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Clarity - The Difference in Horse Training

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Aljezur
Clarity - The Difference in Horse Training

Clarity - The Difference in Horse Training Every healthy horse is ridable. Is a horse not ridable, it is not healthy.

06/02/2025

Here you can see, almost in real-time, how he learns the hip target.
Between 4:15 and 4:20 you see the exact moment, he understood the "assignment".
He moved out of the camera range for a few seconds, but we get into the frame shortly after.
In some frames you see, what I do - I touch the hip, "click" (with my tongue, you can use words like "good" or whatever, doesn't matter as long as it is clear and the same tone), give a treat.
(Clicker Training does not work without "payment", which can be a treat, a rub, a scratch, whatever makes the horse happy. The noise itself will never be the "payment".)
Touch, click, treat, repeat. After some time I just hold my hand very close to his hip in hopes, he realises that the hand and the hip have to touch for the treat.
In general, it takes between 10 and 20 minutes. But to be honest, I had a horse that needed 6 weeks... But she got it and was very proud of herself.

25/01/2025

I must say, I pat my own back!
In the past I only had a handful of well educated horses. Not as in obedient and submissive, but as in their mind calm and open, not pushing boundaries and trusting the process. Curious and not panicked or overwhelmed.
Platin is a first class, 5 star example of a well raised horse.
There are many factors, but the most basic ones are: patience, boundaries, fairness. Not necessarily in that order. I might put boundaries in the front.
If a foal gets to know people as equals, you might come face to face with a 500 kilo cat in the future. Imagine how much fun that would be.
Keep the boundaries with fairness. If we watch a mare educate a foal, we will never see revenge or getting out frustration. We must beware to let go of human grudges.
Horses don't hold grudges. If someone thinks, they do, hoses actually just show learned behaviour.
Patience! I say it again: PATIENCE.
We all know the saying: if you have an hour, it takes a week. If you have a week, it takes and hour.
Give them time (at any age) to settle into a situation. Patience creates trust, self-confidence, harmony, a learning effect.

17/01/2025

Platin is going to be 6 in the end of March and it's time for him to start his new life as a ridden horse.
He has been with us since he was 1,5 years old. He has been gelded at 4 years old and been living in a mixed herd since his hormone levels dropped and I know, he had a lovely childhood.
Platin is and always has been a pure love bomb.
He was easy to raise and learnt the foal ABC naturally. He knows to walk alone but has never been out of his home.
Today is the day he moves to the village where I will start him under the saddle.
I am so glad, he knows how to behave and also, that I used a cavesson. He saw his first motor bike and it was driving right towards him. Let's just say, he was not convinced that he will survive this encounter.
Anyway, we made it the 8km home from the fields and he moved in with Ladybug 🐞

13/01/2025

Long read: Learned Helplessness

I have been thinking about different approaches to training over the years and the impact on the horses' mental state, the relationship that results because of this training.
My question is always: Is the horse relaxed to see me or is it stressed. Does it want to be with me if it has the option to say "no".
What is the expectation of the horse, when I approach it with a halter? Does it turn away or does it wait for me minding its own business or does it wait for me unmoving/frozen or does it turn towards me. Those are just four scenarios that tell you a lot about their mental wellbeing.
After years of suspicion and growing dislike, about 1 year ago it really hit me hard that a very common so-called horsemanship training method is abuse, hidden behind sweet words and explanations. I met a horse that made me cry for its sad previous life experiences.
It's normalised to strengthen aids if a horse does not react in a desired way. I think it was 25 years ago that I heard Grischa Ludwig, a Westernriding Star at the time, say: "I give a soft aid and if the horse doesn't listen, I give a stronger aid. If the horse still does not listen, my aid will be so strong that it wishes it would have listened on the first aid."
At the time it was absolutely solid advice. Of course, the horse is being naughty and unwilling, of course I need to show my dominance.
But is it really that simple?
If I go to Italy and ask people "Wie spät ist es?" and they don't speak German, it doesn't make sense to speak louder or even scream at them. They will not magically understand German, because I aument the volume.
So why is it absolutely normal to "scream" (as in strengthen the aid) at horses? It isn't. And if you think about it, you should agree.The trainer/rider should ask a question, the horse can understand. In my Italy-example that can also mean, I speak a different language that can be understood there: "Che ora è?" or at least similar: "Que horas são?"
A few days ago I saw a preview for a German TV show which is called something like "The Horse Professionals" or "The Horse Whisperer", something like that, which finally threw me over the edge and made me sit here and write about it. It is about a Haflinger gelding that was being "stubborn" and pulled itself free when lunged. Over and over and over... The owner ripped through gloves and had uncountable burns on her hands. Yet, she never thought to change HER behaviour. Yet, she never tried to stop forcing him to do a task that was out of his comfort zone. He is being stubborn.... not HER, as a rational human being. No, never her! Einstein said - doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome is insanity. But in this case, the animal is being stubborn... Sure...The owner called in the troops and they delivered. The female trainer said: working with horses should always be a soft interaction, but sometimes, especially in a training phase this early, we need muscle strength to reach our goal. The gelding was tacked up with a snuffle bit and a tight flash strap. The lunge was fixed on the inside ring of the bit. Then we could see the male trainer throwing himself backwards with his whole body weight, pulling on the bit. The Haflinger was in pain, terrified and in full flight mode. The male trainer mocked him: "Awwww, too bad. Someone is being sad now." I was so disgusted. The horse shows very clearly that this task, the lunging, is out of his comfort zone, he learned that he can get free by pulling really hard. His human, the person he is at the mercy of, instead of finding a more comfortable entertainment for the horse, calls strangers that proudly violate him.They teach the horse that it will only get more painful, if he doesn't yield. They teach him, no one will listen to you! They teach him, you can not trust a human. They teach him to shut down and endure. And this is called horsemanship. Teaching a horse to be helpless. What would I have done in this scenario? I would have walked him (NOT IN THE ARENA) in a Cavesson. I would have taken him out of this area that is now so closely related to the misery of being lungend. I would have found something interesting like ground poles or even cones. Lunging is such a boring practice if not done with a great variety of figures and movements. If there is no option to walk the horse anywhere else, one could still work in the arena without lunging. Long-reining, ground poles, in hand work. I would not try to force the horse on the lunge over and over again. There should be more awareness that horses don't know the answer until we ask the question in an understandable language.

04/12/2024

Years ago I had to pass a dog 2 times per day and this likkle s*it was barking as if there was no tomorrow. I got fed up and decided to stop until he stopped. Moved until he started and so on. It took me a week and a half but he stopped barking when he saw the horses.
Now I had the idea to try that with Karma.
Sound 🔊 on

07/11/2024

Those are the 6 different Hackamores we have.
Unfortunately I don't have a Californian Hackamore (Bosal).
There are those stories of broken jaws and stuff. Honestly I never heart of an actual case. I did see actual cases of broken jaws and even tongues when bits were used. Except for some "instruments", it's never the bridle but always the riders heavy hand that injures the horse.
Of course, like any other tack, the bridle must fit. The upper left corner is the hardest to adjust on smaller horses. The top loop is either scratching the facial crest (if too high) or damage the nasal peak (if too low). It's also not helping to adjust it too loose.
I saw a horse with calluses on its face. Just because someone rides bitless doesn't mean the have a light hand...
Did you know the hackamore was invented to prevent bolting horses from biting down onto the bit?

06/11/2024

I think it never took so long to get through to a horse. He is so shy and sensitive. He is always on edge when I want to interact with him. I always go the extra mile to get him comfortable and he tries to be brave but it still makes him so insecure to be the center of attention.
A few months ago I tried to long-rein him and it was a disaster.
Today I tried again and he actually was very responsive. I would not say relaxed, but he understood everything just fine.
I started on his side, with the right rein on his back, in my right hand and the left rein on his shoulder, in my left hand. Later I switched sides.
I used a whip like I would use my leg on his side, which made a huge difference preventing him from turning into the wrong direction.
Why do I long-rein unridden horses?
Well, I get the aids behind the horse. The horse doesn't try to watch me but rather orientates itself on my aids - voice, rein, whip (which are later the legs). Also, I feel the horse grows confident, walking in front. I can easily intervene, if it goes into freeze by a simple change of my position.
To prevent "fighting", we must prepare the horse to accept the head piece for stopping and turning.
I have a Hackamore in use here. He doesn't understand the bit. I can introduce that later.
I am very pleased with our little walk today. For the first time, I had the feeling, he was actually willing to do something, anything, with me.

03/10/2024

Quiana PSL (4yo) had her first Beach Ride (will post it on Adventure Riding later). We went off of the beach over this wooden trail to grap a coffee (was closed so we left :( )
This was very exciting for her. If confronted with seemingly difficult tasks, I don't let my trainees back off but give them time to watch first and judge the situation, until they decide to walk past. That way they grow selfconfidence and trust that I don't force them to do things they "cannot" do.
Very proud of this young sweetheart. Her three month training comes to an end.

09/08/2024

This is one of the reasons, I like to start our horses on trails, without other horses.
Really early into their training, I join this separation. A safty measure, if you want, that the horse relays rather on the rider than other horses.
This was her first "parting" and like always, she did a great job. Due to her young age of 4, I ride her max 2 times per week and join the 3 main gaits, walk, trot, gallop. She is way too young and way too early in her training to introduce collection.
Let her get forward and steady, before she is collection-ready ☺️
Anyway, I am a very proud nanny right now

22/07/2024

When your horses were booked for a photo shooting, you don't want to be in the photos, but everytime you're moving the horses follow you, you just hide, laying flat on the floor 🤣

29/06/2024

This is kind of surreal.
Normally I start older horses around 8 years old, because no one dared or for whatever reason they are not ridden by that age yet.
Very often the first attempts failed and made a new start complicated. Either the first "trainer" was too harsh and scared the horse or wasn't consistent or... 100 reasons.
Anyway, mostly I start horses that need a special care.
Quiana grew up with us. She had all her important FIRSTS with me - halter training, grooming, hoof care, lunging, long-reining, trailer loading, you name it. I spent so much time with her.
She was so tiny when she moved in at the age of 6 months and now she is so matter of fact being sat on by me.
This is the second little ride I had on her today. Yesterday I went about 15 minutes "around the block".
I can only empathise that long-reining is such a wonderful tool in getting them used to the person being behind, the voice commands, the bit, going forward in the front, I could continue and go on and on about it...
I still can't believe how easy she has been so far. Even getting her tacked up all by herself in my yard.
I love it so much!

06/06/2024

It's a long video but I cut as much as I felt good cutting and left as much as I thought might be interesting (SOUND ON) Look for yourself and tell me, what you think?
Karma came to me super nervous and insecure. First thing she did, was kicking every horse in her vincety so that I needed to separate her after a few minutes. In the beginning she would not let me get close to her, when I held the rope and we had to "dance" a while for her to let me take her out. The last two days though, she came to me and rubbed her forehead on me, even with the rope in plain sight.
This ride from yesterday is showing her potential and willingness to embrace her new life. She is being very brave and forward. Her first 1 hour ride included about 30 minutes of FREEZE. This 3rd ride now had her freezing just a few minutes.
In the past, I sometimes got scared horses into water the first time by turning them around and getting there backwards. Inconventional? Yes! Does it work, preferably low-stress? Yes!
And as you can see here, except the first incedent shortly after leaving the paddocks, Karma gets out of her freeze and moves on.
Believe me, I tried other actions, but without any success.
Pay attention to her ears. She is getting really comfortable and my inicial impression of her being numb on the leg was seemingly also part of her freezing. She was actually much more responsive today.
Looking forward to her future.

29/05/2024

Very insecure and nervous mare. I need to show her, that she can count on me. That I am her partner even without other horses.
Opening a new chapter 😍

02/05/2024

"Are your horses just going to be staying here?"

People around the horse influence its behaviour. This is nothing new at all. But do humans actually understand the deeper meaning of it?

You and your horse's care takers are your horse's environment!

Not the cars, not a bistrot, not the dog or whatever else.

If you can serve a calm, confident, matter-of-fact energy, your horse will rather sooner than later dive into your energetic safety-net and trust your judgement.

26/03/2024

Today was the first time I took Second Chance with me on a ride and it was very special. He was enjoying himself so much. It started out with a heavy rain but we decided, the sky was clearing up enough for us to continue. Way worth it. The sun came out and we were almost dry when we came home. There I felt like putting a saddle on him for the first time and no one would have guessed the he's never done it before.
A very old soul, but we already knew that when he moved in over 4 years ago.

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Here you can see, almost in real-time, how he learns the hip target. Between 4:15 and 4:20 you see the exact moment, he understood the "assignment". He moved out of the camera range for a few seconds, but we get into the frame shortly after. In some frames you see, what I do - I touch the hip, "click" (with my tongue, you can use words like "good" or whatever, doesn't matter as long as it is clear and the same tone), give a treat. (Clicker Training does not work without "payment", which can be a treat, a rub, a scratch, whatever makes the horse happy. The noise itself will never be the "payment".) Touch, click, treat, repeat. After some time I just hold my hand very close to his hip in hopes, he realises that the hand and the hip have to touch for the treat. In general, it takes between 10 and 20 minutes. But to be honest, I had a horse that needed 6 weeks... But she got it and was very proud of herself.

I must say, I pat my own back! In the past I only had a handful of well educated horses. Not as in obedient and submissive, but as in their mind calm and open, not pushing boundaries and trusting the process. Curious and not panicked or overwhelmed. Platin is a first class, 5 star example of a well raised horse. There are many factors, but the most basic ones are: patience, boundaries, fairness. Not necessarily in that order. I might put boundaries in the front. If a foal gets to know people as equals, you might come face to face with a 500 kilo cat in the future. Imagine how much fun that would be. Keep the boundaries with fairness. If we watch a mare educate a foal, we will never see revenge or getting out frustration. We must beware to let go of human grudges. Horses don't hold grudges. If someone thinks, they do, hoses actually just show learned behaviour. Patience! I say it again: PATIENCE. We all know the saying: if you have an hour, it takes a week. If you have a week, it takes and hour. Give them time (at any age) to settle into a situation. Patience creates trust, self-confidence, harmony, a learning effect.

Platin is going to be 6 in the end of March and it's time for him to start his new life as a ridden horse. He has been with us since he was 1,5 years old. He has been gelded at 4 years old and been living in a mixed herd since his hormone levels dropped and I know, he had a lovely childhood. Platin is and always has been a pure love bomb. He was easy to raise and learnt the foal ABC naturally. He knows to walk alone but has never been out of his home. Today is the day he moves to the village where I will start him under the saddle. I am so glad, he knows how to behave and also, that I used a cavesson. He saw his first motor bike and it was driving right towards him. Let's just say, he was not convinced that he will survive this encounter. Anyway, we made it the 8km home from the fields and he moved in with Ladybug 🐞

Years ago I had to pass a dog 2 times per day and this likkle s*it was barking as if there was no tomorrow. I got fed up and decided to stop until he stopped. Moved until he started and so on. It took me a week and a half but he stopped barking when he saw the horses. Now I had the idea to try that with Karma. Sound 🔊 on

I think it never took so long to get through to a horse. He is so shy and sensitive. He is always on edge when I want to interact with him. I always go the extra mile to get him comfortable and he tries to be brave but it still makes him so insecure to be the center of attention. A few months ago I tried to long-rein him and it was a disaster. Today I tried again and he actually was very responsive. I would not say relaxed, but he understood everything just fine. I started on his side, with the right rein on his back, in my right hand and the left rein on his shoulder, in my left hand. Later I switched sides. I used a whip like I would use my leg on his side, which made a huge difference preventing him from turning into the wrong direction. Why do I long-rein unridden horses? Well, I get the aids behind the horse. The horse doesn't try to watch me but rather orientates itself on my aids - voice, rein, whip (which are later the legs). Also, I feel the horse grows confident, walking in front. I can easily intervene, if it goes into freeze by a simple change of my position. To prevent "fighting", we must prepare the horse to accept the head piece for stopping and turning. I have a Hackamore in use here. He doesn't understand the bit. I can introduce that later. I am very pleased with our little walk today. For the first time, I had the feeling, he was actually willing to do something, anything, with me.

Quiana PSL (4yo) had her first Beach Ride (will post it on Adventure Riding later). We went off of the beach over this wooden trail to grap a coffee (was closed so we left :( ) This was very exciting for her. If confronted with seemingly difficult tasks, I don't let my trainees back off but give them time to watch first and judge the situation, until they decide to walk past. That way they grow selfconfidence and trust that I don't force them to do things they "cannot" do. Very proud of this young sweetheart. Her three month training comes to an end. #horsetraining #pslforsale #trusthorses #aljezur #horseridingportugal #horsemanship

This is one of the reasons, I like to start our horses on trails, without other horses. Really early into their training, I join this separation. A safty measure, if you want, that the horse relays rather on the rider than other horses. This was her first "parting" and like always, she did a great job. Due to her young age of 4, I ride her max 2 times per week and join the 3 main gaits, walk, trot, gallop. She is way too young and way too early in her training to introduce collection. Let her get forward and steady, before she is collection-ready ☺️ Anyway, I am a very proud nanny right now

This is kind of surreal. Normally I start older horses around 8 years old, because no one dared or for whatever reason they are not ridden by that age yet. Very often the first attempts failed and made a new start complicated. Either the first "trainer" was too harsh and scared the horse or wasn't consistent or... 100 reasons. Anyway, mostly I start horses that need a special care. Quiana grew up with us. She had all her important FIRSTS with me - halter training, grooming, hoof care, lunging, long-reining, trailer loading, you name it. I spent so much time with her. She was so tiny when she moved in at the age of 6 months and now she is so matter of fact being sat on by me. This is the second little ride I had on her today. Yesterday I went about 15 minutes "around the block". I can only empathise that long-reining is such a wonderful tool in getting them used to the person being behind, the voice commands, the bit, going forward in the front, I could continue and go on and on about it... I still can't believe how easy she has been so far. Even getting her tacked up all by herself in my yard. I love it so much!

It's a long video but I cut as much as I felt good cutting and left as much as I thought might be interesting (SOUND ON) Look for yourself and tell me, what you think? Karma came to me super nervous and insecure. First thing she did, was kicking every horse in her vincety so that I needed to separate her after a few minutes. In the beginning she would not let me get close to her, when I held the rope and we had to "dance" a while for her to let me take her out. The last two days though, she came to me and rubbed her forehead on me, even with the rope in plain sight. This ride from yesterday is showing her potential and willingness to embrace her new life. She is being very brave and forward. Her first 1 hour ride included about 30 minutes of FREEZE. This 3rd ride now had her freezing just a few minutes. In the past, I sometimes got scared horses into water the first time by turning them around and getting there backwards. Inconventional? Yes! Does it work, preferably low-stress? Yes! And as you can see here, except the first incedent shortly after leaving the paddocks, Karma gets out of her freeze and moves on. Believe me, I tried other actions, but without any success. Pay attention to her ears. She is getting really comfortable and my inicial impression of her being numb on the leg was seemingly also part of her freezing. She was actually much more responsive today. Looking forward to her future. #horsetraining #horsebusiness #greyhorses

I brought all her tack to the paddocks, because no way is she standing still long enough to even groom her. We had a little 10 minutes "conversation" until she felt safe enough for me to take her on the rope. Of course we had some quiet soothing moments before we went to the area I chose to groom her in. She followed me willingly, all tacked up and ready. She also walked quite nicely onto the street, close to the paddock across the road. There it started: she backed up, refusing to go forward, away from the others. With some time and traffic (we are training in an urban area) she moved forward. Stopped, went. Stopped, went. One time she flat out refused to move forward so after 20 minutes, I dismounted and pulled her. This is not my usual way to do it, but I try to adjust to the horse and it just felt like she was getting worse with time. My job as a trainer is to get stress out of a situation and not build it up. We went over her mental barrier, I could mount her easily, but she was still stuck mentally. I decided to turn her around and "approach" that obstacle backwards. It worked like a charm. After that she just went with it. Whatever direction, whatever obstacles. But we went home so she got agitated quickly and wanted to rush. I turned her a lot, I stopped, which stressed her. But we got home. I took her to the grooming area and untacked her. We went back to the paddocks and had some downing time. Later today I could give her some caresses and she was happy to have me. I hope she will trust herself more and more over the next weeks. She feels lost. She is so beautiful 😍 #adventureriding #beachride #ilovemyjob #trusthorses #horsemanship #horses #horsesofinstagram #trusthorses #ilovemyhorses #ilovemyjob #atlantikportugal #urlaubinportugal #pferdeliebe #horsemanship #horsetraining #horsesinbalance #cavalo #pferd #pferdetraining #greyhorses #freehorses #rescuehorse #equestrianlife #pferdeMädchen #littlelife #aljezurlife #reiterhof #pferdebusiness #horsebusine

Very insecure and nervous mare. I need to show her, that she can count on me. That I am her partner even without other horses. Opening a new chapter 😍 #adventureriding #horses #horsesofinstagram #trusthorses #ilovemyhorses #ilovemyjob #countryride #atlantikportugal #urlaubinportugal #pferdeliebe #horsemanship #horsetraining #horsesinbalance #cavalo #pferd #pferdetraining #scootboots #chestnuthorse #greyhorses #freehorses #rescuehorse #equestrianlife #pferdeMädchen #littlelife #aljezurlife #reiterhof #pferdebusiness #horsebusiness