement when moving forward

Pressure & Horses- Refining Human Awareness

 Pressure & Horses

I’ve never had an “English” language conversation with a horse, but over the years I feel that I’ve found some degree of a “common language” with which I use to communicate with them. I explain to students there is no “one” way to do things, and I always tell people “Take what you like, leave what you don’t” from any learning situation. I finished reading a horse blog the other day and realized that in this day and age, I don’t think you can participate in any aspect of the horse world without hearing the word “pressure” in reference to communicating with the horse.

Horse Training Discussing Pressure & Force Free


Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series Horse Training & Pressure

Discussing horses, human communication using pressure and thoughts on force free approaches.

Does your horse understand your communication?


Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series Does your horse understand your communication?
Alternative Horsemanship the Remote Horse Coach trainer discusses how your horse may not understand your communication creating unwanted equine behaviors.

Horse Help- Problems with Mindless Horse Training Methods

 I am the first to admit that I’m quite resistant to “step by step” methods of training.

I find that although what/how you ask something of your horse may “seem initially clear” with a one, two, or three type of instruction, due to the focus on the end goal, it also limits a person’s perspective in seeing what is ACTUALLY happening in what I call “real-time.”

Weaponizing Horsemanship

 Weaponizing Horse Communication

The Horse's Behaviors reflect their mental and emotional state. How often are you critical, demanding, and inserting a human emotional filter without considering what the equine is experiencing during the interaction?


4 Horse Rider Tips with Alternative Horsemaship

 4 Horse Rider Tips



Are you breathing?
When riders focus they tend to hold their breath. Talk. Tell your horse what you are doing (literally, it also helps you keep track.) Sing to him or whistle. Anything!
Breath is the most underrated aspect of interacting with our horse. It affects our softness and specificity, mental clarity, muscles, and the effectiveness of our aids.

Horse Help Concepts- The Box an Alternative Horsemanship tool

 The "Box"

I developed the concept of "the Box" because I was finding too many people wanting to be polite and kind in their communication with their horses, but were lacking specificity, boundaries, or spatial awareness.
The concept of the Box was to give the humans a mental image of where they needed their horse to be to communicate clearly without being distracted by the horse's counteroffers of often leaking, fleeing, drifting, or pushing into them movement.

Horse Tips and Skills Alternative Horsemanship Series

 

Join Alternative Horsemanship the Remote Horse Coach in this new Horse Tips & Skills series addressing a variety of overlooked opportunities in the horse interaction to improve adaptability, build confidence, increase self-awareness, refine intention, and specific communication.

Subscribe to the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel for this ongoing series.

Horse Help- Improving your Equine Communication- Eliminating the Brace

Have you ever felt the horse:

Heavy on the lead rope- "dragging" the horse around?

Loading or unloading a horse from the trailer/lorry that you couldn’t “stop” or “move him” to a different place from what he was offering?

The horse would not move out of your personal space when working from the ground?

The horse was resistant to transitions whether being worked from the ground or in the saddle?

The horse is pushing, leaning, heavy, or dragging on the bit/bridle?

When trying to turn in one direction the horse slowly “leaks” the opposite way?

When trying to ride a straight line the horse is constantly “throwing” or “locking up” his shoulder or hip towards the opposite way from which you are traveling?

Picking up the reins and feeling a general “lethargic” response from your horse?

Are you overwhelming your horse?

 

Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series
Is your horse overwhelmed?
Watch the full video and hundreds of others on the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel.
New videos are posted every Friday.
What topics would you like discussed?

Horse Evacuations & Equine Emergency

 

Alternative Horsemanship Tips for Evacuation Preparedness 

Emergency Evacuation Video 1

https://youtu.be/52RflMZoP4w


Emergency Evacuation Video 2

https://youtu.be/jRCmOTq9mto

Pushy or Charging Horses


 Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series 

Pushy and Charging Horses

Discussing Aggressive, Charging, "Pushy" Equine Behavior, what creates it, and where the human interaction begins to create safe boundaries.

Watch on the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel. New videos every Friday.

Click the link to watch now along with the hundreds of others addressing common horse and human challenges and problems.


Horses and Pressure 3-part Alternative Horsemanship Livestream

Horses & Pressure: Part 1 Spatial Pressure

Discussing many of the commonly overlooked and unintentional human communication that creates avoidant, defensive, and unwanted equine behaviors.


Alternative Horsemanship Livestream 

Saturday August 12th 9am pst 

Replays Available 


 


#alternativehorsemanship #RemoteHorseCoach #horses #equestrians #horsetraining #horsemanship #horsebehaviour #horsetips #horselesson #horselearning #horsehelp #horseproblems #horsebehavior

Horse Skills : Position Alternative vs Critical Communication

 Positive Alternatives vs. Critical Commentary 

Most riders focus on what they don't want their horse to do and attempt to "block," drive, or reprimand the horse in what they consider is the moment of unwanted behavior (more often they are responding to symptoms vs root causes.)



If they are reacting to only the big and obvious physical movements of the horse, they are missing all the initial Opportunities to check-in with the horse's mental availability and directability which influences his behaviors. 

Horse Tack Tack the Sidepull


The Remote Horse Coach shares tips in her Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series on her Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel in the Tack Talk video discussing using a sidepull.

Mental Distractions and Anticipations in the Horse Interactions

 Mental Distractions & Anticipations

Many people get triggered by distractions and mentally go far away from where they are with their horse as they get lost in their "stories" of what ifs, history of previous experiences, or anticipation of what might potentially happen. 

The Human's Intention and Equine Interactions

For years I mindlessly caught, led, and tacked up the horse. 

Human Emotions and Horse Behaviors

 

Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series 

Human Emotions and Horse Behavior 

Sharing insight into how horseback riders purging their emotions, being mentally distracted, and offering chaotic communication leads to unwanted horse interactions, increases the horse's resistance, and builds his defensiveness.

Click the video to watch the latest episode on the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel.

Full Immersion Alternative Horsemanship Clinic 2023

 


Final Full Immersion Horsemanship Clinic
August 25-27, 2023
Sandpoint, ID
I was just notified there are participant openings in the Final Full Immersion Clinic

These clinics were developed to create various learning opportunities to help equine enthusiasts refine their understanding of equine behavior and communication. Sam includes numerous topics with participants learning while unmounted and mounted, and in individual and group sessions. These safe, fun, and supportive learning scenarios offer an in-depth, full-immersion experience.

3 Common Unwanted Horse Behavior Triggers


Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series
3 Common Unwanted Horse Behavior Anticipation Triggers
Common unwanted horse behaviors and tips for improving your horse skills, building the horse's confidence, and creating safe equine interactions.

New videos on the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel series posted every Friday.

Assess and Observe Horse Behaviors


 A peek into interactions with a horse sharing the various Opportunities for horse behavior Assessment and teaching moments. The Equine Behavior reflects his mental & emotional state.

Sound On


17 yo QH was Gelded 2 mo ago had lived Isola his entire life.


Watch background, arrival & initial interactions on TT or IG


Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series 


Horse Behavior Observation Opportunities


Exclusive LIVE Content with Q & A Opportunities https://bit.ly/ExclusiveHorseContent 


In-Person Learning https://learnhorses.com


Distance Horse Coaching & Consultations http://www.remotehorsecoach.com


Alternative Horsemanship Video Catalog https://remotehorsecoach.uscreen.io

Horse Skills

 "Following a Feel"


Those words had no value to me all the years I interacted with the horse unintentionally offering continuous tension- on the lead rope, on the rein, in my leg, etc.  There was never any true release of pressure towards the horse (other than during a jump.)

Building the Horse's Confidence and Trust


Building the Horse's Confidence and Trust The video (beginning of week 2 with me) is of a 17 yo Quarter Horse gelding who was a stallion until 2 months ago. He'd never been outside a barn, had no horse skills, was very anticipative, and was physically pushy because of his defensiveness towards human interaction. (Follow his story from arrival to present on https://tiktok.com/@AlternativeHorsemanship or Instagram https://Instagram.com/alternative_horsemanship #alternativeHorsemanship)

Alternative Horsemanship Full Immersion Clinic

 What is an Alternative Horsemanship Full Immersion Clinic?



Developed to create various learning opportunities to help equine enthusiasts refine their understanding of equine behavior and communication. Sam includes numerous topics with participants learning while unmounted and mounted, and in individual and group sessions. These safe, fun, and supportive learning scenarios offer an in-depth, full-immersion experience.