Maren Milton Peaceful Ride Horsemanship

07/12/2024

As we approach the Winter solstice
the days are at their shortest and the
light is sparse.
Allow this period of quietude
to enter..
Make gentle adjustments
to your daily life.
Hibernating instincts are strong
right now, and we need to
act upon them.
Winter is a time for recuperating.
We need to follow the example
of nature,
she is quietly resting and
restoring her energies for the spring.
As the light diminishes,
we are reminded
to slow down and do less.
Too often we ignore
the invitation to stillness.
Winter is a time for waiting ..
The light will return,
as will the flora and the fauna.
In the meantime,
take a deep breath
And relax into the season
of deep rest ...

Serendipity Corner 🍂CC

Artist Credit: Taryn Knight

06/12/2024

Sometimes, the happiest moments in life are the quiet, unnoticed ones. In the rush of our daily routines, it's easy to overlook the simple joys that make life extraordinary.
Whether it's the warmth of a morning sunbeam, the comfort of a shared smile, or the calm of a peaceful evening, these subtle experiences often hold the key to our deepest contentment.
Pause and take a moment to truly see these small but significant aspects of your life. By appreciating the little things, you can find a profound sense of happiness and fulfillment.
Embrace the unnoticed moments—they may just turn out to be the most treasured parts of your journey..

Balt Rodriguez 🍂 Choose Yourself

Artist Credit: Fine Art America

04/12/2024

Comparative neurobiology of horse and human.

Horses and humans are both mammals.
Our brains may not be the same size, but they are almost identical in their structure and function.

Why can our brains look so similar but our behaviours and sensitivity to the world look so different?

The area in the picture highlighted is the prefrontal cortex or the (PFC). Its job in humans, horses, dogs, dolphins, elephants, cats, mice, rats, all mammals, and even birds is to carry out "higher executive functions" such as:

🧠 problem solving
🧠 decision making
🧠 reasoning
🧠 risk assessment
🧠 forward planning
🧠 impulse control
🧠 intention

Obviously, these executive functions are more advanced in humans than in other species of mammals, but this part of the brain plays a pivotal role in higher levels of learning beyond primal behaviours and learning survival skills.

So why aren't we seeing these higher executive functioning skills and behaviours in horses as much as what we see them in dogs, dolphins, elephants and even birds?

Ultimately it comes down to safety!

The latest neuroscience research suggests that when the brain feels unsafe it causes the body to produce stress response hormones and these stress response hormones cause the PFC to go "offline".
This means that subcortical regions of the brain (deeper parts of the brain) such as the primal brain (AKA limbic system, survival brain, flight/fight brain) completely take over to increase the chances of survival.

Feeling unsafe causes the feeling of fear and it is fear that gets this party started.

So behaviours come from two areas:

1. The PFC, carrying out problem solving skills, reasoning, impulse control, forward planning etc. that may be interpreted as "obedience" and "partnership".

2. The primal brain, carrying out reactive survival behaviours. This brain does NOT carry out impulse control, forward planning, problem solving, etc. It just reacts to the world. This brain heavily relies on patterns and consistency. This brain will cause freeze/flight/fight behaviours such as shutting down, bolting, biting, rearing, bucking, kicking, barging, etc.

Which brain is the domesticated horse spending most of it's time in?
It's primal brain!

This is why we don't get to see their full intellectual and cognitive potential because most of the time, domesticated horses are perceiving their world in a fearful way to some degree.

We can help our horses with this!

Feeling fearful is the OPPOSITE to feeling calm.
If we want to help our horses access their PFC then we MUST do whatever it takes to help them feel calm.

☝️ ONLY when a brain feels calm can it slow down enough to develop TRUE confidence. Only when the brain feels confident will it access TRUE cognition (PFC).

☝️ We first need to understand that when we get "bad behaviour" from our horses, it's not intentional or naughty or rude. What you are seeing is either a horse that is just reacting to the fear they feel or they are carrying out their "coping mechanism" in response to their anticipation of feeling fear.

☝️ Try to remove expectations that your horse should "know better".
"Knowing better" implies that all behaviours are coming from the PFC and there should be some impulse control and reasoning. Unless your horse feels calm, they can't access the PFC to "know better".

THIS STARTS WITH YOU!!!

You need to be consciously aware if YOU feel calm first. If you feel calm, your horse will have a better chance at feeling calm. Expecting them to feel calm when you don't is unfair.

The best way to create calmness is to intentionally be SLOW!!!
SLOW EVERYTHING you do down.
SLOW your movement down.
SLOW your talking down.
SLOW your walking down.
SLOW your breathing down.
SLOW your horse down.
If you feel too slow, then you're going slow enough.

Calmness is slow, not fast.

This will help you and your horse to connect and feel safe together.
When the brain feels stressed, the stress response hormones cause the body to speed up.

Stress = speed

We can reverse engineer this process and create a calm mind through slow intentional movement and a relaxed posture.

The by-product of a calm brain is confidence and cognition (PFC access).

Happy brain training 🧠
Charlotte 😊

Photo: Credit: Adult horse (equine) brain, sagittal section. Michael Frank, Royal Veterinary College. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

27/11/2024

Striking a match too hard won’t light it.
In fact, it might break it.
And then there will be no light.

Piling too much on a fire won’t keep it lit.
In fact, it might suffocate it.
And then there will be no fire.

Burning a candle constantly won’t keep it burning.
In fact, it will exhaust it.
And then there will be no flame.

Sometimes gently is better.
Sometimes little by little is needed.
Sometimes rest is necessary.

Sometimes gentleness gives us light
and space to breathe.

Sometimes gentleness allows us to come back to life again when we weren’t even sure if we still had that fire in us.

So don’t be too hard on yourself.
Don’t pile on the pressure.
Don’t burn yourself out.

Because your flame can’t stay alive like that ..

Becky Hemsley Poetry ✨

Artist Credit: Esther Bennink

24/08/2024

Great trail ride with my student Delaney at HQ today! Tilly did awesome trotting almost the entire ride with a few minutes of caner, and Li'lManwas a rockstar as usual. Having fun getting the horses back in shape after being away!!! I 💜💙 my 🐴🦄!

21/05/2024

The problem is you think you have one problem, when the actual problem is much more complex and systemic.

We tend to fixate on the presentations of a problem- horse won’t get in the trailer, horse jigs on the trail. We ask questions relating to that problem- how do I get my horse to ___? How do I get my horse to stop ____? But we should be looking for the root of the problem. How does my horse feel about everything I do? What is his understanding in everything I do? Where do I see similar presentations of this problem present itself in other facets of our time together?

Rarely does a horse have one single problem in one single thing- it is often system wide, a deep pressure ignored or misunderstood until it comes to a head somewhere visible to us.

11/05/2024

"There is something inside you that knows what to do!" 💜 Thanks Amy!

Relax, nothing is under control-

One thing I have learned as an extremely important life skill, is to let go and trust that my gut will guide me.
As a teacher who regularly gets ten snorty horses in the same space, as a caretaker of 14 horses with many behavioral issues, as a mother to two spicy daredevil children, as a human being on the planet, I have rarely found worrying and trying to control to be effective or helpful at all.

Finding the calm in the chaos- to learn to find the pause in the noise. There is something inside you that knows what to do. Your intellect can only take you so far. Your mind can be a liar and lead you astray like a siren to a ship, crashing into the rocks. The something inside will guide you through, if you let go, and wake up.

Practice, learn theory, develop skill- these things can’t be neglected. Do your due diligence, and then breathe into the chaos. I don’t mean to get in over your head on purpose, or livr a purposely chaotic life- i mean when things get hairy, as they often do, worry steals your precious energy from being able to see - breathe to quiet the worry, open your eyes, and follow the inside voice.

08/05/2024

Right!

Getting on board the EXCUSE TRAIN is one of the best ways to avoid getting better, because it gives us an out when faced with the prospect of change, and most of us HATE change.

But if we can come up with various excuses, It can stave off having to face facts.

The next time an instructor says something, think about that almost instant internal response. Is it an actual acknowledgement that we need to do the hard work, or is it a string of words designed to deflect?

The Excuse Train becomes its own sort of narcotic, and many choose to get aboard and stay there. Try to figure out YOUR reactions when asked to change----It can be enlightening,

30/04/2024

Relief of pressure is not a reward.

Let’s discuss.

Pressure and release, the most common type of reinforcer used in horse training, is negative reinforcement.

This is the removal of an aversive pressure to reinforce a behaviour.

The removal of that pressure is RELIEF not reward.

The horse doesn’t gain anything, they simply have something removed that they’d rather not have be there.

A reward is something gained.

It has to be something the learner, the horse, enjoys and wants to seek, an “appetitive” reinforcer.

If it isn’t, it won’t be reinforcing.

Removal of pressure cannot ever be classed as reward because the learner is gaining nothing, instead something is being removed.

And in order for removal of pressure to be reinforcing, the horse has to prefer that the pressure not be there in the first place.

This isn’t an anti-pressure and release sentiment as it can absolutely be used ethically, but it’s imperative we understand how the methods we use work and use the correct language to describe them.

Both positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement successfully reinforce behaviours and can result in behavioural change.

But, positive reinforcement involves the addition of an appetitive stimulus, something the horse wants, to reinforce the behaviour.

Negative reinforcement involves the removal of an aversive stimulus, something the horse would prefer not be there, to reinforce the behaviour.

Negative reinforcement by default is reliant on use of aversives otherwise the removal of the pressure wouldn’t be reinforcing.

Not all pressure is aversive and it is possible to teach tactile cues with R+, so not using R- doesn’t equate to never using pressure.

Ultimately, you can use either type of reinforcer ethically.

But, it’s imperative that we all have a grasp on HOW the methods we use actually affect behavioural change.

Framing training through the lens that we want to believe, rather than a scientifically accurate one, doesn’t change how the horse experiences what we do.

Being aware of how behavioural change functions allows for better horsemanship and more effective training.

01/02/2024

Warrior Ranch volunteer Laurie Connors discovered that while she was supporting our work, she received support in return. "I went through a very difficult time with the loss of my sister 2 years ago and I would see Sully once a week. Sully sensed my feelings and helped me so much...I am so grateful for being able to help at the ranch. Thank you Warrior Ranch and thank you Sully!"

Thank you Laurie, for all you do to help Warrior Ranch fulfill it's mission of giving a second chance to human and horse. We are grateful to have you.

www.warriorranchfoundation.org

01/02/2024

The only way to change is to do things differently.

19/11/2023

People are always asking me where they can go trail riding....

Rides available!

Cost is 95 per rental

Rides are between an hour and a half to 2 hours long.

19/11/2023

Just wanted to share: This is sooo True 💕

CELEBRATE YOUR OWN WINS.

It’s important to run your own race, ride your own class, lope your own warm up and celebrate your own wins. Whether there are 60 or 600 entries, everyone wants to win, but ultimately, everyone has to show up to even be one step closer to winning.

And winning doesn’t look the same for everyone and that is OKAY.

Some days winning is that your horse is sound after months of time off.
Some days winning is that your sick horse perked up and whinnied at you when you walked in the barn.
Some days winning is that you drove yourself to the horse show.
Some days winning is that your horse walked into warm up.
Some days winning is that you left three barrels standing or didn’t go off course.

Rarely ever is “winning” actually WINNING and a lot of wins happen outside of the arena.

Celebrate all of those wins because you worked your tail off and you earned them!

When you treat and rehab a horse for a year and you finally get to haul them to a show, that’s a win, an hard-earned one.

When you finally hit one lead change out of four, that’s a win.

When you make it through the trail course without a DQ, that’s a win.

When your ulcer prone, anxiety ridden SELF, keeps lunch down at the show, that’s a win.

Don’t compare your win to the person who took home the blue ribbon, because you never know, that may be just what they needed to not sell out on their dreams. Congratulate them after you congratulate yourself.

It is so easy to get caught up in the idea of “winning” that we lose sight of our own goals, how far we have come, what we have conquered, and the wins that we let slip by us because they weren’t a declared WIN on paper.

Easier said than done, I know. So in case you haven’t heard it or in case you haven’t told yourself lately,
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR WIN!!! ❤️

full credit to unknown author.

13/05/2023

Correction- happens after a behavior
Redirection- happens during the behavior
Education- prevents the behavior from ever happening

I get asked all the time, what do I when my horse ____?
Sometimes you don’t have a lot of control of certain behaviors, such as a farrier trying to get a trim done. They aren’t in a position to educate your horse and can only mitigate behaviors. Correction in this case would be things like slapping, yelling “no” or “Quit” (which last I checked, horses don’t speak English), yanking lead ropes, etc. Redirection is possible if everyone is attentive, watching the horse and communicating. Taking some time to set the environment up for success is helpful too, such as moving away distractions like nearby hay, or bringing in a buddy to keep the horse quiet.

Ideally, the owner would educate the horse before hand, to prevent any problems. This would involve teaching the horse to pick up their feet, come into the barn and stand for short periods at a time leading to longer periods, and to feel calm with or without a buddy.

In many scenarios, some combination of all 3 might come into play- education, redirection, and correction. I think it’s important to never say never- but in most cases, we can eliminate the majority of need for correction with education and attention to the situation at hand.

Many horse people are caught in a cycle of reactive correction- waiting for the horse to ”misbehave” (which I put in quotes here because horses behave in accordance to their education, handling and environment) and reacting - the problem with this is it is always too late. The behavior has happened- and now the horse is frustrated, the person is usually emotional, and the whole thing is a setup for failure. It doesn’t actually teach horses- it can create fear, can create sneakier behavior, or can cause a behavior to stop due to startling- but it doesn’t actually teach. For a horse to learn long term, we need to break down the pieces that go into the behaviors we want to encourage, and reward those.

It’s a tough pill for most to swallow, but important nevertheless- the behaviors of the horse are always our responsibility- and that if we are correcting, chances are we missed the signs leading up to it, and are late. It’s up to us to create the education and environment needed for a horse to succeed, to get into an education and observation frame of mind, and to get out of reaction mode.

09/05/2023

29/04/2023