Hedera Horsemanship

Establishing a rapport.

Establishing a rapport. This is from Orion’s first few days here, where we were working on establishing a rapport and finding out each other’s communication styles. With any horse that comes to HH, the first week is all about fostering a curiosity towards a connection and feel with the handler. I want Orion to know people are here to help him if he ever gets nervous or uncomfortable, and as a new person, I want to give him a great impression. If there is anything he’d like to tell me, I will take his words on board and respond accordingly. Not punishing a horse for sharing his thoughts, allows a horse to feel safe expressing his concerns. This means you’re already doing damage control if something happens, and the horse can look to support from the human instead of worrying that the human will make the situation worse. This is where you get horses that “dump and run”. Ditch the extra weight, it was only going to make things worse anyway, right? Not at HH. I truly believe that we should serve our horses, not the other way around. And there is difference between saying you are willing to serve your horse, and actually doing it. Where we consciously take up the responsibility of an animal’s life, we take up the responsibility of their mental state. Escalating pressure where a horse provides the incorrect response is largely ineffective, so instead I allow the horse to make mistakes, feel those feelings, and come back to me when they are ready. To me, there are no incorrect answers. Only efforts. It’s important to recognise and thank the horse for the try. When they do find the desired response, this is what it can look like. A total state of peace, deep connection, and effortless coexistence. This is what being around horses really means to me, something I lost a few years ago to the competitive world, but now I have it back, I hope to share this information and inspire others. There is so much your horse can offer you, but you need to offer them mo

10 minutes difference. Context is important with this one. Peggy is a 13yo OTTB mare, who has already had quite a ridden career, having trained to medium dressage and ~90cm jumping. She brought home a plethora of rugs, ribbons and rosettes, so she is certainly educated and decorated. Peggy also deals with anxiety. She may have been performing well on paper, but she was quite “hot” and “trigger happy” most of the time. Which isn’t really a personality trait of her, but a result of anxiety. Anxiety can come in many forms, which can often be labelled as quirks (-where it can then be perceived in a negative light). Head tossing, rushing jumps, pawing, and so on. These are not “naughty” behaviours, and they’re certainly not a personality trait. They are the result of what the horse is dealing with externally and internally - and you have a great deal of influence on the severity of that. I speak about this very regularly with my clients; trigger stacking can start as far as the night before. Sometimes there are actually some pretty good reasons for why your horse may be having a “bad day”. They may have been experiencing trigger stacking. Humans experience this too. A bird flies out in front of the horse’s face and spooks them. You nearly hit an animal while driving and it leaves you feeling unsettled. A horse steps on a rock and develops a bit of stone bruise. You roll your ankle badly, and now it’s aching. A horse gets handled a bit firmer than usual due to their unsettled behaviour and they won’t stand still. You get yelled at your boss at work, leaving you feeling unheard and distressed. After all that, imagine if your boss asked you to complete another difficult task that required mental and physical effort, while you are feeling mentally and physically down in the dumps that day. You can imagine how this is exacerbated by a language barrier between human and horse. So how did we stop Peggy going into such a state of alarm when

Easifa’s first saddling

Easifa’s first experience with the saddle on. 🤩 She was fantastic! She was so present and willing to try new things this session. She has been a little apprehensive about things going over her back and hanging from both sides, but I feel like she had a huge lightbulb moment and suddenly she found the confidence in herself to overcome anything! I introduced a few new things to her this day and she took to them so kindly. Very happy with her! Easifa is owned by Yallaroo Endurance Arabians. #hederahorsemanship #hederaeasifa