JUST REMEMBER - put your energy and effort into behaviours you do want rather than behaviours you don’t want!!
What do I mean by that?
I have seen many people punish a horse for spooking. It is the most pointless reaction - a horse is a flight animal and a spook is a primary instinctual response.
Fear on the other hand is a LEARNED EMOTION - so think this through - your horse who acts on instinct spooks then receives punishment. What you are teaching is when you are worried I will inflict pain/scare you. This simply drives away the desired reaction (curiousity), as the horse has more fear to overcome, and teaches them that you will not assist them as a partner in scary situations.
This can work for some riders/trainers as long as their punishments always can stay scarier than the spooky thing itself… BUT your horse will be tense/angey/shutdown in response.
Instead if you consistently teach your horse a new perspective, the idea that it’s ok to look and investigate, the idea that you will allow time to process, and help teach your horse how to relax themselves THEN you can create a bold and curious sport horse that trusts you and wants to explore their environment.
Just remember curiosity is natural, spooking is natural but FEAR (and the associated behaviours - bucking\rearing/kicking out/biting) is learned from our response.
#horsemanship #horsetrainer #horsebehaviour #horsetraining #traininghorses #younghorses #horseriding #naturalhorsemanship
#gallopinto2024
She is perfect as a reindeer!
Minibeasts first Christmas and luckily obliging to my antics…
#davidattenborough #davidattenboroughmoment #wildreindeer #reindeer #chirstmasanimals #christmashorse #foalsof2023 #instafoal #instafoals #funnyhorse
We all know Freckles isn’t a brave boy - but he has learnt what to do with himself in difficult environments.
He would have braced and been unable to move, but he’s been enmpowered through our groundwork and TRT tool work to manage himself so I can ride one handed and film!
Thankyou @trt.method and @tristantucker_trt for giving me the tools to help the horse!
I have clinics @pachesham_equestrian_ and @greatbookhamequestrian in 2024 - come along and get your horse the tools they need for winter hacking!
#grounwork #bodenarbeit #horsemanship #naturalhorsemanship #spookbusting #horseanxiety #spooktrainingnotneeded