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
"Your horse is not your dog"
A client came up with this post's title as I was discussing with her my recent, um, "frustration," at watching a video of a trainer using outright bribery with food to get a horse to accomplish a task that was clearly making the horse uncomfortable and stressed.
Yes, I could be opening a can of worms with this topic.
Preface- I am NOT saying ALL treats are bad. I'm not saying you can't ever feed your horse a yummy snack. I'm not saying there is ONLY one way to do things when interacting with the horse.
Why Remote Horse Coaching with Samantha Harvey
Cross Training with our Horses to Improve the Partnership
I remember reading a book early in my riding career about folks who did not adhere to the "norms" or what a riding/training session had been historically defined as.
It was one of those things that I didn't realize how much it would influence me until much later, ironically when riding on remote ranches. It was only then I began realizing how many different "jobs" you had to do in one "session" with a horse, frequently due to circumstances out of your control. Such as while checking the water at the ponds, realizing the calves had found a hole in the fence and were now out exploring, so the initial ride evolved into a 2-mile detour and several hour adventure to get all the critters back to where they belonged.
Positive Influence with the Horse
Someone recently asked the question below. I figured others might not be clear either, so I've shared my answer.
Question:
What is the definition of "positive influence?"
My answer:
Using clear communication through pressure, either physical or spatial, that directs or refocuses the horse's thought, and then his movement.
It is a way to proactively communicate with the horse what your intention is- where you want him to focus, how fast you want him to move, rather than being a passenger, waiting and seeing what the horse does when he had no initial instruction and then critiquing him for not doing what you wanted correctly.
Question:
What is the definition of "positive influence?"
My answer:
Using clear communication through pressure, either physical or spatial, that directs or refocuses the horse's thought, and then his movement.
It is a way to proactively communicate with the horse what your intention is- where you want him to focus, how fast you want him to move, rather than being a passenger, waiting and seeing what the horse does when he had no initial instruction and then critiquing him for not doing what you wanted correctly.
Mindful vs Mind Full behavior with the horse
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