Do you have horse behavior questions? Do you want to improve horse horse skills? Alternative Horsemanship™ with Samantha Harvey the Remote Horse Coach shares her horse training philosophy and coaches horseback riders of all experience levels. Offering horsemanship clinics worldwide along with distance horse coaching, instruction, and consults. Visit her horse video learning catalog offering webinars, courses, classes and more. Find her on all social media platforms #alternativehorsemanship
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.
This is a great visual example of the "strings" I often talk about throughout the horse's body. The trickle-down effect of how one body part influences another, even if literally at the other end of the horse's body.
What if we allowed the horse and ourselves the Opportunities of creating Quality Conversations without society-based "have tos..." What might the interaction look like then?
Observing the Horse: Starting with the fearful and abused horse... by Alternative Horsemanship the Remote Horse Coach
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.
Considering the Horse: Movement
(Sound on)
The pinto is 25 and semi-retired. The roan is nearing 20 and had a history of physical trauma.
Different horses have different requirements and as they age the interaction needs to be adapted.
Replay the video a few times to practice "seeing"- balance using the head and neck, engagement of hindquarters, lifting in of spine, pressure, and absorption in fetlock area, etc.
The more you understand about the horse's movement, the better you can't recognize and decipher root causes vs symptoms of unwanted physical maneuvers.