Mamba, the stallion, a horse being a horse

23/12/2024

So true...Let's learn to be soft as the best Christmas wish for everyone 🤎

23/12/2024

Close up of the double bridle...and please don't tell me that expert hands can make it soft because they just cannot and that's why we see so many blue tongues at the highest levels too. This isn't a tool designed to be soft, this is designed for extreme control and forceful communication through pain 😑

Picture source: Liam Farm

23/12/2024

💗🙏🏻💗

We need to stop ignoring our horses 🐴

We are constantly looking for fixes for our horse’s behaviour. And there are plenty of people happy to sell it to you.

How do I get my horse to stand at the mounting block?
How do I get my horse to stop biting when I groom her?
How do I get my horse to stop sn**ching the reins when I’m riding?

Often the advice given is to make it horrible for the horse to continue this behaviour, although it is usually wrapped up in a nice-sounding narrative about connection and trust or something or other. When we really break it down the training is actually just “hassle the horse until he does what you want, repeat until he stops trying to protest”.

I meet people who are so confused, because they’re trying their best to listen to their horse, but they’re being given conflicting information. They tell me their horse bites when they’re grooming them, but they don’t stop immediately because someone told them they’d be teaching the horse that biting gets them to stop. Biting should get you to stop, that’s a really big communication that the horse is unhappy with what you’re doing.

Every behaviour has an underlying cause, and ignoring that communication is not going to build a trusting relationship. It can build a compliant one where the horse behaves as you desire sure, but the horse is going to view you as someone who doesn’t listen and someone they cannot feel safe around.

If we take our earlier examples, mounting issues are almost always pain/discomfort or anxiety issues, adding pressure until they stand is not going to address any of this. We need to look way deeper.

Horses who bite when you groom them again usually have pain/discomfort issues or really negative associations with being groomed. Punishing that communication by continuing to groom until they quit protesting is not going to address any of that.

Horses who sn**ch the reins are trying to relieve discomfort. You can imagine how it would feel to sn**ch on something with metal in your mouth, if your horse is doing this he is not doing it for fun. He is uncomfortable whether that be from fatigue, discomfort or just inappropriate riding and training. If we fight with the horse until he stops resisting, we are again shutting down his communication and teaching him we do not listen. That horse is not going to have positive associations with being ridden.

We need to start looking at things differently if we genuinely want a good relationship with our horses, not just one that we feel good about while our horse just puts up with it.

I’m going to write some more in depth posts on specific issues otherwise this one will get way too long.

Instead of asking “how?” we need to start asking “why?”🐴

www.lshorsemanship.co.uk

www.patreon.com/lshorsemanship

23/12/2024

Communication and understanding exists outside of conventional language - all you have to do is listen. 😊

23/12/2024

These are three random pictures about the famous horseman Clinton Anderson. And these are some words being taken from the testimony of a person who attended one of his public clinics, being always so appreciated by many people...
"It started with his trainers bringing in a filly that looked to be two or three years old and who had never been worked. They rounded this filly on a lunge line at a trot and canter for over 30 minutes while they talked and if she didn’t listen they would whip her. By the end of that step she was breathing so heavy, covered and dripping with sweat and had welt marks on her hindquarters. Then they saddled her, flexed her very aggressively, got on her with one of the trainers chasing her around with a whip and plastic bags on the end of it, while the other trainer was on her changing her directions. They never gave this filly a chance to think about what was going on, just a complete flooding.
Then the next demonstration was with two other horses having both some personal space issues. Clinton Anderson was walking around instructing his trainers who were both yanking and sn**ching on the horses face while chasing them backwards, hitting them in the face with the training sticks if they didn’t move or back up fast enough....With the filly he even encouraged his trainer to “pop her in the nose” to the point that her tongue and bottom lip were finally bloody, while he brought attention to the fact that she was licking and chewing as a very good sign. Both horses were trembling all through the demonstration, they both were gasping for air, dripping sweat and had welt marks across their hindquarters..."
If this is such an appreciated way to "train" horses having so many people following it...well, again it only speaks volumes about the sick reality of the equestrian world 💔

23/12/2024

🥰😁🥰

23/12/2024

To Mamba and all of the horses being valued just for being themselves 💕

You don’t have to be an athlete,
You don’t need to be ridden,
You don't need to earn your keep having a job,
You don’t need to be adorned in expensive tack,
You don’t have to live closed in luxury stables,
You don’t have to pay your way,
You don’t owe me anything.
Just keep on being you.
You are perfect just the way you are ❤️

23/12/2024

For sure the majority of people will see so much beauty in pictures like these ones, feeling admired about such a great athletic ability...
Me instead I just cannot see any beauty at all, as I see only some animals being forced to perform such demanding tasks, putting so much strain on their bodies and even putting at risk their own safety too, only for the human earning and entertainment. Yes, for sure the riders are at risk too, but this is their own choice to become athletes devoting their life to a sport, no matter the consequences. Horses didn't get to choose anything. Horses would never put themselves at risk for a sport, horses wouldn't care less to become athletes. And this absolutely makes a world of difference 💔

23/12/2024

Exactly...And their primary needs of species are just the famous three F: freedom, forage and friends. Consequently, as long as we can give them these three fundamental things, then they can truly flourish into being simply whatever they need to be: horses just happy in being horses 💘

23/12/2024

Who knows if maybe Santa Claus is telling this horse that hopefully one time will come when all horses will finally be recognized as individuals, so having at last the right to live the life they truly deserve ❤️

Picture credit: Bosom Buddies by Tom Browning

22/12/2024

22/12/2024

If you truly want to know Mamba and the truth about horses' way of being just read these words by Alessia Giovannini...
They truly seem to be speaking just of him 😍

~The hardest thing my horse taught me was learning to say "No" when necessary and to protect my personal space.
Before him, I simply didn't know how to do it.
Fax (Mamba) is a herd leader.
And he is such for his wisdom, kindness, reliability and ability to distinguish what is necessary from what is dangerous. And, above all, for his calm and firmness in saying No and in keeping the herd united and calm.
I have spent hours and days observing him interact and I can say with certainty that his "No" to a member of the herd is NEVER the result of a desire for dominance.
Fax is not interested in dominating anyone.
Instead, he is interested in the well-being and serenity of everyone. Fax cares about the well-being of the herd, he helps maintaining peace minute after minute and he spends most of his time checking that everything is ok by intervening to calm a member who may be agitated or to push away another one who comes to "disrupt" everyone's tranquility.
His "No" is ALWAYS a collective statement. The horses follow him as if he had a magnet, they step aside as he passes and they fall asleep next to him while they wait for their turn to eat and, in general, they even compete to be next to him.
Fax is a gentle, respectful horse, but extremely powerful, if necessary.
When I saw him transforming from gentle to powerful to defend his herd, I was speechless.
It happened every time someone tried to introduce a horse into the herd that - in his opinion - was too agitated, dominant or scared. I saw his "No" transforming from gentle to threatening, to the point of becoming physical power and kicks too, if necessary.
Every time his NO meant this: "If you have come to bring disorder, competition, fear, agitation or blind dominance, then you are NOT welcome. Here we live in peace and I will do everything to prevent you from prevailing".
Mark Rashid, an American horseman who grew up among immense pastures and large herds of horses, speaks of "Passive Leader" as the opposite and alternative to the so-called "Alpha leader".
Rashid explains that in large herds of horses two types of leaders are visible: one who imposes himself through arrogance and the will to dominate. But Rashid adds "If you look closely, this type of leader is almost always alone or at most surrounded by a couple of horses because no one likes to be disturbed, bitten or kicked continuously".
Instead the second kind is a leader who moves among the others calmly and is always surrounded by a large number of horses that follow him like a magnet. "He is a leader who IS CHOSEN by the herd" explains Rashid "for his wisdom and reliability and for his ability to have everyone's well-being at heart and never just his own". This is what he defines as a Passive Leader.
Fax taught me that saying NO means: "If your request or action towards me has a selfish intent and will result in my submission and the alteration of my emotional balance without any of us being able to benefit from it, then my answer is NO and I am willing to fight to prevent you from doing so."
It was one of the hardest lessons to learn because, before him, for me, loving meant accepting everything.
Now instead I know that loving also means having to say No.
And, above all, thanks to him, I have learned that this is also love.~ 💟

22/12/2024

This morning like this...
I could never get tired to admire his proud happy beauty: just look at his expression and tell me what you see 😍

22/12/2024

Such an amazing rescue from a disgraceful situation...look at her peaceful eyes in the last pictures ❤️🙏🏻❤️

22/12/2024

Ferdinando wearing his brand new halter...one of his Christmas gifts 💙

22/12/2024

Horses teach us about it too, the value of peace and harmony together 💓

22/12/2024

Horses don't owe anything to us. They weren't born to obey us no matter what. They are not our slaves. They are just sentient beings with their own individuality to respect and if we want them to willingly cooperate with us then we do need to really deserve it, we need to earn their trust in order to build everything together 🤎