Seeking Mutual Horsemanship

30/03/2023

So awesome! 💗

29/03/2023

What a fabulous resource 🤩

21/07/2022

** edit to add**
(In reading some of the responses to my post, I think some are assuming that this is a barefoot vs shod post. It is not. If you read my full post you will see that. I am just pondering why it has taken so long for this shift to happen. I am all about working together with the common goal being to help the horse. That's really all I care about in the end.) ☮️

Bracy Clark published this in 1809. That's right, over 2 hundred years ago. I remember reading about Bracy Clark when I first started studying the hoof. I was stunned to see that a veterinarian had published about the damage that shoeing was doing to the hoof way back then and still, nothing changed. Thankfully, I am now starting to see a shift. More people are starting to prioritize their horse's well being. Owners are educating themselves and seeking out better hoofcare. Hallelujah. I see advancements in shoeing practice and I see more clinics focusing on getting a proper trim under the shoe and shorter shoeing cycles. This is progress. 💪 Keep advocating for your horse and choose your farrier wisely. There are farriers out there who take soundness seriously and continue to learn and better themselves. Seek out these professionals or, better yet, become one yourself.

13/06/2022

Almost all horse owners today know (through observation, experience and scientific study) that horses develop deep friendships and have strong family bonds... with other horses, and also with the humans in their lives. This is what it means to be a "herd" animal.

Anyone who has ever bought, sold, relocated, moved or trailered horses, or who has witnessed or managed herd changes and integrations, knows how stressful these transitions are on the horses (and humans).

So why, as a community of supposed "horse lovers", do so many horse owners, trainers and barn managers still act like it's no big deal to sell, trade, lease, relocate and otherwise separate horses from their beloved and trusted companions (temporarily or permanently)?

WE have to be the change we want to see in the horse industry. It's time to start openly acknowledging how our choices are affecting horses. Time and again, I see horses suffering behavioral and health issues as a result of traumatic loss, stress, anxiety and grief. It's time to start talking about how we can put compassion over profit, competition, ignorance and convenience. It takes a village to nurture stable, lifelong homes for horses. It also takes a village to facilitate the physical, mental and emotional health of horses.

What can we as horse lovers do to hold ourselves and one another accountable for what it actually means to "love" horses? Considering what we ask horses to give and sacrifice to meet human expectations, day in and day out, showing a little more compassion for their emotional ties seems to be the least we can do…

05/06/2022

Cowboy Dressage Education.
My ultimate goal in riding my horse is to have him in self-carriage with soft feel. However, at every stage of training the horse should be in some degree of self-carriage. That means that the horse maintains his own balance, frame and rhythm with a light contact.

Self carriage comes from your horse being encouraged to work by himself, confident in his own abilities and your consistent correction only when he gets out of balance. Self carriage is really self motivation on your horses part and his knowing that when you ask for something it is his job to respond and then continue until asked to do differently.
Read more at: Eitan’s “88” Brand Online Educational Membership Program.
http://cowboydressage.info/

08/05/2022

Colada play last night 🥰 I am so proud of her, really finding her balance, trust and connection 💗

Full video here: https://youtu.be/nBxIQLZlp3I

30/04/2022

💯😍

27/04/2022

27/04/2022

24/04/2022

Boots and bandages - are we harming our horses as we try to protect them?

Bandaging and booting our horses is becoming more and more popular, especially with the popularity of matchy matchy sets. But are we doing more harm than good? Most people will have come across the articles in magazines and comments from vets saying they are, and yet still they become more and more popular. Why is that? Why do riders still cover their horses in thick fleece bandages or fluffy boots despite the dangers? Tradition I suppose. Wanting to fit in. Or just habit, some will feel like they haven’t finished tacking up if they haven’t put the boots on.

I know this isn’t about dentistry (for which I apologise) but I am a vet first and foremost, and as a dressage rider I am asked why I don’t use bandages all the time. I’ve written about this several times now and no one pays attention, so rather than stating facts and quoting research, I’d like to take you through my journey of discovery, please bear with me. Facts and papers are at the end.

Rewind 12 years and I was in my final year at vet school. Prior to and during vet school I had a horse and we did dressage. I had planned to ODE but this horse pulled every tendon and ligament known to vet kind. He spent more time out of work than in. Each time I would up my game with the latest boots/bandages on the market. From fluffy boots to wraps to sports fetlock boots, fleece bandages to gamgee and cotton to the half fleece/half elastic bandages. I learnt new techniques for better support, figure of 8 bandaging to cradle the fetlock etc etc. I’d been there and done it. My collection was extensive.

Right at the end of vet school I had my rotations. I chose Equine lameness as one of my options. During in this I very vividly remember a wet lab with Dr Renate Weller where she had a skinned horses leg (showing all of the tendons and ligaments) in a machine that mimicked the pressures a horse applies to their limbs. She took us through walk, trot, canter and gallop, loading this leg so we could see the inside workings of the horses leg without the skin. It was fascinating I can tell you, and I very clearly remember thinking about my horse and wondering how on earth we are suppose to support this limb when it undergoes these incredible forces! Half a ton of animal pushing down a tiny spindle of a leg held by tendons barely thicker than my thumb. Craziness!

Fast forward just a few short months and I was a fully qualified vet in the big wide world. I attended my first BEVA Congress and during the break I wandered around the stalls looking at the latest inventions and technologies companies bring to these gatherings. Here I came across a company with the Equestride Boot which caught my eye. Now if you haven’t seen this boot, it’s wonderful and I’ve since used it a few times in rehabbing very severe tendon and ligament injuries with great success. The boot is a carbon fibre boot that stops the fetlock dropping, which stops the tendons and ligaments being fully loaded while they heal. This boot is super strong. You couldn’t ride a horse in it as it is limiting the range of motion so much, but they can move about easily enough at the lower settings to rehab etc. The guy on the stand (I’m afraid I can’t remember his name) showed me their research and in the straight talking Irish way explained the stupidity of expecting a thin piece of material to support a horse. And of course it can’t! Literally no bandage or boot (short of this very expensive carbon fibre rehab boot) is capable of reducing the amount the fetlock drops. Thinking back to Dr Weller’s demonstration, I could very clearly see how ridiculous I had been to ever believe a scrap of material could do anything to reduce or support that pressure.

But the boots/bandages don’t actually cause any harm do they? Surely it’s ok to use them on the off chance they might help and if we look good in the meantime, great! Well, not long after this, research started appearing that got me very worried about my bandage collection. Heat. Anyone that uses bandages and boots will not be surprised to see sweat marks under their bandages/boots after they’ve been removed. They trap a lot of heat. The horses body and legs generate a lot of heat when working. The tendons/ligaments in the leg, along with an increased blood flow generate ALOT of heat. Fleece bandages/boots in particular, hold this heat in the horses leg. Very few boots and virtually no bandages (especially if you use a pad under) allow the legs to breath adequately. This heat is easily enough to kill tendon/ligament cells. Each tendon/ligament is made of thousands and thousands of cells all lined up end on end and side by side in long thin spindles. They stretch and return to their original shape and size like an elastic band, absorbing and redistributing the pressures applied from further up the leg and from the ground impact below. All of these cells must work together as one to do this effectively.

Just a little side step here to explain how tendons/ligaments heal. A tendon/ligament cell can not be replaced like for like. They always heal with scar tissue. This is why reinjury is so much more likely if a tendon/ligament is blown. The fibrous scar tissue doesn’t stretch, it isn’t capable of stretching or absorbing the impact of a horses movement. It will always be a weak spot. In a full blown sprain/strain the whole (or most) of the tendon has been damaged. But this heat injury might just kill a few cells at a time. Those few cells are replaced by fibrous scar tissue, then next time a few more etc etc. Like a rubber band degrading over time the tendon/ligament loses its elasticity and eventually goes snap. Then you’ve fully blown a tendon/ligament. The injury didn’t start to happen at that moment, but that was the final straw. The damage adds up over time, each time thermal necrosis (vet word for cell death) occurs.

So if using boots/bandages can not offer any sort of support, and using them generates heat that slowly damages the tendons/ligaments until they give way. Why use them? Protection. This is the only reason to use boots. To stop the horse brushing, injuring themselves catching a pole or over cross country. But for goodness sake make sure your boots are breathable! If the horse is sweaty under the boot but not above or below, the boot is not breathable enough. And don’t use fleece bandages just because you like the colour. These fleece bandages are the worst at holding heat in the leg, way above the threshold for thermal necrosis to the cells of the tendons and ligaments. If your horse doesn’t need protection, don’t use boots. I haven’t for the last 12 years and *touch wood* I haven’t had a single tendon/ligament injury in any of my horses. I will never go back to boots or especially bandages now. I don’t use them for schooling, lunging, jumping, travelling, turnout, stable, in fact I don’t use them at all. Ever. But I don’t hunt or XC.

I hope you have found my story useful and can make informed decisions on boots and bandaging going forward.

For more information on the Equestride boot and their research into support offered by boots and bandages, visit http://www.equestride.com/ and https://www.equinetendon.com/services/equestride/

The horses leg under the compression machine at the Irish Equine rehabilitation and fitness centre https://fb.watch/cmVMt6-iOJ/ (I highly recommend you watch this incredible video. It clearly shows the amount of force the leg goes through and demonstrates the real purpose of boots)

Other relevant papers-
https://equimanagement.com/.amp/articles/horse-skin-temperature-under-boots-after-exercise
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8f15/0ea480edca142260d01f419f80d2e7e7fb29.pdf
http://www.asbweb.org/conferences/1990s/1998/59/index.html

Edit 1 - I am getting asked about stable wraps very frequently. This post is about riding, the tendons and blood flow create heat which is trapped by bandages/boots during exercise. This doesn’t occur in the stable stood still. If the horse has a strain/sprain resulting in inflammation, then there is an increase in blood flow and there is heat being created. In this situation you should not be bandaging. But if it’s cold and an old horse needs stable wraps to keep the joints warm and improve sluggish blood flow (filled legs) you can use the heat trapping to your advantage. But you need to be careful in summer.

Edit 2 - the other thing I’m being asked about is compression. Compression DOES NOT control inflammation. The inflammation still occurs, but the swelling can not escape the bandages and the increase in internal pressure reduces blood flow, causing ischemic damage. Like laminitis within the hoof. The hoof capsule prevents swelling so the inflammation expands inwards and cuts off the blood supply. This is why laminitis is so painful and difficult to treat. Compression is only useful in the case of leaky vessels, for example reduced blood pressure, reduced movement so the blood isn’t being pumped backup the legs, or osmotic imbalances eg low protein with diarrhoea. In these situations, compression of the legs can encourage blood to return to the vessels and continue circulating.

21/04/2022

Plenty of paddock time can actually reduce soft-tissue injury risk, say NJ researchers studying six years of data.

09/04/2022

🤔 Why don’t humans wear METAL shoes?

Ok this might sound a bit ridiculous because we can’t actually nail metal shoes permanently to our feet, but WHY do we wear rubber soled shoes and boots - not METAL?

What would happen if we tried to walk or run with metal covering the bottom of our shoes?

We wouldn’t feel at all SAFE.

We would be forced to acknowledge that the metal was slippy, non forgiving, unable to flex as we walked.

👉 We’re not comparing horse to human foot anatomy here... we’re comparing the EFFECT of the metal ON our anatomy.

As humans, if we were to wear metal shoes, we would experience a definite immediate IMPACT on our joints and soft tissues throughout our bodies, and anything above a walk would be treacherous.

We would change our gait to compensate... unnaturally.

We all know it would hurt us - so we can't even imagine doing it.

And yet... for some reason... we feel this is totally acceptable for horses 🤷‍♀️

We have CONVINCED ourselves it’s absolutely fine to put a metal shoe on a horse's foot.

But shouldn't the old thinking be gone now?

Haven't we moved on from when people believed that, because horses hooves were ‘hard’, nailing metal to them wouldn't be a problem?

If the hoof is hard - then it's ok to nail into it! 😐

It would ‘PROTECT’. 😐

It would stop the hoof from 'WEARING OFF'. 😐

But that shoe of metal, nailed onto the hoof, stops it FLEXING, expanding and working properly.

It STOPS the hoof mechanism from working correctly... but that is only the TIP of the iceberg.

Now we know, without a shadow of a doubt, metal nailed on shoes cause pathology in hooves, and bodies too.

The fact that we even feel horses need shoes to ‘help’ the horse, is a STARK REMINDER of how the domestic world is failing horses by not acknowledging that the reason we use them...
.. is because WE have created the sore foot - NOT the horse.

We have FAILED in our understanding that a sore footed horse is our creation not theirs.

We blame genetics... bad breeding... inherent weaknesses.

A horse is a flight animal and movement and running are paramount to their very existence.

A natural bare hoof has PROPRIOCEPTION... it feels the ground and sends vital feedback to the rest of the body.

Horses are CAREFUL where they place their feet and legs. If you are in any doubt about this, watch horses take time to walk around areas they’re not sure about.

👉 They need to FEEL the ground.

It is widely acknowledged that shoes cause horses to excessively SLIP... so studs are applied, usually only on one side of the shoe 🤷‍♀ causing even further disruption to the vital natural form and function of the hoof.

Put on a slippy object... then add something to try and stop it slipping. Hmmm 🤔

Shoes HARM horses. Period. They are metal. If you think they don’t, then please go and put some metal on the bottom of YOUR rubber soled shoes.

Think about it.

Spend just ONE DAY walking around in them. But even that wouldn’t begin to scratch the surface of the true impact of a nailed on shoe.

We have no clue what it feels like to feel contraction. The loss of use of the back of our foot. The ATROPHY of our soft tissues over time.

But horses feel it.

There is not one single shod horse on this planet that is not experiencing the NEGATIVE effect of the metal shoe.

Not one single horse. But because horses can’t ‘talk human’ we don’t ‘hear’ it.

But those who know how to read BODY LANGUAGE can SEE it!

Shoes are nailed onto the foot. The foot grows CONTINUALLY, so immediately it is applied, the shoe is working against not with the hoof.

And yet even though we know all of the above...
.. we still shoe horses with metal and nails.

Saying things like...

"it helps horses, and is a KINDER OPTION than letting them walk on their own feet"

"all horses are individuals, and some horses just cannot go barefoot, so a shoe is a KINDER OPTION"

Really? 😳

Serious issues are developing in our horses at a younger and younger age...

👉 Incidences of ARTHRITIS are rising
👉 Incidences of NAVICULAR are rising
👉 Incidences of CONTRACTION are rising
👉 Incidences of BONE MALFORMATION are rising

If we walked around with metal on the soles of our shoes for long, we’d experience a lack of confidence and the painful REALITY of the devastating impact it would have on our bodies... and minds.

Humans don't have metal soles on their shoes or boots for a VERY GOOD REASON.

It would soon negatively impact our behaviour and our MENTAL HEALTH.

That’s why we wear rubber soled shoes and boots. Because frankly, metal would be RIDICULOUS.

So if you’re going to put hoof protection on a horse, why would you even contemplate metal over a HOOF BOOT?

Or better still, give the horse the ability to grow its own healthy, sound hooves. Free of pain. Free of pathology.

The EXCUSES can only go on for so long. 🙊🙉🙈

Here at this magazine we don’t make any excuses, because we believe in empowering owners to give horses their own hooves back.

👉Read ISSUE 33 in PRINT & DIGITAL now 👉https://bit.ly/BHMIssue33

👉or SUBSCRIBE and never miss an issue👉http://bit.ly/ANNUALsub

Metal shoes WILL be obsolete one day... why not help your horse sooner rather than later 😉

The BHM Team ❤️

31/03/2022

Fantastically said 😍 I couldn't agree more 😁

Most people don't want a horse who thinks. They want a horse who does what they say, when they say, and nothing else. A horse who doesn't make their own decisions, but waits for instruction. They want horses that stand like statues when they aren't being commanded to perform exact movements or skills. Strict obedience. No autonomy. No thinking.

When someone explores positive reinforcement with their horse they open Pandora's Box. They get a glimpse of the magic inside- a horse who thinks. Who offers behavior, who makes choices, and has autonomy. A horse who is eager, expressive, enthusiastic, and extremely intelligent.

Going from a lifeless statue horse that has to be poked and prodded to comply to a thinking horse is way too overwhelming- it's scary, unattractive, dangerous, annoying, and bad.

The bottom line is we don't like horses who think. We like horses so long as their minds and bodies are subdued enough to accommodate our comfort levels. And if we don't like horses who think, if we don't appreciate the fullness of their intelligence and autonomy do we really like horses? Or just what we want them to be?

I've opened Pandora's Box and I can't put the magic back inside. I was afraid of it at first, but I loved it more than it scared me.

28/03/2022

This 💯

Here’s a scenario to ponder:
A person who’s never even been near a horse before, attends his first riding lesson.
The teacher says, "Welcome, we’ll start by putting you on a horse that bucks. Don’t worry, just work your way through it.
We’ll teach you coping skills and tomorrow you can do it again.
After a few lessons, you’ll see that bucking is harmless and nothing to worry about.
Yes, you might fall off, but you’ll learn to cope and you’ll soon get used to it."
Imagine the poor pupil if he did survive the first day and actually came back for more.
Riding lessons would be something to dread – each day more frightening than the day before, more terrifying because he knows what to expect.
If the pupil eventually learns to ride the bucking horse, he’ll be even worse off.
Though he graduates to easier lessons and trots comfortably around on a quiet horse, the pupil will immediately panic if the horse trips, jumps, shies or does anything out of the ordinary.
He’ll be terrified and think, ‘Oh no. This is how the horse reacted in my first lesson.
He’s going to buck. Here we go again. I know what’s coming next.’
‘That’s stupid,’ I hear you say.
‘No-one would teach riding like that.’
No they wouldn’t, but horse trainers worldwide use this very approach.
When a frightened young horse bucks with the saddle, trainers say, “It’s not a big deal. He’ll get used to it. Leave the saddle on him for a while and he’ll learn to cope and he’ll become desensitised.”
Wake up world: this makes no sense.
It doesn’t work for humans and it doesn’t work for horses.

Learn more with Neil's book:👇
www.fearfreehorsetraining.com/book/

27/03/2022

For a very long time – I have debated that the one dimensional and linear traditional hierarchies that people tend to see in horse bands (or horse herds) are not there. I have written about it several times before, in book chapters, blogposts and in posts on FB. And now I will come at it from a sl...

27/03/2022

Nice illustration 😊

THE proper way a horse collects and 'gets on the bit'.
No contraption, bit, or gimmick can teach this. It's about proper biomechanics and teaching the horse to balance themselves.

24/03/2022

21/03/2022

13/03/2022

Beanie rolling over for tummy rubs and then out riding. this so much! 💕

One wobble spooking at tree sleeves while up a hill but I sat it!! She stopped beautifully, struggled a little to stand but contained herself so I could tighten the girth then walked down the hill quietly (if energetically!).

Final run up the home straight was crazy fast!! I was very pleased how well she responded to rein cues to move across the track in both directions while galloping, and that she didn't react when the other got excited and joined us cantering on the other side of the fence!

I'm so 💕💕

08/02/2022

"Mares choose to be with a particular stallion, and loyal mares are better breeders than ones who change bands. Since the stallion usually stays with and follows the mares, their bond to him is seldom obvious. The emphasis of interpretation has been on male ‘possession’ rather than on female choice. However, in populations where bands fuse freely the importance of female choice is clear." -Horses in Company by Lucy Rees

It is a common myth that a stallion's primary job is to keep his herd together. If a mare wants to leave, he cannot stop her if she is so inclined. The stallion attracts mares, he does not imprison them. They choose to stay with him. He does not control them. He is their consort. In a society where women are still viewed as property belonging to a man, be that as someone's daughter, girlfriend, or wife, it's not shocking that many perceive a mare as a stallion's possession. But this simply isn't the case. Mares are loyal to the stallion of their own choosing not because they are forced by him.

There are a lot of misconceptions about horse herds. Many of these are a result of horse owners or even renowned trainers observing horses in their own pastures at home. Why isn't this sufficient to study equine behavior? Because domestic horses cannot be used to study natural behavior. Domestic horses live in completely different environments, with limited resources, and typically do not consist of mares, offspring, and stallions. We can only study natural behavior in the animal's natural environment. Other misconceptions come from explaining behavior through an unscientific viewpoint. It's only natural that as humans we will describe things from a human perspective. But horses aren't humans and these views won't be correct. Just like how the patriarchal influence of society has skewed our perception of the stallion's role in the herd.

26/01/2022

Train your eye

24/01/2022

So well said 😉🥰

Trust - a level of certainty that interaction will result in good outcomes for the animal" - Susan Friedman

Trust is simple. Trust is based on a history of positive outcomes. I *trust* the chair to hold me when I sit down on it, because my past experiences have told me it will do so without fail. If however that chair broke on me, even one time, leaving me sprawled out on the ground startled and with a sore bottom, my trust in the chair would be severely compromised. I might even question whether I could trust any chair for awhile, until chairs could prove to me once again.. that they were trustworthy.

Trust works this way in relationships too. With other people, with animals... With our animals *trusting* us. Trust is earned, based on a history of positive outcomes for the one we want to trust us, and what's considered positive .. is decided by them, not by us.

Obedience doesn't equal trust either. Obedience can come from a place of fear of negative outcomes for disobeying. But, if the animal has learned from it's past experiences with you that there will be a positive outcome for them.. there will be a willingness to try ("obedience"), even if something is scary or unfamiliar or confusing, and this comes from a place of trust...

Trust is earned, trust is given, trust can never be forced or demanded. We have to work for it, and not through corrections and punishment, not by demanding they respect and trust us, but by showing the horse that we respect THEM and we are willing to EARN their trust. THEN, and only then, can a horse *truly* trust us.

22/01/2022

BEHAVIOUR CHANGE IS A PROCESS, NOT AN EVENT

We now live in a world where we can pretty much get anything we want, at any time. All too often we expect our horses to do exactly what we want, when we want it, giving little thought to why they may not be performing the behaviour we are asking for.

'Misbehaviour' in horses is either normal behaviour that the handler has misinterpreted, or behaviour that the horse is performing as a result of pain, unsuitable management, poor training or any combination of these things.

All too often the owner will look for a 'quick fix' to behaviour problems. They try and 'ride the horse through' the problem, use a restrictive gadget, a stronger bit, a drug, a whip, a pressure halter – you get the picture.

We need to understand that behaviour change takes time and it must be at the horse's pace, not ours. We also need to ask why the horse is behaving this way and address the root cause of the problem, not the symptom.

18/01/2022

This is fabulous. And so true. That time spent connecting with each other is so important. It builds trust, and often the leaps in connection are fantastic 🥰

15/01/2022

Video highlights of the same session...

Finally finished editing from my lovely play on Sunday!! Billy absolutely on it, calmly together to bundle of energy on a thought. So impressed with him. Bina enthusiastic and reminding me of my connection and balance. Baby Olive being brave and doing big brain work 💖

https://youtu.be/w5u7dgwAYhA

Billy working on flow and canter transitions Bina working on rhythm, centredness and consistencyOlive playing with simple concepts