In the Company of Horses

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2016-10-12T11:39:00.001-05:00

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In celebration of our upcoming book release "UNBRIDLED" The Heart of Graceful Horsemanship,

THE COVER OF 'UNBRIDLED' THE HEART OF GRACEFUL HORSEMANSHIP!

All of our blog posts will be contained in one place because I realize that everything is everything else!

EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING ELSE!

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https://unbridled2016blog.wordpress.com/

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Myth Busting Horse Whispering...

2016-10-06T11:52:00.000-05:00

It's all about support...

2016-10-05T11:37:00.000-05:00

To fill up their senses...

2016-10-03T10:29:00.001-05:00

To move in grace and harmony with your horse, so you can move with others takes filling up all of your senses with movement.

We had our "Moving in Harmony" Workshop this weekend. In these workshops I look for ways to illustrate concepts so the participants can locate a similar situation in their lives and apply it here.

Our eyes are one of our primary senses that we (as humans) tend to use the most, so to add to the sense of seeing, we add touch, both, in movement. Remember the goal is to get into harmony with our horses, like a dance within a couple, and then add purpose.

In this photo this couple has mirrored "hind" legs, the goal, even including, weight shifts, the human hand on the right hind quarter of the horse to feel what happens to the hip when the legs move; and finally the eyes watching. Let us not overlook the senses of energy and emotion which create the safety and comfort of both the horse and human who only met a few hours earlier. moving with a slowly grazing horse makes it all much easier than a quickly walking horse, so don't worry about the grazing!

To really move in harmony with our horses, it is the hind legs that should be carrying us. The hind legs are where we need to begin. So far every student I have taught who has taken riding lessons, learns rhythm at the rising trot and that happens by looking down at the front legs, which is an ok place to begin, if the human progresses to feeling, however, so many are forever looking and not able to feel. Resulting in, getting more connected with the front legs only and riding from front to back instead of getting connected with the engine behind.

FILL UP YOUR SENSES!

Riding, while relying only on looking perpetuates unbalanced horses who are already heavy in front, either on the mouth or the front legs, which is why so many riding horses have physical as well as emotional issues in front. It is time well spent to connect with our horse's hind legs through feel, using all of our senses.

Begin on the ground and then take it to the top. Have a helper on the ground who can help you 'call cadence.' The helper will begin by saying 'now' when your horse's identified hind leg is un-weighted and leaving the ground. The valuable place to identify is before the leg gets to the top of the rotation. This is when the leg is gracefully influenced, if you are too late or too early, you can easily unbalance your horse and create a disconnect. Some horses are very forgiving about this lack of harmony. When you begin to call the cadence correctly, close your eyes and fill your other senses with this rhythm.

When you are connected to your horses hind legs through feel, you will always be able to place the hind leg where you want it for optimal movement, like, working cows in a group. The cows in the center of the remuda ( in this case, moving fence made by horses) needed to be trained. This is a peaceful moment in this workshop! There were many times when a good, connected 'couple' had to dart off to 'catch' an escaped cow! Being able to have a ready horse who is relaxed because she is balanced creates confidence in horse and rider.

Take the time it takes because it works if you work it and harmony with your horse is worth it!

Yours Truly, In the Company of Horses,

Mary Ann

www.inthecompanyofhorses.com

Un Natural Horse keeping

2015-01-21T07:22:00.001-06:00

In 2012 my young colt Sterling fractured his coffin bone. This is a piece of my experience at that time.
So many lessons to be learned from one moment in time.. Since Sterling has been in the stall, I have been fragmenting the herd. Two horses in the barn, three on the trailer and 4 on the track. And with the exception of Sterling always being in the barn, they rotate. Valentine is obviously disturbed by this turn of events. I'm pretty sure she is feeling x-communicated or at least, not in charge of things. She eats outside and rarely comes into the barn, only when she wants to. She runs away and feels generally distrustful. Patches calls for whomever is not home but relishes her turn in the barn. Jessie steps up and goes to work or stays in the barn whatever I ask of her. Summer doesn't usually stay inside but does come to work and Harley never stays in the barn and is now earning his keep as a therapy horse for people in early days of recovery from addiction to drugs or alcohol instead of being Sterling's gelding!

Valentine Harley and Summer lunching at work

Whew and keeping horses inside - I find it hard to imagine why people do this when there is nothing wrong. When the horses come out, even the really grounded ones, they are spooky, flighty, worried. It makes no sense to do this to horses on purpose on a regular basis.

Fun and Games Workshop!

2015-01-12T12:36:00.000-06:00

Fun and Games workshop!

It was a fun time we were after and we found it!

The goal was just to spend some time with our horses before the holidays and winter took over our attention!

There were horses and people of all ages and skill level, just out to have a good time in a relaxed environment but with some focus.

No saddles, no bridles, no shoes, no problem!

The first thing we did is just get in the space with our horses and meet and greet everyone and every thing! Here at ICOH (In the Company of Horses Inc.) we have peafowl, guinea fowl, a duck (Howard) cats and horses including a miniature pony,.

Not to mention jumps, tires for going between or to stand on, a car wash blowing in the breeze bamboo poles for jousting and hula hoops hanging from the trees all to help our horses not worry about us or our stuff!

In the afternoon everyone had the opportunity to play at liberty, either in the round pen or in the big field! That was fun! Everyone was able to get connected by spacial awareness and by energy.

On day two we rode. After visiting about the day before we prepared our horses for riding by dragging things, cones, barrels, balls, poles and our bamboo, all to prepare for this days riding games which included "Moving Day" where everyone mounted up and hooked up something to a rope and began moving things from one place to another. This "purpose" game helped the people and the horses feel the need to cooperate and not to worry so much. For the horses who were not ready to drag their own things, they followed other horses brave enough to move stuff. Before lunch everyone was able to move everything together! This game prepared everyone, horses and humans mentally physically and emotionally for things that could show up on a trail or in a show arena. The horses were all calmer, braver and more partnered by lunch time.

After lunch we had a go at our own version of Doma Vaquera and precision with our long poles by skewering a brass ring! There was a prize for the one who could be moving on their horse and skewer a small ring with their long bamboo pole and the youngest rider with the smallest horse took home the prize!

The last game of our workshop was the double barrell pattern; set up like a barrel race only mirrored so your first turn is to the left on one pattern and then to the right on the next pattern in an effort to have our horses even and less one sided.

A great time was had by all!

For more information about future dates for this workshop, check in on our website!

www.inthecompanyofhorses.com

Fun and Games Horsemanship Workshops

Feel

2012-11-26T16:17:00.001-06:00

Feel.....

I've been learning about Feel - For the horses of course but this is another of those universal conversations.

Having some Feel keeps us from getting into a fight. I'm talking about horses again, but I suppose it applies to humans as well!

Having some Feel keeps us in the present moment interacting with what is and allowing what will be. Saying Yes and yes and yes.

Having some feel allows us to dance, play, run, sing, ride, fly! And we all have it. But;
WHAT does it take to develop our feel into peace, art and harmony?

This is where freedom comes into the equation. You need to be free; in your mind and your heart to experiment and express yourself. So you might say you need to be emotionally free; available to laugh; look silly; move; fail!

Find some kids to hang out with. Before they begin to worry about who is watching or what they look like, they are free to be, it's not courage like when you have a bunch of concerns and you let them go, it's truely natural! That's why horses love kids. They are fascinated by them, like us, we are fascinated by their world of discovery and wonder in even the smallest of things, the every day most common things are flat out fun.
Go watch this video http://youtu.be/4wt824D1Bqg.

Did you watch it? Are you still laughing? It was so great, that boy has feel, he was fully in the present moment interacting with what is and allowing what will be, saying yes, yes, YES. He knows he had fun even taking a bow and blowing kisses!

We'll talk more later - go watch it again!

Stall rest ~

2012-01-21T00:47:00.000-06:00

Blog –

At five weeks into what could be six months of stall rest, I must say I’m proud as ever of my young Sterling Archer. He does have an incredibly regal name Valiente Silver CrossWind, Sterling is his barn name and Archer came because he’s quite a character often downright comical! He is incredibly interested in people, curious, connected, loving and friendly.

This is Sterling shortly after I gave him one of Uncle Jimmie's Hanging Balls (no kidding that’s what it’s called). It is a ball full of seeds; coated with honey.

This was Sterling yesterday having an Energy Healing Session with Ginger Krantz. His energy has been quite high lately, ever since I spent all of last week at Mid Atlantic Equine Medical Center with Hearty. This photo was taken after we spent about ½ hour with him upright, then we left him be and went to work on Hearty. She choked on a hay cube last Saturday.

It was soaked, but obviously not enough. Sterling laid down and let us continue to work on his healing foot and his active mind. My friend and budding Equine Massage therapist Lisa Sitko made this card for me for it was on my birthday that Hearty’s choke finally was cleared and her life saved by the brave Veterinarians at Mid Atlantic Equine Medical Center. She is eating hay soup until her esophagus heals, so she is keeping Sterling company in the barn and getting hand walked several times per day.

But this day is one dedicated to hoof care. We are waiting for Esco Buff to come from Rochester NY to reset Sterling’s magic shoe.

It is designed to hold his foot absolutely still. After it is on, the whole wall gets an epoxy materiel that attaches that rim to the hoof wall. It’s not moving.

Here’s why

This is a radiograph of his right hind foot. Horsin’ around no doubt that vertical crack was found in his coffin bone which is the big bone inside the hoof. You cannot see this on the outside.

So this is what we do now. And we look for ways to enrich his time in this lovely airy box stall. And just when I get feeling down about spending so much time in a stall, my friend says “it’s so great that you have stalls!”

Ahhh to not have to know the gap.

On Leadership~

2011-12-08T08:58:00.001-06:00

Three foundations of a great life written by Michael C. Jensen is Jesse Isidor Straus Professor Emeritus at the Harvard Business School and Chairman of the Social Science Research Network, Inc. (SSRN). This article is adapted from his commencement address at McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University, in May, 2011. It is based on eight years of research into leadership with colleagues Werner Erhard, Steve Zaffron and Kari Granger. Links to the talk and other work on which this article is based are at:http://ssrn.com/abstract=1850544
The full article and easy to follow instructions are in the online magazine (link below)

http://www.together.us.com/2011/11/three-foundations-of-a-great-life/

This is the ultimate gift and everyone can have it! enjoy!

It's all about the relationship!

2011-11-17T13:32:00.001-06:00

Follow the below link to our newest blogpost! Thanks!
http://parentingfromthebarn.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/its-all-about-the-relationship/

In today's newspaper

2011-09-15T09:38:00.001-05:00

Article in today's paper!

These horses are truly special

Posted: Thursday, September 15, 2011 5:00 am | Updated: 6:57 am, Thu Sep 15, 2011.

0 comments

His name is Josiah. He is 10 years old and has autism. When he visits In the Company of Horses’ therapeutic riding program at the Majoda Stables in Moorestown, his favorite equine is Patches.

One day Josiah looked in the face of the paint horse and was convinced he detected a light flicker in its eyes. It caused the boy to wonder. And think. And explore.

In the months that followed, Josiah repeatedly returned to the stables and talked about experiments he conducted at home as he tried to find out about that flickering light. He drew diagrams and pictures of what he believed the light source was. He asked his mom to get him books about horses. His learning fuse had been lit.

“Josiah eventually learned that the light in Patches’ eyes was actually him,” said MaryAnn Brewer, president of In the Company of Horses, founded in 2006 and based in Pemberton Township. “What being around Patches did was make him curious to find out why.”

Brewer, 49, a 1980 graduate of Lenape High School, said the kids come, get on horseback and ride, offering them body stimulation along with emotional and cognitive connection.

“I’ve had autistic kids who went through the program who talked for the first time because of it,” Brewer said. “You can’t measure what that means.”

Brewer said horses and humans have a long relationship in the world of learning and growing. In stepping into the world of horses, people are affected physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

The therapeutic riding program combines the living power of equines with the accepted standards and practices of psychotherapy, physical therapy, group therapy, character education, life skills, leadership training, and team building to produce uncommon results.

In one-hour sessions, equine specialists work in concert with mental health professionals to help those with challenges clear life’s hurdles.

“We need people to see that horses can be used for more than just riding,” Brewer said.

Brewer didn’t have horses as a child, but a friend in Monmouth County did. The love affair began. It continued into adulthood, when she graduated from Parelli University in Colorado, the top horsemanship program in the world, and when she bought a farm, which 12 of her horses call home.

“Horses don’t care about race, or socioeconomics, or whether you’re the president of Johnson & Johnson, or if you’ve been incarcerated,” Brewer said. “What they do is give honest feedback.”

There’s an old “MASH” episode in which Col. Sherman Potter says, “I’d still rather spend a day with a horse than with most people.” I sense that Brewer and the old colonel would have gotten along just fine, same as the horses at Majoda and their riders with challenges.

“The big thing is these people are getting out in the world and doing things others do,” Brewer said. “For example, if there are weak kids with cerebral palsy, riding may be one of the few things they can do. Riding helps them build courage and learn how to take risks. When you can learn to make a 1,200-pound animal do what you want it to do and go where you want it to go, imagine what that does for your self-confidence?”

Brewer recently heard from a man whose 25-year-old son has Down syndrome and who attended her therapeutic riding program. He said that last summer his son participated in the Gloucester County Dream Park equestrian disciplines for those with special needs, but had not ridden since and began failing to thrive.

“The father said doctors didn’t know why this was happening,” Brewer said. “They ran tests and everything. They concluded that the son was just depressed.

“But through psychotherapy they learned he wasn’t thriving because he wasn’t seeing and riding his horse every week. He was experiencing symptoms from lack of being with the horse he had a relationship with for two years. It just shows you the benefits of what a horse can do.”

For more information, visit www.inthecompanyofhorses.com.

Phil Gianficaro’s column appears weekly.

Old school meets new thought~

2011-08-31T07:29:00.000-05:00

I came across this woman based in the Netherlands who has done her homework and has devised a new and clear way to share an ancient knowing.
Check her out!

Cool video; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8is3CbGodE&feature=share
website/blog/more videos. http://academicartofriding.com/

Here is a photo of Maestro "the problem horse that started it all!"

Ancient wild horses help unlock past

2011-08-31T05:04:00.000-05:00

Ancient wild horses help unlock past

This is a pretty interesting site with lots of research being done into the past about genetic diversity in our horses. There are articles about Lusitano's and other wild Iberian horse herds. Interestingly enough there is even

some research shared about wild SEAHORSES!

EAGALA Advanced Training~ The art of improvisation creates great partnerships!

2011-08-20T17:21:00.000-05:00

In the Company of Horses Inc. just returned home from the bran new training created by Lynn Thomas, the co-founder of the international certifying body of the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA) .
We journeyed to Long Island to Pal O Mine Equestrian Center where we spent three days in the company of fourteen people who came to learn how to create even quicker results facilitating learning by way of the horses!

Any mental health professional who works both in the office and in the arena, knows clients find the solutions to life's problems much quicker in the company of a horse. The horses actually become the human client's issues on a live storyboard and play out the solutions with them!

On this story board, this little one armed wooden bunny became their metaphor for their
"Higher Power" The horse was labeled as the metaphor "us exploring."

It's fascinating work and while working through our 'issues' can be challenging it can be lots of fun. What we spent three days practicing was how to be a better facilitator/team member/ listener/ sounding board through the actor's world of improv!

You've seen it on Saturday Night Live when an actor throws out a one liner and another just picks it up and runs with it, then they toss it back and forth until it flows into a whole story. Well, that's an art. And when there are 14 people doing that on the first day, it's hard! But by the third day when we were doing it in our own familiar facilitation teams, it was easy and fun and the best part is, it's all about the horses. So the client gets to explore their own answers to their own questions through the activity of the horses in real time, in real life and the focus is not on them, making the client in the arena feel safer and more willing to map their AHA! moments onto their own lives.

Sometimes over our three day training the team from In the Company of Horses Inc. were the facilitators and sometimes we were the clients. As clients,we took the opportunity to work out some of the things that seem to be patterns of stagnation in the effort to expand into our neighbors back yard so to speak.

For twenty years our neighbors have been the Military bases of Ft. Dix and McGuire Air force base. Now merging into a super base including Lakehurst Naval Air Station with the new name JBMDL. For the past 10 years, our nation has been at war and many of our neighbors have been deployed and returned home with new concerns within their families.

In the arena back at Pal O Mine there were a herd of donkeys moving around looking very uniform and they reminded us of a regiment of military people. One thing led to another and before we knew it, we found solutions to our stagnation problem and there were the whole herd of dark grey donkeys in our space! Now we get to use those new found solutions to help our neighbors!

You have to qualify to do the advanced training, all the info is on the EAGALA site. I highly recommend it!

Managing Testosterone~

2011-08-08T18:12:00.000-05:00

Maybe this blog title should be called managing Hormones. Today for the first time since April, my whole herd is together! None of the girls are in heat, so Sterling is with them all! I was pretty sure he could not be with them all again unless I wanted babies. Gratefully, with the help of my herd and the global community on an equine mastermind group on LinkedIn who answered a question, I realize I was wrong.

I asked if anyone was keeping a young stallion with or in close proximity to mares and expecting him to manage himself. I received close to 100 comments from people the world over. In general, the answer seemed to be, people do this, just not in America. Let alone in New Jersey, maybe in the west on vast acerage. Stallions must be kept separated, isolated and managed with great restraint.

From left to right Valentine; Harley; Sterling July 2011

The herd is 7 mares 1 gelding and 1 intact colt (Sterling). Two of the mares are a miniature pony and a miniature donkey, but the rest of the girls are full size and fair game. One of the most important things to me, having an intact colt and one day maybe having a stallion, is that his life is full of family, friends, variety and adventure! No chains over his nose, just relationship based communication with mutual consideration for one another's want's wishes and needs. This may sound like a tall order here in NJ, but I have found countless people the world over who already have this relationship with their stallions. In "Holistic Horse" magazine there is a whole article about "Magnificent Stallions & The Women Who Love Them" (April/May 2011) www.holistichorse.com

Mya is the short horse

We are well on our way, Sterling came to me in October at six months of age he is 15 months old this week.. It's already August, so he's been with me for 10 months, and I love that I don't need to raise this boy alone! I have 8 helpers who are on the job 24/7. Mya, Jacquie, Harley and Valentine are always with Sterling. Mya is only 30 inches tall, but she's nothing to be overlooked, sometimes maybe tripped over, but by no means ignored. She has been "playing" with Sterling from the moment he arrived. She is 15 years old now and fast! I thought after our trip to Tennessee in April that he was playing too rough with her and I had a concern that she would get hurt, but thankfully, Valentine stepped in and told Sterling to be careful. They play just as hard, but Sterling is careful with Mya. I like it when they play too, because of the way he has to move his body and hold himself to play with such a short horse! Jacquie

Jacquie

is our angel in a donkey suit; maybe 4 inches taller than Mya. She is wise, now 10 years old, elegant, vocal, opinionated, loving and very clear with Sterling about what he should be doing where she is concerned. I have watched her on her hind legs, bite his withers! I couldn't believe she could or would do that. Sterling knows where the line with Jacquie is and Jacquie didn't need anyone's help to make that clear.

Sterling is now 15 hands tall and a reddish grey color. He has bonded in a uniquely male way with Harley. They play rough and leave marks on one another. They do not play with or leave any marks on the girls in this way. In fact, I have watched the herd running and come to a place where they are going to stop and Sterling will move around all of the girls and jump on Harley; biting, rearing and wrestling with one another. He does not even think of doing this with any of the girls, or me. This is the help I'm talking about, I'm grateful I don't have to do this work alone.

Where to start when "starting" young horses~

2011-07-31T16:34:00.000-05:00

Starting the young horse.

By; Andy Beck Equine Ethologist

We had better begin by defining what we mean by ‘starting’! And since any decision about where to draw the line and say “from this point on” has to be arbitrary, why not start from conception?

For any living creature it is the environment, interacting with genetic makeup, which produces the individual. This is true to such an extent that we can usefully begin by discussing the condition of the mare from fertilisation through to foaling, since the womb is the first environment a foal experiences.

Thanks to the massive amount of research that has been carried out on the development of the human embryo we have a good understanding of those stimuli that get through from the environment in which the pregnant mother grows her foetus. So we know that stress, whether physical or emotional - especially prolonged or high level stress - has a powerful impact. And from this we might generate a very basic starting rule that we are most likely to get a complication-free birth, and calm, easy to handle foal by paying a lot of attention to management of the pregnant mare. And while this article focuses on the young horse we can make a couple of short statements about what mares require.

As with all horses a management system that allows expression of natural behaviors is favorable. So ideally she should be part of a cohesive harem group of perhaps 6 or so adults – including stallion. The group should have access to sufficient space such that they are fit and active, and be provided with grazing that provides quantity, quality and variety of herbage. There should be shelter from the elements, adequate clean water and good management of parasites – both internal and external. And while the ideal is safety, the environment should not be sterile: mental exercise is good for the horse also, so an element of challenge in the terrain is a good idea – given that it is not greater than that which the horse can reasonably meet.

The point of these few statements is not to say that this is the way things must be, or that anything less is not good enough, but to give us a point of reference that can be used as a foundation on which we can build our discussion.

Probably the most common departures from the ideal are those mares kept alone and with no supportive social structure, but even then it will depend to some extent on how the mare herself was raised. With luck she may have been raised in a social group, in which case we can hope that she will have been exposed to the sight of either her dam or ‘aunts’ (herd ‘sisters’ of her mother, not necessarily biologically related) foaling and had some opportunity to watch a pattern of effective maternal behaviour and, at best, to have been able to act as a ‘baby-sitter’. Clearly a mare with such experience is far more likely to ‘know’ what she is doing than one that has never seen a foal before. And, given the increasing number of unnaturally kept mares that refuse to have anything to do with their new-born foals, it’s reasonable to suspect that the lack of such experience is a critical indicator.

So let’s move on and say that our lone mare has accepted her foal. What are the likely deficits in the situation? Social contact will be greatly reduced and, if the situation continues, the foal will most likely fail to be able to discriminate between what is appropriate behaviour towards a parent and another unrelated horse. Parents tend to be indulgent toward their offspring, allowing them far greater latitude for lack of manners than an unrelated horse could be expected to. This may well colour interactions with handlers too in which case manners, or the lack of, are likely to be an ongoing issue. Taking this a little further, there is good evidence to suggest that colt foals will be particularly badly behaved when raised by a lone mare.

Other problems that may arise are that the mare becomes very tired, perhaps to the point of exhaustion. In the natural social group the mare is supported by the herd’s security network, in which one horse, and invariably more than one, is always keeping watch for danger. A human analogue of this would be that the new mother might ask a female relative to “keep an eye on the house and watch the baby” while she takes a nap. Filly daughters, and even colt sons, will carry out this important task, leaving ‘mum’ to take a bit of time for herself during which she can graze further away and look for particular plants that sustain her milk yield or merely rest lying down, allowing important REM sleep that she cannot get while resting in a standing position. And beyond these sibling ‘babysitters’ the outer cordon of defence is maintained by those adults without duties to young foals. The lone mare has none of these comforts and will need extra feed and care in order to compensate for the effects.

What is certainly true is that the period during which the foal is running with its dam and, hopefully, its social group, is one that offers countless opportunities for ‘teachable moments’. So let mum teach junior how to pass safely through gates and yards, get on and off trucks or trailers, eat concentrate feed from a container. A large natural part of a foal’s early learning occurs through a process called maternal facilitation. Simply put, the foal is encouraged to do what it sees its mother doing, but this simple beginning is also the start of the foal’s induction into mother’s culture and is the wellspring of those experience-based behaviour patterns that it will carry throughout its life and that will shape much of its interaction with the outside world. What mother begins will continue through a very similar but extended process; social facilitation. In the equine social group the foal will continue to learn by observing the behaviour of older siblings, of mother’s herd sisters and of the group stallion. Each is able to contribute to the growing foal’s knowledge set and, with each contribution, the ability of the growing youngster to make sense out of its environment and – that most precious commodity, the ability to predict the behaviour of others – and to place itself within a variety of contexts. We know that studies of domesticated animals have shown a reduction in brain case size compared with their wild cousins. These studies suggest that this is most likely due to the reduction of opportunity to react cognitively to their environment. So, if you want to ‘start’ clever horses with well developed brains the answer is pretty obvious, raise them in social groups, add the dynamic of interaction with other species (humans, dogs, cats, cattle – each one contributes an extra dimension) and play your part in facilitating their learning of a complex equine culture!

All right – let’s suppose that we have got this far – foal and mare as part of a little social group – what next? Forced weaning! To wean or not to wean – and if yes, when? Pretty much everyone is in agreement that forced weaning is extremely stressful for both mare and foal yet, oddly, they carry on doing it. Why? Well, listening to what is said; it seems some believe that this is the only way to breed a foal per year without the mare becoming exhausted and the size and quality of foal decreasing. And it is certainly true that suckling a foal takes a whole heap of nutrition! But we know what it takes, since each and every requirement has been very well studied and researched by a veritable army of equine nutritionists, so what’s to stop us supplementing mum’s intake with high value concentrates that contain the whole range of nutrients, vitamins and minerals that she might need? It would be crazy to argue that cost is the problem; the foal is going to need this nutrition whether it gets it from his mother or from the owner’s feed-bowl. So isn’t forced-weaning another of those bits of traditional equine management that may have been required in the past – before owners had access to such complete information – but is no longer necessary now? Most likely yes! Of course, if there are no good reasons why forced weaning should not be done, then the point is moot. So are there reasons, and if so what might they be? And why am I calling it ‘forced weaning’ anyway?

Definition time once again! First ‘weaning’; this is very simply the process that all mammalian mothers go through during which their young are gradually given less and less milk and finally stopped from suckling altogether. If the mare is in foal, a good part of the process occurs normally within her body’s autonomic system, with some extra assistance from her genetic programming that assures her limiting behaviour towards her foal plays the necessary support role. This is one of those elements of being a mammal that evolution has got down to a fine art and, after 600,000 years of practice, this shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Next: ‘forced weaning’; the process in which humans interfere, quite unnaturally, to prevent the mare suckling her young, most often by physically separating the two. Now I suppose that a human mother weaning her baby early, for whatever reason, is not a lot of fun for the baby but at least junior still gets the warmth of mum’s cuddles to comfort him, and bottled ‘replacer’ to suck on when breast milk is refused or unavailable. There is no such comfort for the foal. Not only does the poor little creature stop getting milk but it also loses mum completely! And if this sounds like a severe emotional trauma for a young creature – it is! Not that the mare is going to enjoy the process either!

Now let’s look at what would happen in the wild, and why, and determine whether we can easily create an analogue for use in modern management. In the natural state young horses leave their natal band between 2 and 3 years of age, depending on development. Easy conditions in which there is an adequacy of food would tend to lower the age (which is what tends to happen under domestic conditions) while harder conditions make it later. In small groups of, let’s say, 6 or so adults including stallion, all mares are likely to foal once per year, given that there is sufficient feed to support them. If conditions include periods of drought or other factors that serve to impose critical limits on feed, mares will spontaneously abort. Equally, if group size increases, let’s say to stallion and 10 mares, then high status mares will foal less often, perhaps only once in every three years, but they will make a far greater investment in each foal. It seems likely also that a greater percentage of such foals will be male. In the larger group, as long as feed is adequate, lower status mares will continue to foal each year. This then is a brief outline of the naturally occurring ethogram, as it has been for many, many thousands if not several hundreds of thousands of years. If, during the process of evolution over that period, a better variation had developed, which supported a higher level of evolutionary survival fitness, then that would have become the ‘default setting’. That it did not argues that there are benefits in this that go far beyond suckling. And logically, if it is not about growth through milk, then the benefit that accrues must have a largely (or completely?) behavioural component. So let’s investigate what that might be.

Being with the parental herd is not just about milk, but about learning how to be an efficient member of a social species. And if 600,000 years of evolution has produced an ethogram in which the young horse stays, soaking up this learning, until it is between 2 and 3 years of age then surely it is illogical for us to ignore it, or to impose an alternative that offers far less support for the development of efficient behaviours.

Arguments that we have selectively bred this behaviour out of the modern horse are without any foundation whatsoever. Take a group of mares from the most highly and selectively bred horses on the planet – the racing thoroughbred, that has the oldest studbook – but which have had no experience at all of life in a ‘natural’ herd or in an extensive environment rather than intensive small paddock and stable, turn them loose with a stallion that is equally ignorant and, within a very short period, you will see them return to exactly this ethogram! How do I know? Because that is exactly what I did, spending close to 15 years watching it happen, and the development of a complex equine culture that is as highly efficient in terms of this centuries’ environmental challenges as it would have been for those of the past.

If the products of ‘traditional’ or ‘intensive’ breeding were socially and behaviourally adept and functional there would be no reason to look at this, but that is just not the case. Each year, greater numbers of horses are produced that go on to be dysfunctional in a behavioural sense. In the

this has got to the stage where the number of mares that are either unable or completely unwilling to raise and nurture their foals is so great that there are now ‘foal barns’, in which foals are raised without any access to adult nurture. Throughout the developed world large numbers of owners are frustrated by their horse’s (many of them extremely expensive) inability to socialise with others of their species without anxiety or aggression, often to the point where competing in an environment filled with equine ‘strangers’ is simply impossible, when at home they perform beautifully. Because of mares’ violent resistance (through fear and lack of natural courtship ritual) and stallions’ aggression (through frustration and deprivation of social contact) owners of mares and stud handlers have to dress up like some hybrid between an American football player and Darth Vader, and use all manner of ropes, sedatives and other control paraphernalia, simply to get stallion and mare to do that most basic of all animal functions, procreate!

Moving on again. When our ‘natural’ youngsters reach this point between 2 and 3 years of age what happens? Colts are driven out by the stallion and, being naturally very sociable and co-operative they look for and join up with a bachelor group. And in this supportive fraternal social group they will then stay, either until they mature into dominance and receive the assistance of their bachelor ‘brothers’ to run off a couple of filly ‘wives’ from the periphery of a harem group, or they become eternal bachelors, always deferring to higher status group members. Play fighting is one of the most compelling features of these bachelor groups (just as it is between colt foals and yearlings in the natal band) and particularly with the newest and youngest additions, who put a great deal of time and energy into these games and, as a result, become highly practiced and skilful equine athletes, fast, acrobatic and beautifully balanced. So important a function does this play serve that those colts born into a family group in which there are no other colts with whom they can exercise tend to leave a lot earlier in search of the male playmates they need.

There is much talk about beginning the training of young horses at two years (or younger) in order to cause that ‘loading’ on bones and tissue that promotes good profile and development. But, rather than experiencing this as something into which they are forced, and which is often made very boring for a young equine mind with only a very short attention span, how much better to let the bachelor group do the job instead? From experience, injuries from such play are far fewer than those that result from early training in round pens and schools. What’s more, the colt knows when he’s had enough, and his proprioceptors tell him when his joints are becoming liable to over-flexion due to tiredness, something the human trainer could not possibly do anywhere near as well.

Now, given that we have been steadily keeping up with the basics of handling, what is the best age to begin training for work under saddle? Perhaps we might take the word of someone who has achieved international recognition at the very highest levels of equestrian sport; Reiner Klimke, Olympic Gold Medallist, World Dressage Champion, European Dressage Champion and European Horse Trials champion. Not only did Klimke ride these championship winning horses – he also trained them! What’s more if you track down photos of Klimke riding horses such as 1984 World Dressage Champion Ahlerich,

Here's the video on u-tube

or Maiko or Volt, it is immediately clear that these are well balanced animals, happy and relaxed in their work. Of starting his horses Klimke, in his book Basic Training of the Young horse, states; “None of my successful horses have been shown as 3-year-olds. I bought “Winzerin”, my three-day event horse at the 1960 Rome Olympics, as a 4-year-old in 1956. She had just been backed. “Arcadius” came to me as a 4-year-old just backed. I only started working him seriously at the end of his fourth year and when he was a 7-year-old in 1962 we won the European Championships in Rotterdam. I bought “Fabiola” as a 2 ½ -year-old , started riding her a year later, and won the Dressage Derby with her in Hamburg when she was a 6-year-old. I bought “Ahlerich” as a 4-year-old at the Westphalian Auction at Munster. I hardly rode him as a 4-year-old and only took him to one show. He won 10 medium and advanced classes as a 6-year-old and as a 7-year-old 9 Grand Prix classes. I am convinced that had I started these horses earlier I would not have been so successful. One must have the patience to wait until the horse is physically and mentally ready for the work demanded of it.” (Here's the link to a ride on BioTop it's worth the trip over to see how kind this rider and how happy this horse.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG-BvKVbydo

What is true of Klimke’s warmbloods is equally true of other breeds, and even more so of the hotbloods. Many an Arabian or Thoroughbred has been spoilt by demanding too much too early, resulting in a horse that is overly emotional and liable to become so excited that they simply cannot concentrate on the task at hand. For these horses a 20 minute session on the lunge at three years of age amounts to punishment rather than training – and can easily produce a base-level resistance that will become a defining restriction for the rest of its working life. Invariably such resistance will be characterised as ‘naughtiness’ or ‘disobedience’ on the part of the horse, rather than ‘impatience’ on the part of the handler.

Nor is the down-side of early training limited to emotional impact – there are severe implications in terms of bone and joint function too where horses are subjected to excessive weight carrying prior to 2 ½ years of age. Tiredness and overwork can easily result in repeated small overflexions, in which joints – or articulations – are made to flex over a greater angle than they should. Each time this occurs, the bony ‘stops’ and check ligaments that are responsible for controlling the degree of flexion may be damaged. Such damage may never amount to anything critical in the normal course of events but, at high speed, or during the pressure of top level jumping courses, it may become just that, resulting in a hideous broken leg and death. Anyone who has seen the result of this in racing will know just how sickening a sight it is to witness and the habit within the racing industry of starting horses into work as juvenile 2 year olds must surely account for a good measure of this damage.

There is a lot of talk about holistic approaches to horse management and training, in which a total philosophy is first formulated and then put into practice. And what’s good about such an approach is that it protects us, owners and horses, from the confusion of disjointed elements and muddy thinking. So while in the past ‘starting the young horse’ was just about the process used to get a horse working under saddle, maybe entry into 21^st century, instead of being used as an excuse to deny horses’ right or need to express natural behaviours, requires that we really look at how we do things. Sticking to a cohesive and well considered strategy might seem like a burden – but the benefits far outweigh the cost!

Sterling's first trip to Tennessee~

2011-05-23T15:55:00.000-05:00

Here is my lost blogpost from the end of April. So much has happened since then, I went in and added all of the lost pictures and hope you can see it all this time!

Since our trip to Tennessee, last week, Sterling has really gained some confidence in himself and is happy to share it with us all. He is still the loving, fun and respectful, really fast learning Andalusian colt I keep falling in love with, but now his body is growing more even, his legs seem straighter and he is able to come under himself instead of having those gangling legs go every which way! I'm more and more enamored by him each day!

The way he holds himself is a really exciting glimpse into his ancestral greatness ...... and into his future. He's like a dream of the future and a memory of the ancients all at once!

Pegasa is our friend, she is a 17+ hand grey Holsteiner Mare who took our trip with Sterling and My Valentine in the trailer, while Carrie and I rode in the truck to Tennessee to spend some time with our friends Aimee and Tammy.
The trip had so many magic moments. Our first overnight stop happened in Bristol, TN at a lovely place with two adjacent rectangle paddocks with shelters. Since Sterling and Peg had not been together yet, he stayed with Valentine and Peg had her own paddock. When we arrived, the weather was beautiful, the moon was big and bright and the sky filled with stars, but soon enough, just after we settled into our camper for the night, the clouds rolled in, the wind began and lightning crashed all around us. I could only see the horses when the lightning lit up the place, then the rain and hail came. In the brightness of the lightning, I could see Peg galloping the fence line. Valentine was no where in sight, likely already in the shelter. Then I could see Sterling ~ Mirroring Peg! He was her shadow on the other side of the fence, matching her every motion. It was fascinating! Made equally ethereal by the flashes of lightning. It was a movie etched in my minds eye that I won't forget. And I think it was a bonding experience for them. I wonder if he was supporting her because as a stallion that is what he should do? I only know it was pure instinct for him. It has to be, he is only eleven months old and I have not witnessed this before. Magic~

Pegasa, Sterling, Valentine

When we arrived in Murfreesboro the next day, it was already summer. Sunny, warm, light breezes. Coming from what feels like eternal cold in NJ, I was pleased. We turned the herd out together and had dinner with our friends. Sterling travels really well, he eats and drinks on the trailer, something, not all horses do readily. Another thing I am grateful for. His quiet presence creates a lovely feel in the trailer. He joyfully loads and unloads.

I set out to give him his 1st bath! Ha Ha, there is no way that was this boy's first bath. He was a champion, he loved the massaging water sprayer, loved the soaping process and stood tied to the hitching rail until he was dry. I suspect he was bathed during his first summer. A fine tribute to his loving start in his life with people!

Peg, Valentine and Sterling heading over to visit with Aimee's horses! Such a lovely thing for a little colt to be able to do.

All winter, we have done most things at home at liberty. My place is just set up that way, and it works. I did tie him to the hitching rail, but didn't use ropes for much else. So when I was taking Valentine and Sterling to the newly fenced meadow in TN, for grazing, I realized Sterling didn't understand traveling together with ropes! They always seemed to be in his way. By the time we got to the meadow gate, we mostly got that worked out, but I kept noticing how bold he was being with Valentine! This was unusual behavior for Valentine, My Herd Leader, to "put up" with this. Sterling kept biting her. She kept looking at me and I was wondering why she wasn't managing him. Then, like a blinding flash of the obvious, it hit me, I am the herd leader! I'm always telling them, that when I am there, I will manage such things, be nice to your sister and such. So gratefully, Valentine allowed me to step up with loving patience to let Sterling know, that was unacceptable behavior. Like all things, he got it. Quickly.

My experience with Patches as a baby nearly 20 years ago was nothing like this, I longed to have what my gelding had. Horse sense, presence, boundaries, leadership, control! Patches was always on top of me, literally, she would run me over in a heart beat. I credit Pat Parelli for teaching me "hide your hiney". That single technique, saved my life and kept me in the game! I knew I loved horses, but the only time I would wear my helmet was when I was walking Patches from one place to another! I am soooo grateful to her for those lessons. If you never had a horse that wanted to be on top of you, you may not have learned those lessons like me! When your life is in jeopardy, things take on a bigger priority.

I asked Sterling to lay down, and he did.

So Aimee said to me, "You don't need to teach Sterling about Sterling, You need to teach Sterling about MaryAnn" . Boy, what a relief! I wish someone had told me that when my kids were little! I would have worried less about them turning out! I can see that is what each of my mares are doing. Jaquie, my miniature donkey (Angel in donkey suit) has told Sterling, flat out from day one, you may not touch me. I have never seen her tell anyone or any thing that, except Sterling. Mya is all about running with Sterling. She's only 30 inches tall, but FAST! Now he is bigger and seems to have some purpose for moving, their level of play has intensified! Whispering Jessie has it on her terms every time. If she says yes, it's yes, if she says no, it's no, Sterling believes her and seems to respect this clarity. Patches wants his babies, and that's who he is with her. I want to be smoochie and loving with him, his fur is so soft, I want to touch him allover and I want him to feel free to interact with me. However, I will not be pushed on, pulled on, stepped on, bitten or ignored. So far so good! His first birthday is in two weeks, where we will all enjoy his favorite thing ~ carrots.
More later...................... :)

As the herd leader; so goes the herd..........

2011-04-20T21:26:00.000-05:00

We were traveling home to New Jersey from Tennessee on Friday night. The rain held off since about noon but now it was dark, around 9:30 PM. We had been traveling with the horses since 9:30 that morning. Our overnight stabling place was just a half mile off highway 81 which made me very happy. There is nothing fun about traversing the Virginia country side in the dark with a thirty foot horse trailer after ten hours on the road. We found the place just where the directions told us it would be.

The woman who answered the phone when we made the arrangements suggested we choose stalls instead of the paddock because there were severe storms predicted for the overnight hours and there are no outside shelters. So we agreed. These were the storms that devastated North Carolina over the weekend, so they were right. The stalls were 12x12 and in the large indoor arena. We were able to have a bit of a play with the horses when we got there.

So many things to be grateful for, but I was miserable. I hate box stalls with three solid walls and no way for the horses to hang out the front to see other horses. I felt like I was putting my horses in jail cells and slamming the doors closed! Valentine was running laps in her stall, kicking the walls and Sterling was crying out loud. I didn't want this experience for my young colt, I wanted him to be happy and feel safe. My friend's horse was fine, quiet, eating. My friend was reminiscing about her show days and her time at the horse center nearby where she went to school. She offered me some Rescue Remedy for my horses, I took a big swig. I couldn't get near either of them with it. I was so annoyed that I just gave up and leaned on Valentines stall cage while she paced.

In a moment or two, I was tired and just being there and I felt Valentine's nose pushed hard against the cage breathing in my hair, deep breaths. It was so comforting that I didn't even notice that she left me until I heard her munching on hay. Sterling was quiet ~ all was quiet.

My friend asked if it was ok if she went and turned off the lights. I was immediately annoyed again and said something sharply about the lights and like synchronicity, Sterling started Crying and Valentine pacing. Then I realized, the only problem was me! My herd was going the way I was going and clearly they didn't like the way I was going, considering how hard Valentine was smelling my hair. After this startling revelation; now around midnight, I was able to be quiet again and then go out to my camper to sleep. Sterling called some, but in the morning, every blade of Valentine's hay was gone, no sign of trampled hay or spilled water. I was grateful that she managed to get herself together and eat and drink, Sterling did the same.

Traveling to and from Tennessee April 2011

In the end, I still don't like those kinds of stalls, but if I could just get my mind right about them, everyone would benefit!

The memory of one horse's gratitude and love for her veterinarian~

2011-04-01T12:24:00.000-05:00

Mya is the horse standing up.

We see the vet once per year so he can pull blood for coggins tests (we travel a lot). It was May of 2010 that we last saw Dr. Miers, but as soon as his truck pulled up, Mya took off running. I thought she was just playing with Sterling, but it turns out she did not like the idea that the vet was here! She is hilarious because her whole leg is only 8 inches long and she is so fast! She's a comedy show all in her own! Well, Mya got everyone enrolled in the frolic. Ignoring the fracas one by one together, the vet and I went to all the horses, I haltered them and the vet pulled the blood, but it was when we got to Patches that it happened.

Ms. Patches of Winter 2007

It was fourteen years ago on Palm Sunday that I was trailering a friend over to the Meadow for their first show of the season, Patches and I came along for the ride, to just hang around the show grounds and stand tied to the trailer. It was a great day with beautiful warm weather. We were just a mile or so from home when I saw my friend's truck speeding up alongside of mine and she was screaming something, so I stopped the truck and couldn't believe what had happened.

I saw pieces of wood on the road and blood dripping out from my trailer, when I opened the door there were three floor boards missing and Patches was standing on the remaining four with blood pouring out from her shipping boots. Immediately my friends Dad began looking for something to put over the gaping hole in the floor so we could make it back home. To my amazement, he picked the door up off it's hinge and slid it into the trailer to cover the hole in the floor. Someone drove the truck home while we became a human door locking arms across the opening where the door once was.

When we got home I wondered how Patches would get out of the trailer because the door/floor was placed like a teeter totter. To my surprise, Patches turned around and drug her hind leg with her, someone stood inside on the door/floor and Patches went directly in the barn into her stall. I was grateful for her good idea, because I didn't have any.

Patches eating a tumbleweed in Texas in 2005

I called my vet, and in those days cell phones were a novelty, but everyone had pagers. My vet, Dr. Kaplow was away in upstate NY, so we set out on a mission to find another vet. The kids were young teenagers then so we sent them in the house where the phone was with the phone book to find another vet. Meanwhile we took off Patches shredded and blood soaked shipping boots and helplessly watched as the blood poured out of ground flesh on both of her hind legs. I think we applied frozen vegetables or something. Gratefully Dr. Jennifer Platt was found having dinner in Philadelphia and responded to our emergency immediately. We did not know Dr. Platt, so for her to come out immediately was a gift.

Our new trailer purchased in "06 Patches likes it!

Dr. Platt examined Patches legs and wrapped them, I remember in bright pink vet wrap, all the way up to her stifle. I don't really remember what she said, the rest of that night is a blur. But I do remember as she told me we needed to get to the New Bolton Center, I told her we needed to go to Walnridge Equine Clinic in Cream Ridge. Dr. Kaplow told me, years before that if I ever needed surgery for any reason I should go to Walnridge instead of New Bolton because the hospital in PA was a teaching hospital and by virtue of that there are just more people involved and more potential for problems. The only thing I knew about Walnridge was that I had seen their sign up on Route 537 and I really liked their logo! Dr. Platt made all the arrangements for us to be at the Clinic at 8 am Monday morning.

Patches and I on a trail ride near New Orleans Louisiana in '05

When morning came I dreaded what it might take to get Patches into another trailer and of course the drive. To this day fourteen years later, after trailering all over the country and for work In the Company of Horses at least three days per week, I am still never comfortable driving with horses.

As I remember it, she got into the trailer dragging her hind leg with her. Trailering this horse was never easy. She only got on the trailer that Palm Sunday because I told her to. Once she got on the trailer she was fine; getting on was the problem. I give Patches all the credit for my ability to help horses with trailer loading issues, she taught me much. This trailer belonged to my friend and was a quarter horse trailer. Fourteen years ago, quarter horses were smaller than they are today, so this was a small trailer.

Patches and I sharing PMS tea at the Gloucester County DREAM Park in 2010 while waiting for clients from Seabrook House to have their Equine Assisted Psychotherapy session.

Dr. Miers gave my horse a 50% chance of survival. I was surprised because I was sure she would not only live but be fine. He explained how the road is a very dirty place with lots of bacteria living on it. The surgery consisted of cleaning the wounds. No bones were compromised , just the ligaments, muscle and skin. The ligaments that ran across the front of her fetlock joint were sheared off and it looked like broken rubber bands on the top and bottom of her joint. Dr. Miers said they would never grow back but they would attach themselves and she would learn to flip her hind foot up in front of her to move. On the way to her recovery stall after surgery, Dr. Miers wrapped a lead rope around her pastern and lifted her leg so she could take each step. Her right leg had mostly coronary band damage which still causes ridges in her hoof growth but has never been a problem.

At the hospital, Dr. Miers invited me in to watch the surgery. Pretty sure I did not need to see this, I said yes. I felt so incredibly guilty and responsible for not keeping my girl safe after she only got in that trailer because I told her to; seeing the surgery felt like my responsibility. I remember years ago when Seth (Kaplow my first vet) told me that horse owners need to have broad shoulders. Horses are big and it takes a lot of heart and desire to stay in the game with them. I remembered so much of our journey together as Patches recovered and I stood sentry outside of her recovery stall or inside or slept in my chair wrapped in blankets, mostly crying and feeling really guilty, but never even thinking she would be anything but fine.

Patches and I high atop 8 Mile Mesa in Pagosa Springs, Colorado

At Walnridge, George's barn where Patches went to recover, was next to the stallion pastures. Walnridge is a Standardbred breeding farm. I remember how much I liked the horse "Beach Towel", I think I liked his name more than anything! I got to witness how they would take the stallions to the breeding shed and tease him with a mare in heat and collect his semen while he mounted a dummy device. I learned about artificial insemination in the race horse world. It was surprisingly like an assembly line, on the breeding days, the mares didn't even get out of the trailer, they just pulled up, the vet inseminated them and off they went. I have often wondered about he mares, what do they think about all of this? When do they realize they are going to have a baby. And George who ran Georges barn was a cantankerous old fellow. I loved him. He had seen the worse side of many a sick, injured and ailing horse. He had the scars and the attitude to prove it over his many years in the business. I loved him because Patches loved him. As he made sure she had water and hay and checked in on her all day and night. I made sure he had donuts and coffee.

Dr. Miers explained that we needed to be on the lookout for infection, he showed me what the signs were and just three days later we were back in the trailer to go home. She was suppose to have months of stall rest with hand walks every day. That was not going so well because on those hand walks, she would get all excited and jump around and rip open the granular tissue that was growing to close the hole in her leg. After just a couple of days of that, we agreed, being out was best for her. And it was. She knew how to take care of herself. I wrapped her leg every day for the next year. Our relationship grew as I spent so much time taking care of her. I learned about bandaging really well and how to keep the granular tissue to a minimum. She never seemed to be lame after she came home. Occasionally she would catch her toe on the ground and rip open her wound. We have been through quite a lot since then.

Patches helping me mount ~"05 Savvy Conference at the International Study Center of Parelli Natural Horsemanship

Patches is my first levels horse in the Parelli Natural Horsemanship Program (PNH). She carried me through 36 weeks of consecutive study at the International Study Centers of PNH in Colorado and Florida, jumping, spinning, flying lead changes, side passes, half passes, barrel racing, cow working, sliding down scootch mountain, many mountainous trail rides, beach rides, she helped me pony dozens of horses who needed to get from one place to another without being ridden, we've camped and jingled and participated in endless classes, clinics and workshops all the way up until now! Patches is a founding member of In the Company of Horses, facilitating countless Equine Assisted Psychotherapy sessions and carrying many students for therapeutic riding and friends for recreational riding.

Patches assisting a young rider at the Gloucester County DREAM Park in '08 when In the Company of Horses brought Therapeutic Riding to that bran new facility.

So yesterday when the vet was here and the whirlwind of activity Mya was creating settled down, we came to Patches. I think Dr. Miers and Patches made the same quiet nickering noise to one another. After he drew her blood, the three of us walked over to Jacquie; I put on the halter, Dr. Miers took the blood and Patches put her muzzle right on Jacquie's forehead, no doubt to comfort her and teach her not to fear her friend. Ms. Patches had such a look of love on her face. It was a mutual knowing and appreciation for a miracle that took place fourteen years ago.

Jacquie

EAGALA Conference 2011

2011-03-13T19:49:00.000-05:00

Layton Utah was the site for the 12th Annual Conference of the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA). There were Buffalo and Antelope nearby at Antelope Island, the Great Salt Lake; and tons of snow covered mountains! The entire airplane was full of skiers enjoying spring break skiing in the west. Even the head coach for the Eagles, Andy Reid was with us!

This year, instead of a full day at the Legacy Event Center where the demonstration portion of the conference with horses was held, we had two half days! With the second half of each day being held at the Davis Conference Center, I loved it because I am not fond of sitting in any one place all day!

We watched as experienced Equine Assisted Psychotherapy teams used volunteers from the audience to participate in demonstrations; working with many populations. A team from South Africa shared a demonstration about "Healing the Diversity Divide through equine Assisted Learning" This experience allowed participants and observers to explore deep seated belief systems around differences.
Another team created a demonstration designed to move your business forward in an environment of economic recession! And a demonstration for teams who work in the field of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy to become more aware of using non-verbal interventions in experiential therapy. The Power and Principles of Ritual inside a session was explored, so was Suicide Prevention Awareness for Soldiers and at the end of the arena days with the horses was a "Beauty Pageant" designed to help people young and old with body image.

The local horses were fabulous both days, fully participating in and assisting each facilitation team in this powerful solution oriented work. They provided opportunities for us all to laugh, cry, gasp and watch in awe at how cleaver or how connected, or how smart the horses are. As professionals, most of these horses are barrel racers who double as riding lesson horses and every weekday they participate in the arena assisting people in this work of growing and learning.

Back at the Conference center there were a wide array of topics to choose from for each 1.5 hour break out room. In the Company of Horses was able to participate in such sessions as Anthropomorphism in all its forms; Low cost ways to market your business; Addiction programming; Grant writing presentations; Using Sand Tray Approaches in the Arena with Horses, The Impact of Perception; Current Research being conducted in the field of Equine Assisted Therapy; Horses Healing Trauma; A Journey of Healing, Listening and Learning through Grief and Boots in the Arena - How Equine Assisted Psychotherapy is helping returning Veterans and their families all over the world.

We had opportunities to network with people in our region and all over the world actively participating in Learning and Growing by way of the Horse. Gratefully I was acknowledged as one of the 12 people in the world who completed all of the requirements to become "Advanced Certified" in 2010!

Tips for Understanding Horses

2011-03-04T08:44:00.000-06:00

Body Language

So what is going on here? Are these horses mortal enemies? Both horses have their ears back. Clearly biting each other.

One or two pieces of body language should not be taken as a clear signal for anything! Lets see if we can triangulate the body language. We can see the language of the head (ears and mouth). Lets look at the rest of the body. Can you see how their feet are grounded? The horse doing the biting is actually standing with all four feet completely on the ground. The horse on the right has weight pretty equally on three legs and it looks like his foreleg is only lighter because of the position of his head or we might be able to say he is moving forward into the space of the horse on the left. How about their tails? Are they relaxed and quiet or are they full of energy?

Next lets look at the energy of these two. Is it mirrored in each other? Does one have more energy than the other? Is it moving forward, back, up or down or is it staying put? We can look at this one still photo and see if these two have been sweating; indicating previous movement or high energy levels.

Now lets look at this next photo;

What do you see here? Friends or enemies? These horses have their ears back and one is biting the other. Lets go ahead and triangulate the body language.

Are their feet and legs grounded or are they moving? The horse on the left only has two legs on the ground and the horse on the right has all four legs on the ground, but those hind legs are coiled up like springs ready to jettison into the space of the other horse. What about their energy? Is it high or low? Are the horses mirroring one another? What about their tails? Can you see the energy in the tail of the horse on the left? If you could zoom in close on these two, you could see their coats look dry indicating perhaps they have not been sweating.

The first photo is of two friends (geldings) who have lived together for years near Kalispel Montana. The second photo is of wild stallions fighting in the Namib Desert in Africa. The most discernible difference in their body language is energy.

Follow the below link to an interesting article that links the effects of energy on the body. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_psychology

Sterling Archer got his name~

2011-02-23T08:44:00.000-06:00

It was the last day of our time together and we had a plan for "healthy celebrations and endings". The girls were sad that it was their last day and my co-facilitator and I felt that too. One of the things we did was choose a card from "The way of the Horse" and one of the girls read it. We began outside, but had to move inside because of the shorter daylight in October. When we went inside, the girls saw our new colt in "Sorrel's" stall. It had been his stall for all of his 20 years at our farm and his name plate was right there. Which brought up the topic of this new little boy's name.

In the summer and fall of 2010 In the Company of Horses had a group of girls from two group homes come to learn by way of the horse, things like; how to get along with others, how to ask permission and be grateful, they learned about positive body image and enjoyed the freedom to dance with horses uninhibited. They learned about themselves and universal truths outside of themselves. And along the way they experienced the death of my first horse and the addition of our new colt.

As one of the girls went on reading aloud from the book, another laid across the stall door snuggling with our P.R.E ( Pura Razza Espanola) colt. It was quite comforting for everyone as I'm sure they fell asleep together. When they awoke, some 20 minutes later; the troubled and youthful sixteen year old girl proclaimed, " I know his name". Curiously, I asked "What is it?" She said "His name is Sterling because just like when you get your ears pierced you get sterling silver posts, because you will never get an infection and he'll never do you wrong."
Well that sounded right to me!

This little horse seems to be wise beyond his years (ha! months). He knows things, like how this sixteen year old girl who stood 6 feet 6 inches tall needed to cuddle with him on her last day at the farm, he did not judge her because of her family situation or the way she looked or talked. I'm sure he enjoyed what she offered to him as well, unconditional acceptance, a warm and undemanding welcome to his new home. He doesn't mind being alone and he also likes to be together. He does have a Sterling character and his color is dark gray for now.

His papered name is Valiente Silver Cross Wind. He came with the nickname "Bogie" which is fitting because of his confidence and air of maturity, named after the actor Humphrey Bogart; suave, debonair. Sterling Archer was a natural progression coming from my Son who knew right away he needed the rest of his name from a comic character Sterling Archer. He has a gleaming smile and will also "Never do you wrong".

This is Sterling in his stall; He can just fit over the door!

A family learns by way of the horse

2011-02-14T18:56:00.000-06:00

A Mom and Son came to work out an issue they were having in the arena. Mom teaches yoga and wants her son to have his own yoga practice, which at 10 years old, does not appeal to him. Son is a football player and looks like one! They tell us that they have agreed to just do 5 sun salutations every day together, but they never have.
So we send them on a task to use the things in the arena together to "create" a metaphoric place where they will do yoga. They use all of the hula hoops and make a free standing sphere. Then we asked them both to go get a horse of their choosing and bring the horse to the yoga place.
Son was doing a lot of talking and bribing and coaxing with the pony. Mom seemed to just go over and then her horse followed her to the yoga place, then the pony came over to be with them! The son asked, looking astonished, "How did you do that?"
So we (the facilitators) asked Mom, How did you get these horses to come with you to your yoga place?
She explained that she was taught to greet each being with an open heart, so she went over to the big chestnut thoroughbred opened her heart in a greeting and invited her to join with her heart and she accepted, then the pony just joined in with them.
We asked Mom, "Where did you learn how to greet each being with an open heart?" Mom replied that she learned this from her long time yoga teacher.
This is what she wanted for her son. While he did not readily agree to have his own yoga practice, he saw how his Mom's practice gave her something special that he wanted.

It was a simple session, but profound.

Universal truths.......... timeless, without boundaries.

2011-02-06T09:01:00.001-06:00

Here in NJ, I felt the spring come in a few days ago, maybe as much as a week or so. If you follow this blog, you will surely notice its new look! I love winter and snow, so I'm satisfied now. I think that is why I love spring so much and when it comes, the changes are everywhere. I think that rain we had the other day was telling. Then the peacocks, their feathers are long and gorgeous. They loose their tails in the fall and spend all winter growing them back, they are like a calendar dancing around the yard. They start to fuss at the feed bowls in a new way. In the winter, they are just happy to eat, in the spring, they dominate the bowls arguing with the rooster, and even the hens want to tussle with each other. Feeding time is quite a lively time that takes on a whole new life in the spring just like everything else.

Sterling, my lovely Andalusian boy is growing and changing every day. He owns his seat at the table if you know what I mean, which for a 9 month old, I'm impressed by! He is kind in every way, smart and thoughtful, and happily I have not seen signs that he is "interested" in the girls. I find great joy in watching the horses interact and I learn much about leadership and living together, waiting with patience. As Sterling makes his way into the hearts and minds of his band of mares, I'm drawn to thinking about the rhythm of life and the universal truths all around us.

Feel; timing; balance.

Music - Listening to the quality of the spaces between the notes or playing the long note..........
Painting something - A portait or a barn; Painting it thick, thin, one coat or many, combine colors? Brush, roller, feather or rag; maybe a sponge or a leaf, maybe fingers.
Making love - I remember hearing an interview with Carlos Santana where he explained to all the ladies in love with him that "I cannot do to you what my guitar does to you", soft or firm, slow or faster, the first time; the last time. But we look for that, that universal truth of feel. We all innately know it when it's right.
Driving a sports car - or a big rig, feeling the flow of the road, traffic, the engine when it's asking to shift, be the grace of a pick up as you down shift before the curve and apply just the right amount of gas to stay in the curve, a well oiled machine.
Building something - With integrity, that works, that looks good, that lasts, smell the wood, sand it smooth, feel the engine purr when it starts for the very first time.
Baking something - Choosing the perfect ingredients; organic grown to perfection added at the perfect time. Feel the batter, know when it's perfect, inhale deeply to know when it's done. Find the sweet spot!
Practicing yoga - Strong and slow, hold and let flow, the breath in and then out
Walk - Feel the Earth, placing your feet one after the other in rhythm, like a dance. Smell the land, the pavement, the leaves or the water, feel the wind on your skin, drinking it in.......
Swimming - immersed completely, breathe through your mask at 30 ft., snorkel just under the surface, backstroke on top of the water with ease and timing, rhythm and relaxation. Feel the water cradle you. Catch a wave and stay on top; or ride in the middle or just dive underneath.
Stargaze as the moon rises and flows across the sky, then disappears into morning when all the flowers open up to gather the sunshine. Sense the changes when they come, feel the winter, smell the spring, languish in the long days of summer, rejoice in the blaze of autumn colors.
Ski with the mountain.
Dance by yourself to the music in you; Dance to natures music all around you; Dance with someone else; be willing and brave enough to lead and be led. Feel the rhythm find the sweet spot.
Ride a horse: let go and ride forward and back; up down, over under, through...........

Add yours......

Opinion ~ January Mark Rashid Workshop

2011-01-24T11:19:00.000-06:00

I happily traveled in the back seat of the truck while my friend who was going to ride in this workshop managed all the driving and the co-pilot; the navigating. I even had a nap! It was about an 8 hour drive to the therapeutic riding center in Mebane NC where the clinic was being held. Monday night was a farmhouse conversation where it seemed that the theme of Mark's teaching was unfolded. Feel.

It begins in the mind with a thought and then mirror neurons do the work of transmitting that thought. We all have these mirror neurons, just look around and see how everyone does what everyone else does and we don't even know we are doing it or why! You know when you finish your long time partner's sentences and you begin to look like your dog. We think we are different and suddenly what we like; have; do is popular.

Mark practices Aikido to stay centered and balanced. That is a physical as well as emotional description of his way of being with the horses and the people at the workshop. It seems that this is the way he puts feel into words so the intellectual mind can understand it. I might also say, the woman's inquiring mind can hold it. There were a few men in the room and none had questions or needed more than one demonstration. While some in the room could not understand the concepts, everyone could feel them.

The format for Tues and Wed was 3 riders in the AM; 3 more riders in the PM. There was one thing everyone was taught; the back up with feel mostly through steady pressure. Everyone showed up in the arena prepared to ride in the outfits of their chosen disciplines, Endurance, Eventing, English, Western, Dressage The first lesson was at the mounting block for a horse who could not keep his feet still so the rider could mount.

Marks maturity as a teacher showed through over and over. It really was all about what the rider wanted in conversation, but what the horse needed in deed. The lady who was having trouble at the mounting block asked Mark to hold her horse while she got on. He said he would do that or if she would like, we could just fix the problem and have the horse stand there on his own. Choosing the latter the lady stood back while Mark approached and stood on the mounting block. He simply showed the horse what he wanted by moving him to where he should stand. This took about 15 minutes and then the owner did it herself and mounted up. Day 2 the little saddle seat rescue knew just what to do and so did his person.

I noticed time and time again in Mark's maturity as a teacher, when the student explained that their trainer taught them to do "it" this way, he just showed them another way with no judgement, sarcasm or derogatory comments about anything. He told me later that people just want help. That's it. I noticed that he did not share his opinions about bits or bit-less headgear, spurs or not, shoes or not, saddles or not, or any of the other judgments and opinions that were clearly running through my mind.

Then I read a bit of his book "Whole Horse Whole Heart" It's his newest one. I don't own or have not read any of his books, so I thought if I was going to buy one it should be the newest one. Right there in the beginning he muses about a dream that seemed to keep him awake about the Grand Canyon. What was stronger the river or the rock. As he went on about that, he realized that it doesn't matter. Like all the questions in my mind about saddle fit and rider position, they don't matter if the rider can actually hear their horse. Are we listening to what our horse is telling us. His goal is to teach us to listen to our horses, feel them, feel for them. If we do that , we will fix all the other things.

I can't say I learned anything new about technique or strategy, but what I did was experience a seasoned, educated, balanced teacher, who made a difference for every horse and rider combination. I'm very particular about where I spend my training dollars and who's influence I allow into my horsemanship. For sure I left trusting this teacher and I will ride with him when the opportunity is right.