Lizzie O. Horsemanship

11/29/2022

Help The Moyo Foundation end Period Poverty now with a donation on this !

10/20/2022

Still looking for a good reason to leave Guanajuato tomorrow

08/26/2022

Happy National Dog Day! Two wonderful months of adventure with this little bug! 🐕 ❤️

08/19/2022

01/26/2022

These two ❤️

10/24/2021

One of the proudest moments in my New Zealand summers was starting this little mare, Gracie 🦄 for at

A home-bred, she was a pretty blank slate and known quantity, something we don’t often get in the horse world. But it didn’t mean she was was any less hesitant about people and the idea of being ridden.

My methods of relationship-based horsemanship focused on building a foundation of trust before anything else. In just a few days I was riding her - ba****ck in a rope halter at first and eventually in a saddle and then a bridle.

Ensuring that her first experience was one that encouraged trust, confidence, and taught her how to successfully manage new situations and ‘asks’, set her up for a successful and competitive career and meant she was an absolute pleasure to work with!

09/24/2021

'Swallow your pride and make changes. It’s not your horses fault.'

Every time you think:
My horse is lazy
My horse doesn’t want to work
My horse is not listening
My horse is stubborn
Or anything along those lines stop and ask yourself:

What are you doing to block your horse from doing what you want? Horses are not people, and don’t have sinister agendas. As put by ray hunt, “they are either doing what they think they are supposed to do, or what they have to do to survive.” Your horse is mirroring the truth about your communication and partnership. It might hurt. Swallow your pride and make changes. It’s not your horses fault.

Photo by Melinda Yelvington

09/16/2021

Chui was the first horse I met in Mongolia - and it was love at first sight. Warned that he was headstrong, prone to bolting, and unreliable with anyone less than confident, I was eager to get to know him. My beloved friend and trusted steed for the next three summers, Chui was fast and fearless, gentle and sweet, and looked out for me as much as I looked out for him.

09/08/2021

A great little tidbit on the power of the release from one of my first teachers Steve Rother Horsemanship. Worth a read :)

Worth the Read Wednesday

Today we thought we would elaborate on yesterday's tip regarding learning to do nothing.

The one consistent thing that all horses are looking for is a place of zero pressure. If you can learn to provide that "release" or zero pressure at the right moments, you will be able to communicate very effectively with your horse. The hard part is that our horse's keep track of all of our releases, even when we don't. They might lean, drag, or push and when we release our request for that kind of answer, then that is what we will start to encourage. When your horse gets light, tries hard, stays consistent, and then we release, then that is what you will encourage.

Release is the best reward for your horse. So, if you are working on something and your horse "tries", stop and do nothing...count to 10 in your head or find another way to make sure you pause long enough for your horse to recognize that they just found the right answer. Watch your horse and you will see the "lightbulb" click on.

To see how Steve incorporates releasing pressure to help his horses learn things from lateral flexions to moving the front feet around the hind, check out the Horsemanship Series Videos in Horse Teacher University. Signup for the FREE Trial at www.HorseTeacherU.com

09/07/2021

Why horses make great therapists…

Horses can be an emotional mirror. They respond to all our internal stuff - the ‘feeling state’.

Because they are herd and prey animals, their ability to pick up on emotions, energy, and very subtle body language, is a survival skill. If one horse in a herd is scared, the others will become highly alert and frightened.

They respond similarly to humans - if a person approaches a horse with anger, fear, grief, or any incongruence between emotions and actions, the horse will respond.

Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy provides insight into what may be underlying, but unacknowledged, for the person.

09/05/2021

Does your horse not want to be caught? Or he lifts his head out of reach when you bridle? Or you have to use a twitch to clip her? He doesn't stand still to be mounted? Or spooks unexpectedly when you're riding?

It doesn't have to be that way.

I will travel to you and work with your horse on all 'the little things' - which are really kinda big things when it comes down to it.

Send me an email or message to schedule!

09/04/2021

I trusted Ronan would let me know when he was ready to ride. And today he did - he walked up to me in the pasture and stood quietly while I groomed and tacked him up. We went slow and steady - letting him get comfortable with every step and had a lovely ride. He’s got a lot to learn about using his body properly and I can’t wait for the next step on this journey.
If you let go of the expectations, the pride, the rush to achieve - you might move more slowly and it might look messy for a minute, but the end result will be a partnership with a happy and relaxed horse.

08/29/2021

Today Emma Brayfield and I worked with Arthur on trailer loading! We had a great morning session - we started in the round-pen with a bit of groundwork to build trust and communication, and then moved to the trailer. It had been a few years since and it was great to do a refresher, letting him take his time and build up his confidence. Horses want to be seen, heard, gotten, and felt, (Warwick Schiller's Performance Horsemanship) and when we let him move at his own speed, it wasn't long before he was comfortable loading, standing, and unloading. We then talked with his owner, Sandy about the other measures she can take in wildfire evacuation preparedness. Kudos to her for being proactive and prepared!

08/21/2021

A great guide for suitable air quality activity levels!

08/18/2021

With smokey skies on the west coast, this is a very important read from The Horse (posted by my friend Alayne Blickle at Horses For Clean Water).

Limit your horse’s activity when there is smoke visible/the AQI is high and minimize exposure if possible.

Make sure plenty of healthy water is available which will keep airways moist and clear of inhaled particles.

Monitor for signs of cough or increased respiratory rate - contact your vet immediately if your horse is having difficulty breathing.

Remember that in cases of heavy smoke exposure it can take 4 - 6 weeks for smoke-induced damage to heal.

Smoke from wildfires can cause serious health problems for horses, as it can in people. Here's how to protect your horses from smoke-related respiratory problems.

08/17/2021

How you talk about your horse matters!

How you talk about your horse matters, because it reflects how you think about your horse.

How you think about your horse matters because it is the starting place from how you see your horse's behaviors, responses and needs...
.. and this will influence how you engage and work with your horse.

"He's just spooking to get out of work."

"She's just a snarky mare."

"He's just lazy and doesn't want to respond to my aids."

"She hates the whip."

"He just doesn't want to do it."

How do you relate to a horse if you're coming from that perspective?

Those are all negative words that come from a negative bias, and they make it seem as if the horse is plotting against us or unwilling to work towards a productive relationship.

Their brain simply isn't capable of working that way because of its construction and function.

It's in the horse's very nature to synchrinize and work together as a unit/group/herd/partnership for safety.

How about throwing away those limiting thoughts and replacing them with thoughts that reflect awareness, and offer actual insight to show our understanding of the situation and needs of our partner, the horse.

Replacing those thoughts above with more appropriate thoughts might look like this:

"He's tense or worried about something and it's distracting him from the work."

"She's sensitive and I offer my aids or requests in ways she thinks are offensive."

"He doesn't understand my aids clearly, or is maybe weak and unable to properly respond."

"She was never properly introduced to the whip, so I need to help her to reduce her anxiety."

"He just doesn't understand yet."

How do you relate to a horse if you're coming from that perspective?

The whole idea I'm trying to get at is that we need to drop our defensive negativity bias. Even in our basic thoughts towards and about our horses, because they have a tremendous influence on how we relate to them. This influences the success or failure of our partnership.

It up to you... and your thoughts.

08/17/2021

Is your horse sleep deprived?

Horses need to feel safe and relaxed to lie down and sleep. They need 30 - 40 minutes of REM sleep each day and they need to be lying down to get it.

I was thrilled to see that after a couple of sessions Ronan would lie down and sleep — our relationship was such that he felt safe with me on lookout for him.

Check in with your horse’s sleep: do they have the opportunity to lie down in their stall or paddock? Do they feel secure enough that a fellow herd member is looking out for ‘predators’? Put yourself in their shoes for a minute. I know how I feel when I haven’t gotten much sleep!