Transform your Equine Partnership Today

The Backstory: Alternative Horsemanship with Samantha Harvey

All of you have varying levels of familiarity with me and I thought today would be a great day to share a past blog post I'd made... It might fill in the blanks as to why my current persistence in my teachings is what it is, my drive to help others and perhaps my story and journey might help you with your own experiences... Enjoy!

It had been a long time since I’ve galloped. Literally.

Patternized human behavior... Breaking the habit!

People and horses easily fall into habits out of convenience, laziness, lack of intention or focus and most usually out of not wanting to "rock the boat" in how they interact with their horse.

For those in the habits of patternized behavior, the illusion that all is "well," is frequently shattered the day the pattern or routine has to change due to unforeseen circumstances.

So rather than "waiting to see what will happen," first by focusing on yourselves, you can start to make subtle changes in how and what you present, noticing your habits, and improving your awareness.

Here are FOUR easy ways to start noticing and changing your own brainless, habitual patterns. By noticing these things, it can work as an opportunity for you to "mentally check-in" so that you can be more focused. This will allow you to be clearer and more specific with your communication towards your horse!

5 Ways to Improve your Horsemanship

As folks are learning with their horse or experimenting with a new way of communicating and interacting, they can unintentionally develop intensity in their facial expression, posture, energy, and movement. 

Helping yourself without an on-site Riding Instructor

Remote Horse Coaching- Today is the Day

15 Questions Horse Owners should be asking!

20 Questions Horse Owners should be asking!

Assessing and improving your horse maintenance...

Improving the communication with the horse: Five Tips

I frequently suggest to folks there needs to be a beginning, middle and end to the conversation. By presenting pieces of the "whole" conversation, the rider or handler can have an improved "real time" interaction with the horse. 

In order to help the human become more clear in their thoughts, communication and skill set, I suggest asking themselves the five questions posed below. The person's answers will help clarify what, where and when things might need to be refined between horse and human conversations. 

Supporting vs Ignoring the Horse

Supporting vs Ignoring the Horse

The Human Struggle with Horsemanship

Many times, whether I am helping a student work with their horse from the ground, there is a bit of an emotional struggle when they are trying to learn new ways of communicating, and the horse is trying to understand the different conversation.

Making Peace in your Equine Partnership

Full Immersion Clinic July 19-21, 2019

Here's YOUR opportunity!!!!



I just had two participant spots that opened up in the Alternative Horsemanship with Samantha Harvey Full Immersions Clinic at The Equestrian Center, LLC , LLC in Sandpoint, ID for the July 19-21 session.

What is Alternative Horsemanship? Visit the:

Facebook Page facebook.com/alternativeHorsemanship for training and teaching philosophies

Website for details of clinic

Registration to sign up!

These are not "just another horse clinics"- they address so many details and nuances that get skimmed over or missed when folks attend massive participant clinics and don't have the opportunity for personalized instruction.

This is a chance to truly assess yourself, your behaviors, any fears or insecurities. This is a place for you to learn to interpret your horse's thoughts and behaviors and learn life changing tools to create and offer effective communication that diminishes the "drama" in the partnership.

A variety of topics, from anatomical lectures, to demos, to tack fit and usage, to group discussions create a full immersion experience.

Don't miss out. Grab a friend and come join us at a fantastic property with abundant wildlife, epic views, for a fun, safe, non-judgmental learning environment.

Limited on-site hook ups, camping available, nearby BnBs... 15 minutes north America's voted "best" small town!

Pushing versus supporting the horse

Join me for #FifteenForFriday
15 minute free, LIVE video posts covering a variety of equine related topics.
Click HERE  

Working the Walk- Setting the standard for the ride

Diffusing Unwanted Horse Movement

Thought I would break down a short clip from a horse that arrived for an assessment. This was taken in the first session.

This particular video is a fantastic example of why most folks don't have accurate or quality steering, and shows so clearly when the brain and body are disconnected, what happens in the physical movement.

Evolving journey of Horsemanship

Some days everything may go as planned and then there are days where nothing seems to be able to be accomplished. My personality is to "will" things to happen, but it has taken a lot of years and intention to realize that wasn't going to work when it came to the horses.

A personal challenge was learning how early I could recognize within ME if there was a horse that was close to the imaginary line of becoming curious and interested in life, versus him mentally bailing and continuing to be defensive towards the human, and to not try to "make" him commit to a change.

Haltering the Horse - Setting the Standard

Haltering the Horse - Setting the Standard

We've talked about how the "ride" begins when you think about going for the ride, and learning to "leave" the reality of daily stresses and demands behind as you show up to be with your horse.

I've mentioned the conversation starts with how your horse approaches you to be caught, whether in a stall or pasture, which is a great time to assess his mental focus and "tells" you what you might need to address before you even catch him.

Today I want to talk about the act of actual haltering. Use this "simple" act as a way to practice being clear and intentional in your haltering which will spill over into all that you ask of your horse.

Haltering is a wonderful time to notice if you are task fixated or quality focused. What does that mean?

If you have a horse that is willing to come over to be caught but dives into the halter, looks away from you as you attempt to slip his nose into the halter, pushes into your personal space as you are doing up the strap, and you allow the horse to do these behaviors, on multiple occasions, you are task fixated.

This means, that your goal is as long as the horse doesn't "leave" (with his feet,) you're willing to accept however he chooses to present himself and interact with you, as long as you can eventually get the halter on.

So if this is the starting point for your "conversation" with the horse, how do you think the horse will respond to you and how much will he address you respectfully if this is how he is approaching initial interaction with you?

What will the leading him, tacking him, mounting him, and ride feel like?

Horses are searching for and offering constant feedback, as that is how they communicate and "survive" in the herd. If they are trying something, such as being disrespectful with their head, avoiding you with their thought, and you do nothing to address this, if your goal is solely to get the halter on, you have set the "tone" or standard for everything else that you will ask of them.

You have unintentionally told them they can ignore you, physically push into you, and dictate how future interaction between the two of you will be.

So by doing this, you are creating "more work" to get your horse to listen and it is the beginning of the "begging" the horse or as many folks do, "working around" the horse.

Seat Bones and Centered-ness in the Saddle-

Many times folks don't realize that they are sitting crooked in the saddle. If they are off-center in the saddle, they tend unintentionally to "grip" or create a brace on the side that they are less connected with the horse. This lack of centered-ness affects the communication, timing in the use of an aid and the quality of the ride.

Critique vs Positive Alternative communication with the horse

One of the themes at a recent clinic in Oahu was discussing a positive alternative vs. a critique in our communication with the horse.

Most riders focus on what they don't want and attempt to "block," drive or reprimand the horse in a moment of unwanted behavior.

Adaptability with our horse while maintaining our Standards

As I'm gearing up to head out across the ocean to my next clinic, I was thinking about my own "preparations" for myself and what I'll be teaching to the mixture of Western, Dressage, and Eventing participants.

Seeing the Details- Learning Horse Behavior

Have you ever wondered what the trainer is seeing? How the trainer seems able to recognize things your horse is about to do and you still felt like you were being taken by surprise? In the last few days I've posted a few short video clips of very specific moments of horses here in training. My goal is to help folks learn to refine what they see and how to interpret the horse's thoughts, current behavior and that what is about to happen, before it actually does. Join us in the group for Q & A to help improve the partnership with your horse! Click HERE

LIVE Q & A Alternative Horsemanship Videos

Every Friday I've begun presenting a LIVE series of 15 minute videos titled- #FifteenForFriday -addressing a multitude of aspects of my Alternative Horsemanship theories and training approaches.  If you'd like to join me, head on over to the Alternative Horsemanship Facebook group.

Learning to read Horse Behavior

People tend to fixate their visual focus on one or two body parts of the horse, which limits what they see. As they work with the horse, whether the animal is loose or on the lead rope, people need to learn to be able to "zoom in" and out and scan the entire body of the horse.

Refining Ground Work with the Horse

Refining Ground Work with the Horse

Whenever I show up to work with a horse I go through a mental checklist assessing things such as:

• Where is the horse’s mind today?
• How is the horse looking/feeling in his postures, breathing, and movement?
• What was the feeling or energy he offered when greeting me in his pasture or stall?
• Does he seem mentally available as I ask to halter, lead, and stop at the gate?

Bolting Horse and other Unwanted Behavior

Someone recently inquired about two scenarios where she came off her horse, seemingly not through the fault of the horse but rather her own imbalance, but that the horse's overreaction- to bolt to the neighbors property, jump their fence, etc. was quite dramatic. She was inquiring about how to fix this behavior.
Having not seen the horse or knowing their history, here is my initial take on this common scenario.