‘Abcense of evidence does not equate to evidence of absence.”
This is a hard chat, reality check, truth speaking & calling out the ‘quiet part’ and I need it shared WIDE & FAR.
I have said this time and time again over the years but it is not sticking, and it sure as heck isnt flowing wider than me or other qualified, evidence driven academics can influence.
🚩A sudden decline of quality of response, and behavioral neutrality is 100%, ALWAYS a red flag for distress from the horse.
🚩Paired with conflict behaviors & expressions of flight, your horse is screaming for help.
🚩It is a sign of physical distress, from either a physical origin or a cognitive origin.
🚩It is the behavioral expression of screaming for help.
Yes, it is always behavioral. Being behavioral, does NOT exclude the likely cause of distress which in the horrifying majority of cases is a source of pain or extreme inescapable discomfort for the horse.
🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩This Human applied, traditional expression of ego driven, embedded fear aggression needs to stop in the wider equestrian community other wise it will result in the further decline of social license and acceptance of what we do well, with empathy, kindness & though with our horses.
If you hear “They just need to learn a lesson” or “here hand me the reins I will fix this.”
WALK AWAY.
✅✅✅✅✅ If you hear “I see your horse is struggling to give the right responses, and it’s difficult. ‘You’ may be able to fix this if you find the cause first.” Stop and listen, at least for a while.
Choose better coaches, choose better trainers, choose better ‘friends.’
Distress states in horses are NOT preferentially chosen, and distress states are not sustainable.
Horses that are distressed cannot LEARN or physically adapt.
I am not exaggerating, I am so beyond done with this recurring, time and time and time again. How dare we really?
#equinewellbeing #equinewellness #equinewelfare #reseteq
What is the problem with compensation patterns persisting in our horses posture, movement etc? 🤔 #resetequinesem #sustainableequitationandmobility #equinebiomechanics #equinemovement #horsemovement #horses #horsesofinstagram #equestrian
~ friluftsliv ~
Friday evening was spent well with Kian, in ‘friluftsliv’.
Reaching backwards to touch my ancestry, I am a lover of winter, cold air, dampness.
🤍free-loofts-liv | noun | Norwegian
• literally free air living
• traditionally, friluftsliv describes a Norwegian philosophical lifestyle based on a deep and profound - spiritual - connection with nature.
🖤💛🖤🐴
#resetequinesem #sustainableequitationandmobility #sustainableequinemobility #resetequine #equitationscience #horsetraining #horsewellness #horsewellbeing
🔀📈🐎Inconsistencies in training progress or performance
There are 2 potential areas for a lack of consistency.
🐎 Physical: lack of recovery that comes from physical expectations that are too high and have resulted in metabolic injury (lack of recovery) or structural injury (requires focused repair & recovery).
🐴 Cognitive: Asking to much, too soon, and for too long.
💚 Horses can only learn in a distress free way if they are only learning one new cognitive skill at a time, this is because horses are context specific learners.
🍏 These can be one “context” of;
1. One change of response - ie. so a potential rhythm, speed, response, gait, direction, outcome.
2. One changed place - ie. Arena, property, time of day, competition.
3. One given stimulus or aid - ie. Reins that are holding, or saying no while legs are being applied to say go.
A physical skill, is also a display cognitive skills - but it is usually multiple cognitive skills that culminate in a physical/behavioral response.
🧠 Cognitive overload, will always result in tension which is a form of flight response.
⚡️ Tension, from either a physical or cognitive origin will rapidity reduce the horses capacity to learn & recover.
💣Having tension persisting longer than a learning moment of motivation (>2 seconds) always results in both concurrent physical & cognitive declines in consistency due to the prolonged state of stress/flight mode that the horse remains in.
🏥 ❤️🩹and…. If none of the above seems to apply, there is likely something else occurring in the horses experience that is out of your control so seek out immediate professional advice from your equine wellbeing team, and first and foremost your equine veterinarian.
#resetequinesem #equine #horsetraining #horseethology #horseriding #horseofinstagram #horsesoffacebook #ethicalhorsetraining #ethicalhorsemanship #sustainableequitationandmobility
🍏 A 2021 study undertaken in Switzerland, showed that of 196 saddles in use on sports horses in training, that had been reported by owners, riders, trainers as subjectively assessed as fitting by saddle fit professionals, or by the riders, owners or trainers themselves, 90% were assessed as objectively poorly fitted.
In another study undertaken in the United Kingdom, 37% to 60% were assessed
as objectively poorly fitted.
37% is still way too high… 🤯
🔻In the Swiss study, during the survey, 95% of participants stated that their saddle was an ideal fit for their horse.
🔻53% of the participants provided that their saddle was regularly checked by a qualified professional of some type.
🔻47% did not have their saddle checked on a regular basis.
Sit down because this bit is heavy on the punchline 😬👊🏼👉🏼….On average, the saddles that had been checked by a qualified professional, had last been checked 10-11 months prior to the study.
Prt 2 continues in comments…
#sustainableequitationandmobility #resetequinesem #horsesaddle #saddlefitting #saddlefittersofinstagram #equinebiomechanics #horsemovement
Well its stack-anniversary date.
Part of me is repelled at the idea of marking the date again by doing a post, a blog, a reel, a something. A small echo in me says ‘get over it.’
But the rest of me, in authenticity would be kidding myself if I didn’t recognise how significant a day today is, in marking the anniversary of my ‘equine assisted gravity check’ in 2018.
I mean, when things change you, irreversibly, as they have me - in such a sudden, an seemingly mysterious way as which comes with a traumatic event, a physical trauma, and a traumatic brain injury, it is really somewhat momentous.
I changed that day, and the days that followed, not just in the sense of growth, but in the sense of profound, structural change to my physical self, my cognitive & mental self, and the connection of that which is what makes us who we are, in parts & whole.
I’m different. Undeniably. I am not the Nancy from before.
I am experientially a changed being.
Im still finding my edges, settling into the fit of my being, and discovering the change I am now, making the version of me I want to be.
Unfortunately, this ‘pivot point’ of my life didn’t come with a brochure, a run sheet, or a user manual 😂
Navigating the ‘how the heck’ with the ongoing physical challenges it has come packaged in, the whole new array of sensory/nervous system processing extremes, and… the very very real crappy ‘lithium battery’ health equivalent energy allocation that runs me 60% of the time in low battery mode 😆
Which brings me to, thankgoodness it wasn’t worse.
Thankgoodness I am able to be cognizant of my experience.
Thankgoodness I am the version of myself that I am, with the needs I have now - and not more…. or tragically less.
I was wearing a helmet.
….con’t in comments.
#postconcussionsyndrome #traumaticbraininjury #autonomicdysfunction #autonomicnervoussystem #horseridersofinstagram #traumaticbraininjuryawareness
Horses are the best barometers 😆🤣🙈⛈️ #springstorms #westernaustralia #thoroughbredsofinstagram #offthetrackthoroughbred #maresofinstagram #stockhorsesofinstagram
You know more than you believe, and you & your horse are doing better than you know.
Pay attention to what you know is working for your horse, and for you: then build your decisions based on improving ease of response for your horse & you, by developing ON that.
We have evidence based rules and processes that we use, as these are based on the horses non-negotiable welfare needs for learning. But recognising how to improve, is equal parts recognising what IS working well, along side recognising what needs improvement. Be careful & kind with yourself though, don't be temped to throw away the good stuff... the good stuff is what everything better is build on.
Be your OWN advocate, as well as your horses.
#horsesoffacebook #horseridersofinstagram #horseridersoffacebook #biologymatterstothehorse #eventersofinstagram #equinemovement #sustainableequitationandmobility #equinelearning #resetequine #sustainableequinemobility #sociallisencetooperate #horsewelfare #equinecognition #equinebiomechanics #equinewellbeing #horsefitness #dressageridersofinstagram #equineethology #eventing #biologymatters #equinewelfare #horsetrainersofinstagram #horsesofinstagram #horseriding #horsetrainerlife #horsetraining #equine #horseridersofaustralia #horseproffesionalsofinstagram #offthetrackthoroughbred
Road travel things… “the stuff you see whilst driving between clients” Number 19482 🤣🐄 #cowsofinstagram #horsesofinstagram #eventersofinstagram #showjumpersofinstagram #offthetrackthoroughbred #resetequinesem #sustainableequitationandmobility
-0.9 at 6:17am & then it was white 🥶😎❄️ ( love it still - even though the hands were burning 😆) #resetequinesem
SE&M Vlog: The most poorly used & incorrectly applies ‘Solution’ movement I know... Shoulder in.
Shoulder in won’t correct straightness in the horse : it is a TEST of the horses capacity to be straight, then YOUR capacity to adjust the nuances of straightness.
Issues with straightness are resolved/imporoved by:
Having the capacity to correct deviations of line: having a well understood & executed turn response.
Having the capacity to correct deviations of line: having a well understood & executed yeild response.
Having the foundations to build straightness on: A correctly trained go response, and a correctly trained stop/slow response.
Issues are rarely resolved by doing something badly, more...and they are defiantey not resolved by doing MORE things at the same time, that the horse couldn’t do in isolation.
I could go on all day... but I won’t becasue I need to get some work done 😂
#biologymatterstothehorse #horseridersoffacebook #equinelearning #dressageridersofinstagram #horsesoffacebook #eventing #equinecognition #equinemovement #horsewelfare #horsefitness #equinebiomechanics #sustainableequinemobility #biologymatters #equinewellbeing #sustainableequitationandmobility #horseridersofinstagram #eventersofinstagram #equineethology
Equine Behaviorist, Coach, Equine Mobility Specialist & Musculoskeletal therapist. Dip.
