Intention

Intention is a very important part of everything we do with horses. Especially because animals, not just horses can sense our intentions. I posted this photo because interestingly, I never intended to ride bridless. It evolved out of my Intention to communicate with less equipment and more language.

There are numerous examples of this in action but here's an easy one you may have seen. A person goes out to a pasture of a hard to catch horse. They have a halter hidden behind their back. This makes me laugh always. That horse knows the intention to catch him. He is reading the person not the halter.

I had a mare in training a long time ago who hated to be de-wormed. I swear she knew the day I woke up and "thought" today is worming day before I even came out of the house. She was no where to be found that day and wouldn't come near me. Any other day she was no problem at all.

So how do we do we use Intentional thinking to create positive communication instead of sending out unclear and unintended ideas and body language.

Today I was at the farm and Mercury had gotten a cut under his eye. These are notorious difficult areas to doctor due to the proximity of the eye and the delicateness of the area. I did not put a halter on Merc. I simple stood with him and said I need to look at your eye so I can help you heal it. I made my actions slow, patient and deliberate and he allowed me to put the Calendula gel on the wound. He never pulled away or even flinched.

In training communication, Intention looks as broad as "we're going to have a fun session today" to "I am going to help my horse learn to push more with this hind leg" All Training starts with a thought of what you would like to do BUT no attachment to what the outcome is. That is something that needs to be felt in the moment and is a constantly changing energy. My Intention during training may change and evolve throughout the session. The key is staying slow and giving space for thoughtful Intentions. Sometimes my horse does something so fantastic and unexpected because of this. Training without expectation is the key to more fun and relaxing times with your horse. Learning when to let your intention shift with the horses is another good thing to practice.

That would look like, I intended to do some high energy work and my horses energy was low. The path of least resistance would be to recognize this and adjust my intention to match my horses true energy levels. Some lower key less energetic play. Anyone who is really into their technical work knows you can fill an hour with quite complex Liberty, Line or Mounted walking movements!

Clear Intention, combined with clear communication and adaptability will assure you of fun, positive sessions with your horse.
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Mirrors

Mirroring hot dance moves!

Mirroring in the physical sense is when we physically move a certain way and it influences the horse similarly.

Another more powerful way of thinking about mirroring, is looking at your animal as a mirror.
I have asked this question many times to students and I have asked myself the same question. "If my Horse (or other animals) is a mirror of me, what is he reflecting? I look at all my animals around me now and the animals that have been in my past. It's interesting that each animal reflects where I am or was at the time. Our life is actually a mirror of our inner world too, so it is an even more powerful exercise to look at that. But for now, in this moment, I look at my animals. Mercury, reflects me to a "T" on many levels from his humorous, mischievous side to his sensitive and high energy side. He also reflects to me when I am not focused enough and in the moment and when it is a a good time to play and relax and a good time to practice more technical things. I know he is my horse soul mate because I recognize our resonance when I am with him and think of him.

If you are not sure what resonance is, it is a part of why we are attracted to someone or some animal. We strongly resonate with them. It is like a person who you instantly click with. It is also because we see something in them that reminds us of ourselves. Sometimes even shared or similar experiences.

A great exercise to do, is to write down all the the traits in your horse(s) (I know some of us have a herd! or other animals). If you have many, they, probably each represent a different aspect. Write down things that you "judge" as good or bad and then look at them with no judgement. If you notice some similarities in yourself, write them down. Notice the good things he/they may be mirroring to you. If there is something your horse does that you find unpleasant, ask yourself if you may be mirroring that actual feeling or behavior somewhere in your life or during your time with your horse. If you do find something, try this experiment of shifting to a positive place in yourself and notice what changes occur in your animals. Share your discovery in the comments section.
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Confident Horseman exercise part 3...Change your mind, Change your horse

Riding Mercury Bridless requires me to be completely focused on what I want to have happen and not what bad and dangerous things could happen...

I will be offering for those who want to participate, a Flower Essence mix suggestion for a new approach to dealing with fear in the horse and person. It will complement the next exercise which has 3 steps to it, is the hardest but also the most powerful.

The next part of the exercise is:

Step 1: Learn how to identify fear coming up in yourself as it starts. Then recognize the fearful or negative thoughts that follow.
Example: "Oh my horse is scared of dogs, and hear comes one" the next thought may be "oh he's going to spook and I'm going to fall off!"
So this is how the fearful mind starts to gain power or the situation.

Step 2: Recognize the the thoughts coming up and make a choice to change them to a positive thought.
Example: "I am now changing my mind about this" We are walking calmly past the dog, and nothing is going to happen" You'll note I said "we" not the horse is going to. "We" is a team, a partnership. You can add calm deep breathing to release your own fear and tension and mirror to your horse. Two other very powerful exercises is to visualize you and your horse doing exactly what you'd like. So I'd see me and my horse walking calmly past the dog together. I'd see that picture in my mind and hold it and breath. Some of you may find it nearly inpossible to not visualize a bad experience so instead, I want you to visualize something calming and soothing that may have nothing to do with that moment. Examples would be a sunset, A beach, doing yoga, a hot bath, even a glass of wine! Hold that though until you can own it and the moment has passed. This takes practice but it does become a new thought pattern with time.

Step 3: I consider an advanced exercise and a goal to set for yourselves. It involves getting to the point where you don't even get to a place of fear anymore when a possible situation arises. This is when you have mastered the power of the mind.
Example: You are riding toward the dog and you immediately send a picture of the two of you walking calmly passed the dog. In this scenario you exhibit what I call Calm Leadership. You recognize the horses concern and using positive visualization. you "Lead" your horses mind to a calm place with yours. You maintain clear focus and your horse has confidence in your Leadership and guidance. We don't want our horse to feel like he has to take over every time he is afraid because we get just as frightened as him.

One other scenario I want to talk about is "Real" fear, necessary, sensible, self preservation fear. This is the voice that says "We are in real danger and we need to get safe. That is the time to listen to your instincts and stay as clear as possible. Try to learn the difference between your gut telling you the truth and your mind taking over control of clear thinking.

As for the Flower Essence part of this. There are Essences that can help release the grip of fear and "Stuck Thinking Patterns" I am offering to help anyone who may feel they need additional help of Flower  Essences to help release a really stuck pattern in themselves and or their horse. Respond in the comments section. Let me know how your confidence is improving!
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Challenges...

My partnership with Mercury is proof that challenges can lead to amazing places...

How many of you view stumbling blocks and challenges with your horses as opportunities? Opportunities to build trust, training, communication and connection amongst other things.

Fear in the rider, Fear in the horse or both are common challenges. Other ones can be about a variety of things from jumping problems, trailer loading, separation issues, Dressage, Reining, whatever your discipline or goals with your horse, you are bound to have run into some personal challenges along the way. Challenges with your horse can be based in confusion, discomfort, and dominance as well.

So here is the REAL challenge. Can you stop, breathe, evaluate and creatively problem solve WITH your horse so that the experience strengthens your connection, trust and furthers your partnership? If you can't figure it out today, can you leave it and meditate (even do some visualizations) on it and come back to it when you are more clear about how to work through it in a positive way?

The last few years, I have had several non-cookie cutter challenging horsenalities come through my program including my favorite boy, Mercury. It seems most of my clients have found themselves also with challenging horses in their lives as well. What has happened though is these horses have brought many valuable lessons and understanding with them as well as a sense of huge achievement when progress is made at home or in the show ring. Something you don't get from an easier counterpart.

My horse Mercury who I have dubbed my equine four legged soul mate, Has challenged me at many turns with his antics, mischief, clowning, dominance and spookiness. I also have the deepest partnership and connection with this horse I have ever had. I have learned infinite things from him about stallions (he's now gelded), the power of deep connection and trust when things get sticky and scary, and loving him for who he is purely and not his talent, athleticism and incredible good looks (he'd want me to add that...He thinks he's a super model!).

So as an exercise, you could write down any challenges you are having with your riding or your horse. Then pick one thing off the list and see if you can find a way to make that challenge a positive growth experience for you and your horse. You can enlist some outside help or even ask me in the comments section for some help. Let me know what you come up with and how it goes.
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FDT

Positive Reinforcement

As I have come to work with some challenging horses and with the wisdom of time and experience, I have come shape my training around Positive Reinforcement.

What is Positive Reinforcement? It can be Verbal, Physical, Food, or allowing the horse to do something he wants to do. If I have a horse that may have some undersireable behavior I basically ignore it and focus on the rewarding the behavior I do like and build up from there. We tend to fixate on the "Bad" behavior and correcting it instead of teaching the horse a new pattern.

For example, if a horse is rude around food I would not correct him or yell at him for being pushy and aggressive. I would think of what I might like the horse to do instead and set about showing him how to do that and then rewarding the positive change. So I might say to the horse with my body language or even a stick, "could you move back over there about 5-6 steps and "whoa"? The horse may need to be requested several times to stay back and wait, but I will just keep asking politely until he says "ok" by standing and giving me eye contact. At that point I will give him the precious food he so much wanted and we will have had a conversation about how I'd like him to conduct himself around me and food. Ultimately respect my leadership and safety and I will be more then happy to give him what he wants. Leadership is  balance thing.

If we are Ogres and control freaks all the time, the horse will run the other way when we come to the pasture. On the other hand if we are push overs, we can get hurt and frustrated because our horse out ranks us.
We need to focus on consistent positive, behavior patterns and keep working with them daily.

When I have worked with difficult horses, I find as long as I can get them to honor my personal space, we can start to have a conversation about what might be a better way to work together. I don't really care if a horse is a bucker, rearer,striker or kicker. None of these things can hurt me if the horse is not in my personal space. So if I have this horse and he is upset or even aggressive, we have to learn how to be in a space and respect each other. If I feel safe I can let the horse express his opinions freely until he feels heard and then he will probably listen to me. A lot of times a horse wants us to just listen. Like a person who's upset.This horse often stops protesting when he sees I am not going to make a request until he shows me his softer side. Also, by not trying to control the "bad" behavior it often diffuses itself and fizzles out. If you don't feed that energy, it goes hungry.  Same with fear and spookiness.

Some horses seek negative reinforcement just as much as positive because they are smart and it has gotten a rise out of the human. It can become a game that you don't even know you are playing. If I ignore this game and then see some behavior I like, I will go and Positively Reinforce it. The horse learns the "negative" behavior goes un-noticed and loses interest in doing it anymore. I have found this way of training has garnered me much more success then chasing horses around pens and "Dominating" them. This is not to say a horse doesn't need leadership and to respect you. It is to say that we can do it in a Positive way and keep a nice relaxed, harmonious connection even when there is a lot of energy to deal with.
FDT