What the toss? 8 Reasons Why Your Horse May Be Head Tossing
Head tossing can be difficult to ride and scary for newer riders.
We all see beautiful images of horses working in a self-carriage frame, and then come across a horse that tosses his head or needs to hold it high. It can be frightening, frustrating and unbalancing when we ride these horses.
Understanding why this might be happening can improve our chances of correcting this unwanted behaviour.
Dental and bit issues
Mouth pain created by an incorrectly worn bit or dental issues can lead to head tossing, particularly when you put the bridle on or apply a reign aid – strong or soft. The best way to see if this is the cause of your horse’s head tossing is to have a discussion and examination with your dentist.
Development Issues
A horse that is working hollow is generally going to carry his or her head higher (unless being forced into a frame, which will be uncomfortable and limit the development of your horse). A horse that has poor strength and elasticity through their top-line will also need to use their shoulders and neck to lift, which will bring their head high. Ensure to work through the training scale to maximise your horse’s capability for self-carriage is the only way to fix this, and it will take time.
Anxiety
Horses that are anxious are naturally inclined to have their heads held high on the lookout for danger. Some horses may have anxiety related to one particular issue, and others may be living in a chronic state of anxiety. The best way to deal with an anxious horse is to help them get past the ‘fight or flight’ stage of the anxiety to where they can begin to mentally process their decisions, while at the same time encouraging them to follow you as their calm leader – if you are not anxious, they shouldn’t be either. This may require professional assistance.
Training Issues
A horse that doesn’t understand or becomes frustrated may toss his head to communicate his confusion. They will usually attempt to do what you ask but become repeatedly confused as we continue to not give the release they were expecting. You may have to work with your trainer to ensure the aids you are applying have been developed from the very basic to the more advanced (as they learn).
Conversely, a horse that knows the training but is trying to avoid putting his head down will react opposite of your aid and lift his head. This may be because the head in frame is too hard to maintain too long, or because he is testing us. Use the pressure/release method to encourage and reward the correct behaviour, and gradually increase the number of strides he has to maintain this.
Saddle Fit
Sometimes, an incorrectly fitting saddle that pinches or rubs may create a number of ‘naughty’ habits, including head tossing. A poorly fitted saddle would be like wearing a bra that is 3 sizes too small in one cup and 2 sizes too big in the other. These naughty behaviours are your horse’s way of telling you they are uncomfortable.
Poll Pressure
Some horses, particularly as they develop, or if they have dental issues, may have a sensitive poll. This is usually due to a tightening of the neck and/or the jaw muscles. Ear twitched horses may also be extra sensitive to this area, as ear twitching creates pain and can damage the muscles in and around the ear. Some great stretches to release poll pressure include low carrots stretches and between the knees carrot stretches. It’s also not a bad idea to review this at your horse’s next chiro visit.
Insects
If you are in a particularly high insect area or time, you may notice your horse tossing his head a lot more. Use some insect repellent on a grooming mitt to gently apply to the areas of the face, ears and neck to help reduce this.
Learned Behaviour
Unfortunately, some horses may have figured out that when they toss their head high, they can scare their rider or owner out of doing what they are asking for, and therefore it has become a learned response to get out of something they deem unpleasant. It takes some time, patience and consistency to break this behaviour, and a lot of pressure/release practice. But persevere – I promise that with the right approach it can be overcome!
overcome problem behaviours with our easy to follow method
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Getting Your Horse “on the Bit” is Easy...
What is riding on the bit and why do so many of us struggle with it?
Getting Your Horse “on the Bit” is Easy – Keeping Your Horse There is Hard
Riding your horse on the bit is both one of the easiest and hardest things you will do in your riding career.
The reason it is easy is because to get the horse to be on bit and flex at poll is the use of pressure & release to get your horses to give to the bit pressure.
The reason it is hard is because of the way the horse has to engage its core to do it well – which gets harder when we start moving!
In the same way that we can stand still and engage our postural muscles, it’s easy - but then you are asked to move, or run, or dance – not so easy.
These are the things we are expecting of our horse – to move gracefully forward with acceptance of the bit.
The actual teaching of the acceptance of the bit, to be on the bit, is easy; the hard part is conditioning the involved for the horse to maintain it easily and with forward movement.
Issues with attempting to get your horse on the bit when they aren’t conditioned to it:
False flexion
False flexion. Note the bend at the 3rd vertebrae.
The horse breaks away at the 3rd vertebrae as opposed to flexing at the poll and bringing its head on the vertical. This puts its head too deep, leading to them working on the forehand, pulling with the shoulders and then working behind the bit.
You will still get rewarded in your dressage test for your horse being slightly behind the vertical or slightly on the vertical but still on the forehand, but you will have comments like lacking forward or lacking impulsion. And that’s essentially because you have pulled the horses head down without learning how to ride them forward through to contact.
That is the conditioning work that we do to maintain the horse in frame while on the bit in forward movement.
Twisting Pelvis or Dropped Shoulder
We use bend to establish the suppleness for the horse to be able to put its head down in the first place. So rather than bending through the rib cage, they will twist through the pelvis or drop the shoulder. This allows them to put their head down without technically having to engage their postural or self-carriage muscles.
This further enhances them travelling on the forehand, pulling with their chest and shoulders, working with false flexion and working behind the bit.
Tips to work your horse to truly be ‘on the bit’
What being on the bit actually is is between being too hollow and too deep.
What I teach my students is to ride them forward, hands out of their mouth and let them be hollow. Then use their half halt (which you have taught them to give to bit through pressure/release), and they might come behind the bit slightly, or your just asking them to tuck their chin in, and then you want to ride them forward out of that again. You are using your circle work to keep them nice and supple. Eventually, the horse will develop its core strength and the stability of its postural muscles to be able to ride forward, into contact. So that when you ride your half halt, they don’t come behind the bit, and when you ride your forward, they don’t hollow.
What happens, though, is we get super excited that our horse is on the bit, and we want to keep them there, not change up the exercise or allowing strengthening. In doing that we end up with our horse coming behind the bit, behind the leg, and going on the forehand.
So it is important for us riders, in these first few stages where the horse is learning and developing how to work on the bit, to allow them to go hollow, and then bring them back in again, then letting them go hollow, and bring them back again.
You have to give your horse the 12 months it needs to condition their body to that exercise.
Using the half halt to bring them in and then letting them out forward and hollow allows the correct toning for the muscles during the development stage
It takes 6-8 weeks to develop the coordination and balance, followed by 3-4 months of muscle conditioning – the muscles they need to develop to actually hold their head there (we want it to feel natural and good for them to hold their head there while they are moving) – and finally, 6-12 months for bone and ligament density, so that this environmental stress that we have created in their bodies becomes part of their conformation. That’s when you can just hop on your horse and they are already there.
The ‘on the bit part’ is quite easy. The conditioning part is the hard part, where you are giving your horse the time and the environmental exposure for their body to adapt to it and be able to do it easily and maintain it consistently.
Obviously, part of that is you, as the rider, understanding how to apply the pressure release so their head can come down, but also having the sensitivity to know when your horse has come behind your leg, or when its dropped the hip, or fallen out through the shoulder, or when it’s not moving forward to your hands, or when it is not moving forward with thoroughness.
All of these parts of part of your journey as a rider to learn, so that you don’t inhibit your horse’s range of movement.
You don’t want to stress about whether the horse’s head is on the bit or not, you want to learn the foundations of how to work the horse correctly into contact. And once you learn those foundations, and apply those exercises, the horse will come onto the bit.
The ‘on the bit’ part is just the last piece of the puzzle of good self carriage from your horse.
Foundations of Equine Development Green to Self Carriage program is coming soon - register your interest here
Time Heals All Wounds?
***Warning: this blog is not specific to horses. In fact, it is a eulogy for my soulmate.***
2006
As the famous saying goes…
Time heals all wounds
But does it really?
While it may be true in most cases, there are a variety of pains that time has no impact on.
The loss of a soulmate is very likely to be near the top of that list.
For those of you that don’t believe in soulmates, you clearly haven’t met the right animal yet.
I met my soulmate 18 years ago today. I returned to my parents place, only to be greated by a pale calico kitten running up to greet me. In that exact moment, something inside just clicked. I knew she was mine and I was hers.
Our relationship was not perfect. I ignored Sima’s opinion of my boyfriend at the time (she hissed at him the minute she met him - to which she NEVER has done prior or since) - to my own peril, when he relocated me interstate and then dumped me the same day, but not before convincing me to surrender her to a vet clinic on the way. Thankfully my family rescued her and we were reunited a short time later.
2012
When she was just about 15 months of age, I had adopted another kitten. She and Rael were playing on the windowsill of my shabby villa late one night when the window screen collapsed and they both fell outside (being indoor cats). I woke to Rael’s cries but Sima was gone. It took 3 weeks of searching and letterbox drops before an elderly lady contacted me, saying Sima had shown up on her doorstep, scared and shaking, in the middle of a viscious storm. The moment I arrived to collect her, she came running over, crying about her scary adventure. She was reluctant to go anywhere new without me from that moment.
Sima was a patient teacher, allowing me to practice my nursing skills without a fuss. She would even let me place an intravenous catheter without anyone else holding her! Even as she aged, and the intensity of her treatments grew, she surpassed every vet and nurses expectation by playing the part of the perfect patient.
The memories are endless:
The time she tried to wake me up by sitting on my chest and tapping my face with her paw - the second time with one single, delicate claw extended.
Snuggling on the lounge with me and her sister while reading.
Getting excited to go for a walk in her harness - only to freeze when a magpie was serenading her (so excited, she was unable to decide what to do!)
Sneaking up on my aunt when her back was turned and launching herself upon her, landing halfway up her back before bolting again.
2018
We fought so many battles and you pulled through nearly every single one - and if love was enough, you would have pulled through this as well.
But your sudden collapse, with your heart throwing mini clots causing strokes, your kidneys deteriorating rapidly, and your body no longer able to fight; the grief of my lack of ability to help you, my inability to be at your side at that moment it first happened; these are memories that will haunt me as they are the reason you are no longer at my side.
As was my responsibility as your soulmate, I made the heartbreaking decision to end your pain and bear it alone. One day shy of 18 years together, I held you in my arms and watched you take your last breath.
Sima, you were my favourite hello and my hardest goodbye.
A part of my soul now resides with you in the shadowlands.
Perhaps time will heal this wound, but it won’t be in my lifetime. My heart will only heal when we meet again.
Horse body language: Are they saying no?
We are so often hearing “why does my horse...?”, “Is my horse being naughty?”, “Does my horse hate me?”, “Why won't my horse...?”
Is your horse trying to say no?
We are so often hearing “why does my horse...?”, “Is my horse being naughty?”, “Does my horse hate me?”, “Why won't my horse...?”
This perception and wording of what you ask yourself when you are working your horse plays a significant role in not only how you train but also how your horse works.
If you are trying to find ways to make your horse do something you are inevitably going to come across the argument of who's the bigger bully.
But when you can think of working with your horse in a way where they have a choice to say yes or no then we can start to work together. If we can see that willingness is a yes to our ask and resistance is a no to our ask we can ask WHY is our horse giving us a no (therefore rule out pain and other issues) and ask HOW can get a yes.
One of the ways we do this is by being flexible with our goal posts. Our goal posts is basically getting the yes. And if we can set willingness and yeses as our goal posts, its impossible to come away without a win. Its when we have certain expectations of what our horse should do for us + willingness and yeses that we are setting both ourselves and our horses up to fail.
For example, consider if you are going out to work your horse with the expectation of doing a 90cm gridwork session. You go out to catch your horse and they high tail it to the back corner of the paddock (first no). Eventually you catch them and they are fidgeting and fussing around for the saddle and channeling their inner giraffe for the bridle (second and third no). Then they won’t stand still for you to mount (fourth no). They start mucking up for you in your warm up pulling through the bit, testing and fighting every aid etc. How well do you think your actually training session is going to go?
Now consider your if instead you adjusted your goal posts to have willingness and yes as the goal for the day. You go to catch your horse the go to the end of the paddock so you work on some focus, attention and connection exercises and they hook on and follow you up to the barn. They start fidgeting and fussing around for their tack so you work on getting a yes to put the saddle on and getting them to put their own bridle on. They won’t stand still for the mounting block so you work on getting them to invite you into the saddle. So you can start to see rather than it being an argument the whole way through you acknowledge the no and reshape the exercise to make the yes the goal.
How much different do you think your horse would be by the end of the training session? What about a week of training them like this? A month? A year? How could the relationship with your horse change if the focus of each training session was willingness and yeses instead of task achievement?
Will it take longer? Short term? Yes. Long term? No. If you put the work in at the beginning to set the expectations and the standards it does take a while of you showing up with consistency of your expectations to condition the horses interaction but once this is established the more difficult exercises that become big road blocks actually become relatively easy to progress through.
So rather than getting frustrated, impatient and disheartened because every training session is a battle and you constantly feel stuck, flip the script. Break it down it to small achievable goals, build the yeses and eventually the yeses come easily to the bigger asks. And the best thing is, once this is well established, when your horse does say no, you know their is a good reason and can catch it before it becomes a big problem.
Do you need help establishing focus, attention and connection? Join our free stronger bond community where we give you support for exactly that.
Why does my horse bite me?
Have you been bitten by your horse?
Have you been bitten by your horse? Maybe you were doing up their girth and they whipped around and gave you a nip. Maybe you were standing outside their yard talking to your mate and they struck out and gave you a good bruise, much to your embarrassment. Maybe the are constantly at you and hassling you and its impossible to handle them without coming away covered in bruises. Even though they are herbivores that mouth can pack a punch!!
One of our philosophies at Equestrian Movement is “first do no harm”. So before you delve into the training of any behavioural issues we believe it is vital to rule out all possible physical reasons they could have for that behaviour. Working with your horse team of equine health practitioners you want to rule out any pain from:
Ulcers
Muscle pain (back, neck, pole etc)
Gut pain in general maybe from fresh grass etc
Dental issues
Reduction in range of movement (for example a recent horse I was working with was trying to nip my when I wanted to pick his back leg up because back pain was limiting the range of movement through his hindquarters)
Poorly fitted rug
Poorly fitted tack
Once you have ruled out all these problems, the next thing to do is see if you can see a pattern. Is the nipping only associated with a certain ask? For example, is it only when you put the rug on or is it only when you brush them. I have experienced in my time some horses, though not the majority, I would call sensory. They are particular about the feel of things, some people have called them ticklish. These horses don’t like being groomed because they don’t like the feel of the brush, or they may not like the rug being pulled forward because they don’t like the way the hair gets pushed the wrong way.
Once you’ve ruled this out you’re left with the majority of horses that are just naturally mouthy. Nippy horses are generally naturally mouthy horses. When you see them in the paddock they are biting at the other horses usually trying to antagonise them into play.
They will also usually drive you crazy by putting everything in their mouth!! Your whip, your saddle, your saddle cloth, the brush. Anything left lying around is fair game. So when you think about your nippy horse and what they are trying to say its important to realise that they are probably a very social temperament looking for connection (as long as you've ruled out all other problems such as pain, ulcers etc.) So what they are truly looking for from you when they are nipping at you is your focus, attention and to play with them.
It is important these horses know you are “with them”. They are also vocal and get easily stressed and more nippy if they think your training methods are unfair. They get almost an angsty tension about themselves if they don’t feel heard or respected. They are a little on the needy side, very demanding of your attention and love to be spoiled and fussed over. However, when the trust has been broken by you or other handlers they don’t know how to best express their neediness and can be standoffish whilst at the same time picking at you. If they’re safety really feels threatened they are more likely to become aggressive and lunge at you than run away.
Opening the lines of communication and rediscovering that connection is the best way to redirect that angsty mouthy energy to affection. I also have a little trick for turning nippers into lickers and occupying their mouth which I’m putting together into a freebie. If you don’t want to miss this mini video training make sure you’re on our email list.
Why we don't teach desensitisation
At Equestrian Movement we don’t use a lot of desensitisation. It might be a litte contraversial, but hear us out.
Teaching your horse to target is one step of teaching them how to investigate scary objects
This might sound a bit controversial but…
…at Equestrian Movement, we don’t use a lot of desensitisation.
There have been plenty of times in my riding and training career that I have questioned myself because I tend not to use it. I’ve often been told I haven’t done my job properly or a horse hasn’t been properly broken in if it hasn’t been “sacked out”.
And this idea that you haven’t done your job right if you haven’t desensitised your horse had me experimenting with it to see if there truly was something I was missing. If maybe I wasn’t doing the best possible job I was capable of for the horse. After some experimentation I still didn’t like the process and didn’t think it was necessary for a “good” horse.
There are 2 big reasons why we don’t “sack out” our horses to “break them in”.
Firstly, teaching your horse not to react to something there are scared of doesn’t make them less scared.
It just teaches them not to react.
It can work for some horses but they really have to have the right temperament. The kind of horse that is already fairly confident in itself, hasn’t had too much trauma in previous experiences, isn’t particularly spooky or easily startled.
Secondly, it can teach them to shut down.
This means that the fear the horse is feeling is too much to cope with. It doesn’t know what to do with it and switches into fight, flight or freeze mode.
The part of the brain responsible for processing, reasoning and learning is switched off. The part of the brain designed for survival is switched on. The 2 cannot work at the same time.
Maybe you’ve experienced this yourself when you’ve gotten a big fright? In the moment you are just reacting and when its over you’ve had to talk it through with a friend or counsellor to process the experience.
There are plenty of reasons a horse could be struggling with its emotional stress response.
Lets face it - most horses have a tough gig. It could have:
been weaned too young;
had to live in isolation;
not been able to integrate and live with a herd
not had enough time out;
lived in a box;
bad experiences with trainers, handlers, being broken in;
pain… the list goes on.
I’m not trying to make excuses for them, but I am saying that the number of ways a horse could learn how to process an environmental stimulus poorly is profound. Even if it is naturally a confident and secure horse let alone our more naturally spooky horses.
One of our core philosophies at Equestrian Movement is to first do no harm. Harm may not always be something you can see easily. Mental and emotional harm are just as important to address as physical. We want to build our horses up emotionally to be resilient, brave and confident within themselves.
Another one of our core philosophies is to set our horse up for success. I’ve always believed that we are supposed to be the “intelligent” species. We’re the ones who want to ride these horses and yet we expect them to be the ones to figure it out and even reprimand them for anticipating the right answer. So to set them up for success literally means to make the answer easy for them to find and understand.
So if we don’t use desensitisation, how do we deal with spooky horses?
We teach them to be curious.
We teach them how to breath through and process their emotions.
We teach them how to deal with stress, fear, anxiety, frustration and anger so that they aren’t taking it out on us.
We want them to build the confidence up in themselves first, and then their trust in us so that they can investigate for themselves something that has them spooked and learn from the experience that it wasn’t so bad.
This has lead to our core training principles in our course Training Trainability, where we teach our horses how to learn.
Leadership, communication and curiosity.
When we start implementing these training tools our spooky, sensitive, reactive horse starts to:
trust us to look after them and not put them in situations that are going to end badly for them, whether physically, mentally or emotionally.
be able to communicate they are having a problem, before the problem escalates out of control.
be curious and investigate potentially scary objects. The best part about teaching curiousity over desensitisation is that you can never desensitise a horse to every potential thing it may ever be scared of (for example the bubble machine in side show alley starting up and blowing across the show ring and bubbles popping on your horses nose). So instead you are teaching them to investigate things they are scared of rather than run away.
Desensitisation is one small piece of the training puzzle too often used incorrectly. While teaching a horse not to react to certain things and then to react to other things is an important part of their education, it is far more important that they know how to process their emotions.
Only then can the horse understand how to find the right answer and how to ask questions.
Are you curious about how we work these principles into our training?
Moving Safely Around Your Horse
Have you ever given consideration of how we should be moving around our horse to ensure our own safety? Or why some of our instructors tell us we should approach in a certain way?
Have you ever given consideration of how we should be moving around our horse to ensure our own safety? Or why some of our instructors tell us we should approach in a certain way?
In this video, Katie demonstrates the reasons we should be thoughtful in our movements and where the ‘safe’ places are.
Let Your Horse Make The Mistake!
Before you poo-poo the idea, hear me out!
Before you poo-poo the idea, hear me out!
One way to really affect your relationship with your horse in a negative way is to micromanage their behaviour.
As the perfectionists we are, it is super hard to let our horse make a mistake when we feel it is about to happen. In response, we create pressure when our horse is still doing the right thing.
If the pressure is there for the right AND the wrong behavior, there is no incentive for our horse to seek the answer.
So to help them continue to seek the right answer - let them make the mistake!
Once they've made the mistake, correct them. Let them keep making the mistake over and over until they figure out what the correct answer is and choose to do it. This creates willingness.
Create a work ethic in your horse where they are looking for the correct answer to the ask. Create a curious horse that engages in your training and enjoys learning.
Don’t create a horse that stops asking questions, stops looking for answers and sometimes starts arguing with you.
Support your horse’s training by understanding the full concepts of Trainability - the program that teaches you how to create a confident, willing and curious companion - view more details on the program here.
Does your horse struggle with focus?
Gaining a horse’s focus, concentration and attention isn’t always easy…
Does your horse know how to focus it's attention on you?
Does it know how to concentrate on a task?
Does it know how to problem solve and seek the right answer?
It may surprise you to know that horses don’t instinctively know how to learn and find answers.
Instinctively they know how to protect themselves - and if figuring out and doing what you ask keeps them safe then they will do that. But focusing on you and problem solving doesn’t come easy to each horse.
That's why we created the training trainability program.
It teaches the horse how to look for and seek the answers. It teaches them how to be curious instead of scared. It teaches them how to concentrate and focus on us. It helps develop a learning, problem solving brain that can hold it's attention without getting distracted.
The exercises are super easy to implement and can open a two way conversation between you and your horse so that they are softer and more willing. It gives you the basic training principles so that when they aren't working with you you can problem solve an answer.
Keen to know more? Click here!
Is Your Horse Doing Your Head In?
When those annoying behaviours really get to you, ask yourself why you really love your horse…
One of the things I tell my students is that the thing with your horse that is absolutely doing your head in is also why you love them.
That horse that spooks and shies at everything also has a good work ethic and is a people pleaser.
That horse that pushes into you and over the top of you is a perfect trail rider that is rock solid no matter what comes his way.
Knowing your horse - the good, the bad and the ugly - helps you bring out the positives of their temperament and manage those not so desired behaviours. And hopefully somewhere in the middle we find balance.
What's your horse doing that does your head in?
Need help finding the balance? Ask us more about the Training Trainability Program!
Getting a stronger bond with you horse
Developing a relationship with our horses is the long road seldom travelled.
Do you wish you had a stronger relationship with your horse?
Does it just not feel right or like there’s something missing?
Are you looking for answers to behavioural issues?
Maybe if my horse liked me more it wouldn’t be so skittish and spooky or bargy and pushy?
Developing a relationship with our horses is the long road seldom travelled. Because once you know how to make or manipulate a horse into doing what you want it to you don’t really need to rely on the relationship anymore. The better you get at making horses do things and hanging on to their outbursts the less you need them to be willing because well they actually are willing and the more their willingness comes because they have no other option.
At some stage we will hit a plateau with our horse. At this stage we may sell and try a new horse hoping the next one will be our answer. This can happen several times over, always seeking but never finding that magic that we are looking for of complete union in the saddle.
What your lacking is called connection. It is when your horse is interested and engaged in the learning process, it enjoys moving in harmony with you and its attention and focus is on you always. When you head to the paddock they come to the gate to greet you. When you dismount they give you a soft knicker in appreciation of the ride. Its not this constant fighting and battle that leaves you exhausted and makes just the idea of tacking up feeling like your pulling teeth.
That connection starts with us. We have to put the time and the effort into building a relationship and rapport with our horses. Not leave them feeling like they are a cog in the machine.
When was the last time you sat with you horse just to enjoy being with them?
EMERGENCY! Be Prepared In Fire
Preparation is key.
With the current events across Eastern Australia, it is no wonder that many of us are on edge.
The fires that are raging are devastating wildlife, property, pet and animal lives. And when the one’s we love are under threat, especially with something so hell-on-earth like bushfire, it puts us into high stress mode - which unfortunately, is not always condusive to straight thinking.
Fortunately, horses are quite clever at getting out of the way of fire, as long as we give them the right chance.
It’s on that note, we have compiled a list to help you prepare in case a fire emergency strikes.
1. Know their safe place
That way, when your property is placed at risk, or if there is a chance it may occur, you can move your horses to a designated area.
Horses can usually escape or avoid fire if they are given enough space, and if we make that space an area less likely to burn, that makes it even easier! So select a large “Jenny Craig” paddock (eaten out of vegetation, or more dirt than grass). Alternatively, a number small eaten out paddocks interlinked with opened gates, or a large sand arena devoid of close vegetation or buildings, may also be suitable.
Even better if that area has a dam that the horses can stand in to escape the flames and heat.
DO NOT put them in small, inescapable areas such as pens or stables - they will more likely panic, thrash and become injured, and have little ability to escape any upcoming flames.
2. Remove all tack
While halters may make your horse easier to catch if you need to relocate them, if the fire whips across quickly, any tack including rugs, halters or lead ropes can catch alight and either burn or melt - not keeping your horse safe at all.
3. Have an exit strategy
It goes without saying but still must be said - YOU MUST HAVE AN EXIT STRATEGY, AND YOU MUST KNOW WHEN TO IMPLIMENT IT!
Keep an eye on your local government or fire management sites, radio or television to understand the threat. The best advice of actions to take is available there.
Choose an alternative, out of the way location to move your horse - a friends, the local (or not so local) pony club or showgrounds, sale yards, race tracks, or even a riding school or animal shelter - just be sure they can recieve you (and you may be expected to stay with your horse at some of these locations, so know in advance in case you need to have multiple trips for multiple horses).
Work with friends or neighbours to maximise the movement of animals.
It doesn’t matter if you act on the exit strategy early. In fact, it is far better you do, than risk the lives of your horses, yourselves, and the brave men and women who are willing to sacrifice their lives to save ours.
4. Mark your horse with your contact information
Having clear contact numbers on your horse can help you find them again should any fencing burn down and they escape.
Paint your phone number on their flanks - if you do it in large numbers, people who find but cannot catch your horse can easily read it and call you out. If you paint their hooves, remember that soot will settle there and it may be harder to read at a distance.
Shave your contact number into their coat - yes, it may take a while to grow back, but far better to grow back in your paddock and look funny for a while than to never know what happened to your horse.
Braid an id tag into their mane (not tail) - but remember, someone needs to get close enough to your freaked out horse to read it, so something much less subtle, such as painted flanks, is easier.
5. Cut your horses tail
Cut it short, or braid it up, to reduce the chance of it catching a stray ember and literally setting fire to your horse’s arse…
6. Avoid letting your horse loose on the roads if you can
A horse that is running on the road is by far more likely to come into danger from a panicked driver or a speeding emergency service vehicle than it is from the fire - and is more likely to put human lives at risk also.
7. Have your first aid kit handy
When it is safe to check on your horses, make sure your first aid kit is fully supplied and ready to deal with any minor or major injuries that may have occurred. Have your vet’s number handy but understand they may be in just as much trouble as you, so have as many back up contacts as possible.
Stay smart, stay safe, and we hope to see everyone alive on the other side of this disaster.
xo
Sarah & Katie
Do you have any tips we missed, or experienced a fire disaster? Put them in the comments below!
The horse that evades straightness cannot work their body correctly
Straightness is a crucial part of the horses development and one of the things they love to evade!
Straightness is a crucial part of the horses development and one of the things they love to evade!
Basically because working with straightness is harder for them then working crooked. But also because it truly is impossible to be perfectly symmetrical.
This is why we get obsessed with dressage. We are forever endlessly seeking the impossible. I say this as lovingly and supportive as possible because I am right there with you relentlessly seeking the impossible!
Now before I manage to completely talk you out of your never ending pursuit of perfection that is dressage, the purpose of the way the exercises and movements are tiered throughout the levels is to address the ways the horse will naturally evade that way of movement.
For example, prelim introduces circles and serpentines that create the looseness and suppleness for the relaxation and swing required for a prelim working paces.
Novice introduces leg yield, lengthening the paces and smaller circles to create the engagement and throughness required for novice working paces.
Elementary introduces shoulder in, traver, rein back and simple changes that create the elevation and collection required for entry level collection.
And so forth up the levels.
So when we are talking about straightness we are talking about maintaining the connection from hind end to contact for the level. We are talking about stacking the horses building blocks on top of each other as evenly and balanced as possible. We are wanting to get our horse to engage its core and be as even and balanced as they can. The more evenly and balanced they work the less concussion and strain it puts on their body.
Straightness comes from becoming centered, balanced and engaging the core. It is comes from moving their weight into each of their 4 legs so they become “ambidextrous” so to speak. Of the horses I have met mostly they are strong and straight to the right and weak but supple to the left. Straightness comes from developing the tone to be equally strong and supple on both sides.
So when a horse evades straightness they will be twisting through the pelvis, dropping the shoulder, weaker one way than the other or more supple one way than the other. Any of these will put strain and concussion on our horses body which will at best slow their progress and at worse do damage to their body. Not engaging their core puts strain on their back, especially when we then sit on their back and creates tension through their back.
Is straightness and correct development important to you? Join our email list for when our course green to self carriage opens!
How Do You Choose Your Instructor?
I’m just going to say it - it doesn’t matter how famous your instructor is.
This may be a little controversial but I’m going to say it:
I don’t care how reputable your instructor/trainer is, their name does not excuse the way they treat your horse. Or the way they expect you to treat your horse.
I’m putting the call out that we start holding trainers and instructors to a higher standard of how we handle our horses.
It’s not your fault if they don’t know how to get the results from the horse with kindness. And it’s also not your horses fault. If we put enough pressure on our instructors and trainers and make a stand of how we are willing to handle our horses than they will just have to learn and adapt their techniques.
Learn better, do better.
I’m not exempt to this. There are definitely times that I have been disappointed in myself for getting heavy handed with an aid.
I’m also not saying we don’t maintain expectations of safe behaviour from our horses and discipline.
I am saying the way that we get there doesn’t have to be through fear and bully tactics. In fact I am saying that this is the worst way to get lasting results from our horse.
It does mean that we have to be flexible in the results that we get within a certain time frame. We don’t have to be flexible in the results just how quickly we expect our horse to get there. It is important that our horse understand how to learn and work with relaxed focus. Ideally we can get to the point where our horse enjoys working with us and learning.
Your horse doesn’t have a voice. They can’t tell you if you have offended them, if they are sore, if they don’t understand, if their body or brain is tired, if their saddle is uncomfortable, if you are sitting uncomfortably on their back (the list of things they can’t tell us can go on forever). But you know your horse better than anyone else - your instructor or trainer included.
You have to be brave enough to be their voice.
So before you book in for that clinic, workshop, lesson or training, make sure the person you are booking in with has the same philosophy on how to train as you do. And even if you do get in to the lesson or training session, I give you permission to say “no, I’m not doing that,” if you are uncomfortable with how they are telling you to treat your horse. And worst case scenario you can just play dumb and pretend to not understand what they want you to do.
Not sure what your philosophy in training is? At Equestrian Movement we start with the place of “first do no harm”. If you want to read more about our training, click here.
The Secret Behind True Bend
Do you know one of the common mistakes that are made when attempting to develop true bend?
Your horse can’t work in true bend if you are steering from the inside rein.
Are you always getting the comment more bend or circle not round in your dressage test?
Check in and be honest, are you using your inside rein to pull your horse around the circle? Or does your horse know how to steer off the outside leg?
Because I’m going to come right out and say most people aren’t even using their outside leg let alone steering well with it!!
This was one of those light bulb moments for me. You know the one where your instructor has been saying the same thing over and over but it never really sunk in and then one day the cogs all fall into place and the sun shines through the clouds and I magically understand how to turn!! And yes this was quite a fair way into my riding career and after training a couple of horses up to elementary.
I was really struggling with my canter circles on a big warmblood and had decided to put a halter on him and just muck around with him and low and behold he had no idea how to turn! Because the halter had a different effect on him he could get his weight behind it and just not turn. I didn’t realise that he didn’t understand how to follow the bit away from the leg. The most basic training principle. Even though he was “soft” in the mouth he was not soft because he understand to accept and follow the bit but because he was working behind the bit. That’s where he had found the release of pressure.
So the horse that doesn’t know how to steer from the leg comes across quite a few issues in their training.
The inside rein stays heavy or the horse learns to work behind the bit because when you are pulling the horse from the mouth you are setting them off balance so they will counterbalance against the pull and tense their jaw and the muscles on the inside of their neck instead of flexing them to look in the direction of travel.
Because their neck and jaw is tight the inside fore will be grounded and the horse will be working on the forehand.
Because the horse is on the forehand and pulling itself around the corner it won’t be bent through the ribcage around the leg correctly and so will be working hollow even though it may seem to be in a frame.
They then will bend by “displacing” their shoulders to the outside of the circle making it more likely they will fall out, therefore making us want to pull them from the inside rein even more.
Then won’t be balancing into their inside hind and engaging properly even though they seem to be. This will results in them twisting or dropping the pelvis and working crooked.
So rather than using the circle for its purpose to supple and engage the topline muscle the circle will be straining and stressing their topline and putting more concussion into forelegs. This can all be happening even though they look like they are doing it correctly.
Can you turn your horse from your outside leg?
There is obviously way more to the circle than just the outside leg, but this is just a common piece of the puzzle I see a lot of riders missing.
Want to improve your dressage scores? We have a couple of options in our membership site that are a gold mine of juicy nuggets to help you pull those dressage test scores up while you train your horse to improve those movements.
Finding The Deeper Meaning Of The Basics
Let’s look a little deeper into why our basic exercises are so important.
Our easy, basic exercises are simultaneously the easiest thing you will do and the hardest thing you will do well. The reason being is that the basics are entry level riding and the foundations of every thing else you do with your horse. So if you’re like me and been riding for 26 years and teaching for 14 years you’ve run through the basics thousands of times (no exaggeration). And each new horse I work through it with, each new rider I work through it with, each time I get a horse to a certain level of education hit a plateau and say ok time to go back to the basics I am learning something new, a different perspective and a deeper understanding of something that is so simple that a person who has never ridden it before can do.
This is why in our course green to self carriage we have tiered it to comfortably and easily move up and down the training scale. We have included all prerequisites and progressions in each lesson plan so if the current lesson plan has gone to crap you know what building blocks to strip back to but also if its too easy you know which exercise to work on next.
There is a huge difference in the halt a person rides the first time they ride a horse and the halt they ride a year later. There is a huge difference in the halt a person rides compared to a person who has had lessons with a good instructor every week for a year. There is a huge difference between the halt a person rides after a year of riding, 5 years of riding, 10 years of riding and 20 years of riding. With experience comes understanding and refinement and the horses we work with in that time are generally keen to teach us a thing or 2 also.
So before you rush on to that next movement, exercise or challenge, before you say “oh that exercise is too easy for us now” or “that exercise is boring I learnt that when I was first riding”, check in with you and your horse. Can you find a deeper meaning to the exercise? Can you learn something about it that you didn’t know before? Can your horse teach you something in that exercise that you couldn’t learn the first time you did it because your own feel and ability wasn’t ready?
Because trust me, I’ve been there. I’ve been the rider that hates practising halting because you only have to do it 2 maybe 3 times in a test. I’ve been the person that has said why do I need to get better at my walk through canter changes before I learn my flying changes? I’ve been the person that has rushed a horse through the basic principles to try and get to the “good stuff” and it just never works out the way we imagine. I am still learning new things about the most basic things we can do with a horse because I like to try and be a student of life which means I let my horses teach me how they want me to work best with them and I let my students teach me their perspective and feel of their horse.
We Don't Need To Be Challenging Our Horse's Boundaries Every Time We Ride
All work and no play makes Jack a dull horse… and makes you a dull rider!
For some reason every time we ride we expect the ride to be better than our last.
We want to have done something that we weren’t able to do last ride.
We want our horse to perform better, be more willing, more submissive, more expressive - but how fair is that on our horse?
Are you able to do better at work every day than you did the day before? Or better at the gym or a sport you may play? Or horse riding for that matter? Can you bring your 100% every day? Be enthusiast? Pleasant to be around especially under pressure? Can you learn something new every day?
Seems like a tall ask.
But we expect it of our horses. And then wonder why behavioural issues pop up!
So today I give permission for you and your horse to just hang.
To just enjoy each other. Do what your horse likes. Do they like treats, going on adventures, being groomed? What things do you do that your horse really enjoys and appreciates?
I give you permission to go do just that. Then get back to us - how did it feel? Did you enjoy yourself? Did your horse enjoy itself?
I even give you permission to do it a couple of days in a row.
And then do your training and see if your horse is more willing, more enthusiastic, more eager to learn and participate in the activities.
Is Your Horse a Master "Self-Carriage Evading" Artist?
Does your horse work in self carriage or workss at evading it?
Horses evade being in a working brain and working in self carriage like I avoid my computer before I have my morning coffee. "Oh look the dishes need washing, hmm maybe I should sweep that way I will concentrate better, and my working space is messy better find a home for everything. Oh the place I was going to put what was messing up my desk is messy; I should clean that as well!"
Before you know it, its 3 hrs later, I haven't opened the computer yet but at least my house is clean, right? I bet you can relate and so can your horse. I don't know what it is about getting into a working brain but some days it's so damn hard! Taking inspired action is the easiest way to get into work mode but that is a discussion for another day. Today we are talking about the art of evasion and I'm going to put it to you straight, our horses are pros at it and we rarely even notice.
What is self carriage?
Self carriage is:
When a horse transfers its weight off the forehand onto the hindquarters and drives from its hindquarters instead of pulling with its chest and shoulders.
When a horse engages its balances points and holds itself from its core allowing for suppleness of its extremities.
When a horse stops bracing through its joints for balance because it has engaged its core and is able to swing over its back and through its neck and shoulders.
For self carriage horses require:
Discipline
Sensitivity to the connecting aids
Purpose and drive
Balance
When a horse comes into self carriage it can squat through the hindquarters without losing forwardness, flex over the topline without dumping its weight onto the forehand and be extremely manoeuvrable and versatile in its movement without sucking behind the bit. This is actually really hard to achieve, not only in how to communicate to our horse this is what we want but also once they understand to convince them to do it. Even if you have flexed your horses head into a "frame" it doesn't mean they are in self carriage and you are potentially doing more damage to their musculoskeletal system than good. These horses will have a tight, strong underneck from balancing on their forehand, issues with their back (behavioural issues at the extreme with bucking, rearing and bolting) or physical issues with their croup protruding, sway backed and irregular in their stride to name a few problems. They may be pretending that they are engaged but have just hyper flexed through their pelvis and as a result won't work straight and can't pick up off the forehand or they will be strung out dragging the hindquarters.
As our horses motivator, exercise physiologist and trainer it is our responsibility to ensure they are working correctly, because it is us that then want to go and sit on the weakest part of their body and expect them to perform athletically. If I went to a PT that didn't understand correct technique I would be at a high risk of injury because I do not know how to use my body safely and correctly in exercises I haven't done before. It is the same for your horse; you have to show them good technique to avoid short term damage and long term wear and tear and early retirement due to unsoundness.
If it’s not good for the horse to evade, why are they so good at it!?
Well this comes back to me needing a coffee to get motivated. I know I should be working and future me will appreciate the past me for the work but right now.... bleh ... except for oooh coffee!! Ok now I can work. What coffee is doing is evoking some of the feel good hormone dopamine and dopamine particularly likes goals achieved. I have a very vivid memory as a child at school doing school work and I was particularly good at "evading" work. To be honest I suck at getting myself into a working brain, once I'm there all good but getting stuck in, nope that's not for me. My grandma always used to say Katie you need to "apply yourself". At the time I would do the annoying kid "I am!!!" but secretly I was thinking I don't even understand what you mean. I get it now though, "applying yourself" to a task means committing yourself 110% to getting the task at hand done. Without procrastination and excuses. Get stuck in, get it done and get it done well. And it requires determination, dedication and practise but it also requires rest. "Applying yourself" is harnessing your will power, exerting maximum effort and normally requires your adrenals tapping into your energy reserve. Your will power and adrenals become exhausted when in constant use. We want our day to day function to be at about 50 - 60% of our capabilities. So that when we go in to dig deeper for more and during periods of stress we have energy reserves to access. Adequate nutrition, vitamins and minerals and healthy happy hormone production are all integral to this but again this is a story for another day.
So getting back on track your horses evasion is a complex biochemical pathway protecting it from depleting its energy reserves that it needs to stay safe. After millennia of evolution the horses’ body only exerts 100% effort when needed during periods of stress and to stay safe when their life is threatened. So you can get this effort required by stressing them mentally and physically and threatening their safety (both not particularly good methods for training practices and safety when riding) ... OR ... you can inspire your horse to dance with you using happy hormone motivators and establish a training process so that they actually enjoy and like spending time with you.
How does your horse evade self carriage?
When establishing self carriage we are trying to stack the horses’ body compartments on top of each other. So it makes sense that the way the horse evades is to create misalignment of these body compartments.
Dumping their weight onto the inside or the outside shoulder
Twisting their hindquarters in or out
Running through the contact, grabbing the bit and pulling
Sucking behind the aids, either going too slow sucking off the go aid, or rounding too deep and sucking behind the contact
Leaning on the reins and yanking the reins
Developing self carriage
Developing self carriage is simultaneously incredibly easy and a lifetime's art form. This is because movement is dynamic and changes with environmental stress. Once a horse has conditioned and adapted to a new exercise they will then adapt to be able to do it with the least possible effort, so we need to make the exercises harder and more intricate to keep those core muscles and nerves to those muscles firing (also known as the period of plateau).
During these periods of plateau we need to maintain consistency with our training and wait for our horses’ body to catch up. It is important not to stress the horses’ body to heavily during this period. You want to give the horse at least 6 months of the same exercises to truly consolidate it as part of their conformation before pushing for more. Stress should be applied intermittently so that you can trigger healthy adaptations to exercise and not run the horse health down.
Enrol as a student and be guided down the path of development (or correction) to true Self Carriage here!
Could Your Attempt At Squaring The Halt Being Destroying The Halt Altogether?
When you use ‘tricks’ instead of taking the time to develop your horse, you could go backwards - fast!
“Will my horse ever halt squarely!?! I try to tap each hind leg under at the halt to teach my horse that’s what I want, but my halts seem to be getting worse rather than better and I can feel my horse getting more and more frustrated!!”
For a long time this was also the technique that I was taught to use to get my horse to halt square. At the halt tap the hind leg through that has been left behind.
A true square halt is the result of balance and engagement, not tricks.
But this only resulted in my halts getting worse as my horse fidgeted in anticipation for getting the hind leg tapped through!
Whenever we worked on getting our halt more square, those halts would quickly go from nice, soft transitions where the horse was relaxed and standing still, to swinging the hindquarters, fidgeting off the centreline and pulling through the bit.
In essence, this method of attempting to get the halt square actually destroyed the halt altogether!
To understand how to improve the halt, we must first understand why a square halt is important in our training.
The halt being square means that the horse has started to distribute weight onto the haunches (engagement) and evenly (straightness); which are important steps on our training scale.
The hind leg that is left behind in the halt is the hind leg that isn’t bearing weight and coming through in your other exercises. It also will more than likely be affecting the softness in that rein, the throughness of that shoulder, the evenness of the stride, quality of bend and canter transitions. It will also be what is stopping your horse from progressing in their work if you are stuck at a particular level.
So when I’m working with my horses and my students for improving the halt, I’m not looking for the halts they give in the arena. I want to know how the horse is standing in the paddock. How the horse is standing in the barn to be tacked up. How the horse is standing on the lead.
Because all these scenarios are an indication of how well the horse is working, how evenly they are training and where they are distributing their weight, which all has the flow on affect to whether or not they halt square.
Before your halt can be square, you must train and develop your horse correctly through the process of self carriage.
Do you need support working your horse into Self Carriage? Read more about the online training program that takes you step-by-step through the process.
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