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.  

Connecting to the Feet, Part 3: Intention, Attention, and Calibrating the Feel

by Mary Gallagher

Why: To expand on the previous concepts and exercises in Part 1 and Part 2, helping you and your horse develop a language of feel and connection. Continuing a series of articles on Connecting to the Feet, in advance of Mary Gallagher's clinic of the same name (at Freedom Farm this August, 2019).

Horses have an uncanny ability to feel inside of you—they can tell if you have a plan or you are winging it. As you stand with the lead rope, or sit with the rein in your hands… have you thought about a task for their feet? or are you caught up in emotion, pushing an agenda, driving for an end result?

The answer matters more than we think.

When we bring our intention into the present moment by directing the feet to a specific place, we get our horse’s attention. This is different than correcting mistakes. There can be no mistake when you synchronize your mind and then your aids with the horse’s feet, you can feel the horse’s feet, and the horse can feel that you feel his feet.

Lifestyle – Herd Training at Liberty

by Mary Gallagher, with Jessica Crouch

Among our most popular posts on Facebook are videos of how we exercise and train horses in a herd, which is part of an approach called ‘liberty work’—sans halter, lead rope, or other tack. Most of our horses live in herds and are accustomed to group activity; we find even more benefits from intentionally moving horses together in a focused and organized way.

Natural herd instincts. When new horses arrive for training who have been kept in stalls and other traditional quarters, we introduce them to the activity with a few other horses that know the program. Our experienced horses are emotionally stable and can be very helpful to a newbie. A horse that has never worked in a herd does have natural herd instincts that help them follow the pattern and benefit from more experienced horses.

The Horsemanship Connection and Communication Equation, Part One

by Mary Gallagher

In my experience, you can teach a horse anything if you can understand that his motivation is to stay safe and that his goal is comfort. In this series of articles, I’d like to explore this idea a bit, using a sort of short hand, or equations to express various facets of the human-horse working relationship.

Herd = Safety and (but not always) Comfort

One of the first things we learn in horsemanship is that the horse is a prey animal whose herd is its key source of safety. Let us also understand that horses are super sensitive and perceptive creatures; there are no shortcuts on the journey to trust and communication. As we begin to observe herds, we see a range of behaviors, beyond peaceful grazing, that demonstrate the herd as a safe, but not always comfortable place to be.

Lesson Notes: Connecting to the Feet

 by Mary Gallagher

I often stress to my students that riding is a process of connecting to the horse’s feet: our hands connect to the front feet, our legs to the back feet. Knowing this and training ourselves to consciously connect to the feel of the feet can enhance understanding and improve our communication with our horses. With attention and practice we can begin cooperating and synchronizing with our horse’s movement.

The key is to master one foot at a time. Getting connected to the feet is a lot like juggling. It's easy to juggle one ball, but when a second is added, suddenly things get complex. To get four balls in the air seems impossible when you are just beginning. So what do we do to make this easy in the beginning stages?

Quittin' Talk

By Thomas Gallagher

It seems, nowadays, that there is this stigma attached to the word "quit". Even talking about it seems taboo. Well, I am going to tell you something you probably haven't heard before. There are two types of quitting: the 'I-give-up-and-no-longer-want-to-try' type of quitting, and the 'that-was-a-good-day-it's-time-to-stop' type of quitting. You don't need to be a genius to figure out which one is better and more socially acceptable. However, this article is not about quitting, but rather what will and should follow after one decides that it's quitting time. I urge you all to listen to what I am about to reveal to you, because my words are important...or at least they will be...someday.

Lesson Notes : Making Friends - Horse or Donkey Style

by Mary Gallagher

Here at Freedom Farm we have a welcome ambassador, his name is Salty. His special talent is making friends with any new horse that comes to the farm. Salty has a technique that is so effective that when a new horse arrives on the place I like to take time out to watch him work.

Salty and Friends

Lesson Notes: Changes are not problems, and problems are just changes

by Mary Gallagher

Don't be afraid to look at things from another point of view.

Or start over with a different approach.

Here at Freedom Farm, things are very different than they are at most barns.

For instance, take the way our horses live in herds. When I was growing up, all the stables I rode at kept their horses stalled. When I started my own business, all my horses were stalled. It wasn't until I did research on natural living conditions for horses that I considered running my business differently. The changes came slowly and I am grateful for that. There was - and still is - so much to learn (and unlearn).

Lesson Notes: legs and emotion

by Mary Gallagher

Why are horses' legs long?


I know you know the answer to this, but I will spell it out anyway. To fly away from fear. Those long legs on your horse were meant to outrun predators. And linked to those legs are emotions, which are hard-wired in the horse's brain for survival. So, that being said, can we use that natural flight instinct to produce a more emotionally fit horse that can be more comfortable in the human environment?

Lets start by considering two attitudes: