Yearly Archives: 2014

Great expectations for horses

We all want something from the horse. Otherwise most of us wouldn’t have one or work with one.

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The shaping of a liberty horse

Two days. Five horses. Nine people. Liberty Foundations.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjOx3KYPtNM&w=420&h=315]

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Grow body awareness around horses

Most people who have been around horses for a long while have suffered injuries. These injuries –unless treated deeply, and I mean with bodywork after the stitches or surgeries have healed, may continue to cause restrictions both in the physical body and the emotional and psychic bodies.

Patches with his owner, Ariana, when we first brought him home, August, 2011.
Patches with his owner, Ariana, when we first brought him home, August, 2011.

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10 lessons in horse love

It’s debatable whether horses love people or not. But they definitely feel very big emotion for them and about them. It’s easy to be flattered when a horse pays special attention to you and depends upon just you – even more so than when your dog licks your face!

Noble McGinty
Noble McGinty

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The “no change zone” for dealing with changes for horses

The changes in horse’s living conditions can sometimes make a sensitive horse upset. The things that are constant will comfort him, but the change in surroundings – sights, smells, sounds, can all make a difference to his well being. Until he gets used to it, it can be a time when new behavior emerges.

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The healing herd

When the old horse was led out past the barn, the younger one lifted his head in curiosity and sniffed the air. Something was not right, or perhaps it was. The old horse had been wobbling, fragile, his skin becoming paper thin and hanging on his bony frame like ghostly fabric. His heart was missing beats, and there was not much natural timing left in him. He was not able to eat much, and so therefore the younger horse would eat all he left. The younger horse had watched and felt old horses become distant and other-worldly before they passed on.  He knew, the moment the old horse hit the ground, his heart suddenly stilled, that he was gone, and his pain was a thing of the recent past.

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Beyond the norm: no force = great horse

Recently I’ve been in social situations with my horse and other riders where I’ve been faced with how differently I do things.

I have come to a rift in thinking with most people who ride or work with horses. The popular jargon states that we must “make our horse do things” and “keep the feet moving” and “don’t give up on the activity or the horse will have won.” “I run my horse around in the round pen so I know what kind of horse I have before I ride.”

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