Leslie's Force Free Horsemanship

06/20/2024

Last session I hopped on George’s back a couple times. This session I wanted to see if we could take a couple steps forward!

He’a already getting more comfortable with mounting and me sitting on his back. He’s making fast progress, especially considering I’ve only sat on him 6 times total stretched out over several weeks!

We also found out that I can reach his favourite scratching spot from his back. Bonus! That could come in handy!

Using the physical, verbal and visual cues he’s been taught on the ground using cones, I asked him to walk forward. He was a bit confused at first, probably because so far I always just asked him to stand still while on his back. But he’s used to figuring out the answers to the questions I ask him, so he very quickly understood what I meant.

For now I am just happy with forward movement, no matter the direction. Soon we’ll start our work on turning too.

Now could I have done this all in one session? Theoretically, yes. But I believe keeping it short and sweet, without any pressure builds a more positive feeling with the mounting and riding process for the horse. If we added all of it in one session, the chance for trigger stacking to occur and him getting more and more stressed is high. Stretching the process over several session means he starts each step with a fresh and positive energy!

06/13/2024

Well it’s only been like 1.5 months since I worked with George😭
But hey! We got our first sit on within 2 session despite the hiatus in training!!🎉

04/22/2024

More progress from George’s start under saddle!

He’s making leaps each day!

Today we did:
•combining saddle and pad on the back
•adding girth pressure
•desensitizing to strange saddle movements and sounds
•practically full rider weight on his back
•jumping off from a height to ensure he won’t spook if i slide off his back.
•improving the responsiveness to neck rope cue within the cone square.

04/18/2024

Today’s progress with George :)
We worked on mounting, saddling, “woah”, “walk on”, and turns, where I introduced the neckrope for the first time for him.

04/17/2024

Our new XXL mounting block is finally done!!
And this means it’s time to work on it with George!🎉🤩

04/11/2024

Love this!! This is why I don’t believe it “a horse shouldn’t say no” whether from a force-free perspective or a traditional perspective. To believe that your horse should choose you above all else, is egotistical.

I think we have to take this one out of the realm of and start a new category, let's call it . Here we go:

It doesn't matter if your horse likes you.

Let me rephrase: your first priority shouldn't be, "Am I my horse's favorite thing? Do they enjoy training more than anything else they're doing that day?" That is an unrealistic, and frankly self-centered approach.

Your top priorities should be: 1. is my horse healthy and happy 2. is the training I'm doing with my horse improving their health and wellbeing, and increasing their longevity?

Notice, you don't factor in. It's wonderful to have a relationship with a horse, to build trust, to treat them with kindness and respect is absolutely essential. And who doesn't feel joy when their horse interacts with them, of their own free will? There are few better feelings in the world.

But you know what, you can do all of this, and they still might rather eat grass or enjoy their grain than go for a ride with you. And that's not a moral failing on your part. Your horse may enjoy your company from time to time, but as hardwired by nature, prefer the company of other equines most of the time. That's normal. You haven't failed your horse if your relationship with them is not their primary focus.

In fact, when you put your horse's perception and relationship to you above how they live naturally, with their herd and forage, you're actually centering your own ego. This can be really problematic, because if in your kind and ethical training you reach a roadblock, you may take it personally: "I thought my horse liked me! What have I done to deserve this? "

And, more often than not, people perceive this as a personal betrayal. They anthropomorphize the horse's rejection as they would that of a friend. I've seen people switch over to truly aversive/abusive training methods when they feel personally betrayed. There is a level of fear, conscious or subconscious that resonates with bully trainers, whose need to control and belittlr animals of course also comes from fear. And they could avoid this pitfall completely, simply by centering the needs of the horse, rather than the horse's relationship to them.

After all, we're with the horse 1 hour a day - what happens in the other 23 hours? If we had a horse that longed to be with us for their only sense of security and joy, we could create a horse that was totally neurotic and non-functional most of the time.

Our goal should always be to add to our horse's lives, and not center our own needs and wants, or worse our egos, above what's best for them. When our horse presents an unwanted behavior, it's not a personal affront or a betrayal. It's a communication that there's a problem, or that the horse has a different priority in that moment. This is normal. Address the need. Don't blame the animal. They don't owe us anything, and we owe them everything. How we center our approach matters.

03/10/2024

Can anyone guess what this is all about?😉

Hint: it’s got something to do with Blanketing🤔

03/07/2024

This is something I warn all of my new clients to expect when they begin using force free horsemanship practices.

When we start giving horses the ability and freedom to say “no” during their interactions with us, especially when this horse has not had this freedom before in their life, they often start exercising this freedom rather frequently and very strongly at the beginning. You may see a horse that was previously perfectly compliant in their tasks, to start walking away from you and showing disinterest in the task. In some cases even pinning their ears, nip or even threatening to kick can occur (though often these are a sign of some underlying trauma or physical discomforts/pain).

These behaviours occur because previously the horse was always either inhibited from expressing them, corrected for expressing them or they were completely ignored.
Once they no longer are inhibited from expressing their opinion, and/or experience corrections for doing so, they will utilize this newfound power.

It can feel distressing to us, as their handlers when we suddenly see what our horses truly feel about us, our interactions with them, or certain tasks we ask of them.
That the compliance we had, was just that.. compliance. Not willingness, not enjoyment, not genuine desire to do the task or to be with us.

However, the beauty of this is, when we start to recognize those behaviours as communication for a deeper issue, and we allow the horse to express them, and respond with understanding, empathy and compassion, and solve the underlying issues,
suddenly there starts to be a shift.
Our horse starts showing interest in what we’re doing.
And despite being able to say “no” they’ll start saying “yes” and as long as we continue to allow them to choose, they will continue to join us and work with us more and more frequently. This time though, because they are genuinely willing, to do so and find enjoyment in our presence and our work together.
This process teaches us so much about us and our horses. It’s not an easy process for many, but oh so worth it!

03/07/2024

Jaak Pankseep, an Affective Neuroscientist, has provided for us a great model for looking at and understanding emotions in all beings with a brain and nervous system. I'll go into each system individually, but there are some things we should consider about the whole, before we look at the individuals. Because the truth is, we are never experiencing just 1 emotion.

Each emotional/affective system is triggered by the internal or external environment and is expressed through a certain combinations of hormones, neurotransmitters, that tell us how this makes us feel. So natural hormone cycles can change our feelings internally, or external aspects of our environment can elicit different emotional responses. Common examples are oxytocin with the CARE system, Adrenaline with FEAR, etc... different combinations can be widely varied, like mixing paint, a drop of this, a splash of that, you get different colors. Lots of one emotion may overshadow or overwhelm the others, while low level mixes of many colors balance out into more neutral tones.

So each emotional systen has both levels and blended combinations. Some contrast and neutralize, some polarize, some compliment and amplify... these hormonal levels can be fast to elicit, a split second in some cases, and can be slow to disperse.

Each variation comes paired with behaviors, some are reflexive responses to the emotion, triggered directly by the hormone. Like sweating, blushing, breathing faster, startling, flinching, etc... while other behaviors are operant, under the control of the learner, but learned through experience. If they were fearful and running relieved the fear, running will become stronger. If snuggling close created comforting feelings, they will do that more. And so on.

Each emotion is felt as either aversive (something to avoid) or appetitive (something to seek out) and some can flip both ways depending on the context. With that understanding, we realize how these emotions become an impactful part of our training and our relationship. Why do we want to avoid the use of aversives in training? They are paired with unhappy emotions, hormones and reflexes we don't want as part of our relatioship

02/28/2024

Aah! This is so incredibly relevant to horses!!
Over half of the work I do with horses involves bringing these horses who internalize their stress back to a space where they can relearn to express themselves and their feelings.
Way way too many horses have become emotionally shut off(aka just internalizing everything) and are labeled as “well behaved” “bombproof” “kids safe” “perfect citizens” when the reality is they just faced a bunch of negative consequences whenever they DID express their stress, fear, anxiety, worries, etc.
Emotionally healthy horses express their feelings! Not just the positive feelings! But the negative ones too🙌🏻

The opposite of “demonstrating ‘behaviors’” (i.e., a euphemism for ‘misbehavior’) isn’t “behaving well”.

The opposite of “demonstrating behaviors” is “internalizing distress”.

Another way to say “demonstrating behaviors” could be “externalizing distress”.

If a child is “demonstrating behaviors” and you implement a plan to get them to stop “demonstrating behaviors” that focuses entirely on changing the child, all you are doing is getting them to internalize, rather than externalize, their distress.

(P.S. This post is made to be super short and to-the-point, but if you’re reading it and feeling like, “So what do I do, then?” I’ll throw a bunch of resources in the comments. :))

[Image description:
A black marble background with words overlaid on it that read, “The opposite of ‘demonstrating behaviors’ isn’t ‘behaving well’, it’s internalizing distress.” End description.]

02/28/2024

Yep!!! This is why the dominance theory is so damaging. To all animals!

“Why do people cling so hard to the idea that their horse is being naughty, deceptive and bad on purpose?”

This is a question I’ve asked myself for a while after watching so many people get enraged when the idea that dominance theory holds no scientific merit is suggested.

When people dare say that horses don’t plot against us to plan out ways to be bad during rides on purpose.

Then, it hit me. This mindset is necessary if you’re going to justify using things like physical punishment, working horses to the point of exhaustion and harsh equipment on a repeated basis.

If the horse is your adversary who knows right from wrong and chooses to be naughty on purpose anyways, you don’t feel bad for smacking them in the way you would if you admitted their behaviour stemmed from pain, fear or confusion…

The very fabric of the belief of needing to dominate the horse and show them who is boss is reliant on the idea that horses will deliberately defy humans and try to be difficult on purpose.

If you admit to yourself that you’re just dealing with a frightened flight animal, suddenly it doesn’t seem so cool or nice to be getting more aggressive with them when they display flight behaviours.

If you admit that your lame horse isn’t actually faking their lameness, suddenly it seems cruel to be pushing them to work through intermittent lameness.

This belief enables so many quick fixes in training and a lack of compassion that allows for people to continue pushing on even when their horse is clearly upset.

It allows them to blame their horse for the “bad” behaviour and accept no real accountability for the role they play as the rider, because the assumption is that the horse knows right from wrong and is choosing to be wrong anyways.

So much of the training that is incredibly common in the horse world relies on the belief that horses are naughty on purpose because if it didn’t exist, people wouldn’t feel comfortable doing the things that they do to horses.

If you admit you’re dealing with a flight animal reacting to pain, anxiety, fear, frustration or confusion; suddenly you feel like the villain in the story when you’ve been getting mad at them for this.

02/27/2024

A horse who’s voice is continually shut down via corrections or negative consequences will become emotionally closed off.
Those horses often then are labeled as “well trained”, “bomb proof” and “kids safe”.

But the reality is that the very moment those horses come into contact with handlers that no longer punish their expressions, all of those suppressed feelings will bubble up.
And you end up with a horse that “suddenly” started biting, kicking, striking etc.

Owners are then told they need to “stop allowing bad behaviour” and to “make” their horse “respect them”
The cycle either then repeats,
Or,
the owners instead learn to listen to their horse, learn to understand what they are trying to say, and respond with empathy.
In the latter case, the outcome can be a horse who feels understood, who is able to build a line of communication with their human, and who becomes safer for all people who handle said horse because the horse now has a safe, alternative way to express themselves.

02/26/2024

Allowing, or even encouraging the horse to leave/exit a training session is surprisingly controversial in both traditional training circles and force-free training circles.
For different reasons though!

In traditional training, horses are usually discouraged to leave. A horse walking away from training is often seen as being disrespectful, a bad habit, or as permissive by the trainer.
In Force-Free circles, it is often seen as a sign of bad training, as aversive training, or an unhappy horse and thus undesirable.

I personally both encourage and reward my horses for leaving a training session.

While it certainly can be true that the horse is leaving the training session because the training is becoming aversive, it rarely is as simple as that.

First off all, it depends on the horse you’re working with. A young horse with a history of Primary Force-Free training is very different than a horse with a history of a lack of choice for example.

Of course, if the horse is leaving the session, the first question we should always be asking outside is “why?”

Is the horse leaving because they are bored? Because they’re feeling overwhelmed? Frustrated?
Did they want to check in with their friends? Did they want to go for a roll? Grab some water? Get some energy out? Do a different activity?

Horses may leave a training session for many different reasons, some good and some not so good.

BUT, here’s the thing..

It doesn’t actually matter the reason why the horse is leaving, to me it is still a cause for celebration!

Now hold up before you get your pitchforks out

IF, the horse is leaving because they’re uncomfortable, frustrated, tired etc. it is absolutely the trainers fault, correct, and we should change something in our approach. (And If this happens frequently, then this means something needs to change immediately and never should it be accepted as it is.)

BUT, even then, I still celebrate that moment because. especially with my horses that carry trauma, the fact that they feel safe enough to do so is cause for celebration.

So many horses struggle with expressing their discomfort because it was previously punished, and especially once you start giving them a choice, you can expect your horse to exercise that choice frequently. But the more you allow them to say no, the more they will say YES!
It’s incredibly empowering for them.

So, Anytime the horse says no and walks away, It’s a wonderful opportunity for us to prove to them that YES indeed we are listening and we are allowing them that choice.

And on the other side, anytime my horse feels safe enough express to me they have a better idea, or are showing me a different game they want to play. This is even more so a cause for celebration!

02/24/2024

I seriously cannot stop raving about how wonderful the forest paddocks are.
The colts have joined the trailride horses in their paddock, to help them get some movement and build some muscles.

Best part, despite the recent rainfall, it’s been dry! Considering we’re on the westcoast, and our horses are outside 24/7, and are walking around a lot in these paddocks, that’s just amazing!

02/21/2024

Protected Contact is an under-utilized and under valued tool in the horse world. Many times people's ego, the desire to be close to the horse, or that added sense of control we feel by being in with them, makes us hesitate to use this gift. But this tool is not just for us, its just as important for the horse.

Working in protected contact with our horses provides us both a sense of safety, which is empowering to us both. It gives the horse the freedom to try anything, do anything, explore all options, express their emotions fully, there's not need to stifle or smother anything while they learn and problem solve. We never need to use even the smallest hint of punishment to keep ourselves safe, no corrections or focused strict manners for safety. The horse can learn freely without risk of "making a mistake" which requires us to do something for safety.

Using protected contact can put your training to the test! Can you guide your horse to your goal behaviors with only their brain and positive reinforcement? Protected contact can also allow us to do things that aren't always safe in full contact, like playing with fast and exuberant, fun behaviors. The use of this tool can open so many doors of fun, freedom, play, and can really enhance your training skills and your horses understanding of the training game and goal behaviors.

02/19/2024

I love being able to catch these moments on camera!
The Sympathetic and Parasympathetic nervous system in action.

I’m a big believer in allowing the horse to process through these moments. Don’t try to distract them with food, don’t try and pull them away from it. Just be with them in the moment, and allow them to go settle down, and then connect with them, once they do!

You can see here the physical response of a horses nervous system switching from the sympathetic nervous system (tension, worry, stress/ fight or flight etc. -The frozen, staring into the distance)
to the parasympathetic nervous system (relaxing, grazing, sleeping, resting/rest and digest - moment that she settles down.)
The licking and chewing, and the blinking are also known as calming signals, and they occur when tension in the horse increases, or when it decreases. They can be to self soothe, to appease others, but also In this case, it’s a physical reaction to the nervous system switching over from sympathetic to parasympathetic.

02/18/2024

🌈The Tools of Positive Reinforcement for Horses

Nr 4: Mats

Mats are another tool positive reinforcement based trainers use to teach different behaviours without the use of physical pressure to guide the horse.

They can really be made out of anything, and vary greatly in sizes, colours and textures. Really anything that can be laid flat on the ground for the horse to step on can be a mat. Old door mats, rubber mats, carpet, yoga mats etc.

Mats works very similarly to the cones & the target in the sense that they both are used for directing the horse in different ways, and can be used to teach them similar things, like driving or riding cues, stationing, parking etc. The key difference in the mats, is that mats specifically control the placement of the horses feet.

So they’re an excellent use for behaviours where feet placement is important, or where we want to isolate specifically the shoulder or hindquarters of the horse.

This makes using mats great for proprioception, as the horse has to be aware of where their feet are being placed rather than just their whole body or leading by the nose.

However, this can make it slightly more challenging to teach certain horses, as it doesn't come as instinctually to many, to step on a odd surface, as touching their nose to something. But once they understand the mat, it is an incredibly awesome tool for many things.

02/17/2024

Amazing what 7 months can do to change a horse!
Can you tell the difference in her facial expression?

Ruby's expression isn't just indicative of her current emotions, but also her overall mental state and long term change in behaviour.

Here are some changes we have seen in her since coming here:
She's becoming better at adapting to changes in routine. (something that was very triggering for her)
She's starting to communicate her worries, instead of freezing up/internalizing it.
Which means she doesn't build her anxiety in silence and then blows up at random situations as much.
She's starting to seek humans out for comfort, and slowly begins to notices when people are trying to help her, as opposed to only running on her own instincts, blind to humans.
She's more expressive and overall less tense.

What has caused those positive changes?
-Most importantly, TIME! Just the moving process was a big stresser for her, let alone some of the Trauma she's been carrying along. It can take horses up to a year to adapt to a new routine, new place, new horses.
-Friend, Freedom, Forage.
Especially friends was very vital to her. Being able to be surrounded by other horses that are calm, "no big deal" with unusual situations, trusting with people, and have a healthy herd dynamic, helped her understand this place is a safe place.
-Predictable and Consistent Routine, allows her to start to feel safe enough to settle, and come out of a chronic fight or flight response.
-Empathetic, Calm, and Positive training. The largest chunk of this work has been done by her previous owners, and we continued this here. Allowing her to express her feelings, and worries, Not using excessive pressure, using counter-conditioning and social learning to change her feelings about previously scary stimuli, and again, giving her time to adjust.

Of course there is still a lot of work to be done, these things take time, This is a journey that started 3 years ago with her previous owner and I expect to see a lot more changes in her as she progresses.

02/17/2024

🌈The Tools of Positive Reinforcement for Horses

Nr 3. Cones

When we work with positive reinforcement, we utilize many different strategies to teach our horses new behaviours. Since many trainers choose to avoid using pressure to initiate certain behaviours, this means we guide our horses in other manners.

Cones are a popular choice for this purpose!

The way cones are usually used, is to teach the horse to touch their nose to it, and then eventually walk towards any cone the trainer points to.

This can then be used to teach the horse to stand tied, lead, station, turn, walk forward or stop under saddle or in harness and more!
The benefit of cones as opposed to handheld targets is that cones can be placed somewhere in the distance, and then the horse can learn to move towards it, away from The trainer.

However the target is more easy to use for isolating different body parts and convenient to transport.

Cones come in various sizes and colours, which makes them versatile for different used and preferences.
They’re easily visible, and because the goal is to have the horses nose/front end towards it, it makes them very easy and fast to teach for curious horses.
Which Is, in my opinion, one of the greatest advantages of using Cones.

02/16/2024

🙌🏻🙌🏻

I couldn't wait a whole nother day to post this one.
Always feed the spook! Feeding the spook, shrinks the spook. This seems counter intuitive, we know that we get more of what we reinforce, so why should we reinforce "bad" behavior like spooking?

Remember my last few graphics, respondent vs operant behaviors, classical vs operant conditioning, counter conditioning, stimulus stacks... this all adds up to explain exactly why we want to feed the spook.

Spooking is a respondent, reflexive, involuntary reaction to a stimulus triggered by high level emotions. We aren't going to operantly change a respondent behavior. We need to CLASSICALLY change the emotional response to the trigger. By pairing the trigger with good things we change the emotions that trigger elicits, and with it, the behavior will change too.

We don't want to just feed, but also redirect to small, simple behaviors that have a high rate of reinforcement, to help soothe the horse and help those fear hormones settle back down to baseline. So this initial trigger doesn't become as big of a part of a stimulus stack, resulting in a bigger spook. So feed the spook, then work on something easy until the horse has swung back to being truly comfortable and relaxed.

You can't reinforce fear with R+, you are only providing comfort. Also, what behavior do we want our horse to do when they are scared? We want them to check in with us, allow us to reassure them and help them calm. So, like any good mother, when our child is upset, we comfort them by filling their belly... ok maybe that's just my Italian family 😉

02/16/2024

🖤Exactly.🖤

02/16/2024

02/15/2024

Mugging and Pushiness is usually one of the first, and main concerns when starting out with positive reinforcement and food rewards. It is easily avoidable though with some simple practices! Here are 7 practices to avoid mugging.

02/12/2024

No words needed

"Give me that."

"But that belongs to me."

"You belong to me, so give me that which you have, because it is mine."

"But, I need that"

"But I want that. Give that to me now, or else."

"If you take that from me, you take that from me. I will not be the same after you have taken it."

"I have no choice. I must take it from you. It is expected, asked, demanded of me that I take it from you. I can't / won't say no, I can't / won't make a new choice, because I do not yet have the courage to be different here. I am not safe here. So I must take this from you. And in it's place, I will give you my fear and shame, and you will hold that for me."

"Ok. This is not the relationship I wanted, it is not the best I can do for you, but if that is what you need from me, I have enough grace to be a container for your fear and shame."

-------
(Years later)
-------

"I am giving this back to you."

"What?"

"Hello? Are you here?"

"Are you talking to me? Don't you need me to hold onto that stuff for you today?"

"No. That ends today. I am giving this back to you."

"Sorry, I almost forget. What are you giving back to me?"

"Here is your dignity."

"My what? I almost don't remember the shape of my dignity."

"I am also giving you back your consent."

"I cannot consent to receiving back my consent, because my consent was taken. Catch 22. I need it to receive it."

"I am also giving you back your safety."

"But I do not feel that unsafe with you."

"But you do not feel 100% safe either."

"True."

"So here is your safety."

"Ok, what do I do with it? Are you just giving these things back to me, so that you can leverage compliance with a new feeling. As a way of making me look happier to you while you actually circle back to the same extraction of my body for your reasons?."

"No. I am really just giving these things back."

"Well, I might be too angry, too tired, too confused to give you anything on the other side of this. I will need a lot of time."

"That's the point."

"What's the point?"

"Everything I did to you, I already did to myself."

"I know. That's why I held space for it."

"So, we both need time."

02/11/2024

🌈The Tools of Positive Reinforcement for Horses

Nr 2: The Clicker/Marker Signal

If you’ve ever watched a Positive Reinforcement-Based trainer work, you’ve probably heard them make a cluck, a click, or a say a word before feeding. That’s a Marker signal!

The marker is a chosen stimulus that is classically conditioned to predict reinforcement.
In other words: the marker, will tell the horse the very moment they will be rewarded for.

Normally that reinforcement is food, but in theory it could be conditioned for other reinforcement although that is normally not advised.

Using a marker has the benefit of bringing clarity, efficiency and flexibility to the training.
When we don’t use a marker, often something else (that we aren’t aware of) can become the predictor for reinforcement. like reaching into your food pouch for. Which ends up being more unpredictable as we are unaware of it and that can cause the trainer to unintentionally reward a behaviour that they didn’t mean to.

So it makes it more efficient by limiting the errors, and increases clarity by giving the horse a clear “that’s right” signal.

Audible cues also have the benefit of being able to mark at a distance, in any position, or movement! (Think riding or driving for example)

Any chosen stimulus can be a marker signal. The “clicker” is just a handheld, Mechanical tool to use as a marker signal for ease of use. Because it always makes the same sound, and It’s easy to use, a lot of equestrians like to use the clicker. However, many others don’t like having an additional tool to carry in your hand so they prefer to use a verbal sound (such as a cluck) or a word instead.
This is completely up to personal preference!
You can also use tactile or visual stimulus instead. Which can be preferable for horses that are deaf or blind.

The clicker/marker is classically conditioned. This is done by pairing the stimulus, with food.

A correctly conditioned marker, will actually create the same physical response in the horse that bringing food out would.
This means the horse feels that “excitement” the moment they hear the clicker, not when they get the food! How powerful is that!