All undesired behavior is simply an area where we’ve yet to communicate our expectations for the horse.
The beauty of growth is that should you choose it, freedom is on the other side of the pain and hardness of it.
You have a pushy horse, with no respect for your space? That horse hasn’t been taught boundaries. It doesn’t require shanking and bullying him to teach him, that’s not what teaching expectations is, as punishment fails to work you see.
Teaching that pushy horse expectations could look like teaching him to move his shoulder away utilizing a target and positive reinforcement, it could look like using a reverse round pen, it could look like using a flag to create space- easy on the flag though.
The more you can break things down and teach the horse what’s expected of him, the more 1 he will have clarity, which increases the likelihood of desired behavior because well, he understands what he’s been taught. And 2 he will love you for it. I mean it.
My horses know what’s expected of them and they love me for it, they run to the gate when they see me, they neigh for me, they stare at me and paw if I don’t come see them, they absolutely love to work with me because of the clarity I give them, it’s something really fun and mentally stimulating for them.
And it’s more fun for me too! They crave clarity and I need safety. It’s a win win. Horses are cannot behave badly, only we communicate poorly.
#horsetraining #personalgrowth #mentalhealth #equestrian #horses
These are both examples of positive punishment.
Positive punishment adds an undesirable consequence after an unwanted behavior to make it less appealing.
In the examples given it doesn’t mean your abusive, unethical or that your hurting your horse.
Aversives are not all bad, evil or unethical. Aversive are adding discomfort. But discomfort does not equate to violence, roughness or malice.
Life is uncomfortable and we grow in those moments. To maintain boundaries with others in life is uncomfortable. Communication is uncomfortable. Honesty and vulnerability is uncomfortable. Growth is uncomfortable.
Depriving yourself or your horse from uncomfortable is to stifle growth. Growth creates better humans and better horses.
However, where it goes wrong is when we do employ abusive amounts of pressure. When we lack the ability to put ourselves in the horses shoes and push them too hard and too fast. You can create trauma with aversive pressure, just like you can create a confident, aware horse who has the ability to regulate his emotions.
I employ a lot of positive reinforcement, and that’s so important too. I’m mostly talking about aversive pressure because it’s lately been labeled as all- bad, unethical and abusive. When the truth is it’s always a both and, and is an issue of human evil not training methods.
Are you punishing your horse? By definition in learning theory yes- if you add something uncomfortable to limit or eliminate a behavior. Are you hurting your horse? Not with light pressure like this in the video.
Please always be aware of how much pressure you use. What’s little pressure to one horse might be a lot to another. Be kind, slow and gentle and you can’t go wrong.
#positivereinforcement #negativereinforcement #positivepunishment #horsetraining #lovethyneighbor #equinewellness
Louie and Spanky!
This is Lou’s daddio, there’s no telling what color Louie will be but Spanky sure is a handsome dude!
Since I started WWIII with my R- and R+ reel the other day imma just keep on rolling!
Louie is a yearling, he’s brave and fearless. He loves attention and to get my focus he likes to explore with his mouth and use it to communicate that he wants attention.
It’s difficult to give him all my attention because I’m usually working with Finn when we do anything. But what I am starting to do is give him more attention when I can.
I don’t like the way he asks for my attention which is to bite, paw or rub. There’s nothing wrong with that, they are totally natural and neutral behaviors. He’s not being mean. I just don’t like it lol- and that is okay too! If you can separate emotion from your response to his behavior it’s all okay.
So to train non- mouthy and “pushy” behavior (this doesn’t reflect the horses motives- just how I perceive his actions) this is how I’m doing that. I’m using light pressure to tell him to try something different. Pressure doesn’t have to be aggressive. It doesn’t have to have lots of emotion behind it. It can be neutral.
Pressure can be gentle. And I still count that as R-, I think people have seen R- being abused and it’s really been positive punishment (adding punishment) not actually R-.
I’m not someone who’s very well versed in learning theory, but I love Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is who helps me with my horses.
That’s not to say abusive training doesn’t exist- welfare is a huge issue in the horse world. BUT- I don’t want to be apart of any horse environment that believes it’s all or nothing and that everyone who doesn’t see their way is wrong, mean or bad. It’s always both and, there are hardly absolutes in anything other than the gospel.
Training definitely isn’t as serious as where you go when you die. I’m not here to die on any hills for horse training.
I am here to understand the truth and advocate for my horses and help their owners.
#horsetraining #equinewellness #po
Here is the same horse 10 days later.
Just easy sessions. Rewarding relaxation and focus.
#positivereinforcement #negativereinforcement #horsetraining #equinewellness
The horse in this video didn’t know how to tie when I got him in November if 2021.
Finn, at 12 had to unlearn how he previously responded to a situation. He had many years under his belt of how he felt and handled things.
So I had to teach him new responses, which took longer than teaching a horse that’s a clean slate.
However, here is what I taught Finn who now ties safely.
1) give and hold vertically
2) being the head downward with pressure and hold
3) understand “pulling pressure” means go forward quickly
This is what he needs to know before you tie a horse at all.
⚠️if your horse pulls back do not tie them⚠️
It’s our responsibility to give them the life skills they need to do what we ask, and prepare them for our expectations.
I’m going to be posting several reels on how I teach each of these steps so come hang out with me in my stories and I hope you enjoy my content! I’m happy to have you here!
#positivereinforcementtraining #equinewellness #horsetraining #equinewelfare #holisticequine
If your initial reaction to your horse in pain, fear, frustration and or aggression is to get angry, aggressive and physical this post is for you.
If you used to be this way and have changed this post is also for you.
How you respond to your horses emotions is how you feel about yourself. So if your responding to his emotions like they are encroaching on your superiority, like he is somehow out to get you with his behavior, im sorry people ever treated you that way.
I’m sorry that that behavior and those responses were modeled to you. It wasn’t right. Your opinions, thoughts and emotions do matter, YOU matter.
People should have been kinder, more patient, loving, generous and more attentive to how you feel and what you are going through. I’m sorry that you didn’t have trustworthy, reliable people in your life.
You deserve better, and so do your horses. If your using traditional methods with physical abuse like hitting, shanking, excessively overworking your horses, spurring, lunging contraptions, using the bit other than subtle communication… you learned that this is okay through how you were treated.
When your boundaries were crossed and you didn’t have the tools to express it…
Abuse can occur in other forms too- like over feeding, stalling horses for too long, expecting way too much of them then what they are capable of physically and mentally. I’m really sorry that someone’s behavior and treatment of yiu allows you to think that this is okay.
There is a better and a different way, where you don’t have to live with the guilt and shame, where you don’t have to live in a place of hardness so you don’t have to look at what’s going on inside of you. There is peace and gentleness and slowness to anger, kindness.
I’m not here to judge you, because I did those things, I was abusive towards my horses in the past, but once I learned how the standard I’d held for myself looked so cruel when it came out in my responses, I realized
Horses live in the present. They are masters of living. In the human world, everything is always about the past or future. Guilt and shame grasp at us from behind while fear and anxiety pull on us from the front. Horses don’t live like that- they respond to how they feel in the moment. Now, we should not live like that in every respect but there’s a crazy wild life lesson that horses teach really well. Being present. Anxiety, guilt and shame free presence. If you want a relationship with your horse just start noticing. That’s it. My journey started with my little grey mare Annie. She had some anxiety, and I was just getting into positive reinforcement as a serious form of training. I noticed she started laying down in her stall, but as soon as she saw me she would jump up in alarm. So, I started just sitting in her stall and noticing when her ears twitched, she blinked or looked at me. Any time she would look at me I’d tell her good girl. And she eventually picked up that I noticed her. I wasn’t just there physically but mentally as well. Literally the next time I saw her laying down, she went from jumping up in alarm to allowing me to open the loud stall door and walk up to her while she layed down- a horses most vulnerable position- and rest with her. I still consider that to be one of the most special moments in my life. Horses notice when you notice them. In the horse industry climate today, we don’t do a lot of noticing the horse. We do a lot to the horse, but we don’t do much with the horse. We spend hours at the barn, riding, grooming, cleaning etc. and can still not be there. Just start noticing. Try it and see what happens. Help the horse know you notice. Brush softer, move slower, back off quicker, stop sooner. I promise you something really special will happen.
Here is Mira’s first ride since being started in 11-12 years! I could not be prouder of her.
I really went the long way with her (which always turns out to be the short way later) and it’s really paid off, her levels of relaxation are what we’ve been training and gearing up for so her first ride COULD look like this.
Relaxation is a huge element to training and should be established before anything else. The horses ability to relax and come down after stimulus can be the difference between you in the saddle and you on the ground, not to mention your guaranteed to create a positive experience when anxiety is not present and or low.
For her, she had fun with a new mentally engaging activity.
I’m so proud of Finn. He’s struggled with really focusing on me when ridden. He is perfectly content to pick his own speed and go where he likes, as would any horse I think.
But I’m proud of him because ridden work is starting to become something fun and challenges him to think like he does during ground work. This horse is incredibly smart, but ridden work hasn’t been a mind engaging thing for him.
This video means the world to me because he is mentally connected with me. He’s not rushing around focused on his best friend Pal, the other horses, he’s relaxed and he’s in tune with my leg and seat and is just waiting for me to ask him for something simply because it’s fun and engaging to him.
I don’t give a dang about his body right now, we’re just working on his ability to engage his mind with me. The whole “finished horse” thing will come very quickly when his mind looks for something in the moment with me and him, rather than on his environment.
Finisimo got a fresh trim and got to re-try his new sneakers! I’d say a major improvement to his way of going, especially in the back end. His @scootbootsdownunder will be so helpful to prevent wear and tear to his hooves! The saddle fitter is out next weekend and that means we’re getting closer to getting Finny fit and in a program!
I can’t wait to get back home from Colombia! Now that my year of ministry school is over, I have a clear direction I know I need to go. The Lord has directed me through this whole process and now I am going at something wholeheartedly because I know it is the destiny the Lord set aside for me.
When I get home I have plans to take in more client horses, and develop my business. I can’t wait to dig deeper into equine biomechanics and message and learn more about the horse inside and out to supplement my training. I have a bent towards the therapy side of things and I would love to potentially head that direction while training horses support me while I learn. We will see what life looks like in the future, but it’s looking bright and I’m so excited to see where the Lord takes me.
