New Mill Farm Stables

03/10/2023

How Reiki can keep you safe in the field.....

18/09/2023

When you are with your horse..

Horses Don’t Wear Watches
And they’re not real fond of shoes
And they rarely look at Facebook
And they never watch the News
But they always know the time of day
And you might well ask how
So if you asked one what the time was
It’d simply say “Its NOW “..

You see NOW is when they eat the grass
And NOW is when they drink
And NOW is when they feel that breeze
And NOW is when they think
And NOW is when they buck you off
Cos you weren’t paying attention
And NOW is when they’ll break your leg
and put you on a Pension ..

So if you’re hanging round with horses &
If You’d like things to be pleasant
Then put your bloody phone down
And just try being present!!

Horsezenship.com

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Lukethoma

18/02/2023

This is a really clear example of the processes a horse may go through when changing from a chronically stressed to a more relaxed state.

There may be other indicators, but these are some of the most significant

First...concentrating on himself. No attention paid to the environment as he focuses on himself. This seems similar to the "inward-looking" state of horses suffering severe pain

Second..jaw mobilisation. You can see with this horse there is almost a battle between his stiff, jerky, twitching nostrils/upper lip and his "trying to relax and move" tongue and lower jaw.

Third...Once the jaw has been able to relax, it seems that sensation is returning to his face which results in him needing to rub his head.

Fourth... he shakes out the tension in his neck

Fifth....... A big breath/sigh

Sixth... his ears prick, his eyes "look outward" and he engages with his environment (sniffing the floor, looking at something in the distance.)

However, this horse is still showing signs of unrelieved stress in his abnormally low head position, but for a first attempt at "letting go" he has done really well.

With practice, he will learn to regulate his emotions with more efficiency, until he becomes resilient enough to handle life without worrying so much.

10/02/2023

Once we accept that every aspect of horse management and use could be traumatising them, we have the opportunity to help the horses we love so much.

What causes trauma in horses?⁣
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There’s a very simple recipe for trauma—that also happens to be *standard practice* in traditional training 😮‍💨⁣
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In this recipe, there are two ingredients:⁣
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1. A highly aroused state of fear 😱⁣
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2. The perceived inability to escape 🚧🐎🚧⁣
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Horses are intentionally sent into fear reactions by traditional trainers, the theory being that “you can’t tip-toe around them,” and “exposure” (causing a high state of arousal) is the only way to build confidence.⁣
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The inability to escape is also built into common training practices:⁣
⁣
⛓️ropes⁣
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⛓️small pens⁣
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⛓️saddling before the horse is confident⁣
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⛓️ keeping pressure on the horse until getting a desired outcome⁣
⁣
etc. can all cause a fearful horse to feel trapped. ⁣
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These things are not inherently traumatizing—it’s a matter of whether the horse is ill-prepared for the stimuli (and therefor terrified) and he cannot escape.⁣
⁣
We don’t typically see PTSD in wild horses. It’s not until they’re gathered and contained that they become traumatized, and can have triggers that last years (or a lifetime, without rehabilitation).⁣
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Why is this? 🤔⁣
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Horses in the wild are very rarely denied their fight or flight instinct. In their natural environment, they go into “freeze mode” as a last-ditch resort to dissociate from the inescapable pain of being torn apart by a predator.⁣
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And even then, if a horse escapes and comes out of freeze mode…⁣
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He physically shakes it off, relieving the intensity of the experience on a physiological level.⁣
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Horses in captivity, on the other hand…?⁣
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They’re often intentionally denied fight or flight and sent onto freeze mode *every single session,* without the freedom to move the stored energy from the body through intense movement.⁣
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It’s truly no wonder there are so many “problem” horses who have the same fear response day after day, or horses that are shut down and lifeless.⁣
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In our next post, we are going to talk about how to prevent trauma in horses ❤️‍🩹⁣
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Because there is a better way 🙏🏼⁣
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Was any of this information knew to you, or did you know it already? Let us know in the comments 🌱⁣
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- by MM team

Impulse Photography

24/10/2022

The effect of "behind the vertical: head carriage, may not occur where you think.

We can all recognize a "broken neck" by the bulge above C3, but next time you're asking your horse to flex, bear in mind the stress being put on the spinal cord as well as the unnatural changes in C6-C7 where the neck enters the chest.