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
Before you deal with a tickly or problem spot the horse MUST be generally happy with the clippers.
Even when sedated if your horse really hates a particular place (like freckles and his ears!) they will often become difficult and the adrenaline wakes them a bit and they can require more sedation.
This was the case when freckles was clipped at the stud under sedation. Clipping was being done to him rather than explained; so our first job was to change how he felt about clipping in general.
Now he understands and is relaxed generally, BUT still dislikes the clippers coming to the top of his neck by his ears, resulting in tension and bracing.
As his stress bucket is empty this added area of difficulty doesn’t result in him needing to instantly escape and move away, but you see the subtle signs of him saying he finds this difficult.
So chance for another development moment, constantly rewarding relaxation. You might think, why not just put on a halter and keep his head still - but removing his ability to communicate just results in a loss of trust and more battling - and essentially takes longer in future !
When they know they’re being seen and have built a rapport with us, our horses give us longer in their ‘discomfort’ zone. By then making sure I acknowledge his attempts to unfreeze and relax I’m encouraging this behaviour , leading to an even easier time in future.
As always grateful to @trt.method for giving me the tools to help change my horses story.
#attunedhorsemanship #horsemanship #horsemanshiptraining #horsebehaviour #equinebehaviour #horsewhisperer
Groundwork Maths
Once your horse understands some basic visual aid then you can quickly level up to very useful dressage in hand!
Great gymnastics workout, balance and tone.
And then of course - it’s even easier for your horse when you ask from the saddle!
#dressageinhand #groundwork #horsegroundwork #bodenarbeit #inhand #inhanddressage #dressage #inhandtraining #horsemanship #trtmethod
TOP TIP - the easiest and quickest pole set up with the most uses!
Ride straight lines
Curved lines
Trot
Canter
And eaves lots of the arena free so your session can also be about other things!
#polework #easypeasy #horsepolework #horsetip #horsetraining #showjumping #dressage #poleworkforhorses
@pivoequestrian
