New Year, New Horse Goals, and New Intentions by Alternative Horsemanship

New Year, New Horse Goals, and New Intentions

Human Intentions influence everything - creating either a positive or negative outcome with the horse.

I often hear people fixate on the long list of all the things they don't want their horse to do, rather than focusing on how they will help their horse accomplish human goals.

Many of these "horse issues" are an accumulation of previous smaller undesired moments, that reflected the human's lack of awareness, mental presence, or acknowledgment of the horse's subtle feedback. As a horse's concern increases, the resistance in his physical behaviors will do so too.

* The intention to "make" the horse comply teaches resistance, fear, and defensiveness and for the horse to either fight or flee.

*The intention to force him to accomplish a task without preestablished quality "tools" in the communication causes mental avoidance, tension, defensiveness, and a physical brace in the horse.

*The intention to "hear the horse" and acknowledge his communication, allows for a two-way Conversation to unfold. It is feedback that tells the human what the horse needs more clarity in understanding. This leads to many opportunities for refinement while offering him support, and building his confidence through his learning journey.

*Having the intention to start each session by first bringing awareness to ourselves and perhaps shifting our mindset, energy, emotions, thoughts, and intention, our communication can become specific, segmented, and clear.

 
*The more intention we have to allow time for the horse to mentally process and retain can evolve sessions from tolerance or compliance to willingness and try.
When a person is mentally present, emotionally calm, and without physical tension, the horse senses it immediately which influences changes in his curiosity, willingness, and search for what you're asking.

It can be challenging to let go of self-imposed "have tos," while seeing value in revisiting and refining the foundation of the horse and human's education. Doing so helps assess where and what the "holes in our horsemanship" are.

Giving oneself permission to experiment and changing human patterns prioritizes offering support vs. criticism as the equine begins to experience a "safe" learning environment.