Tamara Alazawi Horsemanship

16/09/2024

Listen to your horse, always.

I hear this phrase ALL the time and every time I do my heart breaks for the horse in question.

It is a very big misconception in the industry that pain can be ruled out in the horse.

What leads to this statement can also vary drastically from person to person.

The horse might have had a quick muscle palpation, they might have just been scoped for ulcers, or they might have had a very extensive (and expensive!) veterinary work up over days or months.

Regardless, you cannot rule out pain. You might not be able to find a source, but you cannot rule out pain.

Ask any human who has not received an immediate diagnosis for their pain or not been listened to regarding their own health concerns.

Pain does not have a blood test or a specific color or feel.

Pain can be obvious, it can be concealed, it can be complex, it can be poorly understood.

There are certain things, like gastric ulcers, that can be definitively ruled in or out as a SOURCE of pain with a gastroscopy.

But it is the horse’s behavior that says whether pain is or isn’t present. And unfortunately, very often pain in the horse is not a simple thing to diagnose and cure.

When a trainer, owner, rider, or vet says “we have ruled out pain” it is often an invitation to train the horse with harsher methods to overcome performance or behavioral problems.

If the horse refuses to do something, doesn’t cooperate, struggles with tasks, has a change in behavior, or exhibits behaviors that have been scientifically studied to indicate pain in the horse (such as the equine discomfort ethogram and ridden horse pain ethogram)….ALWAYS keep in mind that just because it can’t be located, DOES NOT mean a horse is not in pain.

10/09/2024

Thank you to Adelaide Hills Adult Riders - AHAR for a wonderful day on Sunday. It was lovely to work you and your horses.

26/07/2024

Learn to love the boring

21/05/2024

The friends we meet along the way!

09/05/2024

“Behaviour is communication” - 100%

Is it “just” a scar?

This horse had a thickened tendon and an osseous growth on his hind medial splint bone, it felt to involve the superficial and deep digital tendons. He was not lame but he was a very unhappy animal with explosive behaviour when pushed beyond his capacity of coping. He also had some serious arthritis in the fetlock joint of this leg.

Not everything that makes a horse miserable makes them lame. This wasn’t the only problem he was coping with and I will talk about those issues further on the patreon page.

Behaviour is communication.

For the full video follow the link to my patreon page.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/is-it-just-scar-103913456?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Below is a picture of the superficial tendons from both sides of the horse.

19/04/2024

An integral part of horsemanship is awareness, and we can greatly undermine our ‘training’ in the everyday moments that go unnoticed.

Check out Amy’s free webinar to advance your horsemanship.

15/02/2024

*Limited number of horses now taken for training*

Horsemanship for dressage and jumping, for soundness of mind and body.

Please message or call 0416946128 for more information

Training for soundness and well-being, with a focus on building confidence and lightness for all levels, in any discipline.

My interest has always been in training with compassion for the horse. Coming from a background of show jumping and dressage I was exposed to a lot of different approaches, but often the horse was not a willing or happy partner. If my horse said no, I said no, until I could find a better way.

Bridging the gap between “horsemanship” and equestrian has become my purpose and I love seeing horses and riders transform into willing and happy partners.

If you’d like to get in touch, please call or text

0416946128

13/01/2024

Love this. Awareness of our own movement and flow of our own movement is a big enabler or inhibitor of softness and soundness. Somewhere on Amy’s page I believe she also reminds us that it’s such little things as passing the rope to another person or receiving it, the ‘how’ that we are often not conscious of, and this is such an important point she makes. If you pay attention to these little details you really can see how much more we can do to make life more harmonious for our horses.

Smooth and accurate handling of the lead rope, reins and other equipment attached to the horse’s head is so important to me- in fact, I believe it’s hardly possible to get a horse relaxed and straight without it. Handling that jerks, fumbles, wobbles, flops or disturbs the lead rope in meaningless ways will produce a brace in the poll and the neck. It can create a floppy horse who pivots around their head and shoulders for all their movements, or it can create a braced up, unresponsive and unhappy horse.

My aim is to create a soft horse who works in alignment, with an even bend from nose to tail. To create this, I’m disciplined about my rope and rein handling at all times. I’m feeling for the connection as we stand together on the ground, when I’m taking a break in the saddle, and when we’re working. If I tell the horse accidentally that the rope is meaningless one minute, how will they know it’s filled with meaning the next?

I like to handle my lead rope smoothly without big flops or loud, excessive releases. Step by step we are communicating back and forth, from my hand to the smallest guard hairs on the horses’ chin. This travels all the way through his halter to the shoulders, spine and hips.

24/12/2023

Merry Christmas to you! Thank you to all of my lovely clients, colleagues and friends…2 legged AND 4 legged! May you always carry that child-like joy in your heart in all of your horsey endeavours.

(Photo credit: unknown)

10/12/2023

I think this is going to be a very important course in understanding the long term impacts on performance and soundness. Please have a look!

NOW IN THE LIBRARY!!

The latest webinars have been added to the Onlinepethealth Equine Membership, including Linking Equine Asymmetry to Birth Trauma, with Dr Ian Bidstrup 💚

As a BONUS, Dr Bidstrup has shared an eBook on Birth Trauma with us!! Not only is this a great read, but it is a phenomenal resource to share with owners too!

If you want to access this webinar -
Comment:
MEMBER 👉 if you are an Onlinepethealth Equine Member
NON-MEMBER 👉 if you are not a member but want to know more about watching this webinar!

Schedule the time to watch this webinar NOW!

07/12/2023

This is so cool! So many times we are faced with soundness issues that are not quite so easy to diagnose, but something is just not right. You may not always get the full picture with other methods of diagnosis but please listen to your gut whether or not your vet or body worker or trainer agrees. Abnormal movement is not always the first symptom, often behavioural issues begin long before and with much more subtlety than often thought.

This is a great opportunity to remember that the horse will most often try to please you and by the time they show any signs of discomfort or injury through behaviour or movement they have already been whispering (well before yelling!) that there is a problem.

26/11/2023

Had so much fun with Mt Barker Adult Riding Club at Antola Lodge today! Thank you all for coming along and trying a few new things. Such a lovely group of people and horses, and thank you Antola Lodge for providing such a beautiful and fun facility. Can’t wait to get there again!

25/11/2023

This lady is a gem

Until a person can find emotional stability, no horse or human can trust them.

I’ve been mulling this over quite a bit for a few weeks - how can we find the ability to process, accept and feel a full range of emotion, as a healthy human must, without becoming an emotional cyclone?

Both horses and humans interact with their world in the way that works for them. Horses and humans both can learn to shut down, or to escalate to threaten.

When emotions stir up, and people back down or back away, we train the horse or human to threaten more, to escalate to get what they want. We condition emotional instability.

When emotions stir up and we shut them down, we train horse or human to stop feeling to get through life.

A middle ground is necessary - feel the feelings but don’t live there. Don’t shut them out but don’t use them as a weapon either.

Every true horseman I’ve met in life has a way of accepting what’s in front of them without judgment, but shaping it with their calm. I see you, and understand your emotion, but you can’t threaten me with it- here is the place where you and I can safely interact together. They don’t escalate themselves while interacting, and they guide those around them to peace.

Emotional fitness - it is a rare treasure to find in someone. But it is the mark of a true horseman: see the emotion, they feel the emotion, but they don’t live there.

22/11/2023

Heck yes! I agree with Amy that “Lazy” is a dirty word! Similarly “stubborn” and “dumb”…

Quite often I hear horses who are not freely forward described as “lazy.” There are a few problems with this :

1- lazy is an anthropomorphic description. Horses don’t care about our ideas of work ethic, or even know what those are. Their priorities are eat, be secure in a herd, look out for danger, and eat. Their priorities are not inside leg to outside rein, they don’t care about doing straight flying changes, and they certainly don’t care that you have a show coming up. The only way they can become invested in your work is if it makes them feel good, as in brings them mental and physical well-being. Otherwise, you can threaten with your leg all you want and inspire fear response, but they aren’t lazy - they just don’t share your priorities.

2- most sluggish horses are extremely tight. Moving forward with a rider on their back is actually double or triple the amount of work that it should or could be. They are moving with a tight back, tight shoulders and weak abs and haunches. Likely the rider is tight as well, and quite likely the rider is not balanced as well as they could be and using reprimanding or nagging aids. This horse is working FAR harder then they need to be.

If a horse’s shoulders are supple, back is free to lift, core is engaged and working without interference, hind legs swinging at optimum range of motion, movement is easy and enjoyable. So your “lazy” horse is far out working a horse with looseness and alignment, because they have to work much harder just to go forward.

Imagine being pulled off your couch, given a 70 lb pack to carry that slips around and isn’t stable, and being asked to move forward through a series of obstacles without being fit or knowing how to position yourself. You aren’t going to be moving very fast either, and someone nagging you to speed up incessantly will probably make you quite resentful.

Something to think about next time you whip out the “L” word; which in my barn is a very very dirty word, along with stubborn ;)