Equanimity Equestrian Center

07/10/2021

01/10/2021

We post this graphic a couple of times a year, as it's the best one we've seen.

This applies directly to pastures now. If animals aren't removed when grasses are grazed down to 3", this is the kind of root damage we see.

Imagine the below-surface view of an entire pasture in the first or second stages, then imagine it when it is grazed to stage three.

Which of the three scenarios will overwinter more successfully with far less mortality and damage?

Which will begin forage growth earliest in the spring? Remember that plants have to replace root mass first before putting energy into foliage.

Which will withstand hoof pressure and compaction and be more resilient in muddy spring conditions?

Which will result in the largest production of forage over the entire growing season?

Which will have the strongest soil biota community and therefore the healthiest soils and forage?

Which will cost the least in terms of care and rehab?

Which will require the least supplemental hay in the spring and later in the summer and fall?

Which will have the most diversity and therefore the highest nutrition for grazing equines?

Which will keep animals in the best body condition?

Which will have the lowest w**d populations?

Which will have the least danger of toxic events from unwanted plants (and lack of palatable forage)?

Which will take the least attention, least labor, least money, and least time to manage?

And this is why we teach (and preach!) pasture management. :)

05/09/2021

28/08/2021

Your mustang does not need to learn that you are "the leader" in order to trust you and be less fearful of you.

For a moment, try to put aside whatever you have learned or heard about leadership with horses and look at this objectively.

You've got basically the equivalent of a wild deer in your roundpen, only it weighs seven or eight hundred pounds more. To show this terrified creature that you can be trusted and that it has nothing to fear from you, you start chasing it around the enclosure. You make it run from you. When you stop chasing it, you carefully try to approach and if it doesn't let you, you chase it some more. Rinse and repeat.

Does this sound like a good way to get a wild animal to become less fearful of you? Or does it sound counterproductive?

Yes, approach and retreat and roundpenning can be described in a way to make it seem a lot more nuanced, but this is essentially what you are doing. The only difference is you have been taught that this is how you teach the horse to accept you as its leader.

Whoever this teaching originated from got it wrong. Horses do not senselessly chase one another around to prove they are the leader. If they chase another horse, it's usually just resource guarding. The horse simply doesn't want the other horse near whatever particular resource (food, water, shelter, companion, space) is important to him. It is that simple. They have no ulterior motives such as becoming "the leader" or world domination.

"But, Chrissy, it works. I have done it this way."

Ok, maybe you have gotten results, but definitely not because it works the way you have been taught. The horse has not learned to trust you because you have established yourself as its leader, rather you have effectively shut the horse down as it realized it was powerless to escape from you and this more accurately explains why you can approach and touch the horse.

You *can* build trust with your horse. You don't have to try and be the leader to do it either. By creating positive associations with yourself, your touch, equipment, etc. your horse will learn they have nothing to fear from you and they can trust you. This means being around you should be a good experience, not a frightening one and food is your best friend.

Find wherever your horse is comfortable and begin there, even if that is outside their pen. Drop whatever food they will eat into the pen and walk away to the spot they are comfortable. Rinse and repeat. Soon, they will come to expect good things when you approach. Makes a lot more sense and is a lot less stressful for the horse.

31/07/2021

It is with a shattered heart that I officially announce that after nearly ten years of blood and sweat, Equanimity Equestrian will be closing at the end of this year. Our landlord has decided to explore other avenues and I have decided not to relocate my operations to a new location. I am forever grateful to the Roos family for this opportunity and this absolutely jaw-dropping location. Wishing them all the best with their future plans.

16/07/2021

The saddest thing I’ve ever seen…
Is a woman on a horse
that does not believe she is good enough to be there.

Do not compare yourself. There is only this moment, this horse. Your hands, seat, voice and leg, define the parameters of the entire world for this horse.

What anyone else is doing, or has ever done, does NOT matter.
Whomever it is that you look up to — or feel less than —
Is in turn, looking up to another rider, wishing to aspire to that level. So be content where you are… You are blessed!

YOU are your only competition… Just be better today than you were yesterday. Try hard for this horse you ride and try hard for yourself. Most of all, enjoy this time; Every moment. Every stride. Every cue that is answered with a response.

Cherish this partnership…
Know, that you are exactly where you are supposed to be…

--Amye

Photo credit Lee Willis

13/07/2021

13/07/2021

It's fantastic to see more and more information being put out there about dominance.

It seems truly bizarre that people think they look, sound or smell anything remotely resembling a horse, dog, cat or bird!!

Yet people want to be the alpha mare or the flock leader! 😅

"Domestic horses have been observed to form linear hierarchies when they are housed in small groups, and triangular interactions when kept in larger herds." ( Houpt, Law, & Martinisi, 1978)

There's just no need. We have Positive Reinforcement!

"The success of training behaviors based on the understanding of learning theory and the application of reinforcement has been well-documented across a huge variety of species and contexts." (McCall, 1990)

The IAABC has written a great summary on this subject with some excellent references that are worth reading as well:-

https://iaabcjournal.org/iaabc-on-dominance/?fbclid=IwAR18oHWuCRmsz9lD-TgvKCfYWZtySXXDj7LYd0DczAAVG3eO4CaGO-Ya0KI

09/07/2021

What's in a lick and chew?
I have seen a number of articles lately about the lick and chew, most of them referencing the same studies I base my opinion on, but arriving at vastly different conclusions to mine and many scientists' conclusions.
For a long time the lick and chew was seen as processing a thought, which can be an interpretation with some anthropomorphism.
The salivary glands stop functioning when a horse is starting to shift into "flight mode" and produce saliva again when they return to "functional mode" so when they lick and chew they are returning to a more reasoning state.
This is where the current articles jump to conclusions that I disagree with.
They state that the lick and chew means that you have pushed a horse past threshold. This shows a lack of understanding of the autonomic nervous system. ( Flight/function to abbreviate). This system is not an on/ off switch. A horse, or human for that matter, will shift slightly to a higher stressed state whenever they are faced with learning, or experiencing something new. So the salivary gland reaction doesn't mean a horse has been pushed past threshold, just that they have been exposed to something new and had to discern if they needed to shift all the way into flight mode.
There are a wide range of calming signals and stress indicators to take into account to assess whether a horse has been pushed past threshold.
A great example is a horse that has been tense for a long time due to misguided training. When they are helped through an issue they have major releases including lick and chew, yawns, eye rolls. These same responses come when a horse has a physical issue that is addressed through body work. Does this mean the horse was over threshold until then? No. A horse can't digest when in full flight mode.
This is way too deep a topic for a social media post, but I would encourage people to read Evidence Based Horsemanship by Dr Steven Peters, and pay careful attention to the discussion on optimal learning.
As is most often the case, don't take every article or opinion on scientific research as gospel.. even my articles.

08/07/2021

Hyper vigilance in horses

Horses are naturally aware of their environments, but their normal state is relaxed. When they are able to live in healthy heard structures with plenty of space to move, they can be more relaxed because they have plenty of eyes on their surroundings. They can take turns being aware and take turns napping and grazing.

Horses in domesticity are frequently chronically stressed and hyper vigilant of changes in their surroundings. A horse who colics when there is change in the barn or turnout situation is not a well adjusted horse. A horse who has to pace the fence, or is constantly on the lookout, easily spooked or who’s world is turned upside down by changes is in need of some real support emotionally.

Chronic stress is a major problem for domestic horses. Behaviors we tend to take for granted as “just how horses are” are often neurosis on full display. Your average boarding barn is full of these behaviors- we find work arounds, treat with supplements, gadgets, equipment using pain as a method of control, drugs, ties, you name it.

Its time we face the facts that our horses are in desperate need of lifestyle changes and learning how to regulate their stress. Just because it’s normal doesn’t mean it’s healthy. A horses’ natural state is peaceful. It’s our interference that creates dysfunction in them.

Here is a beautiful little girl who has learned to be peaceful.

04/07/2021

What to DO?
I once decided I would try to help a woman who was in despair at working with her horse. I’d noticed her on several occasions on the verge of tears when she and the horse were just standing together in a round yard. I couldn’t see what the problem was, but she was very upset. She said she didn’t know what to do.

She put the horse back in the paddock and we had a discussion. She confided that she had low self esteem and anxiety issues, and that her horse sensed her fear so he didn’t trust her leadership. I said I didn’t know if I could help, but why didn’t she show me a bit of lunging. I was thinking quietly to myself that I was totally unqualified to help anyone with low self esteem. But when she started lunging I straight away saw what the problem was – and indeed, the horse became quite upset and nervous. Because…

… her rope was too long and frequently dropped in the dirt. She didn’t provide clear body language and input as to where she wanted the horse to be. The horse didn’t want to leave her, and worked around her in tight circles (she told me she couldn’t use the whip because the horse was afraid of it). The horse whirled around her in tight circles and stood on the rope, jerking his nose. The rope halter was much too loose and rotated around his head so the knot was near his eye. After about two minutes of him zooming around her in one direction, she stopped, turned to me and said: “You see! He senses my fear and becomes frightened!”

I have mixed feelings about some of the narrative about emotions that exists in the horse training sphere. I sometimes cringe when people talk about the way their emotions affect the horse. Such talk can be applicable in the right context, but sometimes people talk as if the emotional connection between horse and human is all that is required. Here was this woman who had judged herself as emotionally unworthy to provide leadership with her horse, when 2 minutes of observation suggested to me that her problem was a lack of technique and unsuitable equipment. The horse did not become agitated because he sensed a lack of desirable emotions in his owner, but rather he had no idea what she wanted – and neither did she.

The first factor of importance in horse training is not what everyone’s feelings are. It’s about establishing a clear language that the horse can understand. Work out what the horse does understand, and build from there in incremental steps.

So, what did I do to help this woman? Firstly I put my own lunging cavesson on the horse, because it was adjustable and could be made to fit. I showed the horse what the lunging whip meant. He very quickly understood he was to move away from it and make the circle bigger. I taught him the body positioning that meant: go straight, go on a circle, make the circle smaller, make the circle bigger, change directions. We worked on verbal commands – walk on, trot on, back to walk, whoa. As the horse came to understand this vocabulary, he was given plenty of breaks and praise; he became calmer and calmer. I then trained the woman in the techniques I’d been teaching the horse. It took a few sessions, but this woman was soon able to ask the horse to walk, trot and canter calmly on the lunge. I watched how she responded to my advice very carefully, and she didn’t seem to me to be subject to particular nerves or anxiety. On the contrary, she became more confident as she learned what to DO. And so did the horse.

It was a happy outcome. In the time since then I often cringe a bit internally when I hear people talking about the horse’s emotional state in response to us, because I think it can often lead people astray. If things are going wrong in the training situation, if you believe that it directly relates to the horse’s, or your emotional state, there is a real risk that you mis-diagnose something that is actually a hole in your technique. If the horse doesn’t have the balance or training to canter on the left lead, don’t say that he doesn’t respect your leadership (I’ve actually heard this). This sort of thinking can make people take an uncharitable view towards the poor horse, who apparently knows what you want and is withholding it in order to show disrespect! That’s a misdiagnosis, it’s not fair, and it won’t help the horse to canter on the correct lead. It’s far better to know some techniques and exercises to help him change his balance to get the results that you want.

I think the first things you should be thinking about when horse training is what the horse needs to know, and how you are going to teach him those things. Try not put him in a situation where he really doesn’t know what to do and the holes in the training are so gaping that he starts behaving in undesirable ways. The good news about thinking in this way is that it gives you things to learn and DO. You don’t have to feel worried that you are not in a good enough mental state for your glowing aura to envelop your horse so that you and he can become of one mind. This is good news for me, because I don’t know the mechanism for that and therefore I can’t work towards it. However, when you build a shared language with your horse so that he’s really clear about what you want, from the outside this can look remarkably like a horse and human who are of one mind and really trust each other.

I guess I could summarise my point as: focus on the language the horse needs to understand and hone your technique in training and improving this. The clarity of this approach will help to put you and the horse in a good emotional state in relation to each other.

I chose this picture because I find this a really expressive eye. I think there is a lot going on in the horse’s emotional world, and he can really turn to you because he trusts you. But give yourself a break. Just work on the training techniques which can make things clear for you and the horse – don’t demand of yourself some kind of perfect emotional state before you begin.

30/06/2021

25/06/2021

Update from the South African Equine Veterinary Association regarding the recent increased incidence of descending/small colon impactions. Please be vigilant in monitoring your horses for colic symptoms especially during times of weather changes. If anything seems abnormal or colic symptoms are noticed- please contact us as soon as possible. We have sent out questionnaires to collate to try find the causative agent.

17/06/2021

17/06/2021

I was asked for a labelled photo, so here it is. Again it is very simplistic but it is the essence of what we are looking at.
And look how each part (not bone) is not blocks of static unmovable wood. Each part moves, has elasticity, connective tissue, and works together as a unit. One part fails and we are in big trouble. You can almost imagine this all moving inside the foot, very very tiny movements but it really does.

14/06/2021

13/06/2021

11/06/2021

For those people who still insist in tying their horses mouth shut!!!

The Temperomandibular joint (TMJ) is “The joint with the most proprioceptive nerves in the horse’s entire body".

When the horse’s lower jaw cannot move, it cannot, therefore, ‘transmit’ accurate positioning data to the horse’s body, which results in poor movement and performance.

TMJ dysfunction reaction in horses are as follows:
Balance may be impaired
Ability to perform lateral movements will be impaired
Range of motion of the cervical vertebrae will be impacted
Contraction of the long hyoid muscles can put other muscles into spasm and tension
The horse wants to ‘go behind the bit’ to relieve tension in the muscles between the hyoid and the scapula and/or the sternum
It sets the stage for a hollow back
It shortens the horse’s stride

STILL Want ot tie the horses mouth shut?

10/06/2021

Do you know your horse's grooming preferences?
Grooming should be a two way process, an opportunity for you to find out what your horse likes but also a chance for him to tell you how he feels. All too often we become so focused on the job we want to get done that we forget to actually listen to what our horse is telling us.

Of course we are all trained to use different brushes for different reasons but it may be that your horse can't tolerate the feel of certain brushes. Mine, for example, can't stand body brushes that are too soft and she's not a big fan of a dandy brush at any time of the year. However, given the choice she would be groomed with a plastic curry comb all year round!

Grooming is a chance to get to know your horse, to really look at their body language to see what they are telling you about the way they are being groomed. The most beneficial way to find out is to groom your horse whilst he is loose - he'll soon make it clear what he does and doesn't enjoy.

If your horse is always pulling faces when you groom him, don't just carry on regardless. This is his only way of explaining to you that it isn't comfortable for him, so experiment with other brushes to find the one he likes the best. Our horses are always talking to us, but so often we forget to listen.

08/06/2021

Why do horses need their teeth tending to? What about those in the wild?

I get asked these questions all the time.

Why do our domesticated horses get sharp points, overgrowths, decay? What would happen if they were in the wild?

The answer is multi-factorial -

Firstly, horses evolved to live on scrubland and moorland. They evolved to graze tiny amounts of tough, low calorie fibre constantly. Nibbling here and there while walking miles and miles. A good portion of that intake is from the ground, but also foraging in hedgerows and trees, stripping bark and eating whatever they could find. In domestication, humans provide long fibre hay, haylage or straw, along with lush green grass, cereals and molasses/sugars. This is not natural. To slow the horses down and protect their guts and feet, we use haynets, feed troughs and grazing muzzles. Or we give large amounts of forage loose, pre cut, for the horse to wolf down very quickly then stand with nothing. It is impossible to recreate a wild environment with a wild diet available, unless you are lucky enough to have vast vast amounts of the perfect wild land. Unless this is the case, even horses with perfect teeth will not wear their teeth down correctly and will get sharp points.

Secondly, wild horses have a much shorter life span. It is unusual for a wild horse to make it past 16 years of age. Nature is cruel and harsh, any dental issues that prevent robust health will result in weight loss and death by predator or starvation. These issues will therefore not be passed on to offspring. Whereas in domestication, we expect our horses teeth to last well into their 20s and even their 30s+. We can achieve this with regular, appropriate dental care which ensures the teeth wear evenly and allows the horse to utilise every millimetre of their teeth. They do not have an endless supply of tooth. Whilst they start with 10-15cm of tooth height as youngsters, they can not grow more. They can only erupt what already exists, once it’s gone, it’s gone.

Thirdly, humans have massively interfered with the horses shape. Most modern horses look nothing like their wild predecessors. We have the dished faced Arabs, the shortened noses of the Welsh ponies and the tiny heads of the miniatures, the broad faces of the Welsh Cobs, the massive Roman noses of the heavy breeds, the long thin noses of thoroughbreds and every imaginable shape and size in between. This amount of manipulation away from the natural, results in malocclusions and malalignments of the dentition. We get teeth that are too small or too large for the horse’s mouths. Sometimes the teeth don’t fit into their correct placement and they erupt crookedly into the tongue or cheek. We manage and correct parrot mouths and sow mouths, then breed from them and allow these problems to continue in the offspring. How often do stallion stud adverts include “perfect teeth”? How many mare owners ask, or even consider the teeth in their breeding plan? When breeding for the “seahorse” or “Disney” head, do the breeders stop to wonder how the teeth are suppose to fit in the mouth? Dogs can survive on a wet food diet with no health complications. Horses can not, not long term. Horses need a constant supply of fibre to maintain their gut health and survive. Humans created these problems and have a responsibility to ensure these horses are not in pain. Whether you bred the problem or bought it.

Finally, and this is the lowest and least point, wild horses don’t wear bits or bridles. Bits pull the lips into the teeth, nosebands and bitless bridles pull the cheeks into the teeth. Even halters draw the cheeks between the teeth. If the teeth are sharp or hooks are present, this will result in pain, and as a result, bad behaviour. But remember, a horses teeth are for eating and every horse must eat, therefore every horse must have routine dentistry. It is not only a luxury for those that are ridden. Ridden horses may need dentistry more regularly but every horse, pony and donkey must have routine dentistry at least once every 12 months.

By the time the horse is struggling to eat, the problem is very advanced, at best it will be expensive to fix and at worse, it may not be fixable. Horses DO NOT show oral pain until the problem is very severe, this is part of being a prey animal. Showing weakness in the wild means certain death by predation.

Always remember, dentistry is basic care NOT a luxury.

While my books are full and I am unable to take on new clients, the BAEDT has a list of fully qualified members that work to the highest of standards on the link below or use a dental trained vet.

http://www.baedt.com/members_5357.html

PS. The photo is the skull of a wild mare of approximately 16 years of age.

06/06/2021

LETS TALK ABOUT ULCERS AND ALFALFA!!!!

Thought this was neat and worth sharing🤔

Alfalfa and horses with ulcers
Research from Texas A&M University shows that feeding alfalfa to horses with the potential to be high performers either prevents or is therapeutic in treating stomach ulcers.

Something in alfalfa hay tends to buffer acid production, said Dr. Pete Gibbs, Extension horse specialist. Feeding grain, confinement, exercise and overall environmental stress factors are thought to cause ulcers, he said. Studies have shown that horses will heal if provided less acidic diets.

In the research, 24 quarter horses from 12-16 months old were separated into two treatment groups. One group was fed Bermuda grass hay and the other fed alfalfa hay to meet the daily roughage needs. The yearlings received forced exercise during the study. The horses were examined internally with an endoscope at the beginning and end of two 28-day trials.

It's commonly thought that horses turned out on pastures are better off than those that are confined. However, if grass hay is the only hay they are fed, horses can still get gastric ulcers, he said.

In this study, ulcer scores increased when alfalfa was removed from the horses diets, and they were turned out on pasture. Under the ulcer-scoring system, 0 signified no ulcers, with severity increasing to level 4.

Further work is needed to look at horses with varying degrees of ulceration to better determine the full extent to which alfalfa or alfalfa-based products might help from a feeding management standpoint.

Based on what we know right now, for horses that are kept in confinement, eating feed and getting forced exercise, it makes sense to consider some alfalfa as part of their diet, he said.

Until further research is done, he recommends, horses weighing between 1,000-1,300 pounds should be fed about 1 pound of alfalfa after a grain meal.

Follow this link: http://agnews.tamu.edu/showstory.php?id=224

06/06/2021

7 reasons to use food in horse training

1. It makes you a better trainer.
Using food rewards, positive reinforcement training, with horses effectively is complicated. You need to think of your timing, your marker signal, your feeding position, your horses mental state… Contrary to popular belief, using food rewards in training is totally different than just giving a carrot at the end of a ride. In order for you to use food rewards effectively with your horse, you will need to read up about the learning theory. To teach horses anything, we must first understand how they learn. As with anything new you learn, it is important that you take time to study the theory behind it before you apply the practice. When using positive reinforcement and food rewards, you will become an expert in reading your horses mental state, learning about antecedent arrangements and setting up for success.

2. It is kinder for the horse.
Learning with rewards is.. well, rewarding! When we train using positive reinforcement, the horse does not have to worry about punishment or about increasing pressure or about working through his fears. When positive reinforcement training is applied correctly, the horse feels happy, curious, safe and confident.

3. It makes you rethink your training approach
Once you have embarked on a journey of positive reinforcement, you start to see things differently. You soon forget about the need to punish your horse or to chase them around a round pen. You will start to understand that horses that are labelled “misbehaving” are mostly just scared, defensive or confused.

4. It makes medical procedures easier
Sometimes, it can be as simple as just allowing the horse to eat his favorite food while the blood is drawn or while the wound is being cleaned. Other times a more systematic approach with counter conditioning is necessary, but it is surprising how quickly a horse learns to tolerate uncomfortable procedures when they are trained to participate voluntarily.

5. Using food rewards will motivate your horse to participate in training.
When your horse is learning by succeeding and his efforts are rewarded, they tend to try harder and be much more willing to participate. Positive reinforcement trainers never have the issue of not being able to catch their horse, quite the opposite usually!

6. Should the need arise, you can train your dog, cat or dragon using the same method.
The learning theory is the same across all species and it works for every animal. Should you ever need to train another animal, you can use your clicker, species appropriate treats and your skills to teach any animal you may come into contact with.

7. There is a hugely supportive community of fellow R+ trainers world wide.
You will never be alone. Unlike the more traditional circles, positive reinforcement trainers actually support each other! We share videos, ideas and kind feedback in various groups and platforms over the internet. There are tons of free resources and plenty of paid opportunities for online or in person learning. Here in Portugal, the writer of this article runs a holiday destination for clicker trainers. Training horses in the sunshine, what could possibly be better?! Search “Country Quest Portugal” for more!

Photo by Hanna P.

05/06/2021

If your horse needs to lose some pounds, you may have been advised to restrict forage, but did you know restricting forage can be counterproductive and may make your horse fatter? This is because restricting forage produces stress and stress induces fat retention.
Horses are trickle feeders, who chew all day long. Chewing produces saliva, which neutralizes the acid continually flowing into the stomach. Your stomach produces acid only when you eat; your horse’s stomach produces acid constantly, even when the stomach is empty. To combat this, horses need forage flowing through the digestive tract on a continual basis, for optimal digestive health and to reduce the risk of colic as a result of forage not moving through the gut regularly.
If your horse needs lose weight, it is calories that should be restricted, not forage and you can do this with low calorie forage. Alternatively, slow feeders or small holed hay nets will mean your horse eats less, but still has constant forage. In addition to reducing calorie intake, increasing calorie output by ensuring your horse gets plenty of exercise and movement will also help shift those extra pounds 😊