Gentle Touch Horse Training

16/01/2024

Don't have to ride to enjoy your horses. They just want your attention.

14/01/2024

Good news is not much snow left. The bad news is it's a muddy mess out there. There is a reason why I built the area at the hitching post the way I did. It's completely dry. Eventually there will be rock around the outside. We are hoping that maybe in the spring that'll get started.

14/01/2024

Beautiful morning in Stagecoach, NV. Hope everyone has a wonderful, blessed day.

14/01/2024

14/01/2024

I loved working with Ghost. I had brought him over to my place in Washoe Valley for a couple days in preparation to haul him down to Mesquite. He had sold to someone down there.

13/01/2024

Sunday riding lessons are canceled. Not only do we have a lot of snow on the ground but I need a couple full days to recover after surgery. As a reminder, no training next week either.

12/01/2024

Horses can be intimidating but once you get to know them, they'll open up a whole new world.

"I tell people who express fear of horses to get to know them, to study their true patterns of behavior and to understand more clearly what the horse wants out of life before branding them as dangerous." - Monty Roberts, Horse Sense for People





📸 James Oliver

12/01/2024

This is our temperature this morning as of 6:30. I ended up waking up pretty early this morning so I got out and fed Dehlia and Lucy by 4. I have prepared everything so it'll be easy for those who end up helping me feed. My girls will actually be good on hay for a minimum of 24 hours.

12/01/2024

It's been a really long exhausting last 3 days. I've spent a lot of time getting prepared for my surgery Friday afternoon. Tuesday I did a lot of cleanup for the horses then Wednesday I ended up cleaning inside. I was hoping to be able to get a lot of rest today but with the big snow storm that didn't happen. I'm going to be out of commission for a couple days so I want to make it easy for those who help me feed. I ended up doing a lot of shoveling getting paths done and shelters cleared. I also cleared around each feed station.

11/01/2024

So... who wants to ride in 10 inches of snow? 🤔🤣

11/01/2024

Lots of snow out there. This was at about 4:30 this morning. I cleared this area in front of the front door around 8:00 p.m. last night.
Third picture with the dog is after letting him out before he was in for the night and just before I swept off the area in front of the door.

10/01/2024

Even on a windy day, my horses are still having their butts to the wind eating at these feeders. There is a full hay net inside the main shelter but as you can see here, Dehlia and Lucy prefer to eat at the barrel feeders. The wind chill makes it pretty cold but Dehlia and Lucy are well cared for but not babied.

08/01/2024

Proper saddle position. Place it behind shoulder blade. Don't focus on where cinch is but whether saddle is off of shoulder.

07/01/2024

Does your horse walk off or they comfortable just standing there? This is a well put video. Dehlia and Lucy will stand there because they are connected to me mentally and wait for my request to move somewhere else.

07/01/2024

FINAL DAY to save 25% on new art for the New Year!

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Ends tonight 1/7!

07/01/2024

Horses do what they know. They also communicate their own way. Stop and think before calling a horse an idiot or mean. Learn to read their language and really listen to what they are trying to tell you. Most of the time that attitude they give is because they are sore. It's up to us to figure out where and help our equine friends. A horse that tends to be "cinchy" could very well have ulcers. They probably buck because they are sore somewhere and are trying to get relief from that saddle or rider that is causing the pain.

When working with horses, you also should be going at their pace and don't put a timeline in training. That's where a lot of attitude from your horse comes from. Sometimes they get overwhelmed and the only way horses get the point across is exploding and they get that far because you don't listen.

05/01/2024

Picked up a total of 17 bales of hay today. 13 Teff and 4 Orchard. I only had about 3/4 bale Orchard left. Now I'm good for next Friday when I'm out of commission for a couple days (maybe longer). All bales on right (except open bale in front) is Teff. The 4 on the far left is Orchard. This is how it'll always be.

04/01/2024

Ended up in ER Tuesday morning and had a follow-up with my urologist on Wednesday. Next Friday I'm going in for surgery to get kidney stone removed. I'll be limited for roughly a week but should be good enough for lessons. Horse training we shall see. Not likely. I should be back at it with my regular schedule Sunday January 21st.

02/01/2024

Dear motorists -🚗🚙🏍🚐🚚🚛 and non-horse people,
please do not drive in front of a horse-trailer into the supposedly large gap to the foreman.
We have a long distance from the front man, not because we drive slowly Wir, but we need a long brake path. Unfortunately, we don't have it anymore, if you stop in front of us.
Our horses in the trailer need us to be careful and slow in curves and slow down so they have a chance to balance. Not only can they otherwise be seriously injured, it can even flip the entire trailer and cause serious accidents.
On the photo you can see how little space and opportunity the mare has to keep her balance. The foal is even right under her. She knows a misstep could seriously hurt her foal, so she tries to keep it from moving as possible. You can only do that if I can drive carefully. Please help me do this and consider! 🙏🙏🙏❤️
May be shared, because I know that most drivers do it not out of carelessness, but out of ignorance 😉

01/01/2024

Hate fireworks. Dehlia isn't happy. Lucy doesn't mind as much but still upset. Having to be with them instead of sleeping.

As an autistic, I'm not fond of them either.

01/01/2024

I had no idea horses can do that 🤦‍♂️🤣

Hmm I think I have to say something😅

01/01/2024

Every year this joke makes the rounds and it sends the wrong type of message, so here’s a new version. I posted a similar version last year and caused quite the stir, so here’s further explanation as to why this mindset can be harmful for both horses & humans.

The answer to fixing the type of reactivity that “necessitates” lunging for safety purposes is addressing the training and management factors that contribute to a horse having so much pent up energy that they need dangerously explosive behaviours as release.

Lunging to tire is a bandaid for unwanted behaviour, it uses physical exhaustion as a means of addressing BEHAVIOUR but fails to address the cause.

The problem is that routine lunging for the sole purpose of energy release before rides creates a very fit horse who will need to expend more energy before tiring if the cause of their explosives isn’t addressed.

All that aside — don’t we all want the horse we can just get on & go?

Using this joke as a metaphor for humans, aren’t we tired of always having to “lunge” the year to avoid explosives?

The “lunging” only provides temporary relief before the problem reoccurs.

Addressing causes of the problem can bring permanence that can result in lasting relaxation.

The metaphor of lunging the year to make it behave is equivalent to suggesting use of temporary coping mechanisms that long term don’t help us at all.

Wouldn’t we rather address factors causing us grief instead of perpetually slapping a bandaid on and dealing with behaviour we admittedly do not want to deal with on a repeated basis?

As someone who used to have the explosive horse who needed to be lunged to (hopefully) avoid him rocket launching me, I much prefer being able to get on that same horse with no prep.

For my new year, I want to heal the source of problems causing grief to bring lasting peace & contentment, rather than temporary relief and instant gratification at the cost of persisting problems.

Do inner work to expose root causes.

Target the source of problems.

Then enjoy a year that will improve as time passes rather than dooming you to repeatedly meet the same issues.

It’s hard to start but much more rewarding longterm.