Bear Paw Barn, LLC

12/17/2024

12/12/2024

💪🙌🐴

Don’t come for me Luigi 🍄

12/10/2024

12/02/2024

A horse with no manners is a horse at risk.
Unpopular opinion:
If putting a chain on the halter reminds them of good behavior, then put it on the halter. You don’t “have” to apply pressure to it. You can walk on a loose lead, no tension no pulling.
If the horse learns to bolt in hand they become a safety and LEGAL liability for the horse and barn owner. If you could have prevented an injury but “chains are mean” you could be technically negligent by not keeping the horse under control when you could have. And remember- what they do on the ground they will do under saddle!
This is so huge!!! People don’t understand how critical the ground relationship is with horses who have developed dangerous habits.
And the consistency of using the chain! If the horse needs it for one person- use it. Because you don’t think you need it doesn’t help the horse. It only allows opportunity to pick an argument with the next handler. For gods sake none of this using a chain nonsense about YOU. It says nothing about you skill, ability, kindness, superior communication, confidence or EGO, it’s about the horse.
A horse who is dangerous on the ground will potentially be really abused and/or sent to auction. Behavior is a huge reason why people give up on horses. I train these horses. I have trained dozens of them. Put the chain on and get some guidance on proper use.

In 2024 there are those who will see a horse being led with a chain over its nose who will instantly have a melt down.

Any true horse person will know that there are situations where you can lead a horse with virtually zero restraint, and be safe, and other times when the horse could easily leap, pull away from you, and let loose with a double barreled kick that could kill you.

Being rough for rough’s sake is totally different from being safe, and while some may think otherwise, those are people who have never led a high as a kite horse on a chilly windy day in from the paddock.

There’s much good in having a be kind to horses attitude, but there is also a huge degree of misunderstanding by those who are not hands on horse people.

11/26/2024

Ruby had a body work visit with Lindsay Keating from Equitouch Bodywork & Rehab, LLC Lindsay identified some of the areas of soreness and weakness that we can continue to work on with correct schooling. Ruby had “mare face” for a lot of things, but ultimately Lindsay won her over.

Sumner Brook Farm Equine Rescue and Retirement

11/24/2024

What an incredible thing to see! The power that Secretariat had was unbelievable.

11/23/2024

So what about the inverted, miserable horse? The horse ridden “upside down” head in the air, back hollowed, hind quarters disengaged. While flexion and over collection are under the microscope (and I agree it’s an awful problem when you see the methods used to achieve it 🤬) I haven’t heard discussion about basic good riding.

Working the horse using their hind end, coming through their back towards the bridle in a comfortable balanced position.

The damage caused by really awful riding is equally as bad as the other extreme of over-riding seeking perfection in a harmful way.

The upside down horse experiences pain and Lameness, permanent skeletal injuries, soft tissue damage, and serious behavior problems are caused by lack of skill on the part of the rider.

A basic understanding of horse biomechanics should be part of every rider’s education, no matter what the discipline.
The methods and equipment may be different, but the end goal must be the same.

Balanced, strong, soft, adjustable, powerful and HAPPY horses who look forward to working with us.

Education is the most critical aspect of being a horse owner and trainer.

I’ll be talking about this stuff a lot!
Below is Ruby working in various positions and the newly revised dressage training scale.
Amy Gardner Anderson Sumner Brook Farm Equine Rescue and Retirement

11/19/2024

Glad I’m not the only one who “invents” movements. 😂🐴 I’ve often said it’s not the word, it’s the tone and intention. You can train a horse to canter from the word banana. Just use the right inflection and away you go!

We come up with these categories of movements…. Leg yield, side pass, shoulder in, counter shoulder in, haunches in (travers), counter haunches in (renvers), half pass…. to help us describe the different ways, we can position a horse, and so that we don’t miss anything.
But that said, if you want to ride a banana, or even a counter banana, go for it! Just because it doesn’t have an official Dressage name (assuming you reject the term banana) doesn’t mean it’s an “incorrect” movement. It’s not in any dressage test, but so what.

I have a student that I just gave some homework to - I told her to work on counter bending. I also told her that I don’t care if it looks like a counter shoulder in, or a counter banana, or even a horse that is aligned on the circle, but with just a little counter flexion. Any of those are fine!!! She’s just now learning how to separate the conversations of bend and steering. I also told her to initially keep her weight in the middle, but then to play with shifting her weight a little to the inside of the circle, and then the outside of the circle, to see how it influences her horse. I told her there is no right or wrong answer- this is just exploratory. 
Not everything has to fit exactly into a little category. Nothing is rarely ever as black or white, correct or incorrect, as we tend to make it.

11/16/2024

If we get snow this year we have to do this!

Bucked off by a snow horse. Brilliant!! ❤

11/14/2024

Sneak peek…🤩
This adorable pony mare Charlotte, is coming available for sailing ⛵️ very soon! She is being evaluated to ensure the best possible match for a new owner. She is a gem! ✨


Amy Gardner Anderson Sumner Brook Farm Equine Rescue and Retirement High Hopes Therapeutic Riding, Inc.

11/10/2024

Catching some air. 🤩
Amy Gardner Anderson

11/10/2024

Look at that hind leg action 😍🤩👍👏

11/08/2024

Thanks Ashley May for the pics in between Ruby’s fancy dancing moves. 😂
Amy Gardner Anderson

11/01/2024

8,589 Followers, 518 Following, 679 Posts

10/31/2024

We are all missing you Sadie.

Sadie came to Sumner Brook Farm as an owner surrender in July 2019. Her owner was facing health issues that did not allow her to work full-time to take care of Sadie.

We learned that Sadie had been a lesson horse for many years and taught many, many people how to ride. Her conformation was not great. She had a swayback and her pelvis was tilted the wrong way, but she had a heart of gold and really, really tried for all of her people.

Eventually, after we figured out her very specific needs for her diet, etc., and her medical issues, we were able to adopt her out. But her intense senior needs were too much for the people to manage, and she had a severe colic episode three years ago. She spent five days at Fairfield Equine hospital, and made a miraculous recovery.

We paid for the hospital stay and took her back to the rescue, knowing that that she would need to be monitored even more closely now.

There is no room for error or variation when you have a horse that cannot chew hay or grass. She could choke or colic very easily due to her inability to grind up hay and forage.

We kept her on her mush diet successfully for the last 3 years. Today, her body said no more.

She had heaves (COPD) a heart murmur, no teeth, cushings disease (PPID), possible laminitis from her previous hospitalization, age associated arthritis, etc.

But with all of those ailments, she still had a very active social life with all of her horse friends and a very special attachment to her neighbor, Coralie. She would cry and holler when Coralie went to work with her person and she would cry and holler when she came back, chastising her for leaving. They squealed and kicked and bit at each other through the fence, but they were besties.

Before Coralie, there was Caleb. Our very first rescue who was 35-40!when we let him go a few years ago. They were like an old married couple. Just adorable to watch their bickering and their “I’m sorry” smooches. She was his Sweet Potato, and ours.

This little spitfire didn’t look like much of an athlete, but she still got fired up about things and galloped and bucked, even yesterday.

Colic is the number one cause of equine deaths.
(It is a general term for issues in the digestive tract.)
When the pain meds didn’t keep her comfortable waiting for the vet, I knew things were not good. When the vet examined her, she confirmed very poor prognosis and this was not treatable.

I know from experience that waiting too long, is far,far more painful for everyone involved, but mostly the horse.

One of the reasons our rescue exists is to prevent suffering.

And so we stayed true to our mission and let her go peacefully.

It is sad to be without our Sweet Potato Sadie. But I am grateful that we gave her a soft landing and she passed away without a long drawn out, agonizing process.

Part of rescue is letting go. Every part of their life needs to be as safe and pain free as we can make it. That means no bad days for our horses, not if we can prevent it.

She laid down with a mouthful of grass, with her herd standing at attention. The sun peaked out from behind the clouds for just a moment on this blustery fall day. The leaves floated, swirling in the air and tumbled across her paddock.
Her body let go one last sigh and she was at peace.

The final gift we can give them is an easy death.
Leaving the world is often a painful process as the spirit separates from the physical body. Animals by nature, mask their suffering until it is unbearable. We need to pay attention to what they are saying.

Saving horses isn’t about keeping them alive at all costs.

It is about giving them a good life at all costs.

And we have done that for Sadie.

Thanks to her sponsor Tricia and her special volunteers who loved and cared for her. All the people who helped Sadie the past 5 years should be proud to have been part of her journey.

Until we meet again Miss Sadie Sweet Potato. We love you. ❤️

Amy Gardner Anderson Tricia Briley Bob Daniels Cheryl Kosky Juanita Paris Susan Storey Ashley May Margot Ebling Bear Paw Barn, LLC Rob Schumacher Celia Sutera

10/24/2024

Read this! To understand the changing dynamic of human/horse relationships and training. I was taught dominance theory. Put into practice, I really didn’t like it.
The methods were excessive and didn’t recognize the individual behavior and needs of the horse. This led many horse owners astray believing running the horse to exhaustion was the way to make them “submissive.”
Because I didn’t really have a way to explain it to people, I used some of the dominance terminology, but always described my interpretation of it.
My training has become a mishmash of concepts. I do what works for the horse. I try to create work that the horse enjoys because they like the interaction, they like the game, the praise and excitement of their people.
I’ve described the humans’ role as “benevolent leader.”
Calm, confident, firm and forgiving. You have to be the safe place for the horse, or they won’t want to be around you.
How do you become the safe place? That is the hard part for people to learn. It’s really hard, but it can be done.

Dominance theory was a terrible mistake, that even the scientist who cataloged it, regrets doing. The deep level of misunderstanding that happened based on inappropriate studies just spiraled out of control into a culturally accepted excuse to train and work with animals with force and punishment.

Dominance theory was the idea that animals, horses included, have a linear dominance and set roles within the herd. The idea that there is a set leader, a decision maker, who controls the other horses' behaviors through threats and the other horses love this horse as their leader. The idea that horses have a linear set hierarchy that determines who's in charge and only changes if overthrown by someone stronger. These deeply flawed ideas have lead people to believe that they can be the leader horse by mimicking equine behavior, they misunderstood, justifying their use of forceful physical control and punishment to train behavior. All under the idea of being a "good leader".

The thing is, science is constantly growing and self-correcting. As we spend more time actually studying horses in various scenarios and environments, and each species individually, their family units, their herds, packs, groups, etc... We have learned this concept of dominance is wildly inaccurate and deeply unhealthy, only seen in extreme, inappropriate environments (like old overpacked zoos with many unrelated animals, as the original studies were based on).

What's really going on then? What is Dominance really? Do we need to be dominant?

Horse herds really work in a much more fluid and dynamic manner, it's not a linear hierarchy. Horses make decisions based on need, if someone has a need, they satisfy that need, the other horses stay with them out of social bonds and safety in numbers. A secure, confident horse will be more likely to make decisions that lead away from the group, while insecure, nervous horses might be less likely to make decisions, sticking more closely to the center of the herd. This isn't leadership or dominance, just confidence, in themselves and their world. This changes constantly. A confident horse may be more clingy and insecure if they have a pain problem, if they're pregnant, or if they're sick. This dynamic is constantly flowing. Who makes the decision, is up to how much the individual wants something. Who stays or goes in the herd is based on social bonds, friendships, familial relationships, and resource needs.

What was frequently mistaken as "dominance" was actually determined roles of priority access to resources. If a resource is limited, the herd knows who has first access, usually the bully. This varies by resource, my sweet itch mare has priority access to the shelter, while she doesn't care about defending food resources. She may shove everyone out of her way for shelter from bugs, but someone else may shove her out of the way for food. A group of 2 might pair up to move off a single horse who would typically move either of them individually. This access to resources is determined with little squabbles, but usually is limited to just some body language threatening gestures. It would be unhealthy if the herd were to compromise each other in fights over resources, when they have the bigger threat of predators they need to remain safe for. We only see extreme linear resource guarding in domestic settings where resources are limited. If hay is fed in limited supply one horse may always get priority access. If there isn't enough shelter, one horse may not let the others in it. This isn't dominance, but resource guarding. This isn't leadership, but the opposite, a horse who is deeply insecure in their resources, in their safety, violently defending themselves. If one horse resource guards excessively, most of the other horses avoid them, ignore them, don't want to groom with them, and don't want to risk dealing with them. They're like a human child bully, so insecure in themselves they act out against everyone else to try to soothe their need.

Ethology has also shown that horses do not think humans are horses. Even if we mimic their body language, they do not equate us as horses. We don't have a place in their access to resources, because we aren't sharing their resources. We are their PROVIDERS. We are the ones giving them their resources, it's our job to understand herd dynamics and ensure our horses have adequate resources in appropriate ways so there is no need to fighting, insecurity, or herd stress. It's not our job to challenge our horses for access to the very resources we are giving them! We are their caretakers.

Dominance and access to resources has nothing to do with training, only knowing how to provide care and management without creating unhealthy or dangerous equine interactions.

Training should be done with a compassionate understanding of behavioral science and how to apply positive reinforcement. It has nothing to do with herd dynamics or dominance, or even strong leadership, but rather clear communication, compassionate care and gentle behavior training.

Additional resources
https://www.awla.org/uncategorized/alpha-dogs-dominance-theory-fact-or-fiction/

https://www.clickertraining.com/node/2297

https://www.veterinary-practice.com/article/dominance-when-an-outdated-theory-wont-go-away

https://news.asu.edu/20210805-discoveries-myth-alpha-dog

https://journal.iaabcfoundation.org/horse-dominance-1-28/

https://www.thewillingequine.com/post/dominance-leadership

https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/behavior/debunking-the-alpha-dog-theory/

https://positively.com/dog-training/article/ethology-why-pack-theory-is-wrong

https://www.rover.com/blog/alpha-dog-meaning/?msockid=323ef8c5489068da23bbeaa549916988

https://www.veterinary-practice.com/article/dominance-when-an-outdated-theory-wont-go-away