Horses in Rhythm

Have you ever wondered what makes an equine assisted learning horse? It's a #horse that has a #kind eye, an #honest temperament and one who is very #tolerant t...o every individual need, ask, and request that we have of them. It is the horse that has #warmth in his #heart and #softness in his #soul. It is that horse that you can trust with all your heart, but yet he can still put you in your place. A horse with the willingness to follow, but the #confidence to lead. An EAL horse is one that will find a place in your heart. A friend for life.

After seeing an article this morning about how to use a chifney bit correctly I thought rather than leave people trying to follow written advice I would demonst...rait how it's done. Imagine you were confused, scared, uncomfortable or even panicking about doing something... then somebody came along and gave you even more pain and discomfort to deal with. How would you feel? Overwhelmed? Angry? Hurt and upset? We do this all the time to horses, we force them to put up with something aversive because if they don't an even worse, more painful or more frightening aversive will be presented. Because of this it's important we use tools designed for horse training precisely and with care. Here I demonstrait how to effectively use a chifney bit to get horses to 'do what we want them to do'. please watch until the end before you judge me!

#ScienceSunday If your horse 'acts up' when girthed up, they are trying to tell you something. 'Girthiness' is a common complaint of horse owners. Owners may us...e this label to describe behaviors such as ear pinning, bite threats, tail swishing, or any other number of unwanted behaviors when attempts are made to tighten the horse's girth or cinch. While it's long been speculated that this behaviour is a result of pain, many people chalk it up to just 'bad behavior' from the horse. Fortunately for horses, a new study has looked at whether there is a link between these behaviors and pain. Researchers performed a retrospective study, examining the medical records of 37 horses seen over a 12 year period at UC Davis who had listed 'girthiness' as a complaint. Of those 37 horses, 36 had identifiable issues: 12 (out of 13 total who were gastroscoped) had gastric ulcers, 10 had orthopaedic issues, 3 had poorly-fitting saddles, 10 had various other diseases, and 1 had reproductive neoplasia. Once physical reasons for girthiness have been identified and treated, many horses will still have a pain memory that needs to be addressed. The horses may still display the behaviors labelled 'girthiness' because they anticipate pain when girthed. This is best addressed using what's known as counter-conditioning and systematic desensitization: changes the horse's negative emotional response to being girthed up to a positive emotional response, in a slow, and progress way that doesn't trigger the behaviors. #horsebehavior #behaviourmodification #horsetraining

Dopamine is present in the brains of all mammals