Equu-librium

09/02/2024

A horse should be prepared to tolerate life, and able to cope with the environment they are brought into. This means exposure, teaching a set of skills so they can live a full and happy life, and teaching emotional regulation.

But a horse should not have to tolerate rude, sloppy, or disrespectful handling. Every human is fully capable of learning to handle their tools better, and become more aware. Teaching the horse to become more tolerant is not a cop out for self discipline. Even children and beginners can learn this, so long as their teachers make it a focus from the beginning.

08/07/2024

04/20/2024

I can’t control what happens at other barns. I can’t control what people think, what they do, how they ride, or who they ride with. The best I can do is plant a seed, ask a question, spark some curiosity -
Maybe there is a different way, maybe horses can feel and look different.

I can only present information and hope for the best. When I walk away, when I go home, I have to give up any notion of control and just hope for the best.

What I can do is make my own farm a little sanctuary of horse and human happiness. A place where riders can relax and not worry about making mistakes, to learn with support and no judgement. A place where horses can graze, sleep under the sun, socialize and be exactly what nature made them.

I can’t work on other people. I can’t make them let go, uncrank nose bands, relax grips, shout less, pull less, spur and whip less, be softer in their minds. All I can do is suggest.

What I can do, is work on me, and mine. Make myself better, less judge mental, more open minded, more centered, more caring.

I can plant a seed, and go home to work on my farm and myself.

Photo by Julie Kenney

04/01/2024

USING WORK AS PUNISHMENT

I recently watched a video where a horse was being ridden in an arena and would drift towards the arena gate. It preferred to be close to the gate and resisted a little when ridden away from the gate. The trainer’s solution was to allow the horse to rest away from the arena gate, but work it hard when it drifted back to the gate. After a while, the horse gave up trying to drift towards the gate. It was an adaptation of the adage “Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard”. Work near the gate, and rest away from the gate.

Years ago I watched a demonstration of a trainer loading a reluctant horse into a trailer. When the horse looked into the trailer it was allowed to rest. But when the horse resisted it was asked to circle one way and then the other way for several minutes. When the horse took an interest in the inside of the trailer, it was allowed to rest again. It took a while, but eventually, the horse loaded into the trailer without too much fuss. Again, it was making the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard.

Another video demonstrated how to stop a horse from pawing the ground when it was tied. When the horse pawed, it was made to work. When it stopped pawing it was allowed to rest. In time, the horse started to make the sort of changes the trainer was wanting. It worked. And again, the trainer was making the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard.

In each case, the horses made the type of changes in their behaviour the trainers were looking for. But here is the problem as I see it.

The success of each of those scenarios relied on the horse dreading the working part of it. Asking a horse to do stuff was used as a punishment. It was the ‘hard’ part of the adage of “making the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard”. It relied on the horse viewing the work as hard to make the resting seem easy. If the horses saw the working part as easy and as comfortable as the resting part there would be no incentive for the horses to stop pawing or stop drifting to the gate or resist loading into the trailer. The exercising had to be something the horse dreaded for the thing the trainer did want to appear easy.

I spend most of my time with horses trying to help them view work with me as easy. I strive to make it something that causes them no more bother than to be standing in the paddock on a warm day. That’s my goal and what I work on every moment.

But in the scenarios I outlined, the trainers (each well-known and respected with very big followings) were weaponizing the work as punishment for not doing the right thing. I see that as a problem.

I believe a better approach would be to try to emphasize making the right thing easy and less emphasis on making the wrong thing hard.

For example, in the case of the horse wanting to drift to the arena gate. I would try to connect my horse’s mind with me and not think about the gate by directing it to tasks and rewarding when the thoughts checked in with me. If the horse took an interest in the gate, I might interrupt that thought with a job that required it to check in with me (such as backup or a change of gait or a change in direction) and only release when the horse’s mind came back to me with a question. Bit by bit the arena gate would lose its importance because the horse’s focus would be on me and not on the gate.

If my horse had a chronic pawing issue when it was tied, I would help it quieten its mind by asking it to soften and relax before tying it up. If he started to get frustrated or agitated again, I might untie it and quiet his mind again before tying it up a second time. Each time I would try to improve on the degree of okay-ness inside my horse before tying it again. If I did my job well I would expect to gradually see that my horse became more settled and could stay quiet longer and longer with each session. One day I would forget it ever had a problem being tied up.
The trailer loading problem could be addressed by training my horse to lead better and follow my feel in directing its thoughts into the trailer. Most trailer loading problems are simple leading problems.

I guess my point is that I don’t understand why we would ever want to make work something a horse dreads. It seems counterproductive to most people’s goals. I want my horse to feel good enough about being with me that it sees the tasks I set as a comfort in its life. I don’t want to punish it for seeing the tasks I set as a discomfort. That’s on me. If that’s how my horse feels that’s my fault. That’s my failure. I won’t make it worse by weaponizing the one thing I want it to feel good about - work.

Photo: At a clinic, Bonnie learns to load into a trailer because it is a good idea.

03/23/2024

One of the things I try to teach is not perfection but recovery -

It seems sometimes many people are paralyzed with indecision, with fear of making a mistake. These people are prone to dependency on others to read the situation for them and tell them their needs, and to easily be the victim of others.

It’s important to me as a teacher to empower my students, which often means letting them be a little uncomfortable. You’re going to fail, but you’ll be ok. Don’t stew in it - how are you going to move forward? The horse will spook, the horse will dance around, you’re going to pull, you’re going to bounce - what are you going to do about it?

Prevention is a major skill: reading the situation and preventing the bad from happening in the first place. But that’s not reality all the time, especially when you’re learning. The more important thing is learning to recover. You slipped up, and things went wrong- learning to move forward fluidly is the most important skill you can learn in my opinion, because life gets lifey sometimes.

In this way you get away from dependency - you need to give the lead rope to your teacher every time things go wrong, or you don’t need to freeze or quit whenever you make a mistake. You learn to read the situation and make judgements for yourself - and if you’re wrong, you have been there before and trained for this.

Get help, but trust your ability to learn: and recover fluidly.

Photo is of young stud getting gentling done after being confiscated for neglect - he is on his way to learning to recover fluidly, as both of us will make mistakes in the learning process together. We recover and come back together and move forward when it happens.

03/02/2024

To be a student of the horse requires
Humility without self deprecation
Flexibility without loss of discipline
Openness without loss of structure
Study of theory without rigidity
Experimentation without losing principle

And above all
Awareness and curiosity

02/28/2024

Stressed horses can’t learn.

Your training should not look like this photo.

A study from 2022 found that, “horses with the highest cortisol concentrations required the most trials to reach the criterion,” and, “activities that expose horses to uncontrollable stressors causing strong cortisol release may impair learning,” (Cathrynne, et al., 2022).

So, what is cortisol? Cortisol, according to the Mayo Clinic (ranked first as World’s Best Hopsital in Newsweek, 2022), cortisol is the primary stress hormone.

Regardless of this information and the plethora of physical health concerns that may result from prolonged exposure to stress in horses (aggression, decreased growth, decreased reproductive ability, inhibition of the immune system, gastric ulcers, colic, etc.) you shouldn’t be in the business of stressing horses out.

This is the line between breaking and training. In training you develop a partnership and work as a team. In breaking you do exactly that – you break them.

People pushing their horses into states of panic by throwing a saddle on them and letting them run, buck, and rear around a round pen in terror while they laugh is not training. Getting on a horse who isn’t ready and tries everything they can to get you off is not training. It is not a testament to your “strength” or “toughness” when it comes to horses.

It’s a testament to your apathy. It’s a testament to your cruelty. It’s a testament to your foolishness, unwillingness to change, borderline abuse. It’s a testament to your laziness, that you are willing to do only what you know, and not even consider a different concept or new information that could benefit your horse.

It tells me and every horse you will ever touch everything we need to know about you in a matter of seconds. You are not safe. You are not kind. You do not care.

Change. Do better.

Stop breaking horses – train them instead. All you have to do is care.

-Beck


Cathrynne, H., Hayley, R., Nidhish, F., & Freire, R. (2022). Author Correction: The effect of stress and exercise on the learning performance of horses. Scientific Reports (Nature Publisher Group), 12(1)https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-09569-z

02/26/2024

What does connection look like?

Social media would have you believe it’s a ba****ck, bridless ride on the beach in a long flowing dress

Or one of those kissy face moments, where a horse and human are locked into a smooch

There’s nothing wrong with those things inherently, they’re fun displays of enjoyment of being around horses

But humans are wired to view things from their own perspective, and miss the horses perception of connection

Connection is not just a glamorous magazine cover, but a way of life. It’s a simple, but profound language between two beings.

Connection is highly variable, and nuanced
But like everything else, it has become watered down, cheapened and confused. The words lose weight as they’re passed around like a cheap prom dress between high school friends.

Connection is simply the ability to perceive and adapt to the moment and needs of the other

Connection is the ability to get into a flow state, to feel and respond and adapt moment to moment to the horse or human in front of you

It is the ability to get out of your own thoughts and into the present- to fully absorb what is happening, to become engrossed in the sights, sounds, smells and feels around you

Connection can’t be purchased with money, or time, and it isn’t owed to you by anyone. Epstein didn’t k ill himself No horse or human owes you connection if you feed them or love them.

It is something real, that comes from an earnest and genuine place inside you, that horses pick up on and can connect to. It can’t be faked, can’t be bought, and must come from you -

It’s a feeling that can’t be explained until you stumble on it, like the feeling you get when you turn the bend on a forest walk and discover the light between the trees illuminating a small portion of the path- and you feel like the first human to ever discover it’s majesty, and you’re in the most important, most special place in the world. You want to protect this feeling at all costs-
To help others discover it, but protect it from tourism, that would surely leave it littered and steal its glow, selling it in a bottle while destroying the unique and true beauty that cannot be replicated anywhere else.

02/24/2024

Such a fundamental truth of real horsemanship!

02/22/2024

A lot of riding focuses on endless body micromanagement- pick up a shoulder here, hold the haunches there, squeeze this, hold that. It’s almost like herding cats, because as soon as you get something where you wanted it, some other body part is bound to get out of place. When we ride this way, we are always reacting to the symptoms of imbalance, as opposed to guiding the body into balance.

A horse in self carriage knows how to manage his own body. Our job is to teach them to find this, little by little, by showing them how to move in rhythm, how to find their hind legs, and how to move unimpeded as a whole unit- not pieces and parts. Then we can watch him shape up before our eyes, in a way that doesn’t require squeezing and pulling and squishing the body into a shape- the shape he gets into comes from his own balance.

02/18/2024

Sometimes relieving tension does not make them feel better or more safe

Sometimes it is destabilizing!

Tension can be the glue that holds us together. If you’ve ever been through a prolonged period of stress but still had to keep it together, you know the feeling, consciously or not. Tension is the glue that keeps you together, so you can keep getting up and doing your job and paying your bills.

If we don’t have the TIME for the horse to come down on their own terms, and if we don’t have the SCAFFOLDING to pick the horse up when they fall apart, it is NOT SAFE AT ALL to relieve tension.

There is nothing that puts a suspicious and self preserving critter on higher alert than the pressure to relax and trust. The horse needs to know; and you need to prove, that there is no agenda for them relaxing. And that is where it ends for many people- everyone wants the trophy of relaxation, the releases, but then what? We’ve taken away the defense mechanism and left nothing in its place for them to cope. Just relaxing is not a life skill- they need stability, structure , and something solid to place their trust in.

Do you have that to offer? Or do you just want them to relax and trust you? It should be about what the horse needs, not just what we like seeing.

02/18/2024

02/17/2024

This is a re-post from over 6 years ago. I got an email about it very recently and I think this post is still relevant. If you read if before I apologise.
_________________________

I’ve got a bone to pick and it might surprise you to know it is with b-l-o-o-d-y trail riders. I get quite a few trail riders coming to my clinics and so I have enough experience and ammunition to make a legitimate complaint.

Actually, I have 2 complaints. The first is easy and I can deal with it in one short paragraph, but the second deserves a rant.
Okay. First up, about half of those that mainly do trail riding describe themselves as “pleasure riders”. Stop it. We are all pleasure riders! I hope we all ride for pleasure – even professional horse people. Being a good horse person is hard and dangerous work, so if you don’t love it, the other rewards (financial, accolades, ribbons) are not sufficient enough to make it worthwhile. So trail riders should stop trying to appropriate the term “pleasure rider.”

Now the second and more important reason I am cranky at trail riders is their attitude.

Whenever I meet a new student at a clinic I ask them what do they do with their horse. I would say 4 out of 5 of the trail people say something like, “Oh not much. I just trail ride” or “I just like to potter around on the trail” or “We are not serious. We just like to ride out in the bush (forest).”

They tell me they trail ride as if they have to apologize for it. It’s as if there is some sort of shame to being a trail rider and they are the second-class citizens of the horse world.

Well, I’m going to tell you that trail riders are not second-class horse people. They are the WARRIOR CLASS of the horse world.

I have come across plenty of people who have had long and highly successful competition careers that wish they had a horse they could safely ride on a trail. They practice their exercises in the safe confines of a riding facility where the most startling and unpredictable thing that can happen is that the horse gets its tiptoes wet on the water jump or it has to cope with a judge placing a rosette on its bridle. Heaven forbid those precious gold-plated ponies with their diamante browbands would have any sort of challenge that would cause their makeup to run.

To train a good trail horse is proof of a person’s skill as a horseman or woman. Creek crossings, steep descents on slippery ground, swampy ground, branches brushing the sides, carcasses of decaying dead animals, inconsiderate car drivers and bike riders are the things of nightmares for many horses trained in other disciplines. But for a good trail horse and their rider with a spine made of tungsten they are nothing more than another point of interest on their sightseeing tour.

To be able to calm a horse that is losing its manure on a trail is a badge of honour that is worth more than any blue ribbon. When on the other side of every new turn in the trail lies in waiting a horse-eating emu, it is the experienced trail rider that will see them to safety. When behind every bush hides the shadow of the grim reaper ready to unleash mayhem and death, it is the trail rider that will slay death.

Nobody should ever apologize for being “just” a trail rider. Stand proud. Be the best you can be at what you do and you will never have to feel second-class to any other horse person. Remember you are the WARRIOR CLASS.

01/29/2024

01/26/2024

Let horses move past their “story”

When you’re in the thick of it, the story is real. The behaviors can be explained by a past, near or far. Some of it may be valid, some may be our interpretation, some may be best guesses. Either way, here we are.

But horses have a strong desire to be balanced. If given half a chance, most of them, I’ve found, adapt. Some need a little more help, some have a missing ingredient that helps them complete the recipe of wellness. But usually, people are in the way.

I’ve been that person too. It’s easy. You tell the story over and over - “she was traumatized.” “You won’t be able to catch her, she hates men.” “She doesn’t trailer.” “She had an accident while tying so she doesn’t tie.” These things may have been true at one time, but without adapting our awareness to the current moment day by day, moment by moment, we so often keep the horses progress stifled.

I can’t tell you how many troubled horses I’ve had that I tip toed around, told the public to watch out, and one day discovered them calmly standing. Before my very eyes they had turned into another horse, and I was so busy talking about them I hadn’t noticed who they were now.

12/13/2023

More than knowledge, more than technique, more than gear, a sincere desire to get along with a horse is needed before a horse can turn around. Having good timing is important, a good seat and an education can get you far, but for the inside of a horse to change, the inside of the person needs to be right. The world has no shortage of troubled horses, but It does have a shortage of peaceful people looking to get along.

12/12/2023

"Show the horse who's boss"

Let's not beat around the bush and call this what it is, which is putting ones ego and self-importance before the needs of an animal that depends on you for pretty much everything. Going about trying to show or teach a horse who's boss really only teaches the horse that you cannot be trusted, and any attempt to communicate will be met with either being ignored, or punished. Whatever trust and confidence the horse had in you as a rider or trainer has been crushed.

We also conveniently anthropomorphize behaviors we either fail to understand or dislike as a gold plated excuse to react inappropriately and feed our egos and need (from lack of self confidence or knowledge) to be in control. It comes from the same place as the need to truss up a horse in all manner of gear and auxiliary aids to try and bypass or cover up holes in training or care.

We've all made mistakes with our horses and done things that make us feel ashamed, but the difference lies in ones ability to get beyond that.

Are you a rider or owner who is actively working to try and understand your horse? If so, there is no half-step away from "showing who's boss", because it really just boils down to you either listen, or you don't.
Listening only when it's convenient or only when you're in a good mood is not good practice, nor good horsemanship. Does that mean that people should be punished for missing subtle cues?
Of course not, but when the knee-jerk reaction is to say "he's so quirky" or "he's always done that" or "he's having an off day", you've already made the decision that whatever the horse is trying to communicate at that moment is not important.

What makes a good horseman or horsewoman is not having all of the knowledge, instead it's having the humility to set down your ego and expectations and ask "why is this happening" when presented with unwanted behaviors.

What are some phrases similar to “show the horse who’s boss” that you frequently hear in a barn and can’t stand?

Let us know in the comments 👇

11/08/2023

Critical thinking for learning horsemanship:

With todays amount of information easily available, it can be both exciting and overwhelming. We are bombarded with all kinds of systems, philosophies, ideas, and- they all seem to contradict each other.

My hope is never to tell anyone what to do, but to encourage them to think. There are many really good programs out there, and there are some that simply don’t work well for the horse. Some are rude, aggressive and disregard the horse. But more insidious, some look and sound nice up front but leave the horse more frustrated, crooked, and ill prepared for the world.

The path you take depends largely on who you are, what your aim is with the horse, and most importantly, what your horse says about it.

Here are some things to consider as you go through your learning- as I’ve been learning myself, I’ve backtracked many times when I ran into one of these speed bumps, and now these are my non negotiable markers for good training

1- the horse is becoming calmer and more emotionally balanced.
This doesn’t mean they are calm every second or can never have a tough moment, but in the overall scheme of things, they are more relaxed, happier, and calm in general.

2-the horse is becoming more sound.
A good training program takes mind and body together into account, and doesn’t ask the body to do things it wasn’t designed for to learn. If you find your horse becoming less sound over time, assuming an exterior injury, genetic issue or trauma hasn’t occurred, it may be wise to look at the daily movement that is being encouraged.

3- the horse is becoming safer to handle
Here’s a not so black and white area, in that this assumes those handling the horse are not doing things to create dangerous behavior, such as over driving, confining to do something the horse isn’t prepared for, etc. But, overall, good training leads to a horse that is quiet to handle and happy doing it- one that can lead, tie, load, get trims, dentals, etc without too much fuss- the timeline is the horse’s, but good training leads steadily forward to these goals

4- my favorite and most important guideline for good training: the horse is becoming more beautiful and looks serene
Good movement and handling makes a horse literally shine. Their bodies develop good muscling that makes them look taller and more majestic, their coats gleam, and their expression is peaceful. This to me is non negotiable - all good training leads to this.

10/18/2023

It’s time to retrain ourselves in how to learn and expect learning to go.

For decades, top names have pedaled programs in digestible, easy steps. You can buy a dvd and a trademarked stick and stick to the plan for success; follow the flow chart, follow a paint by numbers routine. Trainers have rotated horses in and out of their barns at lightning speed, 30 days to broke. We’ve subconsciously learned that you can buy results, in a customer is always right mentality -
But you can’t buy it, and the customer is not always right. The horse is.

You can’t buy an education, and you can’t buy training. Not really. You, the student, have to open your mind, do the work, be your own salvation. The teacher can guide you to it, but you can’t buy it.

It’s time to get comfortable being uncomfortable. It’s time to accept information you don’t like- to be told you have to go back to basics. It’s time to stop seeking tips, tricks and tuneups, and start seeking a real basis of knowledge. Its time to understand the horse doesn’t come reading the training manual- it’s time to learn to observe and think for yourself, stop seeking a step by step plan.

It’s time to be ok with hearing no- your horse is too lame to jump, you can’t ride him til he’s ready, hes going to break down if you don’t rehab him first.

It’s time for clinicians and trainers to stop dumbing the content down, and to start taking their craft seriously. It’s time to tell the public what they need to hear, not what they want. It’s time for clinicians fo say you’re not ready to piaffe, or flying changes, or whatever -
you need to learn how to sit better or quiet your mind., to handle your reins with care, to post more softly. It’s time to start delivering the truth and not what’s going to make you popular.

It’s time for real change in the industry - it’s time for real change within ourselves. It’s time to get comfortable not knowing, not being validated, and not being sold a magical cure. You know it to be true, but it won’t happen until you take it to heart, and put it into action.

10/08/2023

Absolutely everything about this is true!

Boundaries and Peace

When I get a really pushy horse, the first thing I do is turn them out into my herd. I don’t work with them while I let them settle in. They might come in anxious, fractious, shoving people, chewing lead ropes, knocking people around.

Within a pretty short time, they settle into the structure of the herd. You can see their posture change from tense to visibly relieved. It’s as if they were literally begging for structure and some clear guidance.

The next thing I do is teach them my body is consistent in its positioning. I can’t be moved, but I don’t react, over correct, get after, or any other unpredictable movements. I’m calm, centered, and they can trust that things will stay that way.

Pushy horses are not happy. They are extremely frustrated. They spend their days trying to manage conflicting messages: “it’s ok for me to move my person over when she isn’t mentally available or noticing my needs, but other times I get smacked or je**ed on. It’s ok to come up close for a treat, but other times it’s not ok to be in her space. I get in trouble when I step on her feet, but she doesn’t seem to notice or mind when she’s leading me that I bump into her. She comes out to pet me, gets me agitated, anxious and pushy, and then leaves me when she’s had enough of my behavior- just when I need guidance the most, she is gone.”

Pushy horses are a sign of inconsistent boundaries or people unable or unwilling to be mindful of their own behavior, own body positioning, and disciplined enough to create and set good habits THEMSELVES a first. A horse is begging for guidance in their lives - what they don’t love is micro managing or over correcting. You can eliminate probably half of all problems with pushy behavior by just becoming aware of where you stand with your horse, how you touch them, what your position and behavior brings out in them, and being aware 100% of the time with them.

It’s easier to teach people how to correct, snap, jerk, or other dominance based approaches to pushy behavior. They might get quick results. It’s much harder to teach people self awareness and self discipline - but if they are the ones who created the problem in the first place, they are the root cause of the problem, and the only real solution lies in controlling their own behavior.

Photo by Jasmine Cope

09/16/2023

09/10/2023

How to train a horse to buck

It’s an easy affair to train a horse to buck! Want to look cool and impress your friends? Or have a scapegoat for your horses behavior? Want to live in fear of the horse bucking so you can grip the reins endlessly?

Simply mind the following steps, and your horse, too, can buck “out of the blue”!

1- restrict forward often, especially when the horse is afraid. Ensuring the horse understands that forward is a poor choice and will be constantly blocked through reactive and quick motions helps lay the foundation for a solid bucker. Not letting him go forward really lays the tone for what he should do when he’s afraid- we all know our best bet is for the horse to freeze up until he blows up!

2- underprepare the horse for saddling. For best effect, just slap that sucker on and turn ‘er loose! It’s been working for generations, who are we to challenge tradition? Saddling a tight horse stock still makes a good chance they’ll unwind as they move out. If you’re lucky, it can become an ingrained habit. Maybe you can hop on and Buck your way into the canter on that first ride! Yeehaw cowboy!

3- pull and drive at the same time, especially into the canter. Make sure to clutch the rein but also pucker your butt, drive forward with a gripping leg, and if you want to take it up a notch, close your eyes and cry a little. This will cement a solid bucking foundation for your hard efforts.

4- ignore saddle fit. Just put more pads under there! Shoot, I’ve got 6 pairs of socks on myself. I thrive on coffee and ibuprofen, don’t need no fancy chiropractor, and I feel great! Doc says my liver is on par with a 60 year olds, so I got that going for me!

There’s many other ways to get a good horse to buck. Here’s just a few simple tips from one expert lawn dart, enjoy your new membership in the dusty bottoms club and have yourself a yeehaw day!