Metta Equine

25/12/2023

Santa brought the boys a girlfriend for Christmas 😍 Little Sierra joins the herd. All is well again.

15/10/2021

Most horses pass from one human to another - some horsemen and women are patient and forgiving, others are rigorous and demanding, others are cruel, others are ignorant.

Horses have to learn how to, at the minimum, walk, trot, canter, gallop, go on trails and maybe jump, to be treated by the vet, all with sense and good manners.

Talented Thoroughbreds must learn how to win races, and if they can't do that, they must learn how to negotiate courses and jump over strange obstacles without touching them, or do complicated dance
like movements or control cattle or accommodate severely handicapped children and adults in therapy work.

Many horses learn all of these things in the course of a single lifetime. Besides this, they learn to understand and fit into the successive social systems of other horses they meet along the way.

A horse's life is rather like twenty years in foster care, or in and out of prison, while at the same time changing schools over and over and discovering that not only do the other students already have their own social groups, but that what you learned at the old school hasn't much application at the new one.

We do not require as much of any other species, including humans.

That horses frequently excel, that they exceed the expectations of their owners and trainers in such circumstances, is as much a testament to their intelligence and adaptability as to their relationship skills or their natural generosity or their inborn nature.

That they sometimes manifest the same symptoms as abandoned orphans - distress, strange behaviors, anger, fear - is less surprising than that they usually don't.

No one expects a child, or even a dog to develop its intellectual capacities living in a box 23 hours a day and then doing controlled exercises the remaining one.

Mammal minds develop through social interaction and stimulation.

A horse that seems "stupid", "slow", "stubborn", etc. might just have not gotten the chance to learn!

Take care of your horses and treasure them.

Written by Jane Smiley

09/10/2021

Just one more reason why we cannot leave halters on.

10/07/2021

Another alternative to using pain to train.

08/07/2021

Courtesy of Fed up Fred

20/03/2021

02/03/2021

26/02/2021

When your horse coats themselves with mud, it most likely means that they are preparing for rain. It helps keep them dry and warm. Please don't remove it, they put it there on purpose. Mine take it off once it's not needed.

21/01/2021

This is so sad and preventable. Please let your horses be free when not in use. It can cause itchiness as well. There is no reason to have a horse in a halter unless you are using them. Be kind spread happiness, release the chains ❤

I know it's hard to look at but it's important. I see more and more people these days leaving their halters on their horses... I have seen this end result and it is not pretty. Even when you think your pastures are safe, there's always SOMETHING for them to hang up on. I have seen horses hang themselves on a single nail. I have seen horses hang themselves and break their necks on a post. I have seen horses break their own necks scratching their face with a hind foot. Leaving halters on horses is never a good decision! They are born with a self- destruct gene and your only purpose in owning a horse is to keep them alive against their wishes. Please be safe out there for the sake of the horses.

11/01/2021

Let them be horses.

Turn them out, let them run.
Let them buck, let them leap, rather in the field than the arena, right?

Give them a herd, even a herd of two.
Let them be with other horses, what’s a life without friends?

Give them downtime, not just days off riding, but days to enjoy life.
Happy horses are trainable horses.

Take the rug off, let them feel the sun.
Let them roll in the mud, a little dirt never hurt anyone.

Escape the arena and explore, don’t stick to the well worn path.
The most beautiful places are usually found by accident.

Showing them how much you love them doesn’t have to come from buying expensive things.

You can buy every rug, all the boots, the best tack, wash them, groom them, feed them, put them in the best yard, with the best facilities and wrap them up in cotton wool, but one day you’ll realise the best thing you could possibly do...
.. is just let them be horses.

Credit is cromwellandlucy 😊😊 brilliantly written and so very true 💖💖

30/12/2020

I have felt for a while now that NH was very gimmicky. Not that I disagree with everything, but the trainers promoting it just seem to be marketing their products for the bucks. Nothing wrong with earning a living but it is an illusion they are selling. I have a problem with that. When good people are seeking humane ways to train their horse and are sold snake oil, it defeats the purpose and sets the person and their horse up for failure. Shop around and find what feels right to you and comfortable for your horse. That is what is important, not WHO is on the label.

There is no such thing as Natural Horsemanship as a training concept. It is a brand name used for the marketing and repackaging of traditional style horsemanship. Its like Hoover has come to mean a vacuum cleaner, but it’s actually just a brand of vacuum cleaner.

Tom Moates wrote an excellent chapter about this in his book "A Horses Thought - A Journey into Honest Horsemanship." You can read what Tom has to say about Natural Horsemanship by going to his web site.

NH started out as a term Pat Parelli adopted for his school of horsemanship that he was marketing. He used the term Natural Horsemanship as a catchy branding. Since then however, it has become synonymous with what many people consider is a type of horsemanship. It has taken on a wider meaning that extends beyond Pat Parelli’s specific systematized training. The term has become much more general in its meaning. So general in fact that most people can’t really define what NH is anymore.

Nevertheless, NH is used to distinguish one form of horse training from more traditional styles of horsemanship. But I think this is again just a marketing strategy. It’s almost impossible to pin point anything that makes NH different from most traditional training systems.

(i) both NH and traditional use negative reinforcement principles.

(ii) both NH and traditional are based on (a) flooding techniques; and (b) approach and retreat techniques.

(iii) both NH and traditional rely on ever increasing amounts of pressure to make a horse respond.

There differences between most NH trainers and most traditional trainers are superficial and just around the fringes - such as the type of equipment. But even here it is hard to distinguish the two. For example, many people believe that NH does not use gadgets, but Monty Roberts is considered an NH trainer and he uses the buckstopper. Also, many people believe that NH trainers use rope halters, but Mark Rashid uses web halters and John O’Leary (who calls himself a traditional style trainer) promotes the use of rope halters in training. You could tally a list of gear that many people feel belong in one camp or the other and discover that there are trainers of either persuasion that use the same equipment.

Setting all that aside the biggest factor that makes NH and traditional training indistinguishable is that both forms rely on coercion to achieve obedience and submission by making the wrong choice almost impossible for a horse. Both schools of training set out to force a horse into specific behaviour by taking away its options. They make the one option that the trainer wants the horse to choose the only possible option. This is the path to forced submission.

The concept of NH as a principle of horsemanship that relies on the understanding of a horse's nature is a crock. It's not true. The prey/predator argument, respect/disrespect and the alpha herd boss concept are only labels that are useful for marketing by NH people. They are catchy and appeal to your average horse owner who thinks by understanding these concepts that they are gaining an understanding of their horse. Both NH and traditional trainers use them even if they don't label them that way. These labels have no relevance to a horse. The vast majority of NH and traditional training is almost identical with only wallpaper thin variations. But there is a huge difference between these two ideas and good horsemanship in my opinion. Most NH and traditional training are directed at teaching a horse calm obedience and submission. But GH recognizes that resistance is derived from bad feelings inside a horse. GH trainers believe it is anxiety that causes resistance and bad behaviour. So GH training is foremost about minimizing the anxiety and the behaviours that go with it. GH attempts to address the root cause of behaviour and resistance.

But NH and traditional are mainly aimed at shaping the behaviour of the horse - irrespective of the causes. There is only minimal attempt (lip service if you like) by NH and traditional training to address the causes of poor behaviour and consider the horse's mental and emotional state in the training process. Study the training of Tom Dorrance (GH) and Pat Parelli (NH) and Andrew McLean (Trad) and you’ll see that despite the hype and claims of these trainers, Parelli and McLean have far more in common with each other than they do with Dorrance.

McLean and Parelli rely on the repetition of specific techniques or exercises to shape the behaviour of a horse. They treat the horse like a computer – type in command A to get answer B. I don’t mean to pick on Pat Parelli or Andrew McLean because they are just examples of what is really a worldwide phenomena in both forms of horsemanship.

If you read Tom Dorrance’s “True Unity” you’ll quickly be aware that he views horses from the inside. He is less focused on what a horse is doing than why he is doing it. He is not so interested in technique as he is into understanding “why” rather than “how. ” Rather than trying to shape a horse’s responses through techniques of submission and obedience, Tom tried to work with the emotional state of a horse to minimize resistance and build a “try”. This is vastly different from the approach of either NH or traditional horsemanship.

I believe NH is a sham and con job. In people’s minds it supposedly is the same thing as GH – it claims to do what GH actually does. But clearly it is just traditional horsemanship in another form. I view both NH and traditional horsemanship as McDonald’s Horsemanship. They are to horsemanship what McDonald’s hamburgers are to fine cuisine. They cater to the average horse owner that comprise the masses, but fail to provide the best there is for both horses and people.

The photo depicts some traditional methods of starting a horse.

24/12/2020

When we talk about how much weight a horse can carry it seems that plus sized riders are unfairly singled out. Heavy riders are compared to lighter riders to show the negative effects of over burdening a horse, but body type is completely relative.

Plus sized riders are often much more conscientious and considerate of things like saddle fit, their balance in the saddle, and riding a horse that can comfortably carry them. It's the "skinny legends" that need a reality check.

I don't care that you are only 125 lbs, you are too big to be on that small pony. I don't care that you are a fit horse trainer, you are too big to be on that little Quarter Horse c**t. Your body type does not give you a license to climb on any horse's back regardless of their size. Neither does the fact that you are a horse trainer give you the ability to ride any sized horse or pony.

I have literally seen skinny teenaged girls on glorified minis pick their feet up over cross rails so they don't knock a rail down with their boots at shows. I have seen trainers on c**ts that are much too small and immature to be ridden by anyone let alone a full grown man plus his heavy western saddle.

When we bought our pony Nellie, we did so off a picture and my uncle's assumption that she was big enough that I would be able to ride her. Nellie has never been taught to ride because it was clear that she was too small for a person of my size to ride her. That doesn't mean I am overweight, it means the pony is too damn small.

I think conversations about weight carrying capacity in horses needs to expand beyond rider body types. It seems like it's more about fat shaming and discriminating against certain body types than it is about realistic expectations for each individual size horse or pony. It is an important issue, but it's not an issue that only plus sized riders need to be aware of. The truth is they are already more than aware. The world rudely and unkindly makes sure of that. It should be more about each horse's weight carrying limit, not heavy riders vs light riders. Just because you are a "light" rider does not mean you do not have to take your weight into consideration with the horses you ride.

24/11/2020

Enjoy the journey ❤

There are four problems in working with equine behaviour that commonly cause issues for the equine.

Number four

Not enough time - So often people tell me they don't have enough time to do the training fully and create the foundations that the equines truly deserves. Taking the time to do the work thoroughly and slowly at the animal’s pace requires us to enjoy the journey but also see the value in creating a relationship rather than just working on behaviour. Problem isn't really the people don't have enough time is that they don't prioritise taking the time to build a relationship over reaching the goal as fast as possible. In essence people forget to value the journey.

14/11/2020

One of my key principles is that the horse always comes first and for that reason even though I want you to reach your potential we have to put the horses needs first and to do that we have to question our motives, our beliefs and our principles. I have to expose our conscience and to challenge what you’re doing in order to ensure that you are confident and comfortable and that you "walk the talk" in the way that is suitable for your journey and for you following your own path.

I’m not here to make you feel comfortable and nice about what you’re doing just because it’s easy to make money, I’m here to help you truly challenge youself to become congruent in your relationship with equines and if I make you uncomfortable while I’m doing that, then I am not sorry, but you know that you can trust me to help you to reach your potential honestly, ethically and safely rather than just tell you what you want to hear.
come and join a community who put their equines needs at the centre of what they do. https://harts-horsemanship.thinkific.com/bundles/behaviourcommunity

11/11/2020

PIGEON FEVER

**WARNING- PICS HAVE GRAPHIC CONTENT*

I want to share my experience with Pigeon fever in hopes that it helps someone in the future. Last month Howard and Finnigan both contracted Pigeon Fever. Howard had it in his abdomen and I did not see it until it had opened. Finnigan had it on his chest and it opened on Sat. It took close to 4 weeks for it to reach that point. I will share some photos of his journey.
Pigeon Fever, also known as dry land distemper, is caused bacteria in the soil. Flies transfer it to horses when they bite. It usually appears in the chest area and causes a puffy chest like a pigeon. Thats how it gets its name. It can also appear in the abdomen or internally. Internal cases are more severe and require antibiotics usually. But definitely need vet care.
I learned a lot on how to treat the cavity that appears to drain the fluid when I discovered it on Howard. The best thing to do is just clean the area with saline solution. It took almost 2 weeks for Howard to heal completely and I believe it is because I did not find it in a timely manner. It was hidden underneath his abdomen.
I could see Finnigans diagnosis right away. It first appeared near the base of his neck. It slowly slid down to his chest. It took a little over 3 weeks for it to open to drain. I had scheduled an appointment to get it lanced but it naturally opened the night before his appointment. It took 5 days for it to completely open into the hole you will see in one of the pictures. Once it opened it started to heal almost immediately. The next day it was closed. 2 days after it opened it was completely closed and appears to be done draining. The only care I provided was placing swat around the area to prevent flies and I cleaned it twice with saline.

I believe Finny is healing faster because I used hydrogen peroxide on Howard due to the state he was in when I discovered his cavity. It needed a thorough cleaning and disinfecting. I do not recommend using peroxide or betadine. They both damage healthy tissue as well as the unhealthy tissue. And I am sure that Howards delay in healing was due to my over cleaning. But I was a little freaked out honestly. 😳

The worst part for Finny was when his chest was very swollen, I could tell he was is in so much discomfort. He walked very slowly. When Howard was healing he had a mild fever for about 3 days. He ate and drank normally. Finny has not had a fever but does seem to have some swelling in his sheath. He also has a normal appetite.

During recovery once the drain opens, I quarantined Howard and Finny reduce the area of where the fluid drained and to prevent injury from other horses. It was also very handy for caretaking having them close to me where I could check on them several times a day.

I provided alfalfa to give extra vitamins and nutrients. And tried to limit the amount of stressors by not separating until it started to leak. IMO quarantining does not prevent other horses from contracting the pigeon fever, as the flies carry it. I tried to quarantine the flies but was unsuccessful. 😆

I really hope that this helps someone understand that nature is your best friend in this situation. Keep it clean and reduce stress, and nature will do its thing.

11/11/2020

Horses move and graze in the wild. We need to ensure our horses have as natural environment as possible.
https://thehorse.com/193204/if-not-hay-bedding-give-horses-something-to-chew-on-overnight/?utm_medium=Behavior+enews&utm_source=Newsletter

Study: Horses stalled on nonedible bedding ‘rebounded’ during the day, consuming their daytime rations faster with fewer pauses than horses living on straw.