Cactus Belle Horsemanship

24/06/2024

Being a trainer doesn’t always mean we are on a horse’s back, or even “training” per se. As a trainer, it’s my job to get to the root issue of a problem using my experience that maybe others don’t have from a training standpoint to look deeper.
Dime came to me with slow response time, then a tendency to overreact once her response kicked in. She stumbled often and seems to have no awareness of her feet, a weak back end, and is extremely defensive and reactive or horse or human coming behind her. After 30 days of not seeing much improvement with the hind end issue, I asked her owner if we could explore a medical route I had in mind. Sure enough, Dime has EPM- a Protozoa spread by possum f***s that causes neurological symptoms like loss of balance and a weak hind end! No amount of training or exercise will fix this, it must be treated medically. She has a mild case right now but if this had continued it could have very well escalated to the point of no return, eventually risking injury to herself and a rider!

24/06/2024

We are less than 2 weeks away from the start of the 2024 ARHA World show! 🤩
Here is Team Cactus Belle Horsemanship’s show schedule for anyone wanting to come cheer us on!

Saturday, 7/6- Clover and I are showing in Sr Ranch Riding, Jody and Jane are showing Dolly in showmanship
Sunday, 7/7- Jody and I are showing Dolly in halter
Monday, 7/8- Clover and I return for ranch riding IF we make the finals 🤞🏼
Thursday, 7/11- Ote and I show in Sr Boxing
Friday, 7/12- Ote and I show in Sr Herd Work

We are so excited, and a huge thank you to our sponsors!
Ponease
LA Florida Farm
Florida Home Choice Realty, Glenda & Jim Pruitt, Realtors
Missy Witter Realtor

21/06/2024

If you’re married to technique and methodology, your growth can be easily stifled when new information comes along. You’ll be forced to choose between what you thought you knew and what you now know: and few are strong enough to leave behind the identity they’ve embedded deeply in association with medothology.

If you’re committed to principle, methods come and go with new information, and growth is a given.

20/06/2024

If the yearling track bred filly can learn this, so can your horse! Make 2024 the year of no excuses! Hold yourself and your horse accountable for your non-negotiables!

17/06/2024

Let’s talk about non-negotiables.
What do you consider, “non-negotiable” things that you expect of your horses?

15/06/2024

It was massage day in the barn with Equine Energy Services! Ote, Boone, Gunsmoke, Clover and Dolly all received Bemer sessions and a full body massage! Check out the before and after of how they loosened up, relaxed and their muscles smoothed out and filled out!

14/06/2024

Letting Graham get acquainted with the flag on his own. This guy is very smart, curios and sensible!

14/06/2024

A good teacher will support you, but not always validate you.

It’s in our nature to subconsciously seek comfort. When we are met with the discomfort of changing our habits and taking responsibility for our learning, our minds often subconsciously sabotage us from growing.

Sometimes this can take a sneakier presentation, where a student might meet constructive criticism with self deprication. A lot of times this is a subconscious on the students part to end the discomfort and be comforted with validating praise.

True learning is going to be uncomfortable at times. It will challenge your perception of who you are and what you know about yourself. It may bring up some ugly stuff. The important thing is to accept that it is hard for everyone, and messy and beautiful all at the same time.

Just because you want to learn doesn’t mean your brain won’t fight to stay comfortable - Discipline of mind and body is the only way to truly accomplish a connection with a horse, and if this is what you want, the road is winding and long. Stay awake to your own habits, stay alert to the subliminal sabotage of familiar mental and physical habits.

And find a good teacher- the ones that truly believe in you will support you to the end of the earth, but they will not validate you in your poor habits.

14/06/2024

30 day difference with Rainy 🤗 she’s almost ready for her first trim!

12/06/2024

💓💓💓

I want horses to have opinions.

A horse with an opinion will express when they do not feel safe - because they are being pushed too hard, because they are hurting, because we’re asking for something incorrectly, because our energy is off. An opinion can tell me that something is not right - and it is my job to do my best to figure it out.

Leslie Desmond famously said “What value does yes have if no is not an option?” If we don’t give them the ability to express themselves, how will we have a clue how they are feeling? Do we actually care? How will they be able to learn willingly verses through submission? And yes, there is a difference. A BIG difference.

A horse with an opinion is thinking for themselves, verses blindly doing what is asked even when they are not mentally or physically capable. Better to refuse a fence rather than jump it in such a way that is going to be dangerous. Better to be unsettled in warm up and try to figure it out before entering the show ring. Better to act up in smaller ways, rather than push them through until the bigger explosion or the really unsafe risk happens.

In my practice, the horse is a feedback loop. How she moves and reacts, in addition to what I feel under my hands and see, tells me things. I need to be willing to let the horse have an opinion, to express how they feel, so that I do not push beyond boundaries to ask too much. I try not to get to “no”, but no is okay. No is important, just as important as yes.

A teacher recently said to me that the way we train and ride horses is often separating their sensory and motor functions to the point that they really don’t know where their bodies are in space. The way we strap down their heads and prevent full range of eye sight; the way that we restrict breathing and mouth movement (which impacts the entire body) by cranking nosebands tight; the use of harsh bits; when we drug them before we ride; the way that we simply ask for constant submission.

I have not really stopped thinking about this.

We are, in essence, teaching horses to ignore their nervous systems when we are on their backs.

No thanks.

No “dead broke” horses for me. If my horse, or any horse I’m working with, is feeling fear or pain or sweet release, I sure as hell want to know it.

Photo credit: Olia Gozha

12/06/2024

Introducing, Graham! Graham is an older Devils Garden mustang! Now you know for those of you who took a guess on his faded brand earlier this week! Graham was previously TIP trained and lightly and inconsistently started under saddle. He has been on the back burner for a few years so he is with me for a 120 day restart!

12/06/2024

So many horses have been flagged and whipped onto a trailer that they run on, scared of what happens if they don’t. Not enough horses walk on calmly and confidently because they were asked. I’m trying to help Gunsmoke become the latter 🤗

12/06/2024

“Success lies in the relentless ex*****on of the basics”

11/06/2024

What a change in muscle development over the years as my skill set has improved. 2019-2024 💓🦄

11/06/2024

Booking for August! It’s the perfect time to get your babies in for groundwork!

🌵✨Let me help you build the partnership of your dreams! Now taking deposits for July, on!🌵✨

10/06/2024

Introductions tomorrow for the new face in the barn. Some might see some old scars on the neck. Anyone see it differently? 😉

07/06/2024

Super excited to have this new Ponease product in the barn for summer training as a pick-me-up on hot days!

If you’re training and showing this summer, you’ll want to have it in your barn! Sugar free and legal for showing!

When you go to order, be sure to put, “Friend of Alanah” in the comment box so they know I sent you! 🤗

https://www.poneaseusa.com

Pamela Equestrian

07/06/2024

Dime got to work on speed control and attentiveness in the pasture today! She did wonderful, showing no signs of buddy sourness

07/06/2024

Baby Rainy learning about leg ropes so we can start working on getting her feet trimmed!

07/06/2024

🌵✨Let me help you build the partnership of your dreams! Now taking deposits for July, on!🌵✨

07/06/2024

A little different kind of post today but still important!
Gunsmoke had trouble with his mouth and face being touched, so last week after everything we’ve been working on he finally let me get a good feel of his teeth and I could feel they were pretty sharp.
My awesome vet Dr. Waters with Heartland Large Animal Services came out to float his teeth yesterday.
This poor dude has at some point in his life lost a tooth on the top, leaving the tooth on the bottom with nothing to grind against so that it continually grows. This impacted his ability to chew and caused a ton of sharp areas throughout his mouth from lack of proper grinding motion that horses need while chewing to wear their teeth properly.
I can only imagine how much better he must feel now and can’t wait to see if it helps him relax even more during our training sessions 😌

06/06/2024

Boone got to play with cows last night!

04/06/2024

Hold your horses accountable.

I think it’s really great that there’s a shift towards having more compassion and understanding for our horses.
However like with so many things, many people have jumped from one extreme to the other.

Want to take on a troubled rescue horse? Great.
Treat them like a horse.

That horse that’s had a bad experience with the farrier still needs to stand for the new farrier. Show them that they’re safe, show them what’s expected, reward the try.

If after months and months of giving that horse good experiences and rewarding their efforts that horse still won’t stand for the farrier you might need to up your expectations.
And yes, that might even mean giving a consequence for unwanted behavior.
Make the wrong thing hard and the right thing easy.
No, you don’t need to make your horse scared again but you DO need to put your foot down and tell them to try harder. Yes, really, that is possible and warranted to expect that of them.
We aren’t asking you to stand for the farrier or take a syringe or not kill the vet over a vaccine for our own benefit, it’s for theirs.

It is possible, just like with kids, to love them and have compassion for them but still set healthy boundaries and expectations, and even make them a little uncomfortable for crossing those boundaries or not trying to meet those expectations.

Horse’s that are not expected to meet realistic expectations stay STUCK right where they’ve always been. Then a year later when they still can’t be trimmed or caught or vaccinated they need rescuing from the person who tried to rescue them.

Good intentions only get you so far. We all have to step out of our comfort zone now and then to grow, and so do our horses.

01/06/2024

Dimes first week here was a difficult one for her. She is very stressed about wanting to be with other horses. At this moment, she does not find comfort in being with humans. She is constantly looking for a way out and leaning on pressure. I spent this week developing an understanding that she needs to look to ME to help her find peace and comfort, not the other horses.
She is physically rigid in all areas which means she is mentally rigid as well.
Working on physical softness through moving her feet in precise and meaningful ways will get the softness up to her mind and help her start relaxing

31/05/2024

So blessed that the QUEEN is making one heck of a comeback after what I was told this time last year was going to be a career ending suspensory tear ❤️‍🩹
World show here we come! 🌵🍀🍀🍀🍀👑

29/05/2024

ISO: youth 13-14” circle Y barrel saddle or short ranch saddle. NO BLING or color. Plain as possible.

28/05/2024

Dime, Rain, Gunsmoke, Clover, Dolly and Ote all get Ponease to ease their tummy troubles during training/showing!
Want to join in on this amazing product? I have ONE 2L jug of Maintenance available for pickup in Lakeland!
Or visit https://www.pamelaequestrian.com/ to check out all of the products available in the US!
Pamela Equestrian

27/05/2024

Introducing, Dime! This sweet girl has an interesting story. She was a brood mare and lost her foal and began stealing other mares foals! After stealing 6 different foals, the farm decided she was no longer mentally sound to be a broodmare and sold her to her current owner. Dime does ride, but she is very stressed and disconnected from people due to her anxiety and need to be with other horses. I am going to help her find peace and comfort in being with humans 🤗

27/05/2024

Gunsmoke learning all the good things 💓