• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Jenny Pearce - Happiness and Wellbeing for horses and people

happiness and healing for people and horses

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Training Programs
    and private lessons
  • Books
  • About Us
  • Ask Jenny a question
  • WORLD WIDE LIST OF
    ALTERNATIVE THERAPISTS
  • Older & Happier
  • Healing Sessions
  • Articles about
    healing for humans
  • Articles about
    Healing for horses
  • Contact Jenny

Helping horses release trauma

Horse behaviour problems, Horse health, Horse training articles · May 12, 2019

The first time Sunny had her feet trimmed at liberty was just after the trauma release in this story. It’s pretty much routine now.

Sunny is another case of horse trauma caused by something that most people would consider no big deal.  She was quick to use her teeth and her feet for defending herself – a fight horse on the five f’s (flight, fight, freeze, fidget and faint).

When I was working with her to let go of her tension around being haltered, she showed me that her first trauma was as a newborn foal being cornered in her stable and wrestled with to get the halter on. It turned out that she actually wasn’t a born fight response horse at all – that tendency to fight first and think later was a trauma response from her first catching experience.

Who would think that something that is so regularly routine in the horse world, could have had such an enormous impact on her? There’s a whole story about how she came to release that fight response – and how I inadvertently discovered it had been released – a story for another day.

The next trauma was more dramatic.

When she came to me, we also had serious problems trimming one foot safely. She used to slam her near hind leg down so hard that if your arm or leg had been in the way, it would have been broken. I don’t believe in putting my feet trimmer in danger, so this particular foot of Sunny’s had been trained but not trimmed for five months by this stage in the story. Better to have a messy foot than a damaged feet trimmer.

We were working this day – again – on helping her to get better with holding her hind leg up for Cat to trim, when she showed us an image of a horse thrashing on the ground with it’s leg tied up, grinding its face and eye into the sand and the utter despair that she felt as she fought that rope until she thought she was dead. This leg tying thing is a technique used by some trainers, designed to beat the horse’s fight response.

I might cry at the drop of a hat, but Cat sure as heck doesn’t and we both got the same vision, with same feelings of utter despair and both of us had tears pouring down our faces. I found out later that that Sunny and her sister had gone of to the trainer to be started at the same time and that her sister came home blind in one eye, so it seems that the vision was of what happened to HER, not to Sunny.

Do you know, I just realized something as I was writing this. For all these years I thought BOTH sisters had the same technique done to them. But now I’m thinking that’s not necessarily the case and that maybe Sunny’s traumatized response came from WATCHING what happened to her sister, not physically experiencing it herself.

My point is, that the same PRINCIPLES that are in these same free little lessons the 9 Keys to Happiness with Your Horse, were what we were using to get Sunny OK with that lethal leg.  It took her TIME and me helping her to release all kinds of other traumas that she had experienced – in her case around being caught and haltered – to develop the kind of confidence that she needed to bare her soul to us that day about what was behind her problems in holding that leg up for trimming.

My grandson Jayden is already starting to use his Feel for a horse in simple ways. That’s him pictured here giving Sunny her treat.

But above all, it takes FEEL for your horse and the TIMING of knowing when to keep going and when to back off and that comes from a deep and profound connection to them that EVERYONE has the ability to have and the tiniest portion of one percent of riders and handlers use and our BEGINNER riders here are learning how to use it from the beginning in our Fast Track program – and our KIDS in this program learn it from childhood.

Starting to get my point here? I could give you a hundred stories of horses traumatized to some degree and the ordinary people who have helped them solve that trauma. These are horses that were suffering from PTSD type reactions.  Some of these circumstances may seem like no big deal to those who have seen or suffered more, but they are damaging to THAT horse and causing reactions and problems and tensions that simply don’t need to exist.

…That simply don’t need to exist…

Look around you. What are you observing in your horse – that you think is no big deal – that is in reality caused by an actual trauma that the horse has experienced? Excessive spooking? Tie up problems? Feet picking up problems? Bridling? Saddling? Separation anxiety? Caretaker horses that just can’t look after you any more and eventually explode?

If they’re stressed or “flip out” about ANYTHING that is a normal part of a horse’s life then they need help.

For the horse’s sake folks, are you going to be the problem or the solution?

Talk to me – tell me what’s happening and we can talk about a path forwards from this.

p.s. Keep in mind that some horses require more skill and know-how than others – but ALL of them require the person to have Feel to help them and that’s what we do here, teach people Feel for their horse – ordinary people being extraordinary.

Share
Tweet

Filed Under: Horse behaviour problems, Horse health, Horse training articles

jennyp

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar


From this moment on I will love you - A FREE video lesson
that will remind you of why you got into horses in the first place.

Fast Track to Brilliant Riding


OUR ON LINE TRAINING PROGRAMS

HELPING ORDINARY PEOPLE TO BE EXTRAORDINARY


Horses and people feeling relaxed and confident and happy together isn't a goal - THAT's what you look for from the journey itself, when you join in one of Jenny's "meticulously crafted on-line programs." Corey

"Jenny's nailed it. She's light years ahead of traditional riding instruction." Mary

Shortcut years off learning to be a good rider on a happy, confident, co-operative horse and increase your own happiness while you're at it.
READ MORE
20 days to get a serious improvement in your riding seat - From beginner riders to a world champion

THE FAST TRACK FORUM REGISTERED STUDENTS ONLY

Our beautiful community of like minded people supporting each other, sharing stories and ideas, support for the on line programs, Extra Lessons from Jenny, 6 years of monthly live seminar wisdom in an archive and lots more.
CLICK HERE FOR THE STUDENT ONLY FORUM

Click here for our privacy policy

PRIVATE LESSONS WHEREVER YOU ARE IN THE WORLD

You can't have a happy ending to an unhappy journey.
The first focus of any lesson with me is finding that glowing place of relaxation and peacefulness for both you and your horse - because from THAT place, almost all problems are easily solved.
READ MORE
MY FAVOURITE ARTICLES
The Beginner Rider Revolution
Nervous Riders Seminar
Prevent back injuries in your horse
How to Find Real Happiness
AND MORE...
GET THEM NOW!

Browse the blog by category

  • Arthritis
  • Back injuries in horses
  • Clinics
  • Dealing with a death in our four legged family
  • Free horse lessons
  • General
  • Gifts for horse lovers
  • Horse behaviour problems
  • Horse floating or trailoring problems
  • Horse health
  • Horse training articles
  • Human health
  • Impossible Healing
  • Just say "YES!"
  • New programs
  • older and happier
  • Other animals
  • Programs
  • Questions for Jenny
  • Recommended products
  • Reiki
  • Sisterhood of spiritual warriors
  • Student Spotlight
  • Testimonials
  • training humans for horses

Copyright © 2021 · Maker Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in


BEFORE YOU GO...

World class, problem busting, wellbeing for you and your horse is what we do here.

Did you get the life changing FREE lesson
The Key to the Kingdom of Horses yet?

Grab it now while it's still FREE!

Your information will NEVER be shared or sold to a 3rd party.