The theme of the past few days has been new folks asking for help with horses that are going "fine" and then the horse "randomly" or suddenly stops, or quits, moving forward.
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.
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Improving our Horsemanship
Most folks approach riding with a focus and priority on the human's wants and a whole lot of emotion.
This filters their perception of why a horse is behaving a certain way, and then they create a "story" around that usually with the plot lot line being them vs. the horse.
Sometimes out of ego but mostly due to instruction from others.
When the story is eliminated, the person can begin to have an empathetic approach and realize all of the unwanted behaviors are a reflection of the horse needing clear, specific, intentional communication to help him receive the same support as if in the herd.
The horse demands a mental presence from the rider that most people have never even considered.
If a quality relationship is desired it takes adaptability, effort, experimenting, and follow-through.
But those traits are becoming less present in our instant gratification society. So our Horsemanship is a reflection of our personal choices. ❤️🐴🐴
Horse Help- How did Alternative Horsemanship Begin?
I've had a lot of inquiries lately as to how I began Alternative Horsemanship over 20 years ago. I thought I would post an interview from a while back sharing my story in segments.
Be sure to visit the updated Remote Horse Coach website.
Horse Help: Spooking, bolting, dangerous behavior- Symptom vs Root Cause
Recently I did an interview sharing my Alternative Horsemanship with Samantha Harvey the Remote Horse Coach horse and riding training approaches. I wanted to share a video clip from it regarding unwanted, dangerous, behavior in horses. Scary horse reactions such as a horse that will spook, bolt, buck, or those that seem to outright ignore the rider can cause fear and anticipation in both the human and equine.
Horse Health Discussion: 20 Questions Horse Owners should be asking!
Assessing and improving your horse's health...
165+ Horsemanship Coaching Video Catalogue by Alternative Horsemanship
Are You Overwhelming Your Horse?
This isn’t about repeating something mindlessly over and over. Repetition can do two things, it either causes your horse to mentally shut down and check out – seemingly quiet – until you change
something and he “suddenly blows up,” or you continue putting him in overwhelming scenarios that overwhelm his mind (i.e. then the spook happens.)
Decreasing Human Fear and Diminishing Spooky Horses
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: Continued learning for the Human
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
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.