Bold Equine

03/12/2024

Dive into the intricate study of, horse's hoof anatomy and pathology processes, gaining comprehensive insights into equine hoof structure, function, and common health conditions to enhance your understanding and care for these majestic animals.

03/12/2024

https://open.spotify.com/show/42O0xHwt0OdrO2D3oLSV9C?si=697f9d50f70d4fc4

Podcast · Becki Oberg and Chantelle Martin · Becki Oberg is a horse trainer, coach and international clinician. Chantelle Martin is a certified equine sports therapist and certified saddle fitter. Together they are passionate in pursuing education and sharing their experiences, perspectives and kn...

27/11/2024

I struggled for a long time if I wanted to share these clips or not. Because while I think they are very impactful for my message with horse training and a great education tool - I worried about unintentionally encouraging someone to try and replicate it which I do no want.

But in light of many of the conversations I have had lately about consent in horse training, I have decided to share them. Often when consent is brought up I get the rebuttal of “well this horse has had trauma, hasn’t been handled or is a mustang - and so we can’t work with consent at the beggining because they would never consent to interacting with us.

I disagree entirely.

We don’t need to use restraints or confinement to force participation with a horse who wouldn’t want to interact with us at first - if they wouldn’t consent to anything, then we start with nothing.

You can use the power of energy, communication and connection to build relationship enough from “nothing” and have consent from the very start. This may take time before the horse decides to initiate interaction - but it can be done. Even if the horse has trauma. Even if the horse is unhandled.

Even if the horse is wild.

These clips, filmed August 2024, are me interacting with wild horses - in the wild.

21/11/2024

We are booking clinics for 2025!

Have an arena? Riding club? Group of like minded besties?

Host a clinic with Becki and bring your horsemanship into new light. Clinics focusing on horsemanship and liberty available.

Some dates for travel outside Alberta and Canada available.

Visit www.boldequine.com or direct message for more info.

16/11/2024

Did you know we have TikTok where we answer all sorts of training questions?

Here is some great insight on allowing our horses space to say no.

Also, bonus is you get to laugh at my horrible sick voice that is apparently very funny. XD

31 likes, 7 comments. “ with Don’t Care”

16/11/2024

12/11/2024

Please note
Becki is very ill, and so all lessons both in person and online are cancelled for the week. Thank you for understanding ❤️

10/11/2024

Thank you to all the wonderful humans and horses that braved the cold for the Liberty clinic this weekend ❤️ you are all amazing and it was a pleasure to be with you all.

24/10/2024

Dominance theory isn't just "dead" - it never lived. It was never true, the man who discovered dominance theory immediately debunked it when he tried to apply the same rules to healthy, functioning wild wolf packs and found they did not behave in any way like the dysfunctional artificial packs in captivity. The behaviour he was observing wasn't natural dominance and alpha leadership - it was social dysfunction in an unhealthy environment. And he spent the rest of his life trying to undo the damage his paper did to how we view relationships with animals.

Dominance theory was a terrible mistake, that even the scientist who cataloged it, regrets doing. The deep level of misunderstanding that happened based on inappropriate studies just spiraled out of control into a culturally accepted excuse to train and work with animals with force and punishment.

Dominance theory was the idea that animals, horses included, have a linear dominance and set roles within the herd. The idea that there is a set leader, a decision maker, who controls the other horses' behaviors through threats and the other horses love this horse as their leader. The idea that horses have a linear set hierarchy that determines who's in charge and only changes if overthrown by someone stronger. These deeply flawed ideas have lead people to believe that they can be the leader horse by mimicking equine behavior, they misunderstood, justifying their use of forceful physical control and punishment to train behavior. All under the idea of being a "good leader".

The thing is, science is constantly growing and self-correcting. As we spend more time actually studying horses in various scenarios and environments, and each species individually, their family units, their herds, packs, groups, etc... We have learned this concept of dominance is wildly inaccurate and deeply unhealthy, only seen in extreme, inappropriate environments (like old overpacked zoos with many unrelated animals, as the original studies were based on).

What's really going on then? What is Dominance really? Do we need to be dominant?

Horse herds really work in a much more fluid and dynamic manner, it's not a linear hierarchy. Horses make decisions based on need, if someone has a need, they satisfy that need, the other horses stay with them out of social bonds and safety in numbers. A secure, confident horse will be more likely to make decisions that lead away from the group, while insecure, nervous horses might be less likely to make decisions, sticking more closely to the center of the herd. This isn't leadership or dominance, just confidence, in themselves and their world. This changes constantly. A confident horse may be more clingy and insecure if they have a pain problem, if they're pregnant, or if they're sick. This dynamic is constantly flowing. Who makes the decision, is up to how much the individual wants something. Who stays or goes in the herd is based on social bonds, friendships, familial relationships, and resource needs.

What was frequently mistaken as "dominance" was actually determined roles of priority access to resources. If a resource is limited, the herd knows who has first access, usually the bully. This varies by resource, my sweet itch mare has priority access to the shelter, while she doesn't care about defending food resources. She may shove everyone out of her way for shelter from bugs, but someone else may shove her out of the way for food. A group of 2 might pair up to move off a single horse who would typically move either of them individually. This access to resources is determined with little squabbles, but usually is limited to just some body language threatening gestures. It would be unhealthy if the herd were to compromise each other in fights over resources, when they have the bigger threat of predators they need to remain safe for. We only see extreme linear resource guarding in domestic settings where resources are limited. If hay is fed in limited supply one horse may always get priority access. If there isn't enough shelter, one horse may not let the others in it. This isn't dominance, but resource guarding. This isn't leadership, but the opposite, a horse who is deeply insecure in their resources, in their safety, violently defending themselves. If one horse resource guards excessively, most of the other horses avoid them, ignore them, don't want to groom with them, and don't want to risk dealing with them. They're like a human child bully, so insecure in themselves they act out against everyone else to try to soothe their need.

Ethology has also shown that horses do not think humans are horses. Even if we mimic their body language, they do not equate us as horses. We don't have a place in their access to resources, because we aren't sharing their resources. We are their PROVIDERS. We are the ones giving them their resources, it's our job to understand herd dynamics and ensure our horses have adequate resources in appropriate ways so there is no need to fighting, insecurity, or herd stress. It's not our job to challenge our horses for access to the very resources we are giving them! We are their caretakers.

Dominance and access to resources has nothing to do with training, only knowing how to provide care and management without creating unhealthy or dangerous equine interactions.

Training should be done with a compassionate understanding of behavioral science and how to apply positive reinforcement. It has nothing to do with herd dynamics or dominance, or even strong leadership, but rather clear communication, compassionate care and gentle behavior training.

Additional resources
https://www.awla.org/uncategorized/alpha-dogs-dominance-theory-fact-or-fiction/

https://www.clickertraining.com/node/2297

https://www.veterinary-practice.com/article/dominance-when-an-outdated-theory-wont-go-away

https://news.asu.edu/20210805-discoveries-myth-alpha-dog

https://journal.iaabcfoundation.org/horse-dominance-1-28/

https://www.thewillingequine.com/post/dominance-leadership

https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/behavior/debunking-the-alpha-dog-theory/

https://positively.com/dog-training/article/ethology-why-pack-theory-is-wrong

https://www.rover.com/blog/alpha-dog-meaning/?msockid=323ef8c5489068da23bbeaa549916988

https://www.veterinary-practice.com/article/dominance-when-an-outdated-theory-wont-go-away

21/10/2024

We have (1) 2 day spot and (2) 1 days spots for this clinic - please DM or email if you are wanting to get in. It may be the last one here at the farm for the year.

Please note that you must prepay your spot to secure it.

Thank you ❤️

13/10/2024

Feeling brave, might delete later.

I’ve been pondering the dignity of the horse lately. At the level of collective species: “Horse”, and at the level of the individual horse, with a name, a place in the world and (hopefully) a loving human safeguarding them at their side.

I could mince my words and couch this, or I can speak to it plainly. If you’ll permit me, I’ll speak my view plainly here.

We can be doing better to keep in mind the dignity of our horses. Using them for our recreation and pleasure, is not something we are entitled to do. No matter how good our care and horse keeping is.

A well fed circus elephant, is still experiencing an egregious affront to their dignity when it is asked (nicely) to balance on the stool.

I am haunted by the expression in the eyes of some horses I saw in my past. The expression was one of a profound, deep, disassociation. To offer you a metaphor, to help you understand but not to describe accurately the horses experience, they had gone away in their mind. To the Bahamas. St, Lucia maybe. They were reclining in a hammock and sipping a Mai Tai under a palm tree, Bob Marley playing on the radio in the distance. While in the flesh, their flesh was being used by an upper primate for pleasure and fun.

Or sport.

They had long since stopped fighting. Their fight, their push back did flag them for their owner enough so that a trainer was called in. A trainer was called in who was a horseman. The horseman pet the horse and said
“I know.”

And then the horseman equipped the horse with some coping strategies. Explained to them that they are best off if they exchange a bit of their dignity and offer their owner what the owner wants of them: fun. If they give away a bit of their dignity- without trouble, and disassociate to tolerate the period of use that follow, they can protect themselves from a worse fate of trading all their dignity, or comfort, or safety, or life, for a period of use that follows.

Because Use of the horse is what always will follow.

I speak this as someone who enjoys riding as a pleasurable activity. I enjoy training as a pleasurable activity. But I am also someone who enjoys centering not MY desires, but I enjoy centering the horses dignity.

In fact, I seem to be a magnet for horses who have a pretty profound dignity streak. It shows up in a multitude of ways, but if I don’t preserve their dignity and centre their experience, they tell me straight away, and I am committed to the response-ability of what happens next.

All of us trade our dignity in disease, and the prevention of it. Almost nothing is worse than being a patient. Especially if you are a being who is impatient in the face of the loss of autonomy. If a horse finds basic care, trimming, handling, housing, an affront, then I triple check that I am firstly Doing My Best to offer the best conditions possible at this time. If I am not doing my best to afford the best possible conditions- I take action until I’ve exhausted the possibilities. I’ve put this to test thousands of times, long before I had my own land.
Then, I do my best to get the basics done as efficiently and painlessly as possible- I speak vetting, feeding, housing, trimming etc.

Then we come to training- horsemanship. And here my standards are much higher. A well fed, cared for, properly housed horse now doesn’t “need” human driven interaction, riding or training, in order to maintain base line of health and well-being. They feed, exercise and entertain themselves if you set it up so that they can. So… as an upper level high functioning primate (allegedly) I now have to prove myself worthy to be the thing that causes the horses cup to overfloweth. Not the thing that keeps the horse from the brink of the abyss.

Imagine a happy healthy horse who doesn’t “need” you, telling you that what you’re asking for, is an affront to their basic dignity. Imagine then upping your game. Getting better. Being honed- not by your selfish human desires, but being honed by the horse.

Now imagine a happy healthy horse who doesn’t “need” you, telling you that they love spending time with you, are interested in what you have to say, and find you the thing that makes their great life, an incredible life.

That’s what I mean when I speak about dignity.

And asking a horse to be ok with something that is not ok (to them) is only applicable if it is a Must-Do activity.

And our use of a horse for fun has never been a Must-Do activity.

But I guess that depends on what you define as fun. I don’t find “Use”, fun.

09/10/2024

Liberty Horsemanship Clinic

Nov 9/10
Rimbey AB

300$ participants
25$/ day auditors

DM or [email protected] to sign up

07/10/2024

We are opening a training spot for kindergarten ❤️ 🐴 ❤️

Get your babies the best start!

This program is 5 weeks, for horses under 3, and includes halter training, foot handling, trailer loading, hosing, obstacles and foundational groundwork.

800$ investment, includes board and their first trim.

DM or visit www.boldequine.com to apply

02/10/2024

It’s not 30 days… it’s not 90 days… it’s not 6 months… but everyday and every effort gets you closer.