7 Questions to Improve Time with your Horse

I believe people can learn from many different forms of shared horse knowledge (even if it is what not to do,) BUT I find without a clear foundational basis, the constant barrage of "dos and don'ts" that drastically differ in shared horse training approaches, theories, and methods can be exhausting for the student to filter through.

Horse Learning Help - When we Stop Powering Through

When we Stop Powering Through





I had remote coaching students on multiple continents this week- and the general theme was discussing breath... The students' backgrounds were drastically different, as were their ages, and horse experience.

Horse Help- Understand and Communicate Clearly

 

In Conversations with the horse, we are asking them to mentally "search" for what is being presented, and then to physically act upon those thoughts.

Horse Skills- The missing "tool" of the Positive Alternative

 In many training approaches, the moment a horse does something unwanted, the response is correction. The focus is only on stopping, blocking, and criticizing the equine behavior, to “teach him a lesson.” This leads to what I call “surviving” the experience/ride.

Horse Help- Improving your Equine Communication- Eliminating the Brace

 Horse Help- Improving your Equine Communication- Eliminating the Brace

Mustang Horse Help- From Dangerous to Willing with Alternative Horsemanship™

 

Horse Tasks Teaching Problem Equine Behavior

 Too many people tend to hurry in life and often the same applies to their horsemanship.

The “task” often becomes the focal point, rather than the quality of communication. If the horse mostly “goes along” with what is asked, people tend to accept the behavior.

But without effective “tools” (I don’t mean gadgets, rather how a person uses pressure to communicate) they often wind up at the “mercy” of the horse or “surviving” the ride.

This creates a cycle of worry, fear, and insecurity in both humans and horses.

When the Horse Training Quits Working

 

What happens when the way in which we’re doing something with the horse quits working?

Maybe our current approach has been successful with previous horses. Maybe we have decades of horse handling experience and become stumped. Maybe we enrolled in a course, class, or clinic and previously saw immediate changes, tried to replicate it without the coach, and had it all fall apart.

Irrelevant of the individual scenario or case, in general, it creates an uneasiness, doubt, and often emotional triggers in the human when “it” quits or is no longer working.

Horse Goals

 If I had to be honest, most horses that come to me nowadays have a lot of baggage. A majority of their time with me is spent undoing what has been previously taught through aggressive, hurried training tactics...

Alternative Horsemanship™ latest YouTube Horse Learning videos- Fire Evacuation, Riding, and Trailer Loading

 

Building Confidence in the Horse

 Confidence- just because a horse is going through the motions of "doing things" and is "learning" does not mean that he is gaining confidence and feeling secure from his experiences.

Horse Skills: Goal Fixation vs Clear Communication

One of the most overlooked aspects of why people and horses are having issues is because of the lack of human clarity.

Horse Training Help- Tying the Equine

 

In this horse learning episode of the Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series, join Alternative Horsemanship™, the Remote Horse Coach, as she delves into the critical topic of teaching the horse to tie. Discover effective techniques that educate horses in a way that builds his confidence and readiness for learning. This episode addresses the shortcomings of traditional training methods that often instill fear and teach the equine to have defensive behaviors. Gain valuable insights to enhance your horsemanship skills and create a more positive training environment. 

Developing the Horse's Confidence

Confidence- just because a horse is going through the motions of "doing things" and is "learning" does not mean that he is gaining confidence and feeling secure 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 coerced to physically comply.

A great example is the famous "wet saddle blankets" theory. Does a horse learn better though numerous physical repetition? If the person is solely focused on the physical movement/tolerance of the horse, without assessing the quality of his mental availability- or willingness- and the softness of his movement, they may not realize that repeating something is actually making things worse for the horse and teaching him to be defensive in the future.

Horse Skills, Equine Behavior, and the Problems with Patterns

 

Patterns

What's your pattern? 

 As folks beginning the new year, it is a great time to revisit assessing one's self-awareness to recognize where perhaps unintentional interactions negatively contribute to the horse's behavior and responses. 

Horse Training: Are you teaching fear?

Horse Training Problems and Unwanted Equine Behavior. Are you teaching the horse to be fearful?

In this horse learning video Alternative Horsemanship the Remote Horse Coach discusses how often in the horse training process people weaponize their groundwork creating unwanted responses in the horse.

Subscribe on Alternative Horsemanship YT to watch new Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship coaching videos.

Click the link to watch.

Horse Owners - Are you preparing your horse?

 Horses & Emergencies

Improving Horse Skills- Horse Tips by Alternative Horsemanship™

 Links of Communication 

 

What does the mounting block, walking out a gate, loading into a horse trailer, crossing over a tarp, or passing through a stream have in common?

None of them are about the actual task. Instead, they can all reflect if there is quality, intentional, specific communication or if one lacks having the tools to present scenarios without overwhelming the horse. Each is an Opportunity to refine first engaging and directing the horse's focus, then asking for adaptable, specific, intentional movement.

Horsemanship and Doing Harm

 

There have been multiple very experienced, "well-trained" horses that have participated in recent clinics (all are obedient, but tension-filled, hypersensitive, hyper-responsive, and avoid humans if given the choice.)

 

An interesting discussion has accompanied working with them to "reawaken," re-educate, and rebuild trust, when addressing old triggers and giving them "new" clarity and quality during human interactions. This then allows for teaching relevant skills, with curiosity replacing the fear, thought replacing anticipation, and soft, intentional movement replacing tension-filled reactions.

Horse Learning- Making Changes

 Too many people tend to hurry in life and often the same applies to their horsemanship.