RoaR ‘Horse & Rider Training’

26/06/2023

This Saturday 1st July
@9.30am
- $75 (3 hour session)
- Bring your horse
- Bookings email
youTrainequine@ hotmail.com
- Phone Tania 0407-803-004

12/02/2023

For the first time, the International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses (IFAR) will feature an onsite visit to a Thoroughbred aftercare facility during its conference. On Tuesday, 14 February, Spring Creek Equine will host IFAR participants. Read: https://www.internationalracehorseaftercare.com/international-forum-for-the-aftercare-of-racehorses-to-feature-onsite-visit-to-spring-creek-equine/

27/12/2022

14/11/2022

Training with you to teach your horse to feel comfortable in his new life after racing

13/11/2022

❤️

“Thoroughbreds, they’re too high strung.”

No, it’s because you shove him in a stall without enough turnout and companionship to keep his mind and body happy. Sorry to break it to you, but the 10lbs of sweet feed exacerbates this issue too. Flight is bred into these animals, it’s our job to keep them as comfortable and happy as we can.

“They’re such hard keepers, my feed bill is through the roof.”

Cut out the grain and replace with quality, 24/7 forage. Stay on a deworming schedule, and scope/treat ulcers accordingly. Happy tummies make for a happy weight….. and no, 4 flakes of hay a day is not enough.

“Every thoroughbred I’ve known has horrific hooves.”

Figure out the root cause, and create a plan. Shoes are not the cure-all. Diet and proper exercise is a huge part of this issue. No, 25 more supplements, a different grain and hoof oil will not help.

“They are SO injury prone!”

Keeping them in a small paddock and a stall is not “spoiling them” or keeping them “safer”. What’s the first thing a horse wants to do after a night of turnout?….. RUN, BUCK, ROLL, JUMP, REAR and after all that, a shoe is loose or a leg is hot. Allow them to be horses and be able to spread that energy throughout the day and night with a herd.

No matter the issue, don’t blame the breed. Your expensive, fancy breeds out there? Yeah, the thoroughbred made those. Those beautiful western Quarter horses? Yeah, the thoroughbred helped shape those too.

From the racetrack to being reliable ranch horses, the thoroughbred is truly one of the most adaptable, honest breeds. Yet, why do we criticize them more than any other breed? Outdated practices. Those days of “A coffee can of oats.”, “Hard tie him to a tree for a day.”, “2 flakes of hay in the morning, 2 flakes at night.”, “Ride him until the pad is wet and he won’t fight.”, “Stall him so he won’t get hurt or cause problems.” and “They’re horses, they’ll get over it.” Those days are over.

Horses need now, more than ever, acceptance, compassion and understanding. Thoroughbreds have done so much for us, we are overdue on giving back to them. What breed has the largest heart of any other? The thoroughbred, both metaphorically and literally. Get the thoroughbred, your soul will thank you.

-Ella Gray

28/10/2022

25/10/2022

Oh so this. 💖🙌

16/10/2022

Does this sound like you at the moment?

Let’s remind your new horse of some basics to help you keep you and your horse safe and enjoy being in each others company 💙 RoaR ~

[email protected]

Ph 0407-803-004

13/10/2022

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=185266167359538&id=100076284663228

Over the years, I’ve worked with hundreds of terrified, badly handled or completely unhandled horses. Horses that chased me out of the yard. Horses that had been taught to kick and fight and buck.
No matter how difficult the horse was, no matter what problems I had and no matter how frustrated I felt, my NEVER EVER list applied in every situation. And it always will.
Here's just some of my NEVER EVER LIST:

1. It’s never ever okay to use a flag or a tarp on any horse, no matter how frightened the trainer may be.
2. It’s never ever okay to use restraints or to rope a horse’s legs.
3. It’s never ever okay to tie any horse up to pull and fight.
4. It’s never ever okay to run a horse in a round pen in the hope that he’ll eventually come to you or ‘learn to respect you.’
5. It’s never ever okay to use special halters and gadgets on a horse’s head.
6. It’s never ever okay to hit any horse around the head with a flag.
7. It’s never ever okay to saddle a young horse and let him buck around.
8. It’s never ever okay to leave a horse in a yard with a saddle or a bit and bridle on, in the hope that ‘he’ll get used to it.’
9. It’s never ever okay to push a horse to the point where he’s sweating and distressed.

See more here:👇
www.fearfreehorsetraining.com/no-ifs-buts-or-maybes/

25/08/2022

YOU CANNOT BECOME “THE HERD LEADER”.

I hate having to break it to you but you cannot become the herd leader… no more than a horse can become the leader of a herd of rabbits, or a cougar can become the leader of a herd of horses. Not only you don’t spend 24/7 living with your horses and don’t have the same needs as them but also the "all-mighty herd leader" is more of a man-made concept.

Recent studies on movement initiation in feral groups have shown the following:
- Initiation by departure can be displayed by any member of the group. Anyone can lead, anyone can follow!
- Initiation by departure is not limited to particular females. e.g. lead mares.
- Departing high-ranking horses are followed by other more often than low ranking one.
- The most motivated horse initiate departure. For example, marches towards water are almost always initiated by lactating mares.
- Departing by herding is only displayed by males.
(K. Kreuger, Flauger, B., Farmer, K. and Hemelrijk, C. Movement initiation in groups of feral horses. Behavioural Processes 103, 91-101.)

Another important thing to remember is that horses avoid aggressive dominance display. Aggression is counter-productive to their survival goal. Think; if feral horses spent all their energy fighting most of them would be injured, in poor condition and they would kill each other or be killed by predators. There is little aggression in stable herds, however abnormal level of aggression may be seen in domestic horses kept on livery yards that run inappropriate horse management. A training system holding beliefs such as “learn to be the alpha horse” and instructing you to use aversives (therefore aggression) to move your horse and his body parts is not based on science and is not natural. (No matter what they decide to call it!)

Learn more:
- Read this short article “Who is in a lead?” by ethologists Lucy Rees and Victor Ross who study the natural behaviour of Pottoka ponies. https://goo.gl/TYsSss
- Another great article by Simon Margulis, made with the same ponies “Moving feet”: https://goo.gl/pQjR4C
- Are you confused by what I mean by “aversives” check out this short article: http://goo.gl/QkvASd

18/08/2022

Susanne Carter is so excited with the positive change in her horses that she is going to study the ES diploma- How awesome 🙌

18/08/2022

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-08-18/horse-welfare-stable-social-isolation-immunity-behaviour/101341016?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=facebook&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web&fbclid=IwAR0r436CB1VgfDsyJ7BLuKlc7czVyvtJRcp7mgWUj_Vg5JS0oAh5k6IFsJw

Horses kept alone in a stable displayed signs of stress in their immune system compared to those kept in a group, a new study has shown.

16/08/2022

Training both Horse & Rider together = Positive results

Some great words from Natasha with her thoughts on re-training her horse Sparkles with us 😊🐎❤️ (full review on our review page)

05/08/2022

Horses are amazingly tolerant, giving creatures.

It unfortunately means they’re often exploited due to the ambitions of the human. After their basic needs are met, you must be very thoughtful in the training of your horse.

Your first duty is to preserve the purity of the paces. What does this mean? Walk has 4 beats, trot has 2, canter has 3, gallop has 4. ALWAYS. If not, something is wrong biomechanically, and your horse is at risk of injury. BTW impure paces can usually be detected in a photograph, even though it is only a “moment in time”, AND this applies to all disciplines.

Strapping a horse’s mouth shut with a crank/flash (or other) noseband very often contributes. The fact is, a horse cannot maintain full range of motion with his hind legs if he can’t move his tongue and jaw. FACT.

For jumping, if the horse bolts off - away from, towards, or after a jump, putting on a bigger bit and a martingale will not fix it. If a horse hesitates or stops, pulling out the whip will NEVER make him more confident.

These are just a few hints that your horse is asking for HELP. Go back. Consolidate the basics. Another wonderful thing about horses is they're retrainable. If you ignore the hints, eventually the horse will either break down, or will SHOUT to get your attention, and you will get hurt.

After all, horses are dangerous. We tell everyone that. But actually they are not. We wouldn’t be able to ride them if they were truly dangerous. You know what’s dangerous? People are.

Ponder this excerpt from Franz Mairinger’s book “Horses are made to be Horses”:

I recall an incident in Sydney when we had a lame horse with a very bad tendon, and the rider wanted to start the horse the next day. We asked Roy Stewart, the veterinary surgeon, and he said, ‘Yes, that’s the trouble. People always think that horses are made for man, but that’s not true. Horses are made to be horses’. I thought about that a lot, and decided that if I should write a book I would call it Horses are made to be Horses.

(Franz Mairinger was the first coach of an Australian Olympic Equestrian Team, his excellent book is out of print, but can occasionally be found second hand - buy it if you see it)

(Picture credit Thinking Art )

02/08/2022

There are many OTT re-trainers out there doing such a fantastic job with both Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds, I applaud their dedication and hard work ❤️ 💪 👏🏻

It is important you can keep the training consistent once you take them home. Get the foundations right before you start with your chosen discipline!

If you find yourself needing some support, we are here to help you and your new horse together to continue their training, create new habits, refine movements and delete unwanted behaviours.

I am here to help and support both horse and rider/handler

▪️Training you & your horse together

▪️On or off site

▪️Accredited Compassionate Training

~ RoaR message or call for a quick chat! 0407-803-004

Tania 😊

31/07/2022

Embrace change, open your mind to new information ~ RoaR

17/07/2022

ES is not a method .. so what is it?

There are so many training methods popping up on your Facebook feed it can become so overwhelming. Who do you follow, why are you following them and do you agree and understand their training methods?

Equitation Science is Not a method, it is a lens in which we look through to understand horse behaviour, ethology, learning theory and every other aspect of horse training and keeping - let’s train together

17/07/2022

Welcome little black mare- excited to have her with me.’ Air Mail” aka Bennie 8 yo

OTT - raced last two years ago- has been in a paddock just chilling and now here with me!

I lost my Buddy around Easter time and have been looking for a horse to not really replace, but fill the empty ❤️ space he has left.

If you have a recent OTT and or OTTSB and would like to start your new journey with me and Bennie send me a message 😊 Tania

15/07/2022

// Friday Fact - Negative vs. Positive Reinforcement //

Positive and negative reinforcement were never coined from the point of view of good and bad. Positive means adding and negative means subtracting. Positive reinforcement is the addition of something the horse wants, like food to increase a behaviour. If a horse does something we want, we reward with food and the more the horse will make a habit of doing it. Negative reinforcement is when we, for instance, tap his leg with a whip until he raises it and then stop tapping when he does. Therefore the definition of negative reinforcement is the removal of something aversive to increase a behaviour.

Positive and negative reinforcement are a bit overlapping and some scientists have even described them as similar because, for example, a rat presses a lever to get food which is positive reinforcement, but it presses the lever to remove hunger which is negative reinforcement.

This is an excerpt from 'Conversations with Dr Andrew McLean' available to purchase from our website: https://esi-education.com/

14/07/2022

* CAN YOU TRAIN WITHOUT REINFORCEMENT ? *

The simple answer is NO.

Learning Theory is becoming more popular across the horse world but it doesn't necessary mean that it is well understood. Now and then I see adds popping up promising people training approach that doesn't involve * any pressure or treats * or that is not based on operant conditioning. Those adds can be attractive but they're simply misleading.

Reinforcement is what drives the behaviour . Without reinforcement there is no behaviour (other than simple reflexes). Animals are wired to seek (positive) reinforcers and reducing the ability to obtain them can result in shut down, depression, frustration, aggression, frantic behaviours - this can be easily noticed in deprived environments or when reinforcement is provided in a very unpredictable and/or minimised way.

Horse world has become a very fantasy oriented place - people are seeking the special formula to communicate with horses and this attracts horse trainers to invent training approaches that will fit within those fantasis. In the process of doing so we often see the science being either bashed, cherry picked or twisted (pseudoscience) to match the personal/professional agenda and bias.

Positive Reinforcement is often the main focus of such bashing because there is some ( difficult for me to understand ) pride in not using food as reinforcement. Food is a primary positive reinforcer and if you opt out from using it in training then to teach behaviours you most likely need to go the Negative Reinforcement route.

Negative Reinforcement aka pressure - release can be harder to notice , especially if it is used well because it is labelled as natural way that horses communicate between each other.

This is partially true - Negative Reinforcement occurs naturally (all organisms work to avoid /escape aversives) but you need to teach the horse that particular behaviour response results in the removal of aversive stimuli , it is the removal of aversive that has reinforcing value. It doesn't make pressure- release more natural than positive reinforcement when it comes to horses.

Pressure -release (negative reinforcement) holds traditional bias , equestrians use it daily globaly because they belive that this is how horses communicate between each other. However any interaction between horses that results in avoidance /escape behaviours will always have agonistic (negative) value and won't support relationship building - right the opposite, it jeopardises the stability of the groups of horses that are naturally peaceful creatures.

If we want to interact with and /or train horses, Reinforcement will always be present despite of personal believes /biases . To understand how it occurs, to be able to observe the behaviour and work out what drives it and what emotional value is attatched to it is what will benefit our training, interactions and horses well-being.

11/07/2022

Brave pants grumpy behaviour consultant Public service announcement ! This has been on my mind a lot. Please give your horse credit for the intelligent AND affiliative animals that they are.

At the risk of offending a few people. The problem with a lot of N/H or similar training methods or systems widely utilised in the horse world is that they are falsely labelled as “authentic connection” or relationship building when they have nothing at all to do with how horses actually create friendships. In fact they are the antithesis of this. It is instead that join up and other exercises or games are sold as being based on connection and affiliative behaviour when in fact they are based solely on agonistic interactions. It is a gross misrepresentation of equine affiliative behaviours that misleads many unsuspecting and well meaning horse caregivers and even trainers who were taught these methods . In addition the assumption that horses do not have the intelligence to recognise we are not horses persists such as mimicking their behaviour and using sticks or other equipment to represent their tail for example so that we can “communicate as if we were horses”. Whilst some social strategies such as walking in sync (synchrony and mutual movement)and proximity can be carried over misapplication of sticks or chasing represent agonistic interactions and not ways of connecting. Horses are very capable of recognising different herd members as well as different people ( Hausberger et al,2019, Lampe et al,2012, d’ingeo et al,2019) insulting their intelligence is not conducive to positive relationships. There is also a whole wonderful world of communication and exploration outside of learning theory where we can have shared experiences .

The use of join up and other techniques frequently applied by some proponents of Natural Horsemanship are based on agonistic interactions and not affiliative ones as often claimed (McGreevy et al., 2009, Hartmann et al., 2017). When these techniques are used the risk of causing depressive states, creating psychological trauma or re-traumatisation is high.

The dog world has a much lower tolerance for the use of aversive equipment and dominance based practice than the horse world does . Maybe it’s time the horse world started to catch up ?

References

Fureix, C., Bourjade, M., Henry, S., Sankey, C., & Hausberger, M. (2012). Exploring aggression regulation in managed groups of horses Equus caballus. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 138(3-4), 216-228.

Hartmann, E., Christensen, J. W., & McGreevy, P. D. (2017). Dominance and leadership: useful concepts in human–horse interactions?. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, 52, 1-9.

Hausberger, M., Roche, H., Henry, S., & Visser, E. K. (2008). A review of the human–horse relationship. Applied animal behaviour science, 109(1), 1-24.

Henry, S., Sigurjónsdóttir, H., Klapper, A., Joubert, J., Montier, G., & Hausberger, M. (2020). Domestic Foal Weaning: Need for Re-Thinking Breeding Practices?. Animals, 10(2), 361.

d’Ingeo, S., Quaranta, A., Siniscalchi, M., Stomp, M., Coste, C., Bagnard, C., ... & Cousillas, H. (2019). Horses associate individual human voices with the valence of past interactions: a behavioural and electrophysiological study. Scientific reports, 9(1), 1-10.

Kieson, E., Lundgren, K., & Abramson, C. I. Preliminary Findings of Observations of Affiliative and Stress Behaviors in Large Horse Herds with Variations in Resources. In 15th Annual Conference for the International Society for Equitation Science, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

https://medwinpublishers.com/IZAB/a-preliminary-investigation-of-preferred-affiliative-interactions-within-and-between-select-bonded-pairs-of-horses-a-first-look-at-equine-love-languages.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2Gjh8MmzAtZp8Xlt4RB_j-fVJizcBU3TcoUqcAtMWB63tut5L_OGtL5QE&fs=e&s=cl

Lampe, J. F., & Andre, J. (2012). Cross-modal recognition of human individuals in domestic horses (Equus caballus). Animal cognition, 15(4), 623-630.

McGreevy, P., Oddie, C., Burton, F. L., & McLean, A. N. (2009). The horse–human dyad: Can we align horse training and handling activities with the equid social ethogram?. The Veterinary Journal, 181(1), 12-18.

Pierard, M., McGreevy, P., & Geers, R. (2019). Effect of density and relative aggressiveness on agonistic and affiliative interactions in a newly formed group of horses. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 29, 61-69.

Rees, L. (2017). Horses in Company. The Crowood Press.

Sigurjónsdóttir, H., & Haraldsson, H. (2019). Significance of group composition for the welfare of pastured horses. Animals, 9(1), 14

©️Jessie Sams (2022) Animal Behaviour and Trauma Recovery Service