Happy New Year, with Gratitude for 2024

 

As winter deepens, the days are wetter, colder, and shorter, suggesting a time to pause, reflect and give thanks for all that we have done and learned over the past year. It was such a full and productive year, there is no way to include everyone and everything that made it special. So I’ll start with gratitude for what IS… Martin Black IS with us March 26-29!!! Reserve your spot ASAP. Every year brings new experiences and insights from Martin’s unique perspective on horsemanship. The clinic sessions are fun and engaging, the colt starting session is great to watch, even if you don’t have a colt—there is plenty of horsemanship insight to be gained from watching Martin engage them, setting positive patterns for their future. We also love the daily Q&A with Martin in the comfort of our classroom. I am very grateful that Martin spends time with us every March. And now back to Nature…. For me, I look to the sun, from which we get our life force … and it sure shows up beautifully on the Olympics! When I see the sun ignite the tip of Mount Angeles, I feel new hope. For me, it’s like a prayer warming the heart, sending away the damp and cold. It’s an inspiration to live with this level of beauty every day at Freedom Farm. And here comes 2025, full of possibilities!

The Tough Love of Leadership: Teaching a Reactive Horse, Part Two

My trainee a little further on in his training--a good boy.

by Mary Gallagher

Continuing the story of “Teaching the Reactive Horse to Think..”, posted June 5, 2024. I described
helping a young, adrenaline-fueled gelding to find his feet and settle down enough to solve problems. He had spent his early years in an institutional environment with no way to learn about being a horse in a world he found confusing and scary. His new owners had sent him to me for some basic reorientation and connection training. -MG

My reactive young trainee had been lunged a lot but not taught to think. In his previous situation, his turn out privileges had been taken away because of his incessant running, which left lunging as his only other option for exercise.  For him, the round pen, too, was just another place to run away while checked out.  This disconnected behavior was not solving his problems, gave him little or no relief, and left his humans feeling beyond frustrated.  As I saw it, it was time to give this oblivious, hyper energy some purpose.  

The Ins and Outs of Trailer Loading

by Mary Gallagher

Trailer loading—a task that needs a lot of practice—was the theme of last Friday’s Ground Work class. Getting a horse to be okay at loading into  a scary cave on wheels is a challenge for the horse and handler. We warmed up using our foundational skills to establish communication cooperation and confidence in our horse partner. We did this through exercises like front end and hindquarter yields as well as stepping over and stopping over a pole going forwards and backwards.

Teaching a Reactive Horse to Think Through Problems on His Way to a Safer Life, Part One

By Mary Gallagher

Does your horse look to you for leadership?

The reactive horse generally does not, and that’s why we can learn a lot on the subject from teaching a reactive horse to respond in situations with confidence rather than react in fear.

Recently I had the opportunity to work with a horse that did not look to the human for leadership—not his owners, and certainly not me, when we first met. He was what you would call ‘over the top’—scared of just about everything, scared of his environment, and prone to avoiding any connection with humans—to the point of developing some truly dangerous behaviors. He would easily get out of control, spooking and bolting while being handled, snorting and acting totally checked out. His head carriage tended to be extremely high, and he’d be focusing and fully absorbed far out into the distance, ready to bolt (again) at any moment. Not a safe horse to handle.

So here he was, and I needed a plan. I returned to a diagram I have developed over the years (some of you may remember it from earlier blog posts), The Optimal Teaching Gauge. (I used to call it The Leadership Gauge.) It lays out where the sweet spot can be found between the human and the horse, with a range of behaviors to either side. It’s an assessment tool and a sort of compass for planning how to work with a particular horse, while developing your own leadership.

Stories I Tell Myself About My Horse: A Conversation

by Mary Tulin and Mary Gallagher

Mary Tulin: So the other day I was riding my Morgan mare Era through shoulder ins down the fence, wondering why she kept drifting off the track. As far as I could tell, I was doing all the things—opening inside rein, supporting outside rein, inside leg back and asking for the hind foot to step, etc. I was thinking things like, “Gosh, she’s a little low energy today.” “Hm, I guess she’s forgotten all the practice we did with this last fall.” “Wow, she must be a bit burned out on this; I should have taken her out for some non-arena time yesterday.”

Take your pick. Commiserating with myself in this way, I continued through a frustrating repetition of tight, unsuccessful attempts.

Mary Gallagher: Excuse me, Mary T… as you know, the stories we tell about our horses are really about ourselves.

Gratitude for a Very Busy 2023

by Mary Gallagher

A very full year. Somehow I feel like we started this year busy and never stopped! I am going to share some highlights…

Early spring cleanup. As I sat down to write this year’s notes of gratitude, I let my mind wander back
to late winter 2023. The extensive winter clean up from last year featured the expert pruning and cleaning of the flower beds by Gerardo Vidal and crew. I was so very grateful for Gerardo blessing our gardens and fruit trees—our spring and summer foliage and fruits reflected your expertise. Thank you Gerardo!

Many colts to start..! Jerry Schmidt connected us again this year with clinician Martin Black for

Jerry and Jackson, first saddling.

another fabulous clinic, which included a pretty amazing colt starting series, pushing us to acquire more skills again this spring. After the clinic Jerry was so generous with his time, helping me and training assistant Elise Dean with what seemed like a constant string of talented babies to start. Thank you Jerry and Elise! Also thanks to fellow trainer Brad Varner who joined us for some great early sessions. Most of all—speaking of the colts—special, deep thanks to their owners Amy Johnson, Wendy Comstock, and Melene Bourm for sending so many lovely, special horses this year. We honor and value your trust in our work.

Building Emotional Fitness in Yourself and Your Horse

Wendy Comstock on 3-year old Marcus for the first time.

by Mary Gallagher

It seems like this year we started more horses than ever. They just kept coming every month and we (Jerry Schmidt and I, with our special student Elise Dean) got into the flow of playing with young, promising horses every day. Pretty fun work, when you understand it! Anyway, with the days getting shorter, and knowing that soon the last of the babies will go home, I’ve been reflecting on what really stood out for me over this time with them. Overwhelmingly, the piece that means so much to me and connects our work with each of the horses is building their emotional fitness.