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
One Step at a Time with the Horse
Changing Worried Horse Behaviors
Changing Worried Horse Behaviors
Helping the Horse with Worried Eyes Question:"Hi Samantha, The other day you talked about stress showing around the horse's eyes. I recently bought & watched your "Reading the Horse" series, and it helped me get better at seeing more subtle signs of tension sooner. It's really helpful. Thank you for making those videos available!
Leading the horse with Quality
Why your personal space matters...
I see too many folks dragging their horse into their left shoulder blade.
This often comes from a horse dragging on the lead rope, which may not seem bad when walking straight, but it becomes obvious when a turn is made.
So ask yourself this:
How often do you check-in with the horse before you make a turn to assess how soft the horse is in their response to pressure with the lead rope?
How often do you notice if you grip with your fingers tighter on the rope as you make a turn?
Does your horse get heavier on the rope as a turn progresses?
Is your horse looking the opposite way from the direction you are turning?
Does your horse change their energy during the turn?
Do you offer the horse to think through and then move around the turn in quarter sections?
If your horse offers something unwanted to you stop and address it, or wait and "fix it" later?
Every moment with the horse is an opportunity to refine the clarity and specificity of the Conversation. It isn't "about" the turn itself, but rather a scenario that allows you to assess clearly the interaction and address any unwanted thoughts or movement.
The more intention you have during the seemingly insignificant moments, the more your horse learns to mentally with you, allowing for a physical reasonableness, no matter what may arise.
Teaching a horse to Search to improve the Partnership
The Search
I balance between working with a horse both on the lead rope and loose.
In this scenario, with Pardner the goal is for him to address when I ask him to think, then move with intention.
It is an opportunity for him to think through his options, try something, perhaps let it go if I ask him to, and then to be willing to try something else.
I'm looking to see if he gets stuck on a thought, or if he has the ability to address me, if he can pause when asked to stop or if he has to leave to sort himself out.
In the end, he "happens" to be asked to step into a tire cutout.
But the focus was not about the task, rather the Quality of the Conversation, that then allowed the horse to "find" the specific task presented.
I don't want conditioned or patternized responses from the horse. I want him to be interested in participating and willing to try.
Is the about getting him to be obedient? No. It is creating a scenario where we can practice the Conversation together which will apply to any future scenario with him, whether from the ground or while I'm in the saddle.
Tying the Horse- It isn't about "making" him stay
How often do you "make" your horse stay? I don't.
I often get asked about how I work with horses and when folks see pictures of videos of the horse(s) offering to stay without fleeing when in an open field.
I thought I'd share this video of Chance. He came to me as a 15-year old that was deemed "psycho" by the two previous trainers that sent him home.
Improving Horse Rider Balance and Position
Many folks think whether in the competition arena or riding for pleasure have misconceptions as to what being balanced in the saddle is. I recently had a slew of questions about this and thought I'd share a brief version of the beginning of finding balance in the saddle.
Unloading the Horse from the Trailer or Lorry- Human Perceptions
I recently had a horse arrive from Montana for training and it was a good reminder of some things I've noticed over the years.
Frequently, especially if loading the horse initially was stressful or concerning for both human and horse, when folks arrive somewhere they tend to want to rush when unloading and "hurry" to get the horse to the new stall or pasture.
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