I did a lesson recently with Nora and Moose and thought it would be good to share. Much of what comes up in his "coping mechanisms" is very common with horses that are bigger in size.
Alternative Horsemanship™ with Samantha Harvey the Remote Horse Coach shares horse training and horseback rider coaching, philosophies, and approaches she has developed over three decades. Offering horsemanship clinics worldwide, distance horse coaching instruction, equine consultations, equine re-education and rehabilitation, colt starting, and lessons. Follow her #alternativehorsemanship on all social media platforms.
Showing posts with label fearful horse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fearful horse. Show all posts
Helping The Hyper Alert and Pushy Horse
Meet Moose
I did a lesson recently with Nora and Moose and thought it would be good to share. Much of what comes up in his "coping mechanisms" is very common with horses that are bigger in size.
I did a lesson recently with Nora and Moose and thought it would be good to share. Much of what comes up in his "coping mechanisms" is very common with horses that are bigger in size.
Spooky, bolting, reactive horse help by the Remote Horse Coach
Do you have a "spooky/overreactive/hypersensitive/dramatic/flamboyant/neurotic/destructive" horse? 
You might want to read the following thoughts I shared with a client after her older horse arrived for an assessment:
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.
Considering the Horse: Assessing the fearful and abused horse
She's 2 years old and came out of a very bad situation. She's had about 6 months off to just be a horse and gain weight. Her current owner has been unsuccessful in perking the mare's curiosity to participate to any degree with the human.
I see far too many scenarios where a horse already is fearful and reactive, and people are continuously adding pressure in a manner that is challenging to the horse.
These are the type of horses who will climb the fence and are seemingly unable to literally see what is in front of them when extreme flight emotions are triggered. If I approach working with her in a "have to" or "make her" manner, there will be no success and I will reinforce what she's already experienced about the human.
The goal is not about getting her close to me but rather reawakening her curiosity which will replace her fear, which then diminishes the flee and instead she can offer thoughtful, reasonable behavior.
I will be filming much of our sessions together and creating a course on my Remote Horse Coach video catalog site for those interested in this aspect of horsemanship.
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.
Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series *Avoiding Conflict with the Horse
*Avoiding Conflict with the Horse
Many horseback riders and equine enthusiasts try to avoid anything that might bother their horse. Often by evading potentially bothersome situations, it increases the unwillingness and resistance in the horse. These unwanted scenarios add fear and defensiveness diminishing the confidence of both humans and equines. In this video, Sam shares her perspective by breaking down why avoiding conflict contributes to so many unwanted and increasingly dangerous responses in the equine partnership.
New horse learning videos are added to the series every Friday. Subscribe to the Alternative Horsemanship Channel.
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Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series *Curious vs. Fearful horse
*Curious vs. Fearful Horse and Unwanted Behaviors
Sam is joined in the pasture by a young horse born in the wild.
She discusses how prioritizing keeping the horse's curiosity versus using Horse Training tactics can create fear as the young horse training progresses. She explains how this influences the horse's future willingness to participate and the reasonableness of his behaviors when doing so.
Weekly episodes, subscribe to the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel to not miss any! #alternativehorsemanship #remotehorsecoach #dearsamhorseseries
Weekly episodes, subscribe to the Alternative Horsemanship YouTube Channel to not miss any! #alternativehorsemanship #remotehorsecoach #dearsamhorseseries
Pain creating Dangerous and Resistant Horse Behaviors
Horses, Dangerous and Resistant Behaviors and Pain
Horse Tips with Pippin: Uneventful Tacking Up- Quality Equine Partnerships
Horse Training and Desensitizing: Quit Driving the Horse Nuts by Alternative Horsemanship
Horse Training and Desensitizing Alternative Horsemanship with Samantha Harvey the Remote Horse Coach discusses the dangers of not believing the horse's fear, defensiveness, and concern and how some training approaches can create dangerous behaviors in the animal.
Addressing the misconceptions of "making" the horse comply versus teaching the horse how to learn. How "desensitizing" can cause the horse to become mentally defensive and physically dangerous.
Pressure & Horses: When do humans believe the horse's dangerous behavior? Tokyo Pentatholon
Alternative Horsemanship with Samantha Harvey the Remote Horse Coach shares her perspective in an open dialogue in response to the world witnessing the unwanted, dramatic, and dangerous scenario in the Tokyo Olympics involving a horse.
Pasture Conversations with Tulip Helping the Fearful and Defensive Horse...
So many daily Opportunities can arise to help re-educate the fearful and defensive horse if the human puts value to them.
This isn't about "making" her stay, but rather creating a "new" human experience without imposing spatially or physically, but still communicating with the distrustful horse.
This brief clip of a moment with Tulip along her journey of learning to trust and participate with people.
In-person Learning
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Re-Educating the Fearful Horse Video by Alternative Horsemanship
A glimpse into the journey of a horse that arrived with pain and fear issues. First helping the horse get physically comfortable and then teaching him to try and trust the human. Video filmed from the saddle, to help people see how the horse's ears offer feedback as to their thoughts and focus. Their thoughts affect the quality and softness of their physical movement and the ride.
Reintroducing the Halter to the Fearful and Defensive Horse
For those who have been following Tulip's journey... and as a recap for those who are unfamiliar with her story. She was sold as an "Advanced Beginner" horse via sales video. After being shipped across the country, it took her new owner two hours to catch her... a year later they were stuck in relatively the same place and she was basically untouchable.
This is the first day of week three. If you're interested in week one, click here https://bit.ly/TulipHorse , and week two, click here https://youtu.be/oJe-Y8XNuOY , and now the first time I'm re-introducing the halter. She has massive physical scarring and trauma. Serious head shy-ness. So a lot of what I do with her in the videos is based on the very narrow window of opportunity I have to help and offer her a different human experience from what she expects.
Each of the videos is not ideal. It is a glimpse into the beginning of the Conversations and journey of "what it takes" to help a horse like this. I have no agenda. No "we have to..." And, no "circus act." If I were to "drive, make, force a horse like this... she'd blow right through the fence out of fear. The only goal is to reawaken her curiosity to replace the fear and defensiveness.
Tulip Week Two: Re-Educating the Untouchable Horse- Alternative Horsemanship
Tulip was bought off a sales video as an Advanced Beginner horse. The new owner quickly realized the mare had many fear issues. Haltering the first time took them two hours.
Last week Tulip arrived and I couldn't get too close or touch her. You can find her sales video and last week's session here * https://youtu.be/BU0SDxd3F8Q
This is a glimpse into what happened during week two.
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"?
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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.
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.
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