Whether they’re behavioral problems, confidence problems, training problems or health problems, I bring a strong commitment to the horse as an amazing, thinking, feeling being who is capable of so much more than most people realize. They are sooo… smart and so willing – when they’re not scared.
I’ve been working as an alternative therapist for horses and people for 26 years now in so many different modalities that I’ve long since lost track of them all – I’d have to drag out the sheaf of certificates to not forget any. I like to solve things as naturally where we can and I LOVE getting to the bottom of what’s really going on.
My specialty is in the effect of the horse/human relationship on both humans AND horses’ behavior and well-being. This approach has led to a gentle and incredibly effective way of problem solving.
So if you’d like to get to the bottom of a horse problem GENTLY, you can ask any question that you like, on any subject – horse health or horse riding, training or problems with your horse and if I know the answer I am happy to oblige.
How fast I answer depends on my workload, but I DO answer. 🙂
If you haven’t seen the video of the little traumatised wild horse Joe, getting the confidence to reach out for the very first time AND to learn how we did that, then you can grab that here. The Feel for your horse that we talk about, is the foundation for all our work here 🙂
Scroll down to the bottom of the page to put your questions in the comments below and I’ll be with you soon…
Hello Jenny,
Have you answered any questions on relating to fearful equines? Between my lack of confidence and their fear we’ve been together two years without much of a touch. Last year I tried all the training techniques that don’t work with fearful equines. This year I’m mostly hanging out with them and they seem to be getting more comfortable. Still giving them treats in a dish sends them into a sympathetic state.
It would be great if they could learn to enjoy a treat…..
The 9 keys were updated with The Key to the Kingdom of Horses, which is an excellent lesson on dealing with a horse’s fear. It’s a novice owner with her first horses, one of them a severely traumatised wild horse and it’s a live lesson. I think it fits what you need first up! ❤️
Jean – how did you go with those videos?
Hi Jenny ,
First of all thank you for taki the time to reply 🙂
We are currently struggling with a pony (11.2 hand welsh) who won’t move and is dead to leg pressure !
My 7 year old gets very frustrated with her as she wants to canter and trot around now and they not on the same page atm. Jaffa her horse will stop and as much a she gives her a kick she won’t move. My daughter ends up crying and very frustrated.
We h ACV e tried a little riding crop but that doesn’t seem to work much either.
Unfortunately I can’t really ride her – due to her size .
Could you shed some light on what might be a great idea for them .
The pony been stiff in the back end – however when put away from a group of horses will happily canter home towards them so there is not associated pain. She is also getting acupuncture done to help her . The horse is moving so much more freely.
So no issues – I’ve got the feeling she is pulling the wool over my daughters eyes. She is moving freely if I run beside her – however I can’t keep doing this forever. Please help – thank you kindly
Thank you kindly
Renée
0439013466.
I can tell you already know in your heart that this pony has a reason for her behavior – so good on you! There’s three reasons for the pony’s behavior.
1. Pain or discomfort (you talk about the stiffness in her hind legs) and you’re taking care of that with acupuncture, well done there.
2. She is what I call a Caretaker pony, which is a very precious little being that looks after your daughter by not going forward when she either afraid or confused OR when your daughter isn’t perfectly balanced and feels unsafe. I’ll email you a lesson about the Caretaker Horses and I bet she fits it to a T. These horses and ponies are to be celebrated and cherished. Thank God the riding crop didn’t work, because that usually causes many more problems than it fixes and risks wrecking their relationship – which after all, the feel good of a special relationship with their pony is why they want a pony in the first place.
3. There’s a different way of teaching a kid to ride that helps them get their riding seat really good quite quickly and the better your daughter’s seat, the happier the pony is going to be to move forward. I teach it here without all that bouncing around and tension that comes from that. It seems slower in the beginning, but gets to the end result – a really good rider – much quicker. The pony would also be able to enjoy contributing to that – they are MUCH more sentient and willing than most people realize.. I don’t know anyone who teaches this except me, so my suggestion would be to look at our training programs and find something that fits your desires and your wallet. Tech these days means that we routinely do lessons all over the world, no big deal just a phone or a tablet.
Hi Jenny,
I just found and read the article on your homeopathic work with bat wing recovery.
I was trying to find a bat remedy for humans. My patient has autism and has quite a few rubrics which suit bats;
his hearing and echo-sensing of a landscape by squealing
his breast grabbing and wishing to suckle (he is 9yrs) from his Mum or others
His quick knowledge of a birds-eye layout of the landscape
love of collectivity with others
running in an open space necessity
flapping of airms and hands
hypersensitive hearing
Could you please advise me where i could get bat remedy?
cheers and thankyou!
suzanne suzlundberg2@gmail.com 0418821908
Holy snapping turtles Suzanne! HOW AMAZING! And how potentially incredibly exciting. Last time I heard of an autistic person who behaved and saw so clearly as an animal, it was Temple Grandin, who revolutionised the way abattoirs work. Her ability to “see” as the cow was her autism gift. There’s a dvd about her life story, if you haven’t heard about her yet. I wonder where this youngster will take his gift? I’ll refer the lady I wrote about in that article, to your email address. I’m sure she will be in touch.
Hi Jenny,
How long do you need to spell a paddock to get rid of capeweed?
Cheers
Jean
It’s not just about spelling it Jean, although no doubt that would do it some good. You need to add some calcium magnesium balance OR there’s another way of managing land for animals like horses that sequesters carbon PLUS regenerates the pasture without actually adding anything in. In fact it’s quite impressively classified as regenerative agriculture even when we use it for horses. Hmmm I can’t find that article, but it’s about hitting the pasture hard and fast and then getting off it until it’s well grown with plenty of dry matter in it. Google “re-generating native pasture with pasture management” should bring up some articles. I’d write you one, but I’m flat out like a lizard drinking at the moment. There’s a photo of Rapunzel just gone into a new paddock with the rest of the herd on this link https://www.jennypearce.com.au/horse-health/a-brilliant-article-on-horse-feeding-from-dr-getty/ At the place I’m on there was a LOT of capeweed and dockweed. It was noticeably less in the first year with the “managing for native pasture approach” (low sugar, perfect for horses) even less the next season and now I don’t notice it. If there’s any capeweed there, it can’t be much…
Hi Jenny, I have recently purchased a thoroughbred eventing horse and he is beautiful and calm when tied up to the float but after a hour long trip he is very reluctant to get on the float and on long/short trips will continually paw at the float floor (for hours) which causes him to sweat up and he isn’t able to perform at a high level. If you have any suggestions to stop this stressful pawing business that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much 🙂
It sounds like he’s trying to tell you something. I’d be checking the float first Annie. Go for a ride in it. Think of what he was used to before you bought him. What’s different? Is it noisy? Can you reduce the rattles? Are the tyres balanced? I know the tyre guys say it’s not necessary because it’s only a trailer, but there’s a living being in there that deserves the smoother ride. Is it really hard to stand up in? i.e. Does the driver drive smoothly or is he being jerked off his feet with braking too hard or cornering without consideration for the amount of work he has to do to stay on his feet? I’ve seen this one A LOT… Does he have a hay net? Is he tied too short? Are the windows the huge wide ones that are scarey to some horses as they have the oncoming traffic flying at them at high speed? Is he more dcared and stressed on there because of that, than you think? So does he need some more “be happy in the float” training? Grab those free lessons The 9 Keys to Happiness with Your Horse, do the first lesson a few times – then take him out there to the float, thinking of each of these issues one by one and open up to understand FROM HIM, what it is that is the problem. I look forward to hearing how you go.
Hi Jenny, I have a few Questions, My first is related to a shying horse, on my last ride with my horse she did a beauty to what I managed to get control of in the first instance but the second time which happened with in seconds of the first she went sideways into a vineyard post and at that point I bailed (not so gracefully) and she bolted. Once she had done that and realised we weren’t following her and she didn’t know her way home she came back. But I couldn’t get back on her and swapped horse with my friend, because I have already had a hip replacement and as much as I know there will always be some risk didn’t feel confident she wasn’t going to do it again on this ride. She had been particularly twitchy and not in the best of moods but was mostly just very forward and prancing. She like to be lead horse and ears went back when the other two were in front. So I was happy to be in front. She has done little shying before but mostly nothing. I had given her a mouthful of lucerne before the ride as what I thought was a treat. Also a biscut the day before….as the paddocks are bare and it was mostly a love gesture. My understanding now is this could have been a contributing factor to her behavior. I love my girl and will ride her again but I feel disappointed that I can’t just jump on her and trust I am not risking my hip or worse.
Ok Mairwen, the first thing to know is that this is fixable. The second thing is that it is within your doing- i.e. fixing it means you taking action to change some things.
Spooking is most commonly caused by fear and fear is cumulative – each unaddressed fear adds on to the next until you can have a relatively small thing causing a big reaction.
Grab those free lessons the 9 keys to happiness with your horse for more understanding of how fear works for you and your horse both.
So to fix spooking you need to help your horse to clear up some of these old fears that may have nothing whatever to do with the bird that jumped out of the bush and caused the spook that day. Get the 9 keys then that will make more sense. Talk to me after you’ve had those lessons and i’ll be happy to map out the next steps for you.
Hi Jenny, l’d like your opinion please.
I’m moving my new horse to a paddock with cape weeds.
I’m scared from stringhalt.
I’ve read your articles about it and I’m not sure if he’s Magnesium deficient.
However at the moment he’s fed Balanced (Hygain) , chuff, grass hay and pasture.
Do you think I should treat the cape weeds with Dolomite, just in case or feed him Dolomite for a while until the cape weeds season is over ( I’m in Vic).
I appreciate your help with this.
Regards Abby
Yes Abby, since you’re in Victoria and the capeweed is going beserk right now, if I had a lot of capeweed, I’d sprinkle some dolomite over them. That way, you’re treating the ground as well as the horse, so it’s an investment for the future as well. The garden centres tend to only stock small bags which turn out to be ridiculously expensive. Your local produce store should have it or be able to get it. 🙂
Thank you
HI Jenny – I am wondering if neem oil mixed with coconut oil would be OK for treating a suspected pin worm infection – around the anus and tail. I happen to have coconut oil on hand (but no further use for it), so thought it might be OK. If so, could you suggest a ratio neem oil:coconut oil?
TYIA
Yes I’ve used coconut oil as the base for the neem oil. You have to warm it to melting to mix the neem in. I used errr a splash 🙂 of neem in a small jar of coconut oil – that I could get my fingers into for when the coconut oil solidified. Then I warmed it in my hands and rubbed it where I wanted it. Nw here’s the big deal. I’ve never seen warnings for pregnant women around Neem – but it’s supposed to stop the breeding of the insect – so I wouldn’t get it on my hands if was pregnant or wanted to be – just in case…
My mare is 6 yr old about 16.1hh tb x wb – we bred her.
She has been green broken for 12 months and has spent the last 3 months with a professional trainer.
Before going to the trainer she was tried floating in a std 2 horse straight both alone and with a mate.
On all times within a few metres she puts all her weight backwards and gets her legs over the chestbar.
Once we moved the divider across to give her more room to spread her legs etc and she broke her lead and turned backwards looking out. She didn’t try to jump out.
When I got the JR Easy traveller Longreach float (antiscramble) I took weeks to get her happy and comfortable to stand locked in with no issues.
As soon as the vehicle moves forward she reacts. Regardless of the position of the chest bar (in close or with space) or the rump bar (correct or higher or lower) she simply sits down like a dog until she can get her legs over the chest bar or once when she couldn’t get her legs over she lied down under the divider with her head near the other front door.
Aside from some skin off scraping under the rump bar she has not injured herself, hit her head etc.
Not once has she refused to load – even immediately after being removed. She has no fear of the float or small space. She does not even break a sweat. She is never panicked. She just waits sitting until everything is moved and then she slides herself out off the ramp and calmly stands. She will virtually self load herself straight back on.
In between these straight load attempts over the last 4 months (now 8 attempts) the trainer has successfully travelled her alone one time each travelling angle on a transport truck, a gooseneck (which angles more to the rear) and a 3 horse angle float -all without any issue.
I have read there are a very small percentage of horses who will not travel straight??
I am at wits end and hope you may have any suggestions or thought to resolve this.
Thank you so much
Holy snapping turtles! I promise you she is not doing this “floating disaster waiting to happen”, for no good reason. She HAS a reason and we (as in you and I’ll cheerfully support you) – we have to figure it out. I’ve also seen lots of horses where the injuries weren’t immediately visible too – it’s difficult to imagine what you are describing hasn’t caused any muscular skeletal issues.
There’s a whole type of horse personality – what I call the Caretaker Horses – who shut down inside when we put pressure on them, rather that try to run or fight, then they can explode out of desperation. You can tell you’ve got one of those because you tend to have to drive them forwards under saddle – they slow down or stop when they are afraid or confused. I’ve got a number of articles about them around my website. Does she come into that category?
It’s very common for horses who have not been taught to be completely relaxed in the float or trailer, to be unable to move their feet when the trailer starts moving and then at some point all hell will break loose.
It sounds like that happened, at least the first time.
It’s also possible that she created a neural pathway that first one or two or more times – it’s a way of reacting the same way that we reacted before – even if that reaction doesn’t serve us – even if that reaction is dangerous to us. That would happen when a horse is out in what I call their “Not Too Sure Zone” or their ” Oh Shit Zone”. There’s detailed explanations of that in the free lessons the 9 Keys to Happiness with Your Horse. Click here for those.
You can change those neural pathways by working deep in her Comfort Zone, with sensitivity. The 7th Key to Happiness outlines the principles behind how to release her old ways of reacting and it’s quite simple, although the sensitivity it requires from us can take some practice, depending on our background. THEN it’s possible to easily get her thinking happily about traveling happily. When you’ve had the 9 Keys, give me a yell and we’ll talk about how to apply them in these particular circumstances.
thanks so much for being so fast on the reply. Sprite is a bit of an enigma!!! Jenny I will get reading up on the 9 keys etc. The thing is that no she doesn’t fall into that category under saddle. In fact she has been working a dream in the dressage arena. she has regular monthly Chiro / acupuncture / massage with no problems……….ive just been to the trainer and we put her in his 3 horse angle load with a friend and watched her on the float monitor – went for a 20minute trip. For the first few seconds she moved her feet but then stood still the whole journey. no sweating, chewing etc – no signs of any distress at all.on the straight load she starts rocking back and forth for a few seconds then its bang sit down! aside from this problem she will follow me around behind the ride on lawn mower, stick her head in the house window. she is very comfortable to be with humans. all help greatly appreciated thanks so much
hi, I have a nine year ole throughbred just diagnosed with damage to S1 and I was wondering what you would recommend for a recovery program?
For those not in the know SI is the sacro-iliac joint, where the spine meets the pelvis and is the most common damage I see in horse’s backs. Well Sarah, that’s a BIG question, because sacro iliac damage has many causes, falls are one cause -specially a fall that has them landing hard on their side; jarring of the joint from jumping in a “bad” posture and emotional stress is a BIG cause of it too, I’ll explain more about that further down.
But take heart, it IS fixable AND you and your horse will enjoy the fixing. 🙂 I would recommend a multi-faceted approach.
Some body work, like Bowen muscle therapy, good riding where your seat is seriously stable and your horse being in the correct posture to actually heal the joint are the three ESSENTIAL ingredients for healing this injury. The correct posture so that the body CAN heal the joint is
The correct posture means that your horse has to be in self carriage – with their back lifted up. That combination of YOU being in your version of self carriage with a beautiful riding seat and your horse being in HIS self carriage will strengthen his back with the joint in the right place, which will enable it to heal. There’s a few articles around my website here explaining that in more detail. Click here for one about does riding hurt my horses back?.
Now here’s the big deal. Self carriage – SELF carriage (not framed up by hands and legs and reins) is not common in the horse world and yet if we are going to ride our horse without damaging them, it’s critical. You’ll see why in that article I just linked to.
Now here’s the good news. Self carriage is achievable even by beginner riders in a very simple way – by having their horse in their comfort zone, filled with feeling good – filled with feelings of mental, emotional and physical well being. That sounds simple and it is – but it takes commitment too the whole of the horse’s life, not just the riding. I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that there’s a clear pathway to both horse AND rider’s mental emotional and physical well being in our on line program Fast Track to Brilliant Riding. Look up in my training programs here for more about that.
The reason people struggle with this injury to the point that most vets consider it incurable, is that the horse’s emotional state isn’t taken into consideration in the healing process. And if the emotional state isn’t taken into account, then the horse cannot be in true self carriage.
Picture the physics of this in your mind as I explain. In self carriage, all the joints are acting together kind of like a spring, every bone and muscle contributing to a body that is floating and flowing like it was designed.
So… when there’s emotional stress, muscles tighten up. When there’s CHRONIC emotional stress (a state that MOST horses are in to some level or other), muscles get damaged by that chronic tightening and lack of blood flow to the tissues. Then when the muscles are tightened, the way that the horse carries themselves is affected. You’ll know this feeling yourself, when you’re stressed, those muscles across the top of your shoulders tighten up and you start to hunch over a little and then the rest of your body has to compensate for that. If that stress and the subsequent muscle tension goes on for too long, just like the horse, your joints will be jarred and eventually you become a walking target for lower back problems, maybe even sacro-iliac damage of your own.
Now… when you read that phrase above “When there’s CHRONIC emotional stress (a state that MOST horses are in to some level or other” I bet it flicked across your mind “oh no not my horse, they know I love him or her and I would never hurt them.” It doesn’t have to be anything you’ve done, it can be the emotional stress from something that happened in the past – the way they were first caught and haltered, their first saddling, side reins to “bit” them, the first rider not being empathetic enough to listen to their fear and confusion, maybe even bullying them – in my experience those stresses can come from some unusual places too.
ALL of this is stress is changeable / releasable / fixable and then the posture that promotes healing just corrects itself naturally and that’s just one of the things that we do on Fast Track. I hope like heck I don’t sound like a sales person talking about Fast Track, because that would put ME off too 🙂 though When I think about it, I’m GLAD that we have a pathway to fixing all these things like sacro-iliac damage and arthritis and a whole heap of other problems normally considered unfixable.
I’ve spent so much time answering this one Laura, that I’m going to turn it into a blog and spread the conversation a little wider. 🙂
HI Jenny!
I do not have a horse to ‘caretake’ but was recently lucky enough to be invited to help a friend for the first time with her horse, who I had met once before and who is a most gentlemanly ex-racehorse. I was asked to collect him from the field, and he easily allowed me to halter him and lead him on the way, away from his 2 field companions and into the next partition through a gate. However, he then halted and refused to come further, though he would both move and turn about if I tried to circle him round before, i hoped, walking on with him on the lead rope out of that second paddock and up to the Yard where I had been asked to take him to.
My dilemma is that this was not a genuine request to which he had the right to say ‘no’, it was a command, dressed initially up as a request.
Eventually my friend arrived and advised me to pull, and to keep pulling, on the lead rope until he started to yield and then to immediately release the pull and allow him to walk forwards with no further pulling.
I have a really uncomfortable reaction to pulling on a horse’s bridle and thus his head! let alone any other part of a sentient creature’s body… ‘at all’ and feel there has to be a better way. When I tried to use ‘energy’ he had not moved a muscle (guess he’s been there, got the T shirt, done the rounds of horse racing and is also top ranking in his little herd of 3). So when I swished the lead rope behind his back quarters to try to get some energy going forwards, he gave no reaction at all.
Now of course, I don’t know this horse and have only spent a short while making his acquaintance (and I had indeed said hello and greeted him and he had done likewise).
But I was given to understand that he does this ‘stopping’ when he has a preference for either going to his field, or for staying there rather than coming to the yard or wherever.
I have started to understand there is a difference between an ‘ask’ that is a true ‘ask’ and to which a horse may have it’s ‘no’ respected, and an ‘ask’ that is actually a command and to which a ‘no’ is not acceptable, such as when a leg needs dressing or a shift in location is necessary such as moving a horse to a stall for the night for a particular reason.
Can you advise, please? I feel there must be another way than to pull on a bridle, halter, or any other device.
But what to do when ‘efficiency’ or lack of time, means that there is no time to develop the kind of relationship where no force is ever used? I’d hate to turn down invitations to be around or to be with horses just because I don’t yet have the deep connection and communications that I need to ‘ask’ a horse to come with me when the ‘ask’ is really not negotiable.
I’d greatly appreciate your advice!
Blessings…
Gosh you DO like to ask the big questions Mundi! There’s so many layers in this question. Hmmm… Let’s keep it simple. There’s two aspects to being good with horses – first knowledge and second, using your inner guidance system. Using your Inner Guidance system with your horse eventually leads you to being Present in such a way that the answer to whatever you need to do with a horse just flows in the moment, with an expanded sense of who they are, what their issues are, how you can support them with those and anything else that you need to know in the moment, to do what needs to be done. It’s the ultimate foundation of beautiful horsemanship.
I’ve seen lots of people with very much knowledge, not actually be much good with horses. Their focus on technique has them very often missing the split second moments of opportunity to support their horse for change or learning. They push them too far too fast (just because they don’t know how to use their connection to support the horse and instead, they unknowingly create resistance and sometimes even trauma. And of course this does not apply to all people with knowledge here – I am talking about the two extremes – there’s a whole range in the middle too. 🙂
I’ve also seen beginners with little to no knowledge and BECAUSE they are so Present with their horse that they have fabulous connection, they achieve gorgeous stuff together with the horse turning themselves inside out to do what they want.
Knowledge often causes people to be dominant instead of leaders. They know how to MAKE a horse do something and forget that MAKING a horse do something costs them in their relationship.
And yet…
There are times a horse NEEDS to do something that is not pleasant, that they don’t want to do, but is necessary for their own good. I did a little lesson about getting Oliver ready for the dentist that demonstrates this very well. It was his CONFIDENCE in me and our relationship together than enabled us to achieve such a wonderful outcome in very unpleasant circumstances.
What makes it particularly difficult for you, is that you don’t have the time to build a relationship. And it’s a bit more difficult to get the knowledge without a horse to practice with.
You could however, watch some Youtubes about the techniques of those normal every day things like leading – BUT… BUT… most of those techniques that oyu will see on Youtube, will be done with little to no consideration for the horse, so you can practice FEELING inside yourself and BEing Present while you’re watching the video and that will give you a bit more insight about what to do, what not to do, from the horse’s perspective when you’re leading someone’s horse. Does that make sense? The only thing better than that would be joining one of my on-line horse programs like Fast Track to Brilliant Riding, which covers all the ins and outs of all that routine stuff all the way to riding in happiness too, but that’s a big investment for someone who doesn’t have a horse and would only suit someone if they were going to get a horse and wanted to learn lots about them beforehand.
I feel your pain! I read Imke Spilker, which changed my life and made me determined to respect the horse’s “No.” And the VERY FIRST TIME I had to go out and lead a horse after making this determination it was a barnmate’s horse. She was sick or something and couldn’t come to the barn, and SOMEONE had to go bring the mare in for the farrier. And that someone was me. This mare was also a sweet lady, never giving anyone any trouble, but she was NOT going to follow me up from the pasture that day unless I reverted to my old ways, and I was equally determined not to revert. I turned myself inside out, trying to come up with ways to get her to move without MAKING her move.So did I manage it, and do I have a lovely answer for you? The answer is no!! I finally got the mare up to the barn by a combination of doing a crazy dance towards her hindquarters, which made her move forward a little, more crazy dance, more forward motion, more crazy dance, etc. We finally made it, but it took a really long time, and anyone watching would have had me certified.
p.s. the farrier ended up making her sore by lowering heels and not bringing toes back enough to match (which I later fixed for the owner), and so maybe the mare didn’t want to come in because she didn’t like the farrier’s trimming style and she knew that I was bringing her in for that purpose, and maybe this is really not the p.s. but the main point of this story…..
Belly laughter to start my morning with June! That’s a VERY vivid description! And I LOVE your p.s. They know more than most people realize and think a WHOLE LOT more than most people realize. How cool that you managed to bring her in without reverting to old ways! I wonder if it was that “line in the sand” thing – that you drew a line in the sand that day and your life with horses changed forever. 🙂
Hi Jenny, I have two aged horses I’m their early to mid 20’s with arthritis (as well as me!). I am wondering if you can add borax (pure food grade) to their water rather than in there feed. I am not really wanting to give them and hard feed. Also, can you recommend a seaweed meal? cheers
I’ve never thought or experienced adding borax to water. It is used as a TINY, TINY trace element in Pat Coleby’s arthritis remedy – just a few grains per day. With other things like magnesium, I put that into a SECOND source of water, so they can have it or leave it if they want. I don’t know if that would work with borax but the big deal part of that would be the teensiest, teensiest amount and then how would you know if they got it or not?
There’s quite a few articles on arthritis in horses on my website here – the MAJOR part of fixing arthritis is Releasing the old emotional stresses that are in the way of good posture and flowing happy movement as normal. When the joints are being used “correctly” the body can dissolve that calcium that it built up to protect the joint. So get the 9 Keys to Happiness with your horse – top right hand side of almost every page. It gives you the foundation understanding behind the Release work that we do here and then if that suits, then Fast Track will give you the rest. 🙂
Any Aussie seaweed meal is OK, I’m not fussed about the brand just that it’s a seaweed MEAL, not liquid.
Hi there,
I’ve just come across your website and I wonder if you can help me. I have a problem travelling my horse.
His name is Dylan he’s a 6 year old ex race horse. I think he may have been one of the unlucky race horses to get a cattle prod on his butt in the starting gates because he’s very sensitive with his back legs. When I started float training him I had the help of an experienced horseman and we started from the beginning and just started getting comfortable in our float, which was a straight loader. He was nervous to start off with but by the end he was perfect. He self loads and stood happily for as long as you left him. That was until he had the back of the float done up. As soon as he touched the bum bar he lit up like a Christmas tree. He managed to tear the float apart in his panic but lucky he wasn’t hurt. That was when we realised he had a real issue around his back legs so we started training with that. He is fine with thing touching his back legs at any time except when he’s in the float. So we upgraded and got him an angle loader so it wouldn’t quite feel like he’s in the starting gates but more like a truck. He starting floating in that and he was good. He went out to a couple of shows and despite a few kicks in the back he was an angel. After a few more powerful kicks he dented the side that managed to open the divider in the float. Which started to hit him in the back, making him kick more. So we got that fixed but his kicking just got worse. Until one day he managed to get his leg over the divider. Unfortunately he did this on a high way so we felt him tussling around but we couldn’t do anything. When we did open the back up he’d actually managed to turn him self around in the float. He was very sweaty and worked up and had skinned his legs. After recovering from that his floating was okay for a couple more trips but we noticed he was always slightly worse on the way home. We checked his back and everything making sure it wasn’t pain related. It’s now at the point that this very talent horse isn’t getting out to the shows he deserves to be at because of his travelling. He floats to the venues quietly but when you load him back up he starts dropping in sweat, the whites of his eyes are showing, he’s really distressed. I have no idea what’s bothering him or how to fix it for him. Vets have suggested a course of drugs to calm him down while we retrain him but I was wondering if you had any suggestions on how to help him.
Oh dear… Bless you Ashley for the effort that you’re putting in to helping Dylan. Fear is cumulative, in both horses and people. Each time the horse isn’t able to make himself safe (usually by running away) then that suppressed fear adds on to the next one until you have a bunch of small fears and big ones adding up to a gigantic terror. The key is to systematically help him to feel safe in ALL those scarey situations in his life and then the float scarey leg thing will be more easy to figure out and get rid of. And yes it IS possible to help him Release that terror of something around his back legs in the float and yes you can do that with confidence between the two of you and the kind of trust that grows when someone helps them to feel safe in all kinds of situations. Start with our free lessons the 9 Keys to Happiness. That will give you a basic understanding of how a horse’s fear works and how you can manage it differently. If the first and fourth keys are not REALLY clear to you, then come back to me and we’ll do a quickie 15 minute free Skype to help you get it. The second and third keys are also important to understanding Dylan’s fear and the 7th Key is a really big one – a simple way to help him release the fear. These keys are the FOUNDATION understanding that you’ll need to help him. They do not specifically address the actual issue that you are talking about. Yes you CAN help him. Yes this CAN be fixed. And yes YOU can do it. 🙂
Dear Jenny,
I have ridden my whole life, and at age 58, (2010) I had a bad riding accident and ended up hospitalized for a month. I got back on a horse yesterday for the first time in years with a trainer to try to build my confidence back. I was almost paralyzed with fear. I put my half chap on the wrong leg, grabbed the reigns backwards, and dismounted on the wrong side. I was embarrassed. Are these signs of PTSD? The ride went well, (only walked on the trails)…but I am still in fear of another fall. Any suggestions for the next ride to now look so foolish?
Like so many horse riders who have had a bad fall Kate, you are experiencing what I call a “fright imprint”, that was locked into your body at the moment of impact in that fall you describe. In my experience, it’s simply a survival mechanism, a message from your mind/body/spirit to do things differently. You can use that experience to actually REDUCE the risk of a fall and hey – you and I both are too … “old” is not the right word 🙂 … to be hitting the ground. It’s not fun for anyone, but as we get older it’s simply unacceptable! 🙂
I can’t tell from your description whether it’s a full blown PTSD experience (which typically involves flashbacks) or just a big old nasty fright imprint. Either of these conditions is absolutely fixable with what we do here – so thoroughly fixable that sometimes people can’t even remember why they were afraid.
There are 2 programs here that contain lessons that will address fright imprints – Fast Track to Brilliant Riding – this program will take both you AND your horse to a whole new place of confidence and well being. If your horse is contributing to those nerves then this is the right program for you.
The there’s Foundation for Riding Excellence a shorter program that just for the rider. If you haven’t had our free lessons yet, The 9 Keys to Happiness with Your Horse, then you’ll find them on the Training page
Hi Jenny, I have just come across your website and hope you might be able to help me. I have been riding on and off since I was a teenager, I am now 50. About 18 months ago I fell of my horse and landed on my knees. Since then I have had pain in my knee and cannot kneel on it anymore. Scans showed I have developed some arthritis in it. Since the fall, I can no longer enjoy riding. It hurts my knee after a while, though I can put up with it. My main concern is that I have this fear of falling again and again sustaining a permanent injury. I have had broken ribs and had other injuries over the years but I was younger then and healed. I am reluctant to ride because of this fear. Then when I do ride, I cannot enjoy it as I am constantly fearful. I am sure my horse can feel my fear, as he has also become more jumpy at any bird or puddle and this only makes my fear grow as well. Thanks, Donna
What you are experiencing from that fall Donna-Marie, and maybe from other falls or accidents before it as well, is called a “fright imprint” and yes I expect that you are right – you and your horse will be escalating each other into more nervousness. I am happy to tell you that it is absolutely fixable. 🙂 Start off with the free lessons The 9 Keys to Happiness with Your Horse – by the end of those you’ll know whether our approach and philosophy appeals to you. There are two programs that contain the fright imprint removal – Foundation for Riding Excellence – the riding seat program that has been extracted from Fast Track to Brilliant Riding. Fast Track itself contains all the riding seat lessons plus all the lessons to systematically help your horse to release all his old stresses and tensions and find a deep sense of well being mentally emotionally and physically. Click here to read about those.
If you thought that the accident has triggered some deeper problem, more like post traumatic stress, then another option is to have a private session with me. You can read about those at this link.
And arthritis is absolutely fixable too – you can read about that on A Path to Excellence that lists all our programs here.
Hi
I have a 8 yo riding pony mare that has been the worlds best floater until the last 3 times. She has traveled Victoria to adelaide to canberra and Melbourne regularly. She has just started to lean against the partition to the extent that she scrambles. She even does it when we aren’t moving. I noticed tonight she had herself worked up that she was sweating with a 5 minute float ride.
Would love any ideas that I could try please
Well that is certainly an indication that there is a serious problem developing. Has there been any incidents on the trips? Or ill effects from the long distances? The distances that you are describing are long enough for some travel sickness if not managed carefully. I know you might think she is too young, but I have also seen what you describe when a horse develops arthritis AND I have seen some very young horses – younger than her – develop it. Is she dragging her toes? Feeling a bit stiff for the farrier in picking up one or more of her legs?
Ok thank you. She has regular massages and Bowen therapy as she has always suffered after a paddock accident years ago. When I arrived home last night she was hooking in when I pulled up then when I opened the partition I made her stay there for at least 20 minutes and she didn’t move and she seemed happy.
Bowen is an excellent muscular-skeletal technique. Please answer each of these questions: How does she show you “she has always suffered after a paddock accident years ago”? What is she doing that makes you think that something is wrong and she needs muscular therapy? How is she at holding her feet for the farrier/feet trimmer? Happy and relaxed or tense and reluctant? How deep is the partition? i.e. Where does the bottom edge of it come up to on her body? I’m trying to nail down a bit more of what could be going on. 🙂
Hi,
I have been reading through many of your previous posts in regards to stringhalt. I currently have a mare suffering with severe Australian stringhalt and everyone has nothing against what I’m feeding her except a few people disagree with feeding Lucerne. I feed it as chaff because she’s still in a mixed paddock and I’m not made of money! Everyone who says no Lucerne doesn’t give reasons why they are against it that I can find so far. Would you be able to provide me some clarity on the issue?!?
Thanks Jo x
It’s because lucerne is high in calcium which throws the calcium magnesium ration out even further into magnesium deficiency. So if you wanted to keep feeding lucerne chaff you would need to balance it out with some additional magnesium to what you would already have to be doing to treat the stringhalt. What do you mean mixed paddock? What about good plain grass hay instead of lucerne?
Hi Jenny,
I have a friesian who has a beautiful mane. Unfortunately He has had a case of Pinworm and has scratched quite a bit of volume out of it. I have successfully treated the pinworm issue and have purchased some Neem oil to try to combat any re-infestation. I was wondering if you can suggest any topical or feed related option that may assist the regrowth of the mane volume. He has such a beautiful mane I would like to restore it as best I can. PS like you I am really into natural and organic ways to best promote the health of my boys. Thanks so much Regards Lee
Sorry Lee, I have no magic potion to re-grow manes! 🙂 Try one of the show people maybe??? I did raise my eyebrows a little at him rubbing his MANE out with a pinworm infestation – in my experience it has usually been just the tail. The cause of neck itching being the neck too hot for too long from a neck rug or maybe even some other parasite. My experience in this regard is not vast though! 🙂 Did you get those free lessons The 9 Keys to Happiness with Your Horse while you were here? https://www.jennypearce.com.au/the-nine-keys-to-happiness-with-your-horse-4/
Hello Jenny! I had a bad fall off my horse three years ago which left me in Intensive Care. I haven’t ridden him much since. He wouldn’t come near me for a month after I got out of hospital and in fact would walk away and turn his bottom to me. Then once he would come up to me he wouldn’t look at me for another three months. The odd time I have ridden him since he is reluctant to step up to the mounting block and will quietly take a step backwards if I try to get on. I have the distinct feeling he does not want me to ride him again and yet I also feel he does. Does this make sense? I would love to ride him again and regain what we used to have but even better.
That has some very big energy around it Felicity. I see from my emails that you’ve bought some books and I’ve just sent you the link to 21 Days to a Quiet Mind. I am sure that it will help you reconnect with your horse. Really bad falls can have PTSD type symptoms leaving us with a tension that is simply too big to ignore. I have melded my work as a “healer” with my horse work and come up with a couple of lessons that release the fright imprint that such a bad fall leaves us with. Some super serious ones need one on one attention. What I CAN PROMISE you though, is that it is 100% possible to release that tension, get rid of that fright that has been seared into your body, understand it, understand your horse and bond together even better than before. I look forward to working with you.
Thank you so much Jenny for your understanding- I feel absolutely relieved – PHEW! And I feel quietly optimistic that I am about to embark on a wonderful journey at many different levels.
Question: What do horses think about being gelded?
That’s a big question June and I don’t know a general answer. I’ve come across horses who seem to be “resigned” to it being the best and others that opposed it. Bobby had lots of testosterone (as much as most serving stallions according to the vet) even though he was gelded properly and I had that unwanted testosterone balanced homeopathically. After i started listening to him I “got” that he was upset about that removal and I re-balanced him to have HIS natural amount of testosterone. We might ask Narel to do one of her “communicate with the spirit of The Horse generally” and see what comes up about it. 🙂
Hi, Jenny – I’ve enjoyed the 9 Keys and am in the very beginning stages of Fast Track.
My question involves riding, or more specifically mounting, or maybe the question goes back further in the process. My little mare Bridget just started being ridden a few months ago – she has been enjoying the process, and I’ve always avoided pushing her out of her comfort zone. Recently there has been a change of pasture, and our gelding is no longer pastured with our mares. Since this changeover, Bridget has become less keen (reluctant even) to leave the pasture. From being #2 in the hierarchy, kept in her place by a VERY stern #1, she finds herself in the top spot – the youngest horse in the pasture and now the boss too. She has three mares and sometimes an elderly gelding in her herd. She used to stand at the gate, banging on it to be let out. But yesterday I resorted to tricking her to get her to come out (sorry!) – I opened the gate and she came through, and then I put the halter on. I put her in the round pen, and although she was quite “up” about what was going on outside, she settled and became connected with me. She allowed me to saddle her at liberty, but when time came to mount, she just kept turning out of position by the mounting block. She just would turn her tail away and stand with her head next to me – very quietly and sweetly, but each time quite clear that mounting was not something she agreed to. So I ended up taking the saddle off and leading her back to her pasture – she was keen to get there, whereas in the past she really couldn’t care less about getting back. I’m thinking that mounting is not really the issue, but taking her out of the pasture is. I don’t know if she feels anxious about leaving now that she’s is charge, or if she feels insecure now that Bossy George isn’t there any more. Or what. Do you think I should just not try to take her out at all until she gets back to her old enthusiasm and lets me know that she wants to come out?
Oh, I forgot to say that ever since changing to a more non-coercive way of being with horses a few years ago, the thing which has always felt most Not Quite Right is mounting. It always seemed like the moment where one’s good intentions were in danger of going out the window. And I think the reason I felt this was that somehow at the bottom of my heart I felt that no horse would ever actually freely consent to being mounted. So now I’m looking for real consent – there are horses who are trained to stand still at the mounting block on a loose rein – but I want the horse to stand still on a loose rein just because I asked politely and they’re happy to have me aboard. I don’t mind asking a few times in a row – but after that, I have to assume that the horse is really against the idea.
Except for little Chloe, all 11:2 hands of her, and me 5′ 10″, who occasionally would walk up beside me and say, “All right, up you go.” and stand like an angel while I clambered up.
June you have identified one of the major causes of unaddressed tension between horse and rider. And if that tension is left there, people actually have TENSION as a foundation of their riding – ugh! Mounting is the the single biggest bit of ignored Not Quite Rights among riders – i.e. riders ignoring their safety and/or their horse’s fears. Of all the hundreds of riders I have watched mount up in person, I have only seen two who mounted up safely and one of them was an absolute beginner who was very in tune with her body. There is a vulnerability in the way people get on, where if anything went wrong, they’d be in trouble. So in my experience that Not Quite Right you are feeling will no doubt be that safety issue. We address it in Fast Track, which I know you have recently started, June – so skip ahead and have a look at Lesson 68 to address the human side of the mounting Not Quite Rights.
THEN you can address the horse’s side which we also do in Fast Track. Having the horse singing with happiness about having a person on their back is the goal and with the help of my horses I’ve come up with some innovative ways to do that easily.
Yes, vulnerability is a good word here. There’s that feeling that gotta-get-up-quick-before-the-horse-moves-or-changes-its-mind. It’s like the conversation disappears for a moment. It’s there before you start to mount, and it reappears after you’re safely aboard – but during the transition it vanishes. I feel that was something Chloe was teaching me. Despite my height and her size, there was almost a moment (several!) where I would be sprawled over her back in an ungainly and vulnerable position. And my first mental instinct was to focus on oh-my-goodness-gotta-get-in-place-quick! But then if I allowed myself to quiet down, I realized that Chloe was standing completely still WAITING kindly for me to finish flailing. And I could recover our conversation during this awkward transition. Too bad she got too old and I got too fat before the lesson was completed!
You’ve nailed it!
I’ve seen this before – separation anxiety actually being an overwhelming sense of responsibility for their herd rather than their own fear of leaving their herd. We dealt with it with the same techniques as the Fast Track lessons on separation anxiety – using a mixture of Fast Track Lessons 37 and 38. We started by leaving this horse in the herd and took one of the others away from her, never allowing her to be out of comfort zone for very long, never pushing the issue further than the Not Too Sure Zone – listening to both the horse who was leaving AND her that was left behind. When she realised that the horses that she felt responsibility for were being looked after as well, she relaxed and that was the end of that.
Day before yesterday, I went in with the halter – Bridget came over to say hello, and then didn’t want the halter, so I put it on Rose, who was quite happy to have it. We walked to the gate, but Bridget got there first and started pushing on it with her nose. I took the halter off Rose and offered it to Bridget, who again refused. So I went back to poor Rose who was standing behind us patiently waiting for me to put the halter back on her! Rose and I proceeded to do a little riding-in-our-comfort-zones, which consisted of her eating a patch of clover and me asking her every now and then for “heads up” and then graduating to asking her for a step to one side and for a step forward. It went well.
Yesterday, I went in with the halter with the intention of just hanging out in the pasture. Bridget came over and spent over an hour with me under the trees. She left a couple of times to check something out, both times returning. Every now and then I picked up the halter for approach and retreat, and she did a lot of yawning and licking and chewing. In between times I left the halter on the ground, and she started going over to check it out. Then she graduated to not bothering to lick or chew when I picked the halter up – she’d just walk right over to me.
The barn manager/trainer has been an ANGEL about my preferred way of interacting with the horses. She’s a little more traditional, but one thing I like about this barn is that the horses are all curious and friendly and confident – speaks volumes for her treatment of them. But sometimes when it seems like I’m going too over the edge, she’ll say something like, “But she’s a horse, and we’re humans, and she has to have respect and be able to be handled.” I don’t think this fear is based on any actual negative experiences with Bridget, but a residual fear of losing control or something. But during that hour in the pasture, Bridget was so soft and sweet and respectful – and it was the RESULT of letting her “get away with something.” The four year old boy came to join us near the end, and she was just as soft and sweet with him – even stepping backwards when he pushed her.
I might take Rose and Bridget out together sometime.
I think the horses and I have made progress in this area of mounting since I first asked the question. I’ve developed the confidence that they actually want to help me mount, and I’ve become more consistent in never trying to hold them in position by the mounting block or correct them if they move off. Also, your advice to look forward at the horse’s head while you mount really helps.
Re “not correcting them when they walk off” from the mounting block. Being open to understanding WHY they are walking off will determine what action you take. And I know that you understand that very beautifully already June, I am writing like this because this is a public forum and I like to make sure that people understand. 🙂
Depending on the horse, sometimes it will be because they don’t understand how to stand still – in which case the answer is to explain that in ways that they understand. And in other cases, it might be because they are scared and we have to be open to understanding what they are scared about and how to help them release that fear – because if we bulldoze through that fear we can make the fear worse for next time. And other times the horse may be resisting for some reason and for that too we need to be open to understanding what the problem is and what to do about it without adding pressure to the resistance and causing it to get bigger.
And I know you get this because you’ve had the lesson, but for people who haven’t seen that lesson, it’s not just looking at the horse’s head when you mount, it’s your whole body being turned to look forwards to the horses head. Even more importantly, is stopping the saddle and the horses back from being pulled to the side when you get on. In all the years that I have taught people beautiful riding seat work, I have seen maybe three people get on properly for the horse and safely for them. It’s quite surprising really, that mounting up is not taught well, because for many people it’s the first source of nerves as they get on and it’s so simply fixed!
Hi Jenny, could you possibly give me more info on DE as a wormer? How to use? It has been bothering me for some time dosing my lovely boys with commercial wormers. Also copper pipe in their water? I have two chestnuts with sensitive skin and a bay with white socks. We periodically get greasy heel and a little rain scald. I treat with a antibacterial wash, then a mixture of Vaseline and tea tree oil that I mix myself.
Thank you for all your words of love and wisdom, x
I’ll get back to this question in a couple of days Denise, I am not at the computer much today and tomorrow. I’ll make a note for Corey if she would, to come in and share her experience with DE as a wormer. I know she uses higher quantities than me, but it works for both of us… 🙂
Hi Denise! If you just Google Diatomaceous Earth for horses you’ll have access to SO much information as to how to use it as a wormer. Once you read as much as you can (or want to), you’ll notice that it’s going to require a bit of trial and error and experimentation for a bit until you find the right dosage and the way both you AND your horse are most comfortable using it. There are methods that involve daily dosing and others that suggest monthly dosing using the full moon cycle and everything in between. So do some research and feel into what feels right for you and your horse. It does involve getting fecal counts done with your vet, and not to lose patience in the beginning if your horse is starting off with a very high shedding situation. After perhaps a year of following the DE program, I felt confident enough getting only 2 fecal counts/year rather than the initial 4. One of the things I might suggest, depending on your vet, is that you don’t need to mention to him/her WHY you’re getting fecal counts done: my experience has been that the minute you mention DE for a worming program you’ll instantly be the recipient of a vociferous lecture as to not only why it won’t work but why it’s “dangerous” . It’s ONLY dangerous if you don’t do the fecal counts which will tell you if it’s being effective or not.
Thanks Corey! I once had a VERY naughty vet who on hearing that I wormed with DE and other alternatives, told my worker (I was away) that the horse’s colic was due to worms after a worm count of just over 200 and something which is in the normal range! Clear bias since the horse had little to no teeth which was MUCH more likely to be the thing that made him more vulnerable.