Connect the Spots

09/11/2024

Had absolutely beautiful weather to spend the day at Begin Again Farm! I always enjoy working on the horses there!

09/10/2024

It's today! Take a look a get your questions answered!

⏰ Tomorrow’s the Day! ⏰

The wait is almost over! Jim Masterson’s Facebook Live Bodywork Q&A is happening tomorrow, September 10th at 12 pm CT! 🎉🐴

Here’s what you can look forward to:

🔸Introduction of the new Bladder Meridian Challenge
🔸Insights on extending the Search Response Stay Release process to any area of the body
🔸Direct answers to your questions from Jim himself

If you haven’t already, make sure you’re following The Masterson Method page so you don’t miss the live session. Get ready for an engaging and informative (and probably full of Jim-jokes) event. See you there!

Time difference is an issue because you are on the other side of the world? Don't worry, there will be a recording!

09/03/2024

A healthy horse can and should move and twist! The lovely miss Soleil demonstrated a wide variety of movement during her session! 💕

Does your horse have a favorite yoga position?

09/03/2024

I spent a lovely morning with Belle and Moose! They are both beautiful mustangs with very cool stories! I’m happy to have spent time with their owner and herd.

09/01/2024

Back with Bugsy and Samuel today! I am so thrilled to how see how well they are progressing and releasing with the bodywork. Both physically and mentally thanks to a wonderfully dedicated owner! ❤️

08/26/2024

I love the way Alice describes this! Peeling layers of tension off and watching the horses settle and truly relax into the bodywork is my favorite thing to watch!

08/13/2024

08/10/2024

I was happy to see Miss Face again! And even more happy to see how relaxed and accepting she was this session!

08/09/2024

So pleased to see more awareness of natural weaning!

INDUSTRY STANDARD PREMATURE WEANING PRACTICES

Weaning is naturally gradual, whereby the physical and psychological bond between mother and offspring is ended. To date, there are numerous studies, across a wide range of species, showing the physical and mental harm that is done when animals are prematurely and forcibly weaned. The act compromises an animal's welfare and goes against best-practices for raising a physically and behaviourally healthy animal. Therefore, it should be avoided.

Premature weaning of horses (~4-7 months of age) is sadly still a common practice in the horse world. While young horses can physically be kept alive when weaned at this age, the practice is harmful in the short-term. It can also result in the creation of unwanted behaviour problems in the long-term.

While we have selectively bred horses to perform a wide range of activities for us, we have not been able to breed out the basic needs which they still share with their wilder relatives. Studying how horses behave under natural conditions gives us valuable information on how best we can provide for our domestic horses. For example, horses have evolved to need fulltime access to what I call the 3 F's of Friends, Forage, and Freedom: living in direct contact with other horses, having continual access to forage so that they can trickle feed, and having the ability to freely engage in a wide range of normal behaviours in their environment. When horses are denied access to one or more of these three F's, or when we interfere with their ability to engage in normal behaviours it results in stress, decreased welfare, and can result in the creation of unwanted behaviours.

To better understand the effects of weaning practices, researchers in France and Iceland examined how and when foals wean themselves when living under natural conditions. Of the 16 mare-foal pairs they observed, they found that all of the foals spontaneously weaned themselves at around 9-10 months of age. Two weeks prior to self-weaning, the mares and foals remained closer to one another than they did to others in the group, usually within 1-5 horse lengths of one another. Suckling bouts also didn't decrease in the two weeks prior to weaning, and the foals made no attempts to suckle once weaned. This self-directed weaning also caused no signs of stress to either party.

A frequent rationale for premature weaning is to preserve the physical condition of the mare. Interestingly, none of the mares in this study lost physical condition, despite the length of time mares and foals were together.

In summary, to quote the authors:

"Modern breeding practices generally impose strong constraints as compared to the conditions of development of foals in a more natural environment. One major aspect is the early artificial weaning, which is not just a stage of diet transition but also a stage of social separation. There is increasing evidence that such a practice, although carried out on a routine basis by horse breeders, leads to short- and in some cases to long-term severe negative outcomes.

There is therefore a clear need to better understand the factors at stake (e.g., cessation of milk intake, immature digestive system, maternal deprivation, absence of adult models, additional changes in feeding or housing…), to improve the domestic management of weaning and animal welfare."

You can read the full paper, 'Domestic Foal Weaning: Need for Re-Thinking Breeding Practices?' by accessing it at this link: https://tinyurl.com/PrematureWeaningHorses

Image by Hans Benn from Pixabay

08/05/2024

I continue to be so grateful that I got to know and learn from Alice while she was still in Maryland. I wish her the best of luck in Florida and I’m excited to see where these new endeavors lead her!

07/29/2024

Tank was such a superstar! He participated so well and even helped with a couple techniques!

07/29/2024

07/28/2024

Sometimes the Masterson Mood is contagious!! Bugsy had a good session and Samuel had a good nap! 😊

07/26/2024

I had a very fun day working with some of the horses at Begin Again Farms! I had a great time and the horses did too! Hopefully next time I’ll get pictures of all the horses. 😊

07/13/2024

Another great session with Bugsy! I’m so thrilled with how he opened up and allowed me to do some much more this time!

07/12/2024

"New Home Syndrome"🤓

I am coining this term to bring recognition, respect, and understanding to what happens to horses when they move homes. This situation involves removing them from an environment and set of routines they have become familiar with, and placing them somewhere completely different with new people and different ways of doing things.

Why call it a syndrome?

Well, really it is! A syndrome is a term used to describe a set of symptoms that consistently occur together and can be tied to certain factors such as infections, genetic predispositions, conditions, or environmental influences. It is also used when the exact cause of the symptoms is not fully understood or when it is not connected with a well-defined disease. In this case, "New Home Syndrome" is connected to a horse being placed in a new home where its entire world changes, leading to psychological and physiological impacts. While it might be transient, the ramifications can be significant for both the horse and anyone handling or riding it.

Let me explain...

Think about how good it feels to get home after a busy day. How comfortable your favourite clothes are, how well you sleep in your own bed compared to a strange bed, and how you can really relax at home. This is because home is safe and familiar. At home, the part of you that keeps an eye out for potential danger turns down to a low setting. It does this because home is your safe place (and if it is not, this blog will also explain why a lack of a safe place is detrimental).

Therefore, the first symptom of horses experiencing "New Home Syndrome" is being unsettled, prone to anxiety, or difficult behaviour. If you have owned them before you moved them, you struggle to recognise your horse, feeling as if your horse has been replaced by a frustrating version. If the horse is new to you, you might wonder if you were conned, if the horse was drugged when you rode it, or if you were lied to about the horse's true nature.

A horse with "New Home Syndrome" will be a stressed version of itself, on high alert, with a drastically reduced ability to cope. Horses don't handle change like humans do. If you appreciate the comfort of your own home and how you can relax there, you should be able to understand what the horse is experiencing.

Respecting that horses interpret and process their environments differently from us helps in understanding why your horse is being frustrating and recognising that there is a good chance you were not lied to or that the horse was not drugged.

Horses have survived through evolution by being highly aware of their environments. Change is a significant challenge for them because they notice the slightest differences, not just visually but also through sound, smell, feel, and other senses. Humans generalise and categorise, making it easy for us to navigate familiar environments like shopping centres. Horses do not generalise in the same way; everything new is different to them, and they need proof of safety before they can habituate and feel secure. When their entire world changes, it is deeply stressful.

They struggle to sleep until they feel safe, leading to sleep deprivation and increased difficulty.

But there is more...

Not only do you find comfort in your home environment and your nervous system downregulates, but you also find comfort in routines. Routines are habits, and habits are easy. When a routine changes or something has to be navigated differently, things get difficult. For example, my local supermarket is undergoing renovations. After four years of shopping there, it is extremely frustrating to have to work out where everything is now. Every day it gets moved due to the store being refitted section by section. This annoyance is shared by other shoppers and even the staff.

So, consider the horse. Not only are they confronted with the challenge of figuring out whether they are safe in all aspects of their new home while being sleep deprived, but every single routine and encounter is different. Then, their owner or new owner starts getting critical and concerned because the horse suddenly seems untrained or difficult. The horse they thought they owned or bought is not meeting their expectations, leading to conflict, resistance, explosiveness, hypersensitivity, and frustration.

The horse acts as if it knows little because it is stressed and because the routines and habits it has learned have disappeared. If you are a new human for the horse, you feel, move, and communicate differently from what it is used to. The way you hold the reins, your body movements in the saddle, the position of your leg – every single routine of communication between horse and person is now different. I explain to people that when you get a new horse, you have to imprint yourself and your way of communicating onto the horse. You have to introduce yourself and take the time to spell out your cues so that they get to know you.

Therefore, when you move a horse to a new home or get a new horse, your horse will go through a phase called "New Home Syndrome," and it will be significant for them. Appreciating this helps them get through it because they are incredible and can succeed. The more you understand and help the horse learn it is safe in its new environment and navigate the new routines and habits you introduce, the faster "New Home Syndrome" will pass.
"New Home Syndrome" will be prevalent in a horse’s life until they have learned to trust the safety of the environment (and all that entails) and the humans they meet and interact with. With strategic and understanding approaches, this may take weeks, and their nervous systems will start downgrading their high alert status. However, for some horses, it can take a couple of years to fully feel at ease in their new home.

So, next time you move your horse or acquire a new horse and it starts behaving erratically or being difficult, it is not being "stupid", you might not have been lied to or the horse "drugged" - your horse is just experiencing an episode of understandable "New Home Syndrome." And you can help this.❤

I would be grateful if you could please share, this reality for horses needs to be better appreciated ❤
‼️When I say SHARE that does not mean plagiarise my work…it is seriously not cool to copy and paste these words and make out you have written it yourself‼️

07/11/2024

Billy was a champ today and he felt amazing! He did super well despite todays heat!

07/09/2024

I think it’s safe to say the gorgeous Ms. Spirit enjoyed her session today!

07/09/2024

This is fabulous news! Hopefully changes like these will make it to the US.

07/06/2024

07/06/2024

It was a pleasure to work on these two lovely ladies! I hope to see you soon Dakota and Face! 😊

07/02/2024

This is a great visual!

“The last plates will close somewhere between 5½ and eight years old – and it is specifically these growth plates that are found in the back of the horse – all 32 of them! Most growth plates lie across the weight bearing plane – think of knees, ankles, shoulders etc. – and are less affected by the carriage of weight.”

06/29/2024

The statistics listed here are heartbreaking and I’m sure apply to OTTBs in the US as well. I feel certain that we can do better by these horses in at least some way.

06/29/2024

I am always amazed by how much they are willing trust us and tell us if we just slow down and listen!

06/28/2024

What an amazing video! The horses back and ribs move so much. Its easy to see how important saddle fit is! Think about the ripple effect one part of the horse being "stuck" and not moving would have on the entire body!

06/21/2024

With summer well and truly here it's time for horse shows, trail rides, and all the fun stuff! But do you know how hot is too hot for your horse?

06/21/2024

I had great time working with this big boy today! Cade was super sweet. And a little bit shy, though he doesn’t look it here! 😊

06/15/2024

It was a good last day. I really loved working with this group of students!

06/14/2024

Another intensive day of learning and practice for the 5 day students. This time back at Shiloh Manor!

06/13/2024

I had another great day assisting Alice Long with a Masterson Advanced 5 Day course! And the horses at Infinity Farm did too!