Learn horse behavior, communication, and improve horsemanship skills in weekly articles from Alternative Horsemanship™ with Samantha Harvey the Remote Horse Coach. Sharing her horse training philosophy developed over three decades. She coaches riders of all experience levels in clinics worldwide and offers distance horse coaching, instruction, and consults. Her horse video learning catalog has webinars, courses, classes and more. Subscribe on all social media platforms #alternativehorsemanship
How to decrease the stress of trailering/hauling horses
As with most things, after each experience, you become more comfortable. I'm always amazed when I meet people that have never had a pet- either as a child or adult. But animals here on the farm have become "a lifestyle" for me. That means things that I don't think twice about, such as loading up my dogs in the truck anytime I go anywhere, having the dog ride on the back of the ATV as I drag pastures, or heading out into the mountains with four of five of them is "normal" to me.
Riding with Sam- Assessment, Awareness, Communication
My opinion is that all disciplines require the same basics, from jumpers to gaming horses, from trail riders to dressage competitors. An ideal ride would be on an enthusiastic, attentive mount that responds when asked and performs as asked.
Key words and questions Sam Harvey uses to start off a ride:
· Where: Where is your horse’s mind today? Is he physically next to you but mentally somewhere else?
· How: How effective is your physical communication with your horse?
· Why: Why do you use the tack and equipment you are using? Is it necessary?
· When: When does your horse respond to you? When do you use one aid versus another?
· Can: Can you see the whole picture - or do you get distracted and focus on small details?
· What: What are your riding goals? For: 
Each ride?
Short term? Long term?
What can you do to achieve them?
Are they realistic?
Short term? Long term?
What can you do to achieve them?
Are they realistic?
What, who, when and where, and why do we ASSESS?
What: This is a combination of evaluating, measuring, considering, and attempting to gauge the mental and physical status of each the horse and rider.
What can your assessment tell you about your ride? Your assessment will help you understand that although you may have certain expectations or goals for your ride that day, your horse may have other ideas.
Who: You -- Attitude Attention Emotion Physical condition
Are you distracted with: the bills you have to pay, being on time to pick up the kids from school or extra curricular activities, the errands you still have to run, deciding what to cook for dinner, stress from work, or ???
If the rider is not 100% present mentally, it is unfair to ask the horse to be. We are supposed to be their leaders, but if we are distracted or have other things on our minds, they know. 
Horses are constantly assessing and reacting -- this is their instinct for survival. We humans have to concentrate to do it. As soon as the horse is caught in the field or stable, he is evaluating and assessing us. He knows when we’re not paying attention. So by the time we get on, he has already made the decision whether or not to respect us and respond to our aids.
Your Horse -- Where is his mind? How is he physically today?
Is he emotionally present?
Is he emotionally present?
Is his brain with his buddies? Is he stiff or sore from age, health or earlier exertion? Has he recently been vaccinated or received other medication? Is it feeding or breeding time?
When and where should the assessment begin?
· For me the assessment begins when I catch my horse. Did he come up and “happily” greet me? Did he turn his tail to me, but tolerate my catching him? Did he run away?
· As I closed the gate, was his attention with me or was his head on the ground looking for grass? As I moved away from the enclosure, did he follow promptly or was his focus elsewhere?
· When I led him to the grooming area, did he walk along happily and pay attention to where I was? Or was he distracted by the other horses or events? Did he bump into me? Did he stand still when I tacked him up or was he fidgeting constantly?
By the time you get to where you’re ready to get on, your horse will have told you a lot about the upcoming ride -- did you listen? This ground assessment can help you decide what expectations to have for your horse that day.
Why do we assess?
We assess because we view the rider and horse as a partnership rather than a dictatorship. We need to have the patience and understanding to recognize realistically what can be achieved in a ride and what might not. This is not to say that your horse is permitted to decide what you will and won’t do, but rather a way to better educate yourself about your horse’s feelings, mood, mind set, and physical state -- and how it will affect the quality and enjoyment of the ride for both the horse and you.
When we get on…
What basics should our horses have so that we can accomplish our goals?
· Lightness- carrying themselves so they are not hanging on the bit dragging you around
· Suppleness- relaxation while carrying himself with the ability to bend and give any part of his body
· Bending- starting at the ribcage flowing in two directions: towards the neck and the tail- causing the haunches and the shoulders to operate independently of one another
· Flexion- starting at the spine, a stretching of the neck while staying relaxed, light and balanced
· Balance- ability to go in any direction and carry his own weight equally
· Relaxed- no tension in any part of his body no matter what is asked of him
· Engaged- lifting of the back so that the hindquarters can come underneath the spine to shift his weight from the front end to the haunches, causing the power to come from the rear so that the horse’s shoulders and neck are free and light to bend, flex, be supple and maintain balance
· Responsiveness- reaction time to an aid
· Creation of a smile: the look on our face when the above is achieved :) and you experience a fabulous ride and have a great time
how to create clear communication with the horse and have a quality ride
· Efficient- doing as little as necessary to achieve as large a result as possible
· Effective- promptly getting the reaction you asked for
· Sensitive- feeling, seeing and sensing what is happening underneath you
· Aware- not just seeing the “now,” but being ready for what might come next
· Evaluation- constant checking of results -- self and horse -- to make future decisions
· Preparing- always expect the unexpected
· Planning Ahead- if something were to happen what would/could you do to resolve, fix, or isolate the issue and make it a positive experience?
· “Taking” the horse- are you telling the horse where to go or is he “taking” you
· Establishing Respect- does he really believe you i.e. that what you ask is what you mean
· Feeling what is happening- not just seeing and focusing on the obvious, but maintaining sensitivity to feel your horse
By teaching ourselves to become this aware and focused every time we play with our horses, their respect and desire to please increases. We also become improved riders because we are now open-minded about communicating with the horse rather than just making demands of him.
A day in the life...
I laugh every time I meet a non horse person who sighs when they hear about my life and see them get a dreamy look on their face as I'm sure they're conjuring up some romantic image of what my days must be like. Then there's potential new clients who can't understand why you would need notice or deposit policies for training and lessons- as if this "horse thing" is something I do just for fun. In fact I even had family visit my Idaho facility for the first time and stood on the property and looked around and went, "Whoa, you take care of ALL this by yourself?" Until that point I was pretty sure their impression was that I just spent my days playing with the horses... In the last few weeks I have had quite a few inquiries about how DO YOU become a horse trainer... But as much as this is a 24/7 lifestyle- not just a job- there are many unexpected perks.
I'm going to use this past week as an example, although these two weeks are my slow time each year as I'm in transition of closing the Idaho facility and preparing for the semiannual move to the Arizona facility (1400 miles away.) This year I'll be taking seven horses, dogs and of course all horse, office, outdoor stuff south.
Typically I feed around 6a.m. then spend the next two hours doing office work, banking, blogging/website editing/updating, etc. I head out around 8am and start working horses. In between or while working with horses things such as cleaning the waterers (hiking up the hill to do so,) mending fences/hot wires, dragging the pastures/infields to break up manure, cleaning out the tack room, pulling weeds or spraying, gathering newly upturned rocks, cutting back the hedges, moving the jumps so that the grass in the arena isn't killed from them sitting in one place too long, picking up trash/bailing twine, raking loose hay from the feeding area, riding through the "beginner" trails assessing what branches need to be cut back again, or what paths need mowing.
Most mornings have me working with four to six horses before noon... and then teaching lessons in the afternoon. Usually a quick lunch, during which in between mouthfuls I'm again doing more computer correspondence, returning phone calls- which reminds me, I need to call the hay guy and order another ton, set a date with the farrier, confirm with the vet for the health and coggins paperwork, call the bank regarding an error, talk to that client about when they are taking their horses home...
Between the office work, website work/promotion, property maintenance (about 20 hours/wk between mowing on the riding mower, with the tractor and using the weed eater,) I could be getting paid for each of those three jobs alone. A lot of folks say, why don't you just hire someone to do that work? But as with most things, it's hard to find quality people employees who do "above and beyond" in their work. It's far more stressful for me to watch the guy on my mower (please don't run over anything or break the mower as I can't afford the time without it or the money it'll take to fix it) than to just wind up doing the job myself.
Then again, as I went out to feed this morning there were seven deer in the yard. And a few days back a young black bear was playing around inspecting the ant hill piles I have yet to remove.
Oh and there was that young moose that came crashing through the woods last week. Never mind the ever present turkeys.
Plus the pleasure of looking out in the field and seeing horses of assorted colors and breeds cruising around playing, grazing and just being horses!
Yes it's not a 9-5 job, and there is NO guaranteed salary or income or profit, BUT the opportunity for simple pleasures, appreciation of the little unexpected moments and NOT ever worrying about sitting in traffic, dealing with a boss or not having an office window make it all worth it!
I'm going to use this past week as an example, although these two weeks are my slow time each year as I'm in transition of closing the Idaho facility and preparing for the semiannual move to the Arizona facility (1400 miles away.) This year I'll be taking seven horses, dogs and of course all horse, office, outdoor stuff south.
Typically I feed around 6a.m. then spend the next two hours doing office work, banking, blogging/website editing/updating, etc. I head out around 8am and start working horses. In between or while working with horses things such as cleaning the waterers (hiking up the hill to do so,) mending fences/hot wires, dragging the pastures/infields to break up manure, cleaning out the tack room, pulling weeds or spraying, gathering newly upturned rocks, cutting back the hedges, moving the jumps so that the grass in the arena isn't killed from them sitting in one place too long, picking up trash/bailing twine, raking loose hay from the feeding area, riding through the "beginner" trails assessing what branches need to be cut back again, or what paths need mowing.
Most mornings have me working with four to six horses before noon... and then teaching lessons in the afternoon. Usually a quick lunch, during which in between mouthfuls I'm again doing more computer correspondence, returning phone calls- which reminds me, I need to call the hay guy and order another ton, set a date with the farrier, confirm with the vet for the health and coggins paperwork, call the bank regarding an error, talk to that client about when they are taking their horses home...
Between the office work, website work/promotion, property maintenance (about 20 hours/wk between mowing on the riding mower, with the tractor and using the weed eater,) I could be getting paid for each of those three jobs alone. A lot of folks say, why don't you just hire someone to do that work? But as with most things, it's hard to find quality people employees who do "above and beyond" in their work. It's far more stressful for me to watch the guy on my mower (please don't run over anything or break the mower as I can't afford the time without it or the money it'll take to fix it) than to just wind up doing the job myself.
Then again, as I went out to feed this morning there were seven deer in the yard. And a few days back a young black bear was playing around inspecting the ant hill piles I have yet to remove.
Oh and there was that young moose that came crashing through the woods last week. Never mind the ever present turkeys.
Plus the pleasure of looking out in the field and seeing horses of assorted colors and breeds cruising around playing, grazing and just being horses!
Yes it's not a 9-5 job, and there is NO guaranteed salary or income or profit, BUT the opportunity for simple pleasures, appreciation of the little unexpected moments and NOT ever worrying about sitting in traffic, dealing with a boss or not having an office window make it all worth it!
Humans, Horses, and Common Sense- Don't ignore the horse's behavior
Humans, Horses, and Common Sense- Don't ignore the horse's behavior
Grizzly & Horse Encounter- MUST READ
*Rich Landers* The Spokesman-Review
September 18, 2011 - Updated: September 20, 1:25 p.m.
Grizzlies are high profile this year.
A lingering winter and late berry crop kept bears in proximity to humans longer than normal, perhaps contributing to a stream of headlines about grizzlies killing people and people killing grizzlies.
Meanwhile, a young lady on a big horse charged out of the pack of grizzly stories near Glacier National Park. In a cloud of dust, the 25-year-old wrangler likely saved a boy’s life while demonstrating that skill, quick-thinking and guts sometimes are the best weapons against a head-on charging grizzly.
On July 30, Erin Bolster of Swan Mountain Outfitters was guiding eight clients on a horse ride on the Flathead National Forest between West Glacier and Hungry Horse, Mont.
“It’s the shortest ride we offer,” she said Wednesday, recalling the incident. “We’d already led two trips that morning. It’s always been a very routine hour-long loop, until that day.”
The group included a family of six plus a vacationing Illinois man, who’d booked the trip for his 8-year-old son’s first horse-riding experience.
The young boy was riding Scout, a steady obedient mount, following directly behind Bolster, who was leading the group on Tonk, a burly 10-year-old white horse of questionable lineage.
Tonk isn’t the typical trail mount. Best anyone knows, he’s the result of cross-breeding a quarter horse with a Percheron – a draft horse. Bolster is 5-foot-10, yet she relies on her athleticism to climb into the saddle aboard Tonk.
“He was one of the horses we lease from Wyoming and bring in every year,” Bolster said, noting that she’d picked him from the stable in May to be hers for the season.
“He’s a very large horse – 18 hands high. That intimidates a lot of riders. But I’ve always loved big horses. He’s kind of high-strung and spooky, the largest of our wrangling horses. I like a horse with a lot of spirit, and I was really glad to be on him that day.”
Bolster has accumulated a wealth of experience on and around horses of national and even world class. She started riding at 4 years old, became a pro trainer at 15, graduated from high school at 16 in Roanoke, Va., and ran a riding academy for several years.
Seeking a more laid-back lifestyle, she wrangled in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic before moving to Whitefish three years ago to guide tourists during the summer around Glacier National Park and ski through winter.
“It’s the country, the mountains and the idea of seeing lot of wildlife that appealed to me, ironically enough,” she said.
Bolster quickly racked bear experience, too, although until July 30, it was always at a distance.
“At the peak of the season, we were seeing bears daily,” she said. “The wranglers name them so we can let each other know where they are. Usually the bears just keep feeding in the distance or they run away when we come. Just seeing them is a treat for us and our guests.”
Because they guide around Glacier Park, bear awareness is part of thepreparation wranglers get when hired by Swan Mountain Outfitters.
“We go over a lot of wildlife scenarios in our training,” Bolster said. “We learn to watch our horses for signals of possible trouble so we can steer clear.”
That’s the key, she said: Avoid trouble with a moose or a bear.
“We can’t use pepper spray when we’re riding because that could blind the horse,” she said. “And using a gun would spook the horses and probably produce more danger than safety.”
That’s how she went to work that day: a young but seasoned pro rider on a new, huge and spirited horse, unarmed in the wilderness with eight dudes.
“It was a pleasant ride until we came around a corner on the trail and my horse stopped firm and wouldn’t move,” Bolster said. “He never refuses to go, so that caught my attention quick.”
But not fast enough to avoid the spike white-tailed deer that burst out of the brush and glanced off Tonk’s left front shoulder.
As Tonk spun from the impact, Bolster saw a huge grizzly bear crashing through the forest right at the group in pursuit of the deer. Horses panicked and guests grabbed saddle horns for the ride of their lives.
“No amount of training could keep a horse from running from a 700-pound charging bear,” she said.
Seven of the horses sensed the danger, scrambled around and galloped back on the trail toward the barn.
But Scout bolted perpendicular to the trail into the timber packing the 8-year-old boy.
“The deer peeled off and joined the horses sprinting down the trail,” Bolster said. “So the bear just continued running right past me. I’m not sure the bear even knew the roles had changed, but now it was chasing a horse instead of a deer.”
The grizzly was zeroed in on Scout and the boy – the isolated prey in the woods.
Adding to the drama, the boy’s father, an experienced rider, could not convince his horse that it was a good plan to ride to his son’s rescue.
“The last thing he saw over his shoulder as his horse ran away was the grizzly chasing his boy,” Bolster said.
With the bear on Scout’s heels, Tonk’s instinct was to flee with the group of horses. But Tonk responded to Bolster’s heels in his ribs as she spun the big fella around. They wheeled out of a 360 and bolted into the trees to wedge between the predator and the prey.
“The boy was bent over, feet out of the stirrups, clutching the saddle horn and the horse’s neck,” she said. “That kept him from hitting a tree limb.
“But all I could think about was the boy falling off in the path of that grizzly.
“I bent down, screamed and yelled, but the bear was growling and snarling and staying very focused on Scout.
“As it tried to circle back toward Scout, I realized I had to get Tonk to square off and face the bear. We had to get the bear to acknowledge us.
“We did. We got its attention – and the bear charged.
“So I charged at the bear.”
Did she think twice about that?
“I had no hesitation, honestly,” Bolster said. “Nothing in my body was going to let that little boy get hurt by that bear. That wasn’t an option.”
Tonk was on the same page.
*With a ton of horse*, boulder-size hooves and a fire-breathing blonde thundering at it, the bear came within about 10 feet before skittering off to the side.
But it quickly angled to make yet another stab at getting to Scout and the boy – who had just fallen to the ground.
“Tonk and I had to go at the bear a third time before we finally hazed him away,” she said.
“The boy had landed in some beargrass and was OK. Scout was standing nearby.”
Bolster gathered the boy up with her on Tonk, grabbed Scout’s lead and trotted down the trail.
“The boy was in shock,” she said. “I looked back and could see the bear had continued to go away through he woods, but I had another five or 10 minutes of riding before I got back with the group.”
Not until she reunited with her riders – all OK and standing in various stages of confusion with their horses – did she start to shake.
“I looked at Tonk, and he was wet with sweat and shaking, too,” she said.
She was especially concerned for the boy’s father, who probably suffered the most terror in the ordeal.
“He was fine, and I got my biggest tip of the season,” Bolster said. “My biggest hope is that the boy isn’t discouraged from riding. This was a one-in-a-million event.”
*For the next few days*, the outfitter shut down the trail rides and Bolster joined other wranglers and a federal grizzly bear expert to ride horses through the area looking for the bear.
“They tracked it for a long way and concluded that it kept going out of the area,” she said. “Judging from the tracks and my description of how high the bear came up on Tonk, the grizzly expert estimated it weighed 700-750 pounds.
“This was a case of us being in the wrong place as a bear was already in the act of chasing its natural prey. He was probably more persistent because he was really hungry.”
Bolster and the other wranglers vowed to have bear spray on their belts to make sure they can defend their guests during breaks on the ground.
“But when you’re riding, the horse is your best protection, if you can stay on,” she said.
“Some of the horses I’ve ridden would have absolutely refused to do what Tonk did; others would have thrown me off in the process. Some horses can never overcome their flight-animal instinct to run away.”
*In those minutes *of crisis, the big lug of mongrel mount proved his mettle in a test few trail horses will face in their careers.
Tonk’s grit moved Bolster. She wasn’t about to send him back to Wyoming with the other leased horses.
“Two weeks ago, I closed the deal and bought him,” Bolster said as she was wrapping up her 2011 wrangling season.
“After what he did that day, he had to be mine.”
September 18, 2011 - Updated: September 20, 1:25 p.m.
Grizzlies are high profile this year.
A lingering winter and late berry crop kept bears in proximity to humans longer than normal, perhaps contributing to a stream of headlines about grizzlies killing people and people killing grizzlies.
Meanwhile, a young lady on a big horse charged out of the pack of grizzly stories near Glacier National Park. In a cloud of dust, the 25-year-old wrangler likely saved a boy’s life while demonstrating that skill, quick-thinking and guts sometimes are the best weapons against a head-on charging grizzly.
On July 30, Erin Bolster of Swan Mountain Outfitters was guiding eight clients on a horse ride on the Flathead National Forest between West Glacier and Hungry Horse, Mont.
“It’s the shortest ride we offer,” she said Wednesday, recalling the incident. “We’d already led two trips that morning. It’s always been a very routine hour-long loop, until that day.”
The group included a family of six plus a vacationing Illinois man, who’d booked the trip for his 8-year-old son’s first horse-riding experience.
The young boy was riding Scout, a steady obedient mount, following directly behind Bolster, who was leading the group on Tonk, a burly 10-year-old white horse of questionable lineage.
Tonk isn’t the typical trail mount. Best anyone knows, he’s the result of cross-breeding a quarter horse with a Percheron – a draft horse. Bolster is 5-foot-10, yet she relies on her athleticism to climb into the saddle aboard Tonk.
“He was one of the horses we lease from Wyoming and bring in every year,” Bolster said, noting that she’d picked him from the stable in May to be hers for the season.
“He’s a very large horse – 18 hands high. That intimidates a lot of riders. But I’ve always loved big horses. He’s kind of high-strung and spooky, the largest of our wrangling horses. I like a horse with a lot of spirit, and I was really glad to be on him that day.”
Bolster has accumulated a wealth of experience on and around horses of national and even world class. She started riding at 4 years old, became a pro trainer at 15, graduated from high school at 16 in Roanoke, Va., and ran a riding academy for several years.
Seeking a more laid-back lifestyle, she wrangled in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic before moving to Whitefish three years ago to guide tourists during the summer around Glacier National Park and ski through winter.
“It’s the country, the mountains and the idea of seeing lot of wildlife that appealed to me, ironically enough,” she said.
Bolster quickly racked bear experience, too, although until July 30, it was always at a distance.
“At the peak of the season, we were seeing bears daily,” she said. “The wranglers name them so we can let each other know where they are. Usually the bears just keep feeding in the distance or they run away when we come. Just seeing them is a treat for us and our guests.”
Because they guide around Glacier Park, bear awareness is part of thepreparation wranglers get when hired by Swan Mountain Outfitters.
“We go over a lot of wildlife scenarios in our training,” Bolster said. “We learn to watch our horses for signals of possible trouble so we can steer clear.”
That’s the key, she said: Avoid trouble with a moose or a bear.
“We can’t use pepper spray when we’re riding because that could blind the horse,” she said. “And using a gun would spook the horses and probably produce more danger than safety.”
That’s how she went to work that day: a young but seasoned pro rider on a new, huge and spirited horse, unarmed in the wilderness with eight dudes.
“It was a pleasant ride until we came around a corner on the trail and my horse stopped firm and wouldn’t move,” Bolster said. “He never refuses to go, so that caught my attention quick.”
But not fast enough to avoid the spike white-tailed deer that burst out of the brush and glanced off Tonk’s left front shoulder.
As Tonk spun from the impact, Bolster saw a huge grizzly bear crashing through the forest right at the group in pursuit of the deer. Horses panicked and guests grabbed saddle horns for the ride of their lives.
“No amount of training could keep a horse from running from a 700-pound charging bear,” she said.
Seven of the horses sensed the danger, scrambled around and galloped back on the trail toward the barn.
But Scout bolted perpendicular to the trail into the timber packing the 8-year-old boy.
“The deer peeled off and joined the horses sprinting down the trail,” Bolster said. “So the bear just continued running right past me. I’m not sure the bear even knew the roles had changed, but now it was chasing a horse instead of a deer.”
The grizzly was zeroed in on Scout and the boy – the isolated prey in the woods.
Adding to the drama, the boy’s father, an experienced rider, could not convince his horse that it was a good plan to ride to his son’s rescue.
“The last thing he saw over his shoulder as his horse ran away was the grizzly chasing his boy,” Bolster said.
With the bear on Scout’s heels, Tonk’s instinct was to flee with the group of horses. But Tonk responded to Bolster’s heels in his ribs as she spun the big fella around. They wheeled out of a 360 and bolted into the trees to wedge between the predator and the prey.
“The boy was bent over, feet out of the stirrups, clutching the saddle horn and the horse’s neck,” she said. “That kept him from hitting a tree limb.
“But all I could think about was the boy falling off in the path of that grizzly.
“I bent down, screamed and yelled, but the bear was growling and snarling and staying very focused on Scout.
“As it tried to circle back toward Scout, I realized I had to get Tonk to square off and face the bear. We had to get the bear to acknowledge us.
“We did. We got its attention – and the bear charged.
“So I charged at the bear.”
Did she think twice about that?
“I had no hesitation, honestly,” Bolster said. “Nothing in my body was going to let that little boy get hurt by that bear. That wasn’t an option.”
Tonk was on the same page.
*With a ton of horse*, boulder-size hooves and a fire-breathing blonde thundering at it, the bear came within about 10 feet before skittering off to the side.
But it quickly angled to make yet another stab at getting to Scout and the boy – who had just fallen to the ground.
“Tonk and I had to go at the bear a third time before we finally hazed him away,” she said.
“The boy had landed in some beargrass and was OK. Scout was standing nearby.”
Bolster gathered the boy up with her on Tonk, grabbed Scout’s lead and trotted down the trail.
“The boy was in shock,” she said. “I looked back and could see the bear had continued to go away through he woods, but I had another five or 10 minutes of riding before I got back with the group.”
Not until she reunited with her riders – all OK and standing in various stages of confusion with their horses – did she start to shake.
“I looked at Tonk, and he was wet with sweat and shaking, too,” she said.
She was especially concerned for the boy’s father, who probably suffered the most terror in the ordeal.
“He was fine, and I got my biggest tip of the season,” Bolster said. “My biggest hope is that the boy isn’t discouraged from riding. This was a one-in-a-million event.”
*For the next few days*, the outfitter shut down the trail rides and Bolster joined other wranglers and a federal grizzly bear expert to ride horses through the area looking for the bear.
“They tracked it for a long way and concluded that it kept going out of the area,” she said. “Judging from the tracks and my description of how high the bear came up on Tonk, the grizzly expert estimated it weighed 700-750 pounds.
“This was a case of us being in the wrong place as a bear was already in the act of chasing its natural prey. He was probably more persistent because he was really hungry.”
Bolster and the other wranglers vowed to have bear spray on their belts to make sure they can defend their guests during breaks on the ground.
“But when you’re riding, the horse is your best protection, if you can stay on,” she said.
“Some of the horses I’ve ridden would have absolutely refused to do what Tonk did; others would have thrown me off in the process. Some horses can never overcome their flight-animal instinct to run away.”
*In those minutes *of crisis, the big lug of mongrel mount proved his mettle in a test few trail horses will face in their careers.
Tonk’s grit moved Bolster. She wasn’t about to send him back to Wyoming with the other leased horses.
“Two weeks ago, I closed the deal and bought him,” Bolster said as she was wrapping up her 2011 wrangling season.
“After what he did that day, he had to be mine.”
Horse Help- Improving your Equine Communication- Eliminating the Brace
Have you ever felt any of the following when you work with a horse:
Heavy on the lead rope- as you were dragging the horse
around?
Lifting the blinders: "Over-educated" horse owners can often lead to underthinking horsemen
Clients that work with me often realize that many horse owners (usually them self included ) seek "help" from a professional only AFTER something has gone terribly wrong in their relationship and/or interaction with their horse. And most would admit that they could have "seen it coming" way before the actual dangerous or dramatic event occurred. For some reason though, people never really believe how fast or how bad a situation with a horse can get, until they've reached that point.
I was working horses the other day and non-horse person happened to be watching while his granddaughter was doing a lesson on a pony with another instructor. He was watching what I was doing (working a mare at liberty) and watching a client "catching" her horse in the pasture- but using my "hot wire" technique to help support that mare to try all of her options until she decided she wanted to come over and present herself to be caught. I mentioned a few general theories as to what he was seeing and why we were doing what we were with the horses.
As the gentleman was standing watching both of us he casually made the following remarks:
"Why would someone want to impose them self on a horse to be caught in order to work with it?"
"Why force a horse to do anything, wouldn't it get really upset if you do?"
"The bit really doesn't stop a horse does it?"
Over the years I've encountered these scenarios more than a few times. The horse "ignorant" person can make crystal clear and almost overly simplistic assessments and literally "see" what is happening with the horses.
On the other hand, all too often, the "over-educated" horse person has accidentally developed the "mainstream horse world's" imposed blinders created by too many avenues of generalized information causing a lack of clarity in understanding. Years of accepting things because "that's how everybody else does it" can lead to a lack of self imposed honestly, awareness, sensitivity and thinking therefor hindering clear communication with their horse.
The other major negative created by these "blinders" is that it consistently seems to "push down" that little voice in the back of a person's head that says things like, "Doesn't that seem like a bad idea?" therefor causing the horseman to either have a false sense of security or to ignore their instincts to NOT do something. By dismissing that voice, all too often a traumatic incident for either horse and/or rider occurs. Then the now scared, injured, frustrated, traumatized person and/or horse finds someone like me and say "please fix us." I wish these "blinders" could be removed BEFORE things get to extremes, but somehow the "hopefulness" people carry with them when they work with horses seems to outweigh the general common sense.
We always joke that hindsight is 20/20; but really for me, most incidents, issues, "vices" or dangerous behavior can usually be tracked to down to an initial point where they horse tried to communicate with the person and either was ignored, not addressed, or addressed but not helped to "let down" from what was bothering it. Too many times all three of these options occur because instead of equine "professionals" slowing down and "breaking down" and explaining what exactly is going on, why, and then offering bits and pieces in how to address it, they tend to offer a "faster" alternative with less of a standard for both the owner and their equine partner.
Without the clarity, understanding or a standard people usually 1.) don't understand what is really going on when their horse is offering unwanted behavior- i.e. they get distracted by the "big" physical movement rather than seeking to influence their horse mentally and emotionally, 2.) cannot assess why their horse is offering what he is, and 3.) do not have quality and effective "tools" in order to influence a change in their horse.
So the next time you watch something and don't understand it, don't just accept it. The next time you offer your horse something and you don't know why, stop, and figure that out before you try with your horse. The next time that little voice starts to pop up in your head, leave "society's opinions" at the door and trust your instincts.
Keeping things simple, honest and real will bring the fun back into your ride and will remove the "surviving the ride" feeling- I promise!
Sam
I was working horses the other day and non-horse person happened to be watching while his granddaughter was doing a lesson on a pony with another instructor. He was watching what I was doing (working a mare at liberty) and watching a client "catching" her horse in the pasture- but using my "hot wire" technique to help support that mare to try all of her options until she decided she wanted to come over and present herself to be caught. I mentioned a few general theories as to what he was seeing and why we were doing what we were with the horses.
As the gentleman was standing watching both of us he casually made the following remarks:
"Why would someone want to impose them self on a horse to be caught in order to work with it?"
"Why force a horse to do anything, wouldn't it get really upset if you do?"
"The bit really doesn't stop a horse does it?"
Over the years I've encountered these scenarios more than a few times. The horse "ignorant" person can make crystal clear and almost overly simplistic assessments and literally "see" what is happening with the horses.
On the other hand, all too often, the "over-educated" horse person has accidentally developed the "mainstream horse world's" imposed blinders created by too many avenues of generalized information causing a lack of clarity in understanding. Years of accepting things because "that's how everybody else does it" can lead to a lack of self imposed honestly, awareness, sensitivity and thinking therefor hindering clear communication with their horse.
The other major negative created by these "blinders" is that it consistently seems to "push down" that little voice in the back of a person's head that says things like, "Doesn't that seem like a bad idea?" therefor causing the horseman to either have a false sense of security or to ignore their instincts to NOT do something. By dismissing that voice, all too often a traumatic incident for either horse and/or rider occurs. Then the now scared, injured, frustrated, traumatized person and/or horse finds someone like me and say "please fix us." I wish these "blinders" could be removed BEFORE things get to extremes, but somehow the "hopefulness" people carry with them when they work with horses seems to outweigh the general common sense.
We always joke that hindsight is 20/20; but really for me, most incidents, issues, "vices" or dangerous behavior can usually be tracked to down to an initial point where they horse tried to communicate with the person and either was ignored, not addressed, or addressed but not helped to "let down" from what was bothering it. Too many times all three of these options occur because instead of equine "professionals" slowing down and "breaking down" and explaining what exactly is going on, why, and then offering bits and pieces in how to address it, they tend to offer a "faster" alternative with less of a standard for both the owner and their equine partner.
Without the clarity, understanding or a standard people usually 1.) don't understand what is really going on when their horse is offering unwanted behavior- i.e. they get distracted by the "big" physical movement rather than seeking to influence their horse mentally and emotionally, 2.) cannot assess why their horse is offering what he is, and 3.) do not have quality and effective "tools" in order to influence a change in their horse.
So the next time you watch something and don't understand it, don't just accept it. The next time you offer your horse something and you don't know why, stop, and figure that out before you try with your horse. The next time that little voice starts to pop up in your head, leave "society's opinions" at the door and trust your instincts.
Keeping things simple, honest and real will bring the fun back into your ride and will remove the "surviving the ride" feeling- I promise!
Sam
Connecting Ground Work to 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” in their ground work relates to their riding in the future. Often students come to me because they can “talk the lingo,” sounding like they’ve seen a lot, and go through steps or concepts, but are still having problems with their horse. This is usually because they unknowingly do not understand the connection between how and why their ground work affects and influences their ride.
I’m surprised when a student has an “Aha” moment from some casual comment I make, when it seems as though they had already been “getting it” throughout the session. My seemingly small comment can sometimes be the catalyst that triggers a domino effect in the student’s brain that finally connects the “links” from what they’d first addressed on the ground to what they are now using as tools to communicate with when they ride. As a teacher this is always a highlight!
It’s a reminder to me how clear I must be not only in presenting information to the student but also to confirm from the student in their own words what concept exactly did they understand and how it relates to them and their horse.
Too many students want to imitate “how it’s supposed to look,” or a specific exercise, task, etc. with no concept as to what the point is of what they are doing. In my opinion this eliminates putting the responsibility on the student to focus on being “present” in the “here and now” in order to address what is happening in “real time” with their horse.
I find it as easy for human students to get just as distracted or “lost” as their equine partners often do. People tend to see, or wait to see, the physical movement of the horse, rather than searching within themselves to offer the clear communication necessary that will allow them to present a “big scenario” but in seemingly small (mental and literal) pieces.
I continually explore a “better way” to explain my theories and concepts from my own hands-on training with the horses and my sessions in working with people. Each year I tend to start to hear myself say certain “catch phrases.” This summer that “theme” was the following:
Don’t challenge your horse into “getting it right,” but rather support him to be successful in the scenario you present.
I like to explain the how, why, when, etc. so that I’m not just sitting in the chair “instructing” every movement and decision in a session to a “brainless” rider, but rather to offer stimulating ideas that will help “arm” the rider with the ability to assess and become aware of what their horse is offering in order to communicate effectively.
My teaching theories are based on the underlying concept that says:
In order to achieve an ideal physical response from my horse, I must first influence a mental change.
I love hearing feedback from students and have discussed with many why certain “key words” or phrase(s) suddenly triggered it to “click” for them.
I believe that just like horses people learn in different styles. For me, it’s a reminder that even if I’m saying the words and explaining what the student is seeing or feeling from the horse, whether on the ground or in the saddle, if the student’s brain is “overloaded” or perhaps “ahead” of where they are physically at, distracted, unclear, etc., (yes they share this affliction just as many horses do,) they will not be able to really HEAR what I’m saying.
So even if I think I’m being clear, I have to remember that just because I offered the information, does not mean it was received by the student as I had intended it to. Oh how this relates to our horsemanship!
Many people get frustrated when attempting to communicate with their horse. Just because the person offered “something” to their horse, does not mean it was received as they had intended it to be… Have you ever experienced or watch someone try to ask something of their horse and then move on, without ever “checking” to see if the horse clearly understood? Later when there is“disobedience” from the horse- usually due to a lack of understanding, the person is frustrated saying, “But I offered the horse a., b. and c. Why are they not getting it?”
Perhaps this blurb might help make it start to click…
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