Re-Educating the Horse: Building Try and Trust

You can enjoy a brief video clip here

This horse arrived for a re-start. Besides addressing his pain and physical issues, I also need to re-educate him on the human experience.

Bad Weather & Horse Behavior- Learning Opportunity for Building Trust

It was been raining... for days. Gray, dark, windy, and cold. You can't see the rear of the property. Every simple task becomes a "chore" as I pile on the layers of clothing, jacket, scarf, and hat to head out and mentally head out into the blustery weather.

Reading Horse Behavior to decrease dangerous moments

I'm very excited about the seven-day upcoming online course "Reading the Horse" ( https://bit.ly/horsecourseonline ). One of the great opportunities for learning from these videos of seven different horses will offer people to learn to SEE and put value to all of the numerous and continuous ways they communicate. I know that may sound funny, but often the more time folks spend around the horse the more "routine" many of the interactions can become.

This builds unintentional mindlessness in the human and the horse or "autopilot" responses between the two. If this is the case, the human may miss when potential concerns begin to build in the animal until "all of a sudden..." he does something and it totally surprises the human.

In other cases, the person may see what the horse is physically doing, but not put value to the behavior or recognize the connection in what is currently happening to where it may lead in future actions of the horse.

Often folks are also hopeful. People will "wait" until the horse is committed to an unwanted response and then attempt to intervene at his peak concern. What the human may not have realized is that their initial pause or delay in communication with the horse has taught him that he is "on his own" in a stressful situation. The problem is this consistently, (often unintentional) unsupportive response from the person, teaches the horse that when concerning moments arise, he needs to fend for himself. As he does so, it can create an overwhelming feeling in the handler or rider.

So remember even the seemingly most "mundane" interactions are teaching and conversation opportunities between humans and horses. If folks prioritized quality interaction with their horse during these times, they would be diffusing and diminishing potentially dramatic and dangerous ones in the future, without even realizing it.

Keep in mind horses do not one day randomly become "trained" or reasonable. Even with a horse that has had years of training, someone can "undo" the training depending on how they interact.

Every moment the horse spends time with a human is a continuous learning opportunity. The person can teach the horse either desired or undesirable responses depending on their approach.

What has the quality of your conversations with the horse been lately?

Encouraging Curiosity in the Horse as the Training Continues

Curiosity in the Horse

I had a horse... one of those "I didn't mean to acquire him" types... one of those the hoarding breeder got out of control and ran out of money with a bunch of malnourished pregnant mares... one of those orphaned colts as a consequence. I tried to say no... but Pico wound up with me. He was Curious. Not the most confident nor athletic with his clubbed foot, but he sure did keep everyone entertained. 

Adjusting the Human Perspective: Pain in Horses

A horse that is curious about training...

Many horses and humans live with pain to varying degrees on a daily basis. If you've even been injured or having ongoing pain, think about the all-consuming feeling and emotional state the pain triggered in you.

• How functional were/are you?
• Were/are you in a frame of mind to learn something new?
• How was/is your patience levels?
• How long could/can you focus?
• Could you/can you physically stay still, get comfortable, or relaxed?

Preparing your horse for "life"- including not killing the farrier

As a trainer who over the years has gained a reputation unintentionally for working with horses often after the "mainstream" ways of training have not worked, (think big, dramatic and dangerous horses,) I receive many requests for help after all else has "failed." Many unwanted behaviors arise during the handling of horses in everyday scenarios. Two big challenges for many people is trailer loading and having their horse stand well for the farrier.

Cause vs the Symptom: Horses that quit or abruptly stop moving forward

With current world events, I've been doing a lot of Remote Horse Coaching. For folks that have access to their horses, one of the "spring" themes seems to be horses that were going "fine" and then "randomly" or suddenly started stopping, where they abruptly quit moving forward, either when led or ridden.

Using a round pen- an Alternative Horsemanship perspective

I find 95% of folks misuse a round pen, whether under the guise of "exercising" or teaching conditioned responses, an example being the lesser of two evils is to turn, face the human, and be caught rather than made to run; which is a bullying tactic. The problem with teaching conditioned responses and patterns is the day you change the routine, the horse does not know how to react because his responses have been obedient versus thoughtful. Sometimes, this creates him throwing a tantrum or seemingly becoming a fire breathing dragon instead of the horse you're used to.