Merrylegs Horsemanship

15/07/2024

Huzzah! Best of luck to Poppy and her new family!

05/07/2024

Sweet girl has already found her home! I’m so excited for her 🥰

26/06/2024

Leadership vs Followership

Leading depends on someone following, and the dynamic of followership perhaps deserves some attention. Horses are prepared to follow any one of the group who set off with conviction. Horses do not respond well to uncertainty.

Three horses are at pasture. One is thirsty and decides to go to the stream for a drink. One of the others notices her leaving and decides to follow. The third spots the other two and follows them. What factor is at work here? Dominance, leadership, or followership? There is no conscious decision to influence the actions of the other two horses. She is motivated by thirst and moves off with conviction. The others are motivated by social behaviour. (followership)

The herd works in this way: if one spots danger, the others will follow the line of attention. It is thus important that we learn to control our reactions, through breathing and relaxation, so that we do not actually make a horse worry about a situation that he was not worried about to begin with.

Horses are prepared to follow any one, horse or human, who acts with conviction. Wavering will put a horse on guard.
A rider communicating uncertainty about going over a jump will find that the horse makes a decision about the best course of action, which may be stopping, rushing over the fence or heading for the gate.

Unfortunately, leadership is often equated with control and dominance – with most methods of horsemanship insisting that control and dominance are absolutely necessary for leadership and a partnership.

I prefer the definition Carolyn Resnick gives – ‘. A leader is someone who makes a request – ask, don’t tell. Leadership is flexible. ‘

21/06/2024

Poppyseed is officially available for adoption!

20/06/2024

Poppyseed has settled into herself in a beautiful way in her time in training. I can’t wait to follow her as she eventually finds her adopter! She’s going to be an incredible partner!

13/04/2024

It’s a good one.

I think we have to take this one out of the realm of and start a new category, let's call it . Here we go:

It doesn't matter if your horse likes you.

Let me rephrase: your first priority shouldn't be, "Am I my horse's favorite thing? Do they enjoy training more than anything else they're doing that day?" That is an unrealistic, and frankly self-centered approach.

Your top priorities should be: 1. is my horse healthy and happy 2. is the training I'm doing with my horse improving their health and wellbeing, and increasing their longevity?

Notice, you don't factor in. It's wonderful to have a relationship with a horse, to build trust, to treat them with kindness and respect is absolutely essential. And who doesn't feel joy when their horse interacts with them, of their own free will? There are few better feelings in the world.

But you know what, you can do all of this, and they still might rather eat grass or enjoy their grain than go for a ride with you. And that's not a moral failing on your part. Your horse may enjoy your company from time to time, but as hardwired by nature, prefer the company of other equines most of the time. That's normal. You haven't failed your horse if your relationship with them is not their primary focus.

In fact, when you put your horse's perception and relationship to you above how they live naturally, with their herd and forage, you're actually centering your own ego. This can be really problematic, because if in your kind and ethical training you reach a roadblock, you may take it personally: "I thought my horse liked me! What have I done to deserve this? "

And, more often than not, people perceive this as a personal betrayal. They anthropomorphize the horse's rejection as they would that of a friend. I've seen people switch over to truly aversive/abusive training methods when they feel personally betrayed. There is a level of fear, conscious or subconscious that resonates with bully trainers, whose need to control and belittlr animals of course also comes from fear. And they could avoid this pitfall completely, simply by centering the needs of the horse, rather than the horse's relationship to them.

After all, we're with the horse 1 hour a day - what happens in the other 23 hours? If we had a horse that longed to be with us for their only sense of security and joy, we could create a horse that was totally neurotic and non-functional most of the time.

Our goal should always be to add to our horse's lives, and not center our own needs and wants, or worse our egos, above what's best for them. When our horse presents an unwanted behavior, it's not a personal affront or a betrayal. It's a communication that there's a problem, or that the horse has a different priority in that moment. This is normal. Address the need. Don't blame the animal. They don't owe us anything, and we owe them everything. How we center our approach matters.

10/01/2024

Are you wanting to improve your relationship with your horse? Refine their manners on the ground, or their manners with your farrier and vet? Merrylegs Horsemanship is a mobile training service that will come to you to assist with all of these things and more! DM or visit the website to schedule!

29/12/2023

Dash met his soon-to-be BFF today 🐂 . This 2-yo Mustang is headed for a career in Working Eq, and today was his first off-farm adventure since he was adopted and first introduction to the bull obstacle! He’s such a pleasure 😍🖤

16/12/2023

The glorious weather held out for Merrylegs Horsemanship’s first groundwork clinic! Many thanks to all the participants and to KeepStables LLC for hosting!

14/12/2023

An important Grinchism!

01/12/2023

In case you missed it - from now til December 25th, all horses are being adopted out with significantly reduced fees. While our giant grey gelding is 50% off, every other horse on the top of our website (above the rehab line) can be adopted for only $850!

All the horses "below" the rehab line on the website are only $500! And remember that you can also apply for and be part of the Recover at Home project if you adopt one still in rehab.

Not only are you getting a good deal, but you're also helping us make room for horses on our wait list who are still awaiting that safe, soft landing to transition from racehorse to your next riding horse.

We're already getting a ton of inquiries, so get those applications and emails in quick!

*Must reference this sale to get the discount :)

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Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA) ASPCA Right Horse Mareworthy Maryland Saddlery Consignment Hockessin Maryland Saddlery Consignment Crofton Horse Illustrated Beyond the Wire Second Call Thoroughbred Adoption and Placement Aftercare Charles Town - Equine Encore Performance at Charles Town Bethany P Photography Fair Hill Saddlery Oxford Feed & Lumber

30/11/2023

Poppyseed, in training at Days End Farm Horse Rescue, and I reacquainted with each other after a few weeks apart while I was taking my exam. She seems to have grown immensely in that short time! She’s going to be such a gem for her future adopter.

23/11/2023

I had the privilege of working with some of the best people in the business this week, as I worked toward (and achieved!) passing the Monty Roberts Advanced Exam. The support and collaboration from these women has been an absolutely lifeline for me, and I cannot wait to see what we can accomplish together for the good of the horse. 🐎

05/10/2023

Are you a skilled horsemen with experience in gentling wildlings with a little extra space in your barn?

We NEED your help!

We have a large number of horses needing to come in on a site we have been proactively working on for several years.

We've been hard at work constantly adding on to our new property in preparation but many coming in will be stallions needing to be partnered with a trainer immediately to begin handling. Our stocks have been pushed back on the budget to accommodate more pastures being fenced making it not the safest space to be wrasling with wild stallions 🙈

In order to set these horses up for a life time of success, we are hoping to expand our foster trainer circle! Trainers must have a safe, 6'+, heavy duty pen and a strong background in respectful gentling feral/wild horses.

We cover all vet bills, gelding costs, several heavy-duty rounds of dewomer, ect. Trainers would ideally halter train and get enough handling accomplished to get them gelded and vetted.

If trainers would like to continue training and get them started undersaddle, we help partner trainers with approved adopters and upon adoption, the trainer keeps 100% of the adoption fee. We will share updates along the way to our social media platforms (160,000+ followers between several different platforms).

We also have a large number of weanlings and yearlings that will need safe fostering to ease into domestic life slowly and safely as well as "kindergarten". Fosters also keep 100% of the adoption fee once their perfect match is found. This could also be a fun 4-h chapter project 😉

So, if you're a skilled, ethical trainer looking for a fun winter project or two, please message the page or email [email protected] with your availability and wildling comfort level as well as photos of your holding set up.

We have tirelessly taken care of these horses for years and if they can no longer stay on their mountain, the last thing we can do for them is to ensure they have EVERY chance at entering the domestic work with a proper education 🩷

03/10/2023

Ditto was a trailer loading queen today! This was her first time being asked to load since she arrived at Days End Farm Horse Rescue, and she did incredible! She was self-loading within 20 minutes!

18/09/2023

Did you hug a pony today? Poppyseed, in training at , loves snuggles 🥰

31/07/2023

Stimuli appropriate response.

Does your horse seemingly over react to negative stimuli? Violent spooking with no good reason, hyper-vigilance, over sensitive to noise or disturbances? What is a stimuli appropriate response?

To understand the world as our horses see it, we need to think about where they came from and how they evolved and compare it to the individual circumstances of your horse today.

Stimuli appropriate response is just what it says. It means the horse notices something and reacts in manner appropriate to the level of threat of the stimuli. So when your horse has a complete breakdown because someone sneezes in the gallery during your dressage test, that is absolutely not an appropriate response.

In a natural environment, a hyper-vigilant horse would not be tolerated by the herd. If a horse was constantly jumping and spooking at shadows, the rest of the herd would reject that energy as it’s dangerous. If a prey animal wastes energy jumping at shadows, when a real threat appears, they may have used up too much energy to be able to get away effectively. A wild horse can’t afford to waste energy in that way. This is a basic survival trait that should still exist in the domestic horse.

For a horse to be excessively “sharp”, “hot”, “spooky”, is not a natural state. It’s not a breed trait, it is stress, tension, anxiety. Yes, some horses have been bred to have a higher flight response but they still shouldn’t “waste” energy, it doesn’t make sense from the most primitive level of simple survival.

What happens in our domestic horses is the same that happens to people. Stresses of life build up. Some human therapists talk of “stress buckets”. These are your safety net. As soon as they overflow, you are in trouble. People who are struggling in life, for whatever reason, tend to have their stress buckets filled close to the top just to get through day to day life. It doesn’t take much added stimulation to tip them over the edge.

Our horses are no different. Many horses are highly stressed due to living environment, training methods, inappropriate feed, various levels of pain or injury or any number of underlying reasons. Their stress buckets are close to full so when an added stress situation occurs, they “over react”.

If you have a very sharp, spooky, hyper-vigilant, over reactive horse, you may want to stop, step back and take a good, long look at why the horse is behaving this way. It’s goes against rational survival concerns, in fact it increases the risk of accidents or injuries so it’s not “normal” behaviour.

We need to stop ignoring behaviours that serve no healthy purpose to the horse. We have ignored so many of our horses cries for help, preferring to think “it’s just the way he/she is”. We are conditioned to think that the horse is behaving poorly “just because”. If a horses behaviour makes no sense, we owe it to the horse to figure out what it is trying to communicate rather than brush it off as “normal”.

30/07/2023

It’s been a busy few weeks, hauling Posy to her new home in Missouri and then checking off a bucket list item and camping with my personal horse! We’ll be back to the regular grind real soon!

19/07/2023

Some exciting news!!! Posy is adopted! She moved into her new home all the way in Missouri! She hauled like an absolute champ, and she settled right into her new digs. Her new mama, Liz, is beyond excited to welcome her to the Midwest! We are so excited to bring some awareness of the Appalachian Brumby to the region too! We can’t wait to see what this pair accomplishes in the years ahead. Appalachian Legacy, Inc

14/07/2023

Posy had a fantastic experience at Double C Farm today! She tackled all but one obstacle with confidence and precision. Cridder was game to give her some more ponying experience, and she was a rockstar!

05/07/2023

Well, that was a soggy walk!

02/07/2023

Take a walk back up to the barn with us! Posy’s first ponying session went beautifully.

02/07/2023

I had the opportunity to work with this just absolutely lovely 2-year-old mustang gelding. This is just my second time meeting him, and he is such a sweet, trusting, and affectionate fellow! Ear scratches are his favorite!

22/06/2023

Posy is ready for her new home! She’s sweet, willing, and cute as a button! She’s going to be such a nice partner, and she could truly go into any discipline. PC:

19/06/2023

Many thanks to for these stunning shots of Posy. Posy is continuing to grow into a gorgeous mare, and she’s going to make such a great partner!

17/06/2023

Posy is so hard to capture in photos. Mostly because we she just wants to be with her human! This filly is looking for her forever home. She comes complete with snuggles!

08/06/2023

Posy is available for adoption, in partnership with Appalachian Legacy, Inc. She has the brains (and moves!) to be a spectacular partner, in and out of the arena.

02/06/2023

Posy is available for adoption!

In partnership with the Appalachian Legacy, Inc, Posy is looking for her forever home. She is currently standing at 13.1 hands at about 14 months old (born feral on the mountains in mid-April 2022).

Posy's sire is Redford, who, under Erin O'Neill, won the 2023 Rescued to Stardom competition at the Horse World Expo.

Posy is an absolute love with an incredible brain. She's very social, coming up to the fence to say hi and get scratches from anyone and everyone that walks by. She leads well, ground ties, loads, sprays, bathes, and is excellently behaved for the farrier and vet. She's had an introduction to crossties, and she'll soon be a pro at that too!

Posy is the absolute definition of more whoa than go. She is very patient, perfectly content to stand around while her human chats. She's taken every obstacle in stride, and she is incredibly levelheaded.

If you've been looking for a baby horse to bring up, she could be your gal. She's got the makings to be a very solid horse in whatever discipline her human chooses!

Adoption fee applies (please message for details).

Video in comments!

See her baby pictures here! https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0ukxyKq2PdcMDdGqLRq9ajQEbR6MH2B6qtT6M5G815Ajp65DTkWudxZu4H5R3PE71l&id=232445107139942&sfnsn=mo&mibextid=6aamW6

29/05/2023

So happy that Lorelei found her forever home! She waited a good amount of time for her person to come along, but he was worth the wait!

What's better than one senior horse finding their forever home? TWO senior horses finding their forever home TOGETHER! 🐴🐴

Congratulations to Loralei, Hilda, and their new adopter! We have the most amazing horse community opening their homes to horses in need. These two mares will live the good life as they head to a beautiful retirement home. Congrats, girls!

23/05/2023

Baby girl is growing up so dang pretty!