Equine Etiquette

04/26/2026

This Service is no longer available.

10/13/2024

Do you think your horse is the best horse? If yes, share a picture and tell us why.....

10/13/2024

10/03/2024

What is 'equine pain face'?

During helicopter roundups, wild horses endure harsh weather, extreme stress, trauma, and injury. Many have displayed what’s known as 'equine pain face,' a series of facial cues that indicate acute physical or emotional pain. This set of subtle facial expressions often go unnoticed even by experienced horse handlers. So how can we recognize it? Check out the diagram to learn how to spot signs of pain by examining the animal's ears, eyes, nostrils, facial muscles, and muzzle.

As Animal Pain Awareness Month comes to a close, we’re holding space for every wild horse and b***o who has suffered pain and distress from the relentless chase, capture, separation, and captivity of brutal helicopter roundups.

Photo by WilsonAxpe PhotoAdvocacy

03/05/2024

🇬🇧 Demonstrations and practical sessions: a profession in its own right.

Giving demonstrations with horses, guiding people and horses in front of an audience. It gives participants the chance to literally go from theory to practice. Indispensable but also a profession in its own right, in which you have to make flying hours. Some things that are different, for example, than when you are working with your own horse or with your lesson clients, is:

- That you do not yet know the horse at the demonstration or workshop in question and have not established a relationship with him

- You don't know the location, you don't know, for example, what environmental sounds are there or other stimuli that the horse may react to

- Usually the horse in agony is not used to a large group of people watching. (I as a speaker had to get used to this for myself, by the way.)

- Since you haven't worked with the horse yet, you can't fall back on previous experiences you had with him. You try to see on the spot what gets best with him and the owner and build on the spot from there. That's natural, but in the beginning I found that exciting. What if the paying public wants to see big strides, but the horse can only do smaller exercises well?

What do I take as a guide myself?

- I invite those horses that are stabled at the location or come here so frequently that they feel relaxed at the location.
- I naturally try to learn more about the horse. Where possible, I already walk up to the horses in the pasture, and get acquainted, so they have already experienced me.
- I also try to estimate the location and the stimuli involved.
- Whenever possible, I ask the trusted handler or owner to join the session. If the horse has separation anxiety, I make sure his buddy stays with him.
- I communicate with the group of spectators. I tell them what I see and why I make certain choices.

During the demonstration or lessons, this requires quick switching and thinking. Relying on your own skill and experience.
You make choices on the spot, instead of taking the time to predict and prepare all the facets you can think of.

I want to cover risk completely, of course. With the goal of being sharp with ten eyes in mind. How does the audience behave, does someone suddenly do something that startles the horse. Do horse and owner react differently because of the new and unfamiliar situation. And me, to what extent can I stay with myself?

One last principle I want to mention. The horse is always leading.
He is number one. I also always ask myself:
- What makes him feel or can feel safe right now
- What makes him feel comfortable
- What activity or activities suit him and give room for his internal motivation
- How do I make these exercises helpful to the horse and his owner

🇳🇱 Demonstraties en praktijksessies: een vak apart.

Demonstraties geven met paarden, mensen en paarden voor een publiek begeleiden. Het geeft deelnemers de kans om van de theorie letterlijk naar de praktijk te gaan. Onmisbaar maar ook een vak apart, waarin je vlieguren moet maken. Enkele zaken die bijvoorbeeld anders zijn, dan wanneer je met je eigen paard bezig bent of met je lesklanten, is:
• dat je het paard op de demonstratie of workshop in kwestie nog niet kent en geen relatie met hem hebt opgebouwd.
• Je kent de locatie niet, je weet bijvoorbeeld niet welke omgevingsgeluiden er zijn of andere stimuli waar het paard op kan reageren.
• Meestal is het paard in kwetie niet gewend aan een grote groep mensen die kijkt. (Ik als spreker moest hier voor mijzelf overigens ook aan wennen.)
• Omdat je nog niet met het paard hebt gewerkt, kun je niet terug vallen op eerdere ervaringen die je met hem had. Je probeert on the spot te kijken wat get best bij hem en de eigenaar past en bouwt ter plekke van daar uit voort.
Dat is natuurlijk vanzelfsprekend, maar in het begin vond ik dat spannend. Wat als het betalende publiek grote stappen wilt zien, maar het paard kan alleen kleinere oefeningen goed uitvoeren?

Wat neem ik zelf als leidraad?
• Ik nodig die paarden uit die gestald staan op de locatie of hier zo veelvuldig komen, dat ze zich ontspannen voelen op de locatie.
• Ik probeer uiteraard meer te weten te komen over het paard. Waar mogelijk loop ik al eens naar de paarden toe in de wei, en maak kennis, zodat ze mij al eens ervaren hebben.
• Ook probeer ik een inschatting te maken van de locatie en de prikkels die daarbij horen.
• Waar mogelijk vraag ik de vertrouwde handler of eigenaar om mee te doen met de sessie. Heeft het paard verlatingsangst, zorg ik dat zijn maatje bij hem blijft.
• Ik communiceer met de groep toeschouwers. Ik vertel hen wat ik zie en waarom ik bepaalde keuzes maak.

Tijdens de demonstratie of lessen vergt dit snel schakelen en denken. Vertrouwen op eigen kunde en ervaring.
Je maakt keuzes ter plekke, in plaats van de tijd te nemen alle facetten kunnen bedenken voorspellen en voor te bereiden.

Ik wil risico’s natuurlijk helemaal afdekken. Met als doel scherp te zijn met tien ogen in het achterhoofd. Hoe gedraagt het publiek zich, doet iemand ineens iets waar het paard van schrikt. Reageren paard en eigenaar anders door de nieuwe en onbekende situatie. En ik, in hoeverre kan ik bij mijzelf blijven?

Een laatste uitgangspunt dat ik wil benoemen. Het paard is altijd leiding gevend.
Hij staat op nummer 1. Ik vraag me ook altijd af:
• Wat maakt dat hij zich nu veilig voelt of kan voelen
• Wat maakt dat hij zich prettig voelt
• Welke activiteit of activiteiten passen bij hem en wekken zijn interne motivatie op
• Hoe maak ik dat deze oefeningen helpend zijn voor het paard en zijn eigenaar

08/22/2022

When people start out with Positive Reinforcement (R+), also known as Clicker Training, I always recommend short sweet sessions of only a minute or two and a break of 10 minutes in between and avoid doing more than half a dozen sessions in one block. When people are starting out, there's a lot to learn and co-ordinate AND there's a horse who's learning as well. Although the horse has the easy end of the deal, as they really just have to stand there and eat! 🧡

What I also recommend is that if you are shaping a new behaviour with R+, to do similar. Lots of short sweet sessions with good breaks in between. I often see clicker trainers talking about training for 15 minutes or even more and it’s not a good idea.

There’s no need to drag out sessions to get that little bit more behaviour. It’s easier, more fun and it seems it's probably more effective to do lots of short sessions with lots of breaks. It's also important to keep an eye on arousal levels, and short sessions with lots of breaks will help with that. As shaping new behaviours ie. differential positive reinforcement, does include a dash of extinction, we need to be careful. But that’s ok if you shape in very small successive approximations. Extinction and potential over arousal is only a problem if you start trying to ‘lump’ and try to get more and more behaviour, by holding out on the positive reinforcement.

This study was published recently that discusses the effectiveness of spaced training versus massed training in humans and other species, and whether it was effective to apply this to horse training. Although the training was done with Negative Reinforcement, it’s still interesting to note that the horses in the spaced training group were faster in acquisition of a new behaviour.

It’s super interesting to note that we are talking about a couple of minutes difference. One group trained for 2 minutes with 2 minute breaks and the other group trained for 4 minutes with 4 minute breaks. They all trained for the same amount of time overall.

“Fifteen out of 16 horses in the spaced-training condition reached performance criterion (94% success) while only 5 of 13 horses in the massed-training condition reached performance criterion (39% success).”

“Overall, the data suggest that compared with massed training, intra-session spaced training leads to a greater number of animals reaching task proficiency with faster task acquisition. This is particularly impressive given the relatively short training sessions of 8-min per training day.”

You can read more here and if you scroll down, you can see the novel obstacle that was navigated by the horses:-

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-021-01580-7?fbclid=IwAR1hJK8JQ8w4wmEhrFyS18NUGBBpAsIK5QlO_nu3c1ASlTUyrE3SkNe6O1w

08/18/2022

The movement of your horse’s hind legs can be broken down into the following three phases; thrust, reach, and carry.

Each phase is important and each one impacts the next, e.g. the more weight the horse takes during the carry phase, the more power he can produce in the thrust phase.

This knowledge is useful because it helps you in timing your aids and influencing the horse.

👉 EXAMPLE 1

During a leg-yield, the horse’s inside legs are required to step in front of and across his outside legs.

Therefore, if you apply your inside leg aid at the same precise moment as your horse lifts his inside hind leg (into the reach phase), then you can encourage the horse to step further under and across with that leg.

This will give you a greater degree of crossing during the leg-yield and a more sweeping stride.

👉 EXAMPLE 2

If you want to encourage your horse to take more weight behind, then apply your half-halt just as the horse’s inside hind leg is coming down to the ground (the carry phase).

At this moment, you can encourage your horse’s inside hind leg to take more weight.

👉 EXAMPLE 3

The horse’s canter stride starts with the horse’s outside hind leg. Therefore, to make a smooth transition from trot or walk into canter, apply your canter aids as your horse’s outside hind leg is in the reach phase.

This means that as that hind leg touches the ground (the carry phase), instead of it being another step of trot or walk, it will be the first step of canter.

This also encourages the horse to reach further under with that hind leg, producing a more uphill transition.

Give it a go!

08/15/2022

!

08/11/2022

Grazing horses at night can help keep them at a healthy weight and reduce their sugar intake.

08/11/2022

Age is just a number, but age-related horse health and nutritional challenges are very real. Here are 7 tips to help you formulate the optimal diet for your horse’s golden years.