Amy Vickers Farrier Services

15/04/2025

🔥 Separation Anxiety: Your Horse Isn’t Being a Jerk
(They Just Know More About Survival Than You Do)

An Ode to Interspecies Partnership, Evolution, and Actually Knowing What You’re Doing...

Let’s begin with a radical reframe:

Your horse — yes, that horse, the one who just did a full Olympic spin because Daisy walked away — isn’t being dramatic, buddy sour, or herd-bound.

They’re responding with military-grade precision to millions of years of evolutionary programming not to die.

And when we try to “train it out of them” by visualising peace, holding our breath, and waiting for the horse to “choose connection”…..we’re not solving a problem. We’re outsourcing horsemanship to the universe and crossing our fingers.

That’s not training. That’s manifesting with a web halter.

🧠 Herd Behaviour: The Original Emergency Exit Strategy

Herd behaviour isn’t a phase. It’s not clinginess. It’s biology.

It's how prey animals stay alive by:
- Confusing predators
- Diluting risk
- Following fast and thinking later

It’s collective, chaotic, and deeply effective. And when you’re the one holding the lead rope, it’s also… rather terrifying😱.

So when your horse bolts back to Daisy like she’s carrying the last life-vest on the Titanic, they’re not being naughty.

They’re just running the most recently updated herd-survival software.

🐴 Your Horse Knows You’re Not a Horse (Thankfully)

You’re not part of the herd.
They know.
You know.
You don’t smell right.
You don’t move right.

And you wouldn’t last a day in the wild without a sunhat, 4 litres of water, a 3 protein bars and a portable espresso machine.

But here’s the genius:
Horses can learn to focus on us instead.
Not because we channel our inner alpha or brand ourselves as “conscious equestrian leaders.”

But because we prove — through skilled, repeated experiences — that we’re worth noticing.

⚓️ Becoming Their Anchor

Your job?

Become their:
-Sensory anchor — something familiar to orient to
-Emotional anchor — someone who stays calm when they are not sure
-Proprioceptive anchor — guidance they can follow with their body
-Environmental anchor — a stable point in a chaotic world

This isn’t woo. It’s not vibes. It’s trained trust.

They don’t follow your aura.They follow your consistency, timing, and clarity.

🩻 Pain Changes the Programming

If your horse is sore, tired, ulcer-y, hormonal, or simply “not feeling it” —their vulnerability goes up, and so does the risk of their herding instinct being triggered.

They might:
- Treat the arena like a war zone
- Assume the float is a hearse
- Stick to another horse like emotional duct tape
- Get “pushy,” “clingy,” or “annoying”

It’s not an attitude problem.
It’s a nervous system doing its job.

Before you crank up the pressure to “correct” the behaviour, ask:
“Is this a training issue — or a welfare issue in disguise?”

🎯 Training Isn’t Just Kindness. It’s Skill.

Let’s be real: kindness is lovely — but it’s not a strategy.

You need:
- Timing
- Feel
- The ability to release at the right micro-second

And enough self-awareness to stop blaming your horse for not understanding something you never taught clearly😬

Yes — some stress is part of learning.

The difference?
Bad stress shuts the horse down or freaks them out and they won't trust you.

Good stress builds resilience.

That’s not just feel.
That’s skillful handling under pressure.

Get it right, and your horse learns:
“I felt unsure. You stayed steady. Now I feel more confident.”

Get it wrong, and they learn:
“People are scary and unpredictable or make no sense.”
That’s not learning. That’s trauma in a halter.

⚖️ Balance, Not Bravado

You don’t need to be a guru, wear a cowboy hat, or be a barefoot empath who thinks your horse’s refusal to load is your fear of success in disguise.

You need to:
- Understand horses
- Interpret what you see
- Make informed, fair decisions — in real time

Because horsemanship isn’t about suppressing instinct. It’s about redirecting it, with skill and clarity.

You’re not a herd member.

You’re the one who says: “This way. You’re safe.”

🐴 Your Horse Isn’t Being a Jerk. They’re Being Honest.

Next time your horse panics at the gate, melts down in a clinic, or tries to emotionally reattach to their paddock mate at the cellular level…

Don’t call it disobedience.

Call it what it is:
A nervous system asking for something to trust.

Ask yourself:
- Have I prepared this horse, or just expected them to cope?
- Have I trained them to rely on me, or just hoped they would?
- Have I taught them to feel okay, or just demanded silence?

Separation anxiety isn’t a flaw - It’s a biological response to uncertainty.

And anchoring?

It’s not a vibe.
It’s a learnable skill.
Yours to teach.
Theirs to trust.

Final Note 📝

We’re not trying to be horses.
We’re not herd members.
We’re not enlightened spirit guides with a side hustle in nervous system healing.

We are:
- Interpreters
- Anchors
- Reliable, skilled decision-makers in a world that can overwhelm a horse's brain.

It’s not mystical.

It’s not macho.

It’s not a retreat, a ritual, or a weekend of vague breakthroughs and better selfies.

It’s real horsemanship — grounded, teachable, honourable.

You don’t need to be dominant. You don’t need to be brave.You just need to be worth following.

📢 Before You Go…

If this made you laugh, nod, or finally stop calling your horse "naughty" or blaming Daisy🌼— hit share, not copy/paste.
This is original work. Mine. Not plucked from a reel, not paraphrased from a guru, and definitely not up for grabs.
So if you're inspired? Great — credit it.

🎓 Want More? This is the warm-up. See the comments as there is more…

12/04/2025

A very important thing we should all be checking! But not an alternative to getting a saddle fitter out to ensure your saddle fits well and is comfortable for both you and your horse. A poor fitting saddle can cause a lot of discomfort for your horse and cause you to be unbalanced while riding. Being well balanced as a rider makes you a much easier load for the horse to carry. Happy riding 😁🐴

11/03/2025

I often work with owners who are frustrated by the disconnect between their horse’s diagnosis and real-world movement. X-rays and scans provide valuable insights into structural changes, but they don’t tell the whole story. They capture what is visible—but not what is felt.

A horse can have severe degenerative changes but no pain or lameness.

Another may show mild abnormalities but suffer significant discomfort and restriction.

X-Rays Don’t Measure Pain—Only Structure

Key Considerations:

X-rays, ultrasounds, and MRIs only show what is imaged—they do not tell us how a horse feels or moves.

Pathological changes are often incidental findings—not always the cause of poor performance.

Horses, like people, have individual pain thresholds. Two horses with the same X-ray findings may have completely different experiences of pain and mobility.

Real-World Example:
I have worked with horses whose X-rays were “awful”, yet they moved beautifully because their bodies were mobile and balanced. Conversely, I have seen horses with minimal findings on scans but who were deeply uncomfortable due to tissue restrictions and compensatory patterns.

The Power of Whole-Body Mobility

We tend to hyper-focus on specific joints or injuries, but the truth is, a horse moves as a single unit from nose to tail.

When one part stiffens or compensates, the whole system is affected.

I’ve seen it time and time again… A horse with “terrible” X-rays moving beautifully because their body is mobile and balanced, while another with only minor findings struggles with stiffness and discomfort.

Pathology doesn’t always equal pain. Some horses adapt incredibly well to structural changes, while others suffer from compensatory patterns and restrictions that aren’t even visible on scans.

I’ve lost count of how many horses had their hocks injected with minimal improvement—yet when their entire body was mobilized, their movement returned to normal.

If your horse has a diagnosis, remember:
💡 Care for them as a horse first, pathology second
💡 Focus on whole-body mobility—not just the problem area ⚠️
💡 Take each day as it comes—because movement is more than what an X-ray can see!

11/01/2025

What does it really mean to "let them go on a good day?"

It means it will be your hardest day. It won't matter if you've never done it before, or if you're gifted a dozen good days, each good day is always the hardest one.

It means they won't know what the fuss is about, why they're getting so many treats and extra belly scratches and hugs.

It means you will second guess your decision right up to the very last moment, the very last breath. You'll second guess yourself afterwards.

They'll knicker at you when you arrive, just like any other day.

The weather, perfect. They are content. They look sound today. They are breathing well, eating well, they get up easily enough from a nap in the sun....the list goes on. Whatever issue they struggle with, today they aren't.

Today you euthanize them.

This is what going on a good day means: sending them out while they are happy, while they are healthy, while they are eating well, walking well, etc. You make the choice to do it before an emergency takes the choice away from you, before your horse has to experience any more trauma or pain.

Their last memory will be filled with love.

It'll rip your heart out every time.

We can see the patterns and the increasing trends. We can predict it a little. We can obsess over the past and worry about the future.

Fortunately, horses, all animals, live in the moment. They don't worry about those things. They aren't worried about winter. They aren't worried about July, or allergies, or progressive diseases like cushings or dsld. They don't think about the close calls they've had before, and they certainly aren't thinking about the close calls that are destined to come, as their body continues to age and break down. They just are. They are happy and healthy, or fearful and in pain, on that day, in that moment.

It is the most difficult, most loving gift we are blessed to be able to give.

And that first ice storm will come, that first deep snow, that first heat wave....and you will find a little relief, no longer doubting the choice you made.

They were happy, and safe, and loved. That is all that matters.

It is never easy. ~Kelly Meister, author

23/12/2024

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30/11/2024

Hahaha that's brillant 😅
credits: Pinterest

20/11/2024

😍

10/11/2024

Bell boots can make a huge difference to shoe retention, especially for the terrors who love to pull shoes in any way they can! 🤪🐴

In the event that your hoofcare provider has taken the time and effort to put glue ons on your horse - please please please, for all hoofcare providers out there, have well fitting bell boots that cover the back of the foot to protect your investment :) I promise, we will ALL be appreciative of them.