Horse Ways LLC

16/05/2024

How we perceive things makes a difference. Looking at the positive side of life helps us stay in a healthy mindset.

Sometimes it's what is around the bend that makes life interesting. Instead of worrying about what could be lurking around the corner, look forward to the what new adventures await!

28/03/2024

Very well said.

“My horse knows I mean well”
“I know my hands are sloppy but she puts up with me”
“I’m kind of scatterbrained but they tolerate me!”
“He knows a slap on the neck means praise so he puts up with it”

Words matter. They change how we behave and think. These types of phrases relieve us of the burden of personal growth and put the onus on the horse to tolerate our faults.

Some horses are tolerant, and these are essential to our learning. They are worth their weight in gold. But don’t let their tolerance allow you to stay comfortable in your growth - keep aspiring to get better, and treat every horse as if they’re the most sensitive and deserving of good handling horse in the world.

Just because they tolerate it doesn’t mean it’s right, and, it’s on us to continually evolve and keep offering a better version of ourselves to our horses.

26/02/2024

1. Don't annoy the horse.
2. Work with the horse in front of you and not the one you worked with last time.
3. With a horse, like in dating... consent is required.
4. When something does not work... stop doing it.
5. If the horse does not like what you’re doing, there is a reason.
6. Horses do not wear wrist watches and as a result they take the time it takes.
7. Intelligent action always brings intelligent reactions. If not, it's you and not the horse.
8. The more you know the gentler you are.
9. If it makes the horse feel better, he will let you do it.
10. Don't annoy the horse.

Tips to find your massage flow - https://koperequine.com/?s=Flow

Learn more about myofascial release - https://koperequine.com/elements-of-myofascial-release/

03/02/2024

"The wrong answer is as good as a right answer, as long as you know why. Failure isn’t the exception, it’s the expectation and the way forward. There will be discouragement before discovery. If you’re really trying, there should be no stigma no shame and no embarrassment associated with failure. It’s simply a stepping stone.”

Timothy R. Clarke, The Four Stages of Psychological Safety

📸 Erin Gilmore // Erin Gilmore Photography

13/01/2024

A Horse Can...

Teach a boy with anger problems how to live a gentler life.

Take a guy with a severe lack of patience and show him the how and why to slow down, that it will take as long as it takes.

Give him a safe place to vent when the world doesn't want to hear him.

Give a man a quiet way to grieve with a shoulder to cry on when the world tells him to toughen up.

Give a man a way to get away from the craziness of life.

Teach a man how to be so strong yet have the ability to control his power.

Allow a man a means to feed his family.

Provide an example of stoicism and what it means to stick with a job until it's done and dig in when life gets hard.

Pc Rachel Ann Photography

03/01/2024

There is a reason why-

It’s easy to focus on the symptom : how do I get my horse to lower their head? Slow down? Focus? How do I get my horse to go forward, bend, etc-?

It’s great to be aware of the symptoms. It takes observational skills to be aware of some, while others tend to hit you right in the face and can be hard to miss. But I want to know WHY those problems exist- what’s at the root of the problem?

An easy example is putting the horse’s head down- there are so many methods to get the horse’s head down, from auxiliary reins which mechanically lower it, to hands that manipulate it into a lower position- you can train a horse to do a specific task through multiple avenues, but none of these address the “why.” A horse’s head raised is in compensation of something, and without eliminating the cause of compensation, such as a weak core and unstable hind legs or pain, the fix is temporary at best. If you let go of the rein or take the auxiliary reins off and the head pops back up, you’re playing symptom whack a mole.

So what’s the root cause of the problem? Go deeper. Challenge yourself to look beyond the symptom that is in front of your face and look to the root. Sometimes, like Tetris, when you stack everything in the right order, the whole chain of problems disappears in one, clean *p**f*. Sometimes it’s not that simple, but regardless, there is a deeper reason- keep looking, and don’t get stuck in symptom chasing.

02/01/2024

A little late, but Happy New Year!

17/12/2023

Our past might shape us and our horses, but it does not define who we are. Our choices of how we choose to move forward and learning from our mistakes help us to move on.

13/12/2023

Feel is incredibly important, as well as intention -
But that doesn’t mean technique and skill isn’t important too.

Having the best intentions does not overcome flopping a lead rope around that sends a scary and confusing signal to a horse

Having the best intentions to go forward doesn’t counteract accidentally pulling the mouth of the horse backwards

It’s essential to learn good technique.
It’s only kind and fair to the horse to take responsibility for how our feel is applied - it must be a daily priority to be cleaner with the aids, softer, more precise so we don’t confuse, scare, or overwhelm them with noise they don’t need and we didn’t mean.

People with good intentions, truly, work endlessly on their skill, to the best of their ability.

That doesn’t mean you can’t have good feel if you have limitations - it simply means you dedicate yourself to being your best, because you know the horse deserves it.

17/11/2023

It’s not important that you or the horse don’t make mistakes. It’s important that you both learn to recover

It doesn’t matter if the horse spooks or not, it matters that you teach him to regroup and recover

It doesn’t matter if you fumble or bounce a second or lose a stirrup, it matters you teach yourself to regroup and go on

It doesn’t matter if the horse loses balance, misses a lead, falls in on a corner etc - just teach them how to rebalance and recover

Mistakes are part of life; and an important part of developing balance and better movement patterns, developing confidence, exploring and critical thinking, and much more.

Don’t worry about making mistakes because it’s a given it will happen -
Just learn the art of flowing forward, the art of regrouping, the art of moving on in a fluid and confident way, and you’ll be amazed at how different it feels.

Stumble with grace and you’ll find relationships with horses much more easy

16/11/2023

😡"Be the alpha mare"
🤠"Get after him - it's no worse than what they do to each other in the field"
💥"You need to be the leader"

How many times have you heard that?

Here’s the hard truth ⬇️

Horses don't need you to dominate them.

They know you're not a horse.

You're not the lead horse or a part of their herd.

What horses need to know is that they are safe, and that they can trust you.

You can have a relationship with your horse where they choose to follow you, but forced obedience and submission is not good leadership or horsemanship.

Be the person your horse chooses, not someone they fear or are stuck with.

31/10/2023

- When my instructor repeats to me: ′′Straighten your shoulders and open your chest!” He’s not just teaching me how to stand up. He's teaching me that in life we should always walk straight and face problems head on.

- When my instructor asks me to lower my legs and keep them close to the horse, he teaches me that in life we do not allow distractions and that little is enough to deviate from his path.

- When my instructor tells me "Too much hand, don't hang on to the reins! "He teaches me to give and not to take, with the greatest respect of others.

- When he yells and repeats endlessly: "Look forward in the direction you want to go!” He teaches me the importance of setting goals and never losing sight of them to achieve them.

- When I ask to move up or do more and my instructor says I'm not ready, he teaches me that in life you must always respect your rhythm and never skip the steps.

- When I fall and get back up, I learn that there are always setbacks, times when we back up, but the important thing is to get up more determined than before.

- If I hold my breath during a ride and he jokingly tells me "breathe! You are purple!” I understand that you have to let your emotions flow in order to get rid of them.

- When at the end of the course I am happy with the work done and my instructor says to me′ ′Well done, thank your teacher′′ I know he is not referring to himself but to my horse.

- Now you, you who are watching a rider pass in the saddle, keep saying that riding is not a sport because it is the horse that does everything. I agree. Horse riding is not a sport. It is a life lesson.

21/10/2023

Thank you for coming out Leslie and sharing your saddle knowledge. Look forward to you coming out again!!!

23/09/2023

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=862824461865927&id=100044151443620&mibextid=ZbWKwL

Horse peoples commitment to believing dominance theory / “Alpha” theory despite the lack of evidence showing it to be a real thing is an incredible thing to watch.

There is currently very little, if any, evidence suggesting that horses have a static herd hierarchy in natural environments and that even IF they did, that said hierarchy would apply to how they view humans.

The man who initially perpetuated alpha theory with research on wolves later rescinded his enter belief system due to said study being impacted by the stressors of the domestic lifestyle in addition to the fact that wolf packs are generally family groups, meaning that the older more experienced wolves did take on leadership roles to educate their younger pups… but not for the purpose of exerting dominance.

Now, horses are not wolves but similar findings have been reported.

Much of what is viewed to be attempts of asserting dominance in domestic horse herds is actually resource guarding.

A horse guarding a PERCEIVED lack of resources, this does not mean that the resource actually has to be lacking

Reduced space, infrequent hay feedings, environmental frustration and general stress can increase the aggression we see in domesticated horses.

In feral herds, horses don’t spend much time engaging in aggressive behaviours because such behaviours are expensive physically and risk injury.

Sure, we see lots of photography and video of this happening but those tend to be the more “exciting” shots and thereby more popular, not necessarily more common.

Even in instances where feral stallions are actually fighting, it isn’t an attempt to be the “alpha.” It is attempt to protect and/or secure resources such as breeding rights to mares, space etc.

In addition to this, young horses, especially male horses, will practice fighting behaviours in play and this can be mistaken for real aggression.

Dominance theory is used by humans to label horse behaviour as “naughty” or “disrespectful” which is then often used to justify use of physical punishment.

The issue with this is that much of the behaviour we label as dominant behaviour from horses towards humans stems from fear, frustration, confusion, pain and general stress.

Escape behaviours are merely a horse trying to evade an undesirable situation, not an attempt to exert dominance.

Horses are natural peace makers and would generally prefer to not put up a fight.

But, so much of horse training in the human lens involves disciplining fear based behaviours, creating more fear and then blaming the horse for responding with stress.

We create the very types of environments that make it more likely to see what we perceive as “dominant” behaviours and then blame the horse for it.

The vast majority of undesirable domestic horse behaviours are directly caused by, or at least contributed to by, human influence.

So, it’s about time we reflect inwardly, get with the times and accept the fact that research doesn’t support the idea of dominance theory.

The level of attachment people experience with this theory despite the lack of evidence I think speaks for how desperate many of us are to justify our use of force in horse training.

It is such an odd hill to die on and the level of ferocity that people who speak out on the myth of dominance theory are met with I think exemplifies the crux of the problem: a desire for complete control at any cost rather than a desire to understand and communicate.

Communication and partnership will get you a lot further with horses than dominance, despite what much of traditional horse training may have taught you.

Here is a good fairly recent study on dominance pertaining to horse training: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0737080617300059

“Highlights
•
It is unlikely that horse–horse social status translates to analogues of human–horse interactions.

•
The concept of leadership as advocated in many training manuals proves to be unreliable in the horse.

•
Horses' responses to training are more likely a result of reinforcement rather than a result of humans attaining high social status and a leadership role.

•
Knowledge of horses' natural behavior and learning capacities are more reliable in explaining training outcomes than the application of dominance and leadership concepts.”

12/08/2023

This is a great reminder. We can change how we perceive things, but it takes effort and it is a choice.

You will continue to suffer needlessly if you choose to be offended frequently.

This is a lesson I have tried to internalize, and need to repeat to myself often.

How much energy is wasted on another’s opinion, when we could be investing it into our own growth and learning? How much needless time is put into the voice of someone who doesn’t live your life?

Being offended is a waste of your life’s energy, which is better directed toward helping others.

18/07/2023

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=716429150495634&id=100063856669752&mibextid=ZbWKwL

Good riding requires that we re wire our natural instincts. When we get afraid, we tip forward, or clutch, or pull. We stop breathing, and somewhere deep down we hope the horse will adapt and take care of us. But a good steward takes responsibility: it is our duty to practice honing our reflexes. It is our job to practice controlling our position, our breath, and learning to create a productive mindset.

It is the hardest thing in the world to do to control our natural instincts- but it is the most important. And expecting the horse to adjust to us without the necessary skills is folly. Take the time, put the hours in, get a good coach and an appropriate horse, and master your body and mind.

02/06/2023

Change is inevitable. How you change and who's in your life to help you change is up to you. There is a diamond in the rough within us all. Happy gotcha day Merlin.

25/05/2023

https://philhaugenhorsemanship.com/podcast-episodes/180

We can’t control the first thought that comes into our minds, but we can control the second.

If you’ve listened to this podcast before or been involved with one of my online training programs or clinics, you know that I always preach about the importance of understanding the horse’s mind and how it operates. If you’re new here, I’ll give you a quick summary: A horse’s mind has two...

14/05/2023

Thank you Little Lake Equestrian LLC for setting up the trail obstacles in your indoor. We had a great time and we look forward to more!

16/04/2023

Fear is a scary thing, and so is not being in control. But we do have control over our own thoughts and actions and that is a good thing to remember when we are scared.

I was thinking about how I’m not a very fearful person- there’s not much that I come across that gets me too fearful.

Then I realized that’s absolutely untrue - lots scares me: navigating subways and public transit, being in congested inner city traffic, airplane turbulence, unexpected social interaction, especially in groups- the stuff I don’t experience with much frequency.

The stuff that doesn’t scare me is the stuff of my life: horses, fractious or not, outside living, driving trucks and trailers- the things I’ve studied, practiced, and prepared for. The things under my control.

The things I am afraid of are things I don’t have control over and don’t understand.

Fear- illogical, contextual. Sometimes it’s trying to tell us something- more attention here is needed- maybe fear is telling us we actually are in danger. Maybe fear is telling us we’re unprepared and unsurenof what we’re feeling and experiencing: more education and practice is needed.

Maybe fear is telling us we feel powerless: so often what we’re afraid of is completley out of our control.

But when we climb on the back of a horse, we have control over who’s back we climb on, how that back feels, and how prepared we are to do it. We have control over what resources we seek for help.

That doesn’t mean fear magically melts away on a safe horse with a safe instructor- but there is some control we have here, and at least for me, that’s worth a lot.

14/04/2023

Grit, Grace & Gratitude. Can't wait for this group to start!

This is open to the public. At this time The Stables does not bill insurance but a sliding fee is available based on income.

06/04/2023

Negative self talk doesn’t just hurt you- it affects everyone around you, and affects your horse too.

So often we think of self deprication as a harmless crime- something that only hurts us. But the energy you emit affects everything you touch- and your horse doesn’t logically reason that it’s you talking to you and not them. Think of it like being covered in a storm cloud- if doesn’t matter who it’s aimed at, nobody wants to stand under that.

Working on confidence to me doesn’t mean believing or pretending you’re the best, you’re not doing anything wrong etc- it means you stop focusing on yourself so much in general. It means you take in the moment and your place as part of it, but not the entirety of it.

Arrogance and self deprication are two sides of the same coin- excess focus on the self- and not enough in the moment. It adds nothing, and steals from everything around you.

Let go- blend in- be part of the environment. Breathe and take in the horse- then give to him from yourself.

Photo by Melinda Yelvington

04/04/2023

It's all about perspective. You have a choice how you see things. If you don't like how it seems, change how you look at it.

19/03/2023

When you feel like you took two steps forward and one step back.
Last night in the arena someone asked, “Am I getting worse?”

No girl. You’re leveling up✨
You’re past the level of knowledge or skill you were previously at and on the precipice of taking things to a new level. You and your horse are in transition. Where things get messy, a bit uncomfortable and you feel like the more you know, the more you don’t know.

In the barn. In the saddle. In life.
Give yourself permission to get messy.
Lean into the discomfort.
Be open to learn, unlearn, and relearn.
Remember that growth is not linear 🌱

16/03/2023

This short book has become one of my favorites: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, By: Charlie Mackery
As women there seems to be a common thread that we want to be seen as independent, strong, and capable of doing it all without help. What we often forget is that part of being strong and capable is asking for help.

20/02/2023

There are external and internal scars on us all. They are a part of us, they don't define us!

Original photo by Purple Horse Designs

03/02/2023

Horses are incredibly stoic and good at masking discomfort, and people are very good at overlooking what we grow used to seeing.

This is probably true for all of us. When we look at our horses every day, we overlook their quirks, hitches and discomforts because we are used to seeing it. We start to think of it as “just how they are” and are unaware of the full picture.

I do this with my own horses as many of us do and need instruction from an outside eye to keep me sharp. It isn’t because I don’t love them, but because I’m too close to them to really see sometimes. The eye I have for others horses is not the same I have for my own, because they are so familiar to me. An educated outside perspective on their needs is extremely valuable because it helps keep me on course.

Sometimes when we hear a need our horse has, or an issue, we can be surprised or even offended. We might be tempted to rush to our own defense: “he’s always been that way,” “he can’t have ulcers, he has no stress,” “we’ve been working on that a long time already,” or whatever the little goblin of insecurity tells us to say.

I try to remember myself, and try to remind my students - that horses are difficult to learn about, much pain is hidden in plain sight, and all of us are learning. So if you’ve missed something big, try not to take it to heart, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed, it’s just an opportunity to learn, and help your horse. It’s natural to feel bad or stupid or prickly, but it is an opportunity to grow and help the horse. It doesn’t need to be a personal attack, though if it feels that way, it simply means you’re human like all the rest of us.

04/01/2023

How to train with minimal time:

I’m of the mind that quality, consistent work ten minutes here and there is far better than an hour or two on the weekend. Everybody’s schedules are crazy, everybody has stuff going on, and probably everybody feels guilty all the time for what they’re not doing.

I have a busy life too. It can be hard to prioritize my own horses, but I’ve had several teachers essentially grab me by my shirt collar and emphasize with gusto how important my own horses training is- and so I present to you my secret plan for short sessions with quality

1- have a plan going in. I don’t mean decide exactly what you’re gonna do, because life happens and you have to work with the horse you have in front of you. But have a plan to give this session your all- to be 110% present for ten, fifteen minutes. No distractions. And calm. If you shoot for 110%, you might hit 70%, and that would be a great success. Get your head on straight, then go in to the pasture.

2- focus on quality in everything. How much care can you invest in putting the halter on? How did your horse feel? How nicely did they lead? How much attention can you give to brushing in a way your horse likes? How well did they stand at the mounting block, how much attention to detail did you give picking up their feet with softness? These things matter, and add up.

3- focus on being smooth and rhythmic. The more I can get me and my horse moving in a smooth, rhythmic way, the sooner the distractions fall away, the sooner my horse breathes and calms, the sooner every thing gets awesome. So get that rhythm!

4- if things go wrong, as they can do, backtrack to something easy. Spend your time building successes, so find something you can do well and quit on without eating up your whole evening being frustrated.

5- be happy with less. Don’t expect flying changes in ten minutes- be happy with breathing, be happy with standing still, be happy with moving nicely, be happy with moving at all. If you have minimal time, your expectations should fit the bill: small and simple, and learn to get happy with less. Resist the urge to do it one more time!!

And, don’t forget to get on my email list to sign up for my lunging course! I also have a course for Equitopia on Daily Handling Skills and how they affect posture 🙂 link in the comments

14/12/2022

Happy National Day of The Horse!!

12/12/2022