"Leggs"
Alternative Horsemanship™ with Samantha Harvey the Remote Horse Coach teaches horse behavior, horse training, and coaches horseback riders of all experience levels. Offering horsemanship clinics worldwide, distance horse coaching instruction, horse video learning catalog, equine consultations, equine re-education and rehabilitation, colt starting, and lessons. Follow her #alternativehorsemanship on all social media platforms.
Horsemanship: Spatial Pressure and Release
This week's theme of learning about, with, without the horse continues with this video captured this past year at my summer base at The Equestrian Center, LLC in Sandpoint, ID.
Horsemanship: Spatial Pressure and Release
I often have "help" from the deer, moose, bear, wild turkeys (who always insist on arriving when I'm getting on a colt for the first time,) and other critters. Of course, the domesticated cats also enjoy participating.
Even though this video is "cute," it is really a great example of spatial pressure, how little it takes to "send" it, and how strong it can be felt!
Do you have any animals who "help" you when you're working with your horse?
Horsemanship: Continued learning for the Human
How often do you continue to practice learning with, about, without your horse?
This picture was captured a few years back at Horsemanship clinic in California. It was a Demo Day where the 15 participants learned WITHOUT their horse. Demonstrations, discussions, exercises, etc. were all taught.
This picture was captured a few years back at Horsemanship clinic in California. It was a Demo Day where the 15 participants learned WITHOUT their horse. Demonstrations, discussions, exercises, etc. were all taught.
Horsemanship: Learning to Observe the Horse
A session of Learning 
I'm always talking about being an observer of the horse. Often incredible things will unfold before you.
Sleep Deprivation in Horses
Arrived at a client's house and saw this...
I was very happy to see her mares were napping.
It took some experimenting and changes in herd dynamics for them to reach this point.
How often do you see your horse lie down?
Are they always in the same location?
Sleep at the same time of day?
How long do they sleep?
Over the years I've found a major contributor to many unwanted behavioral "issues" can stem from sleep deprivation in the horse.
Many fearful and anticipative horses cannot find a "safe" time/location to sleep, this can lead to a variety of dramatic and inconsistent behaviors that seem unaffected by training methods.
I believe it is one of the most underassessed, and overlooked aspects of the horse's health and well-being.
I've lost track of how many horses I've seen transition into amazing equine partners once their health issues were addressed.
Fearful and Anxious Horseback Riders
This cartoon is what many horseback riders experience irrelevant of the discipline or years of riding.
Horsemanship: Laser Focus versus Quality Interactions
Too often folks have a laser focus on task accomplishment rather than assessing if they have the necessary "pieces" in order to present a specific scenario to the horse.
Improving your Riding without the Horse
Missing time in the saddle?
I've found 50 gal barrels have helped countless students find their seat bones and center.
This has helped them learn to discover and engage the correct muscles to become balanced and what I call "plugged in" when sitting in the saddle.
Practicing while keeping the feet off the ground allows the barrel to reflect the human's imbalance if it begins to roll.
Recently a student posted this,
"How often do we get to take the time to work on the finer details of our horsemanship? Well when its 36 degrees and blowing snow Samantha Harvey of Alternative Horsemanship Remote Horse Coach says its an "opportunity ". I had an amazing lesson today!"
What other non-horse activities or creative things do you do to help improve your body movement awareness and balance?
Opportunities to Improve your Horsemanship
One common word I teach my students is to call ALL scenarios whether initially appearing to be potentially overwhelming, stressful, or less-than-ideal, as
Opportunities. It may be a "simple" approach, but it is amazing to watch the direct correlation in students who are persistent in practicing changing their vocabulary and the leaps and bounds of progress they make in the journey of horsemanship leading to a rewarding partnership with their horse.
Horsemanship and Equine Partnership
This post comes as a result of several recent comments I’ve heard from horse people as they are getting “amped up” for the upcoming spring riding season. Especially in areas of the country that are affected by nasty, cold winter weather, it seems that winter brings on a lethargic feeling, and so instead of the actual hands-on time with their horses, people tend to try to learn via technology, books, etc.
Horsemanship: Misinterpretation of horse behavior and communication
Frequently I've had posts shared with me about how "cute" something is in a horse, mule, or donkey's behavior. Unfortunately, when folks filter their interpretation of an animal's behavior with human emotions, it clouds their judgment in learning, recognizing, or believing what the animal was experiencing and communicate.
How to create Adaptable and Reasonable horses
How do YOU and YOUR horse respond if:
You go into the pasture/stall with a halter in your hand, but don't immediately catch your horse.
You open the gate/stall door but don't go out it.
When you do go out the gate, you stop and talk to someone, instead of continuing on to wherever the tack up area is.
You tack up "wrong"- place your saddle blanket on the horse's neck or rump instead of the "normal" area, or change the order by bridling before you saddle.
You lead from the horse's right side.
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