There are so many things to tell you about it’s hard to know sometimes which lesson to put up next. But the consequences of leaving this lesson too late for someone might be too big to ignore…
I’ve heard it said that once a horse has been stuffed up, that you can’t unstuff them. I hope that sentence translates for those who have English as their second language! In other words, “they” say that when a horse has been wrecked, when they have been badly trained, that they can never be completely OK again.
Well I am VERY happy to tell you that that is completely untrue.
In fact, it is quite the opposite and I am very pleased to be able to tell you that this approach to horse training that you are learning can produce a horse who has completely released all their old “stuff” – mental, emotional and physical AND that you will create a specially lovely bond together doing it.
Coming up soon in the program, you are going to learn about the three stages of phenomenally powerful AND SIMPLE change with your horse: The RELEASE, RE-LEARN and RE-PROGRAM formula. You can rehabilitate your horse from physical injuries with this formula. You can rehabilitate damaged old school masters and competition horses with the elements of this formula. You can bring a previously traumatized horse back to a full and happy life. That’s it folks – you and me – ordinary people being extraordinary. 🙂
This Lesson is about how you can recognize what a horse looks like and how they behave when they have completely released all their old problems, so that you’ll know what to do if this gloriously happy thing happens.
If the player doesn’t work, click here for Fast Track – Triggering the Baby Horse
And you can read along with this Written Version of the Audio
I have seen the most extraordinary healing take place, sometimes while we watched. I have seen damaged backs sliding into place, muscles that were jammed up and withered away start to come back to operating properly, with new blood flowing to the area. I have seen healing the mind, body and spirit of a horse made possible by YOU, so repeatedly that it is a common part of this Program.
But even bigger than that – I have seen the baby horse re-appear – the clean slate of a horse who has let go of such a huge amount of old fear that they have gone back to behaving like a baby horse. I have even had a horse mouth at me like a foal does and many times watched that beautiful curiosity and uncertainty of an undamaged baby horse.
And the first time I saw it, I stuffed it up by expecting my horse to be the same as before. That’s why I am making such a big deal out of this so that you can avoid doing the same thing.
As you are working with your horse during this Program, if they act like they don’t know how to do something any more – then that is because THEY DON’T.
If that thing was taught to them in their oh shit zone – and you have happened to release the trauma of that – then you have done SUCH a good job together that they REALLY don’t know how to do that thing anymore. It’s like the brain wiring for the trauma reaction has gone – and because the WHOLE reaction was about the trauma, ALL the brain wiring about that thing has gone – with NOTHING left behind of that part of their training.
So you need to explain whatever it is, carefully from the beginning, as if you were explaining it to a baby horse for the first time – you ARE explaining it for the first time. Maybe you are even explaining it to a baby horse.
I can’t describe to you the overwhelming wonder of being a part of that.
Some horses have a single traumatic issue that is so big, that addressing that one issue, will trigger the baby horse. I’ve seen this most often over saddling and feet handling for trimming or shoeing, but it can be triggered by any major trauma – over being caught or haltered, being taught to lead, being tied up, about being rugged – even about yarded into a yard.
I had one horse in a clinic where everything he had ever done with humans had been done in his oh shit zone and when the saddling terror was processed and released, he became a baby foal who knew nothing at all. We even had to teach him how to lead again – as well as float train to get home. She got to start the whole thing again – even about taking a rider – but THIS time she did it herself with care and consideration for this beautiful baby horse.
So do you really understand now why waiting for The Chew after a Not Quite Right is the most valuable thing you will ever do with your horse? Why being there with them while they process whatever it is, is the greatest investment of your relationship together?
Since this is clearly such a big deal – let’s be clear about the circumstances of waiting for this Chew.
I don’t wait for The Chew over everything I ever do with my horse.
However, whenever I feel a Not Quite Right, I like to wait for The Chew. If we are happy together about what I have asked and we know the subject, if there is no sense that there is anything Not Quite Right, then we can move on together cheerfully WITHOUT waiting for The Chew. That’s my general rule of thumb.
I don’t ALWAYS have to STOP doing everything, or come to a halt to wait for The Chew, although it is OFTEN appropriate. If my horse was solidly in their Comfort Zone at the trot, and I was working on something new at the canter then I might only have to drop back to a trot and wait for The Chew at a trot. Maybe I might have to drop back to a walk.
My Not Quite Right feelings will tell me which it needs to be – working TOWARDS the happy feeling and AWAY from the Not Quite Rights will guide me as to what’s the best IN this moment for THIS horse.
So – back to the most important part of this Lesson – keep your eye out for the horse who does not know what you are asking and keep your eye out for the baby horse if that’s where they go back to after they have released trauma…
Up Next
Your next Lesson is an important one. Have you ever seen someone catching a baby foal or a young unhandled horse? If you put yourself in the horse’s shoes and feel it from their point of view, it’s often horrifying. They’re cornered, grabbed suddenly, wrestled into a halter, held onto while they fight, they’re often terrified – older horses are roped or chased around until they run out of energy or turned over and over again in a round yard until they give up just to get a chance to stop.
The human may have THOUGHT that they got what they wanted, but the stresses and the tensions caused by incidents like these don’t miraculously disappear. They are stored in the body as on-going tensions, increasing any future fear and anxiety AND with too many of them having a cumulative effect, eventually they cause health problems as well.
Too many of these stored tensions and anxieties are also why some horses have a short fuse it comes to shying or spooking or leaving their mates, or a whole heap of other behavioral problems.
These stresses and tensions don’t suddenly disappear when we put a foot in the stirrup. They are there under the surface, waiting to bite us on the butt and ADD to the problem when something goes wrong.
This next lesson is about releasing any fears, traumas and resistances that may have been caused by your horse’s previous catching experiences – as a fast track to the strength and grace that you are looking for in your ridden work.