Horse Help : Symptoms vs Source Unwanted Equine Behaviors

Learn to recognize the sources and contributors of unwanted horse behaviors by Alternative Horsemanship with Samantha Harvey The Remote Horse Coach.

 Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series Horse Help 

Symptoms vs Source of Unwanted Horse Behaviors 

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Need Horse Help? Experiencing Unwanted, Resistant, or Dangerous Horse Behaviors

Need help with your horse? Not understanding the horse's behavior? 

Feeling frustrated and overwhelmed when with your horse? Having problems with your horseback riding? 

Learn how The Remote Horse Coach can help you understand horse behavior, refine your awareness, improve your communication, build your confidence, and increase your horse's trust, try, and reasonableness in offering safe behaviors.

Horse Problems - I want it NOW

I was teaching a session yesterday at a clinic, a new student was filling in a last-minute opening and had been unable to trailer her horse to the facility. She asked to do an unmounted session focusing on her body awareness and aid usage while in the saddle- without the horse. Many horse people would probably balk at the thought of paying to participate in a clinic without a horse.

Prioritizing Addressing the "Scary" Horse

Sam discusses why it matters to help horses during stressful times, fearful, or concerning experiences and what many people unintentionally teach their horses leading to unwanted and dangerous behaviors. Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series- Prioritizing Addressing the Horse Subscribe for weekly Alternative Horsemanship the Remote Horse Coach videos.

Is my horse misbehaving or in pain?

Many unwanted horse behaviors are a result of an animal that is experiencing pain. In this video Sam shares tips about how to translate or recognize a few of the common signs or indications that a horse may be in pain which may be the root cause(s) of dangerous or resistant equine behavior such as biting, kicking, bucking, bolting, difficult to catch, saddle, bridle, or mount, etc. Subscribe to the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel for more Tuesday Trainer Tips videos.

Dear Sam: Horse Help -Spooky Horses

Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series 

*Spooky Horses 

Alternative Horsemanship with Samantha Harvey the Remote Horse Coach addresses why reacting after the fact or attempting to contain unwanted and dangerous horse behavior does not solve the long-term issues of the horse's insecurity and fear. 

New EPISODES every Friday Subscribe to the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube channel to not miss any.

Young Horse Education- Mental Availability vs Physical Obedience

"Just" a horse standing in front of an open gate...

When I met this two-year-old Andalusian he was bolting off, kicking, biting, and striking when led by his owner.
His answer to everything was to get big, flamboyant, and have his legs go in four different directions at the same time.
He was literally trying to climb out of the round pen the first few times I did sessions with him.
He saw no value in the human and was very defensive towards them, trying to avoid them at all costs.

Dangerous, Dramatic, Reactive, Anticipative, Fearful Horses

 It isn't Convenient

When the horse is...

Resistant to being caught

Constantly pulling when led

Pulls back or gets stressed when tied

Always moving away when trying to tack up

Steps away when trying to mount

Walks off as soon as the rider is in the saddle

Is drifting, bracing, or anticipative when ridden

Takes "awhile" to load into the trailer

Might explode out during the trailer unloading

Is "buddy" or barn "sour"

Has the same "issue" with the same scary spot repeatedly

Offers dramatic behaviors when something unexpected arises

Paws, paces, cribs, weaves, wall kicks, bites while in his enclosure

Is aggressive towards other horses or at feed time

Etc., etc., etc.

Every single unwanted unfortunately common horse behavior above, is a symptom.

Most people try to band-aid the symptom by adding more pressure to the already fearful and defensive equine.

Then one unwanted behavior morphs into another because the root cause was never addressed.

The horse that is left living in a state of constant fear and anticipation because they are defensive toward human interaction leads to mental and physical trauma.

It isn't a matter of "if" they explode, get hurt, or injure the human, but when.

Please stop ignoring the subtle, reasonable behaviors the horse conveys reflecting his fear and defensiveness.

Please start prioritizing slowing down, breaking down the communication to offer short, specific, clear, supportive, and non-critical information that has meaning to the horse.

The horse is not trying to wreck your day, annoy you, psych you out, etc.

The only thing he is trying to do is find a safe space. If every time you show up you bring chaos, distraction, hurried behaviors, anticipation, and unclear communication, what are you teaching him?

To get the Change in the horse, first we must start with the Human.

Rescue Horse- Building Trust depending on the Human Intention

For those following Cinder's Journey... or those curious about what "it" could look like, when we start by considering the once defensive, fearful, reactive, abused horse...
You can subscribe to the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel for weekly videos and teachings.
#alternativehorsemanship #remotehorsecoach #horses #horsemanship #rescuehorse

 

The Young Horse: Dramatic, Reactive, Dangerous Behavior

 The MisUnderStood Horse

This is a two-year-old Andalusian who I just started working with recently. He reflects so many horses that I meet that are often deemed "bad, aggressive, stubborn, resistant," and all these other human-based emotional judgments, which have nothing to do with what the horse is experiencing or why his behavior is as it is.

Horse Conversations: Building Trust in the Fearful and Traumatized Equine

A Glimpse into helping the Horse by Alternative Horsemanship

Someone recently said, "Sam I love the word you use but I don't understand them. You mention things like Conversation, being mentally available, and searching. What does that mean when you're interacting with the horse?" 

Then I came across this video footage of a severe case from a horse that arrived for help last year. You couldn't get near her, touch her, she was incredibly head shy, and had a lot of PTSD from her previous human experiences. Her bad had massive scarring from a violent past. She'd been sold via video as a Beginner Safe Horse. 

This video shares a glimpse into one of the first few sessions with her. It is an example of what a Conversation with the horse can look like, the shift of when they start to become mentally available to acknowledge the human, and what searching can look like.

Horse Problems: Bucking, Biting, and Bolting - Fixing the Source not the Symptom

In this video, Alternative Horsemanship with Samantha Harvey the Remote Horse Coach shares a brief glimpse into the before and after rehabilitation of a horse that arrived with many human-created "issues." 

He appeared to his owner to have bucking, bolting, rearing, biting, and other unwanted behaviors. The reality was there were a lot of factors and contributors leading to his current dangerous behavior. This video shares how addressing the horse's mental, emotional, and physical state can help rehabilitate the once seemingly dangerous and overwhelming equine.

The Problem Horse- Why only containing unwanted behavior does not work

 

The Problem Horse...

Pain creating Dangerous and Resistant Horse Behaviors

Horses, Dangerous and Resistant Behaviors and Pain 

Fixing the Dangerous, Difficult Equine Partnership

 Right now I'm in the middle of a teaching a clinic in Southern California.

Helping the Dangerous, Fearful, Reactive, or Uncatchable Horses

Here's a quick glimpse into just a few of the horses who arrived for help this summer... It isn't about making the horse tolerate the human but instead helping them learn to trust and willingly offer to participate. Most equine rehabilitation or re-education scenarios I have are a result of ego-based human "training" attempts of "making" the horse comply. More often than not, this approach results in unwanted and dangerous scenarios for both the horse and the human. Everything starts with the Quality of how the horse offers to be caught. If it begins with chasing, aggressive human behavior, or the horse having to mentally shut down to tolerate the person, what will the rest of the session look like? #alternativeHorsemanship #RemoteHorseCoach #horsemanship

Horses: The Sales Pitch vs Reality- Horse buying gone wrong

We didn't capture Day 1 unfortunately, which means you don't have the severity of her flee or defensiveness as a reference, or what it took to just get her halter off.

I wanted to show how hard she'd be triggered but had to choose between triggering that for the viewer's sake, and if I did, what I would be teaching her about future experiences with me. For her sake, I chose the "boring" course.

Some studies recently said humans only have a few seconds longer attention span than goldfish.

I find a lot of horse videos are dramatic, fast-paced, high intensity to keep viewers engaged. What I'm sharing is about as opposite from that as you could get.

I'll be doing a detailed breakdown in an online course with more footage and me doing voice-over teaching explaining the communication, her behaviors, how to influence a change in her thoughts and let go of her initial flee, avoidance, defensiveness, and fear replacing it with curiosity and a willingness to try.

It is a 20-minute video clip. Use it as an opportunity for self-reflection. Many people watch horse videos inserting their own emotional filter. Perhaps watch as an observer? Notice if you anticipate her behaviors as you watch? Imagine if you were there if you'd "do or want more"?

https://youtu.be/BU0SDxd3F8Q

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In case you missed the original post about here:

The sales pitch said this:

Tulip is a super fancy gorgeous buckskin quarter horse mare that stands 15.1 hands tall and has as much eye appeal as you could ever want in a horse. She is a 11 year old AQHA mare, she has been used for play days, 4-H, barrels and poles at the WSR a barrel races, And she has also been trail ridden extensively, she has a super good neck rein, walk trot lopes around extremely nice. She is good to catch, good for the Ferrier, loads and unloads good, good with other horses, Stands tied, Tulip does have one vice, She really doesn’t like her ears messed with, at some point in time someone must’ve rough handled her ears and now until she trusts you she does not like them messed with much.

Barn Name: Tulip

DOB- 11 years old

Height- 15.1 Hands

Color- Buckskin

Gender- Mare

Price- $5000

Rider- Advanced Beginner & Up

Disciplines-

Playdays

Barrels & Poles

4H

Open Shows

Trail Riding

"I think you would really like her she is a super broke super fun Mare that is 100% safe she only has one little quirk that she doesn’t like her ears messed with but isn’t bad about it someone at some point must’ve been very rough with her ears and now until she can trust you she is a little bit worried about it but extremely sweet and very easy to ride and very broke."

She was shipped across the country and delivered. It took her unsuspecting new owner two hours to get a halter on. Couldn't touch, tie, or trailer. The one riding attempt the horse started running backward at full speed.

She's had her a year and can do nothing other than catching her being very, very careful.

Here's my first session assessment:

Massive deep scarring in between her chest muscles as if impaled by something like a t-post, with random divets of missing flesh throughout her body, all healed. She's completely sound.

Atrophy and nerve damage to the left side of her face with trauma to the eye which is set deeper.

Any movement with "intention" towards her, she's fearfully running.

Raise your arms, horses in pasture move, trucks on the road slowly going past, she's running.

One tight, trembling, fearful horse. This isn’t just a case of bad training, but true trauma.

I got her to mentally acknowledge me and "lead" without the rope attached. Then it took about 10 minutes to get her to accept my hand anywhere in the proximity of her head to attach the rope to the halter.

After doing so, she was quivering, in her muzzle and shaking in her body. It was 85 degrees out.

As soon as the rope was attached, she was mentally gone, and physically locked up and braced in her body. As in hyperventilating in her breathing, hard severe steps, inflated neck, and torso. I touched her neck with a finger and she bolted sideways as if touching an electric fence.

I moved her to a temporary small area where I can work with her to start to build trust. Then I needed to get the halter off. It took close to 20 minutes for her not to thrash her head away, get ready to run off, or go flying backward.

One of my biggest peeves in the equine industry is how many professionals will lead on their clients promising blue sky potential. I'm quite the opposite because I think people need a realistic perspective to not be hopeful about how very much it will take to help a horse like this progress and recover. That way growth is appreciated and recognized without an end agenda overshadowing true, long-term changes and healing in the equine.

But these scenarios truly make me angry. Another website selling "pretty" horses that could get someone killed. I'm frustrated for both the horses and unsuspecting owners.

Horse Buying Nightmare: Not the Horse you thought you Bought

 Meet Tulip

Horsemanship: Not being distracted by the dramatic behaviors

Why do I live this lifestyle and commit myself to this type of unrelenting,  physically demanding, challenging work?

For moments like this.

Communicating with Horses Building a Foundation in your Horsemanship

Penny Lane's Foundation

She went from running over people, double barrel kicking, imposing herself spatially, no concept of softening, following, or yielding to either physical or spatial pressure, and now has been learning how to: