Interrupting the Behavior Cycle

The best horse people are those who can influence a shift in behavior that is life changing for a horse. This means that things generally improve from day to day and their anxious behavioral patterns tend to disappear over time. It is often that the sensitivity level, in combination with their experiences will determine how easy it is to convince a horse to change their current thought patterns. This is directly correlated with how they view their survival, and can take consistent work for long periods of time. 

Callie is one of those horses who struggles to let go of her worry. Taking her from the paddock to the arena was enough to send her emotions on overload. Getting big to block her thoughts to flee only caused her to become more frantic and disconnected. It is clear that handling things on her own, and avoiding pressure at all costs is what has helped her to cope with the stress in her life.

Working with her has required me to start by building a quiet conversation in her paddock where she feels the most at ease. As this has improved, I have slowly made things more challenging by asking more of her, and moving further away from her comfort zone. Callie went from making minimal progress, to starting out in a better place and recovering quicker every day.

Each horse requires a different skill set to become more focused and at relaxed in the work. At times a horses ability to connect and check in is completely unavailable as an option in their vocabulary. 

Here are some photos of Callie and I during our first break-through session. She used to become tense and agitated with people standing and petting behind her shoulder. It was revolutionary for her to let go of that and follow the feel of the lead rope with her thoughts at a stand still. She was finally able to release the tension that she had been carrying for so long.