Ahimsa Equine

10/14/2024

Behavior is our superpower! We have evolved to change our outcomes using our behavior.

It is our responsibility as caretakers and trainers to empower our learners to change their outcomes using their behavior — as is their biological endowment!

(Words and ideas credit to Drs BF Skinner, Susan Friedman and Viktor Frankl, among other giants🙂)

.friedman on Instagram


We've come this far together, let's go father on IG. A little stream of consciousness ... wait! What's that look like?

https://www.instagram.com/p/DA9CsJaPu0y/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

10/09/2024

When it comes to ensuring your horse's comfort, saddle fit is key. But there are plenty of misconceptions floating around, and we're here to set the record straight. One of the most common myths is about saddle padding.

👎 Myth: More padding means a better fit.

👍 Fact: While it might seem logical, adding more padding cannot fix a poorly fitting saddle. In fact, excessive padding can create new pressure points and cause discomfort. A correctly fitted saddle should not require additional padding for comfort.

Want to make sure your saddle fits properly? Let our expert saddle fitters help you find the perfect fit for your horse, no extra padding required. Contact us today for a professional fitting.

10/09/2024

I am often asked how I continue to forge forward, through evolving ethics, in the face of criticism or *potential* criticism. Am I not worried what other people will think?

In answer: who are the ‘other people’?
Failing to produce societally approved “results” in a corrupt system that incentivizes harsh, abusive training speaks only to an unwillingness to compromise our values for social approval.

That failure of ‘production’ is a success in ethical training. Just ask the horses.

Great post from Milestone Equestrian below.
“But, here’s the thing about shifting value systems: I no longer value myself with the system that people attempt to use to devalue me.”

Shifting value systems can lead to an uncomfortable “in between.”

An in between where your self worth is more easy for others to exploit and damage.

When you stop prioritizing riding to the point where you are willing to work your horse through high stress and possible pain, people may try to label you as a less serious rider.

They’ll use your new priorities as a reason to degrade you as a rider.

And it’s easy to internalize this and take it personally.

But, really, their reaction is all about them.

If riding is what they want to believe makes someone a superior horse person and “riding them through it” is something to be proud of, they need to degrade the people who don’t want to take pride in that.

The people who are prioritizing how their horse feels.

They need to make you feel small so that your decision to forego instant gratification doesn’t bring out any internalized guilt in them.

I rode Milo through a ton of high stress for years.

Through painful hoof issues, through chronic anxiety.

I did so because I believed riding out all of his bucks and antics was a sign I was a good rider and trainer.

Just because I COULD do it doesn’t mean I should’ve.

When I honestly remark on that journey, it exposes buried feelings in others.

When I remark on coercive equipment I used to try to quiet his behavioural responses, it exposes similar tactics others may be using.

Tactics that they don’t want to reflect on in the same light I am currently doing.

So, to discredit the perspectives of people like myself, they must regard us like “nobodies.”

I’m not showing right now, so my opinion doesn’t matter to them.

I’m not rushing young horses up the levels and getting them to do spectacular feats that may cost their bodies in the future, so they’ll declare me as “lacking” in some capacity.

But, here’s the thing about shifting value systems:

I no longer value myself with the system that people attempt to use to devalue me.

I don’t find my self worth in a show record, in how high my horses are jumping, how often I ride or whether or not the riding we do looks impressive to others.

I find my self worth in trying to be as considerate as possible to my horses.

In playing the “long game” in training and doing better as I learn more.

In not perpetually repeating the same mistakes.

I find my self worth in mutual self regulation between my horses and I.

In the trust that I instil in them.

And my self worth isn’t a currency that other people create the value of.

They don’t control it.

An important lesson during shifts within your journey is recognizing you can always come home to yourself.

09/19/2024

09/02/2024

08/22/2024

"My eyes were opened to the importance of proper saddle fit and how an ill-fitting saddle can cause so many problems for the horse and rider. I am now a certified Peter Horobin saddle fitter. I am so thankful I have had the opportunity to work alongside and learn from such incredible equestrians and excited that I will be helping so many horses and riders in the future through correct training and saddle fitting." - Damian Pichardo, Certified Peter Horobin Saddle Fitter

As a horse trainer and saddle fitter, I can't stress enough the impact of a properly fitted saddle on both horse and rider. Like Damian, I aim to share my years of experience and knowledge to enhance the relationship between rider and horse.

👉 Follow for more tips on how we can help you and your horse achieve optimal performance and comfort.

08/22/2024

❤️

Modern breeding and management practices generally impose constraints and timelines on weaning foals that don’t exist in a horse’s natural environment. One major aspect is the practice of early artificial weaning. Weaning is not just a stage of diet transition for a foal but also a stage of soci...

08/07/2024

Normal does not mean okay. To quote Susan Friedman PhD, if your ethics aren’t constantly evolving, you’re doing something wrong.

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

07/25/2024

Looking forward to seeing you in a couple days Jessie Hillegas and Shawna Karrasch Equine 🥰

07/18/2024

The importance of the warm up with Ingrid Klimke:
“I always make sure I do a proper warm up. I make sure my horses are really properly stretching and giving their back, and coming from behind. When you trot over the cavalletti, the hind end is active, they are over the back and soft and swinging. Then they give and stretch into your hand, then you can take them up, have them in front, and have good contact, because the whole body of the horse is loosened up.”
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2021/08/a-warm-up-session-with-ingrid-klimke/

07/13/2024

Said well, concisely, in Plain language

The problem with softening the horse too much in the bridle before stabilizing the hind end is not only a biomechanics problem but a safety problem.

I just got done riding a new horse for the first time. Based on the weak hind end and bulging in the neck in the wrong spots, I had a good feeling he would break behind the vertical quite frequently.

When the horse breaks behind the vertical, it drops the back and negates correct use of the hind end. Over time, the horse becomes weak and wobbly while simultaneously developing painful arthritis and fusions.

So, that's the basics of the biomechanics problem.

The safety aspect is that a horse that is too light in the bridle and breaks behind upon first contact does not have the correct relationship with the contact. I believe the reins should connect to the feet and aid in correct flexion and bend.

When the horse evades the bit, you've got nothing. Sorry pal- this ain't a safe place to be.

This is why often horses that are taught this require a lot of holding together by riders that are used to riding in such a way.

And if you want to improve the horses relationship with contact, then be prepared for a long haul of conditioning and riding with little rein.

It can be done, but it should be done with knowledgeable riding with no time constraints. It's a whole thang.

Edit to add:
This photo is NOT mine. I'm grateful it was created and my favorite part is the "ah thank you!" Because of how freely forward the horse is 🙂
https://www.instagram.com/anjakyart?igsh=MXNnN21uZm13cDRlYQ==

07/08/2024

10/01/2023

Choice vs genuine choice.

FREEDOM AND THE PINK BOOTS

Goldiamond and Layng use degrees of freedom (df) to discuss the topic of choice. In statistics, degrees of freedom are the number of values free to vary, given one or more constraints. So, for example, if the constraint we’re given is that a set of 100 numbers must sum to 100, then 99 numbers are free to vary but the last number is locked in – it can only be the number that results in a sum of 100. The general formula for calculating df is n – 1 (where n is the number of total values). Thus, df in this case is . . . anyone? 100 – 1 = 99. YESSSS! Let's do it again: If we are given a set of 50 numbers and the constraint given is that the 50 numbers must sum to 75, df = 50 - 1 = 49. Good practice!

As clear as mud?

Let’s connect the dots back to our wheelhouse: Contingencies (i.e., antecedents-behavior-consequences) to see how df fit into modern animal care.

It starts with asking, what do we mean by choice? The penny really dropped for me when Joe Layng described Goldiamond’s distinction between choice and genuine choice. This is a practical and important distinction.

Let’s consider a dog who readily sits for a liver snap, a high value reinforcer for this pup's behavior. If the available contingencies are 1) sit and get the treat, or 2) don’t sit and forfeit the treat, we could say, conventionally speaking, that the dog has a choice – either do or don’t do, get or don’t get.

But Goldiamond pointed out that do or don’t do (get or don’t get) choices aren’t genuine choices because there is only one way to get the reinforcer. A genuine choice has more than one way to get the reinforcer.

The degrees of freedom for the “do or don’t do” choice is 1 – 1 = 0, because there is only one way to get the liver snap. If the dog doesn’t sit there isn’t another option that leads to the treat. Zero degrees of freedom is not a genuine choice.

Here’s another example. Compare these options: “Put on the pink boots or we're not going to the park.” df = 0, yes? We may call it a choice, but it isn’t a genuine choice because there is only one way to go to the park – by putting on the pink boots.

Alternatively, how about this approach: “Put on either the pink boots or the yellow boots, and then we’ll go to the park." Here df are 2 -1 = 1. Two ways to get to the park – a genuine choice. This is cool.

With or without the calculation of df here’s the bottom line: Generally speaking, 1) more than one option for accessing valued reinforcers improves the quality of life. And 2) big skill repertoires are needed to benefit from genuine choice (choice-rich) environments.

The concept of choice vs genuine choice is worth considering carefully and creatively: How can we offer more genuine choices to the learners in our care? How can we arrange environments to support more genuine choices? This isn’t an all or nothing proposition. Some husbandry and medical behaviors may be better taught with df = 0. It is a lifestyle of genuine choice that is the basis of freedom as I understand it and one of the big picture goals of modern training.

See de Fernandes, R.C., & Dittrich, A., (2018) for a comprehensive discussion of freedom as considered by Goldiamond, https://link.springer.com/article/10.5210/bsi.v27i0.8248

Here's a wonderful description of degrees of freedom as it relates to statistics and hats if you want to dive a little deeper: https://tinyurl.com/2uewxk8j

05/28/2023

“Ohhh this horse just has a little arthritis in his left hock, it doesn’t seem to bother him too much.”

Horses are prey animals and therefore great compensators; they will create alternative locomotive patterns to continue movement.

So, say this little bit of osteoarthritis causes a reduced range of motion of the tarsal joint. In an attempt to maintain stride length and hide this dysfunction to potential predators (because you never know when a lion could be waiting around the corner... or a flapping plastic bag!) the tarsal (hock) joint is rotated medially (inwards) during the swing phase of the stride. This results in asymmetrical & medial weight bearing through the digit (hoof). This places additional stress through medial hamstring muscles, resulting in muscle tension and trigger points. And this is all something that is potentially going on in the affected hindlimb.

A hip hike/drop can occur at corresponding phases of the stride, placing the sacroiliac joint under stress, resulting in paraspinal and asymmetrical gluteal tone/pain.

Decreased impulsion from the left hindlimb leads to increased weight bearing through the right forelimb diagonal. This can create tension and hypertrophy to the right pectoral muscles and related fascial planes.

The spiral of compensation could continue on further, affecting cervical muscles that become hypertonic as a result of weight shifting, digit shape and size, TMJ pain, head tiling, hyoid dysfunction, asymmetric tail holding...

Check ligaments may strain on the overloaded limb, saddles may slip, mouths may open, head shaking may happen. And that doesn’t mean we have to put on a flash noseband, non-slip saddle pads and wear spurs to get more impulsion from the left hind that is through and through p a t h o l o g i c a l.

Often it can be the case where I see a horse that is a chronic stage of compensation and it can be difficult to find the true cause especially when the horse may appear just overall “stiff”.

I liken the rehabilitation of chronic cases to peeling the layers off an onion; one layer at a time and piece by piece to unravel and rewind the compensation spiral. 🐴

If this sparks a thought in anyone’s mind that actually, their horse may be suffering with this kind of pain presentation — follow your gut, trust that you know what is best for your horse and have your vet, physio, farrier, nutritionist, saddler, trainer all work with you and your horse to improve their comfort 🥰

05/24/2023

Interested in joining the StrideFree Squad?

Work with a family-owned business and be part of a proud tradition of horse lovers.

We are looking for more saddle fitters, so if you're interested, contact us at [email protected] and become part of the squad!

04/25/2023

🐴It's OK🐴

Lots of us worry that we’re not perfect. We believe that the horse world has certain standards and that if we don’t meet them, we’re failing. There seems to be an agreed standard for lots of things, and if you can’t do that, you are in some way lacking.

It’s not always clear how the standards arose, but it’s often the case that they don’t always take the horse’s nature and experiences into account. Standards are often part of tradition, and we continue to maintain them even when we’re not sure why they are considered so important. In recent years, social media has contributed another kind of pressure. Add to that the way some horse products are packaged and marketed, and owners can sometimes feel there’s only one way to do something and that if they can’t, they’re somehow failing.

Here at Positive Equine Training Scotland, we believe that the real standard is “are you making life as pleasant and easy for yourself and your horse as possible?”

Based on that, here’s a few messages for you from us at Positive Equine Training Scotland.

🏵It’s OK to sponge fly spray on to your horse if they are worried about sprays.

🏵It's OK to help a horse settle for a hoof trim or shoeing by providing a comfortable and pleasant environment including access to forage.

🏵It's OK to comfort and reassure your horse if they are worried or stressed and it’s OK to call a halt to a non emergency procedure that is causing your horse to be fearful.

🏵It's OK to dismount if your horse is finding coping with a worry more difficult because they have a rider.



🏵It's OK to take your horse for a walk in hand instead of riding if either of you is feeling overwhelmed by the idea of riding.



🏵It's OK to introduce scary things to your horse with you on the ground (and using food both to reinforce the behaviour you want and create a positive association). If it’s new and scary, make it easy, don’t battle through difficulties.



🏵It's OK to allow your stiff horse to rest a hind hoof on the toe for hoof cleaning, rather than lift their leg right up.



🏵It's OK to sponge your horse if they are worried about hoses.



🏵It's OK to put a head collar on in a different way to all your friends, because your horse has worries about things touching their ears or hands near their eyes.



🏵It's OK to give wormer in a tasty feed for horses who have had bad experiences having wormer administered orally. 



🏵It's OK to sedate a horse who’s worried to have essential treatment, there’s no need to try to prove you can cope with a stressed horse.

🏵It's OK to train using food, horses eat nearly 18 hours out of 24 so have evolved to learn this way.



🏵It's OK to not use positive reinforcement, and instead find another low stress way to handle a situation, when you haven’t had a chance to prepare.



🏵It's OK to have less than perfectly groomed horses, they actually coat themselves in mud because they enjoy it, so a little mud is not a sign of you failing.



There are things we need to do that are fundamental to the health and wellbeing of our horses, but do they have to be done the same way they’ve always been done?



Let’s start putting our horses’ and our own enjoyment ahead of “the gold standard”. If your horse finds something stressful, you can help change that response through training (and we at PETS would LOVE to help you do that), but in the meantime, if your horse is less stressed, you will enjoy the time you spend with them more.



What things do you do that are OK and you’d like the rest of the world to know?

04/17/2023

03/20/2023

Susan Friedman, PhD of Behavior Works signing my LLA notebook at ClickerExpo Washington, DC 2023.

I took Susan’s course, Living and Learning with Animals — LLA — this winter.

It is a great privilege to devote time and resources toward such enriching opportunities for learning and growth! I look forward to carrying the knowledge with me in my training.