Oh man, horses can do the most embarrassing stuff can't they?

Typically, right when everyone is watching! Urgh.

But what if . . . instead of taking on board their behaviour as a reflection of US, as a reflection of how good we are as trainers, of our competence as horse people. What if we could consider that behaviour as a reflection of what our horse is experiencing and leave ownership of that behaviour, with the horse?

Whew. It's a relief, right?

We explore this concept in Episode 9 and take a deep dive into the things that influence our horses behaviour and which of those things we actually CAN influence and take responsibility for.

When it comes to training our dogs, our horses or even keeping our own kids in line, punishment is often the go-to strategy.

Why? Because we have been marinated in it since birth, it is an integral part of how our society functions. So it can feel like second nature for us to use punishment. Partly because we understand it really well, and partly because we don’t really know any other way to stop our horse, our dog, or our child, from doing something we don't like.

In this podcast I explore why punishment is so prevalent, the problems with using it and what we can do instead.

Let's face facts. Horses will often respond to new experiences, or novel stimuli in their environment, with a run first, ask questions later approach. Which can be downright unsafe at times and jolly annoying at others.

So how on earth do we help them be LESS reactive and spooky when it comes to dealing with new situations or novelty in their environment?

How can we set them up to succeed when we know that we have a new experience coming up for them - perhaps a vet visit or their first time at riding club, where we know they will be dealing with a lot of 'firsts'?

I address this important topic in this episode. See you on the inside.