Animal Alignment - Cape Town

There's something I've been wanting to post about but am still unsure exactly how to approach/articulate/introduce this complex topic. So I'm just gonna say what's on my mind for now, and then maybe follow-up with some additional posts if this seems to be a topic others are interested in exploring too.

Here's the thing I'm seeing over and over again in many domestic herds, including my own herd as well as others I visit or work with: the horses (much like domestic humans) have varying abilities to recognize, or skills to effectively work with, dysfunctional inter-personal dynamics.

Many domestic horses (again, much like domestic humans) did not have the benefit of growing up in a healthy herd family/community. On top of that, most have been moved around a lot (much like kids of military families), and many have also been passed from one owner to another OR have had to learn to cope with a wide range of riders, handlers and trainers. In other words, most domestic horses have had very little consistency in their herd communities (horse or human) and few opportunities to learn experientially what it means to nurture, healthy, stable, long-term relationships or communities.

Yet we humans often expect horses to have no trouble being thrown into living situations with unfamiliar horses (because, well, they're all herd animals, right?!), and to magically be able to get along wonderfully. But the truth is, more often than not, NONE of the horses in these situations have had much (if any) experience living in a healthy herd community, or learning how to be a healthy, contributing community member. So, like us, they each simply bring whatever coping strategies they've developed that helped them feel safe, accepted and loved in previous situations into their new herd communities. Sometimes (like us) they get lucky and end up with others whose dysfunctions are similar to (or complementary to) our own. This can create dynamics that look and feel peaceful on the outside, but aren't actually healthy.

Regardless of how intact a horse's instincts and natural drives are, these instincts and natural drives can be over-ridden. Horses are one of Earth's most adaptable and emotionally intelligent species. This means they are very capable (maybe even as capable as we are!) of learning unhealthy coping strategies... especially if that's what helps them survive and thrive in sometimes very unnatural living conditions.

The bottom line is this: it's very challenging in the domestic world for horses to learn how to nurture healthy relationships, or how to cultivate healthy herd dynamics. The good news is, we can help them (at least theoretically), but only if we ourselves first do the work of getting healthy enough to recognize what's dysfunctional.. and only if we care enough to place a priority on nurturing healthier levels of interdependence for the horses in our lives.

Send a message to learn more

I recently wrote about not yet riding my young horse, and it seems I was not clear enough that this doesn't mean he's been left in the field.

These are some of the things we have been developing together while his body grows: In no particular order (although there was actually a very particular order)

- Going out and about on the roads and on the moor with and without other horses.
- Understanding how to relate to traffic, other horses, people and dogs.
- Learning to take direction from above, by being directed from the back of one of my riding horses.
- Getting really confident about having his feet and body handled, so that he happily welcomes the vet and body workers
- Truly understanding how to lead and tie up, which most older horses I meet do not.
- He can be lead solo, in a large group, in all weathers without worry or concern
- Learning to move his shoulders away, correct lateral flexion, go and stop in balance in all 3 gaits
- Understanding the meaning of the bit through in-hand training and beginning to develop his flexibility and mobility
- Travelling to other venues, both with other horses and by himself
- Gaining confidence about being left by himself
- Becoming a pro at loading in different situations and venues
- Getting sure whether energy is about him or not
- Gaining confidence with livestock
- Feeing good about the saddle and other tack without the need for restraint (being tied up)
- Understanding how to share his attention with a human and that be a source of reassurance
- Learning how to line up with the mounting block and have someone lean over him without losing his balance (or his cool)

And much, much more besides.

I am proud of this young chap. He has a wonderful attitude to life, AND, I have taken a lot of care to ensure his foundational education is rounded and in his favour. I hope this list might be useful for someone else who is considering what they would like their young horse to understand.

Not riding your horse until they're 5 or 6 doesn't mean you turn them out and look at them every few weeks. It is actually your opportunity to develop all of those foundational life skills that we wish most older horses had been provided with.

Photo shows him being ponied out on Dartmoor in a force 9 gale.

We have to be so mindful with how we lead and ride our horses, and help them to safely navigate our man-made structures without harm. So often a seemingly "mild" incident can cause huge damage. This is why regular gentle bodywork helps to catch issues and restrictions before an injury/damage gets blocked into the body.

Donnerstags mit Julie von Bismarck: Vermeintliche Kleinigkeiten
(English version below)
Man sieht ja leider immer wieder, wie Pferde so in Ställe hinein oder heraus geführt werden, dass sie dabei mit dem Hüfthöcker hängenbleiben. Zunächst einmal: Es ist nicht die „Ungeschicklichkeit“ des Pferdes, die zu diesen Unfällen führt. Das Pferd kann den Türrahmen in dem Moment, in dem es hindurch geht, nicht sehen. Es ist also ausschließlich die Nachlässigkeit der führenden Person, die den Unfall verursacht.
Zweitens: Die Aussage „das sei nicht schlimm“ ist ein großer Irrtum. Abhängig von der Wucht und dem Winkel des Aufpralls, können Teile des Hüfthöckers frakturieren, kleinere oder größere Knochenteile absplittern und in das Gewebe gelangen. In manchen Fällen kommt es sogar zu Fissuren und Frakturen in den Beckenknochen. Solch schwere Verletzungen sind relativ selten, immer wird das Pferd aber mehr oder weniger massive Prellungen, Blockaden des Beckens und ein Trauma des Hüftgelenkes zurückbehalten.
Der Stoß schiebt den Hüfthöcker nach hinten, i.e. das Darmbein nach hinten-oben. Um größere Schäden an Muskeln/Bändern zu vermeiden, wird das Darmbein am Kreuzbein in dieser Position fixiert = Blockade im ISG, die sich binnen weniger Tage auch auf das Sakrum sowie den Übergang zwischen letztem LW und selbigem überträgt. Unbehandelt passt sich die Muskulatur der Fehlstellung an und wird asymmetrisch, woraus sich dann ein dauerhafter Beckenschiefstand entwickelt.
Durch das Verschieben des Beckenrings wird außerdem das Hüftgelenk quasi nach unten gedrückt und blockiert sich in der Folge fast immer, bewegt sich also nicht mehr adäquat. Häufig steht der Sitzbeinhöcker auf der betroffenen Seite dann tiefer und weiter innen als der auf der nicht betroffenen Seite. Durch die Fehlstellung im Hüftgelenk wird nun auch das Knie auf der betroffenen Seite überlastet. Häufig sind irreversible Meniskusschäden, Schäden an Fesselträgern oder Beugesehnen und Unreitbarkeit (ausführlich in „Zusammenhänge im Pferd“ oder "Reitsport" nachzulesen) das Endergebnis.
Ich finde, das ist alles andere als harmlos. ©Julie von Bismarck

Thursdays with Julie von Bismarck: Alleged trivialities...
Unfortunately, we often see horses being led into or out of stables in such a way that they bump their point of hip. First of all: It is not the horse's "clumsiness" that leads to these accidents. The horse cannot see the door frame at the moment it goes through. It is therefore exclusively the negligence of the person leading the horse that causes such incidents.
Secondly, the statement "it's just a trivial bump" is a big mistake. Depending on the force and angle of the impact, parts of the bone can fracture, smaller or larger pieces can splinter off and infiltrate the tissue. In some cases, there are even fissures and fractures in the pelvic bones. Such severe injuries are relatively rare, but the horse will always suffer from more or less massive bruises, blockages of the pelvis and trauma to the hip joint.
The impact pushes the point of hip backwards, i.e. the ilium backwards-upwards. To avoid major damage to the muscles/ligaments, the ilium will get fixed to the sacrum in this position = blockage in the ISG, which within a few days is also transferred to the sacrum and the transition between the last lumbar vertebrae and itself. If left untreated, the muscles adapt to the malposition and become asymmetrical, from which a permanent pelvic obliquity develops.
The shifting of the pelvic ring also pushes the hip joint downwards and as a result it is almost always blocked, i.e. it no longer moving adequately. Often the ischial tuberosity on the affected side is lower and further in than on the unaffected side. Due to the impairment of the hip joint, the stifle on the affected side is now also overloaded. Often irreversible meniscus damage, damage to the interosseus medius or flexor tendons and unrideability (to be read in detail in "Connections in the Horse") are the end result. I think this is anything but trivial. ©Julie von Bismarck

I am no longer impressed ...

I am no longer impressed by how high someones horse can jump, I am not impressed by a horse’s dressage score or what their pedigrees are.

I am not even impressed by a horse going bitless, or liberty work or piaffes or Spanish walks or even if someone trains with food or a whip, heck I am not even impressed if someone doesn't even train with a whip or food. To be honest it doesn't tell me much and has absolute no value, to me atleast.

You know what I am impressed by ?
A horse doing something as basic as standing still and waiting, contently without frustration, fear or anger. I am impressed by training that will always allow the horse to "win", with a horse that is soo happy to be a part of the process. I am impressed by a horse that understand that they can say no and says no when they feel uncomfortable. I am impressed by people allowing their horses their most basic needs.

I am impressed by people who are open to learning about how to improve their horse's wellfare. People who want to educate themselves on their horse's hooves, ethology and wellbeing. I am impressed by people who have been willing to unlearn and to grow for the wellbeing of the horse.

I am impressed by willing, calm and positive training for both the horse and trainer. Everyone's goals are different it doesn't mean someone is a bad person if they do not share these values, that is 100% okay. But, there is much more to a "happy horse" then a shiny coat and the absence of physical abuse.

Anatomical directions

Beautiful, deep, heart talk...

3 Humans ~ 6 Questions ~ No Agenda (May 28 2021) A conversation with no agenda but to share space and ‘dance’ in the space of the known and unknown. Three wise horsewomen dedicated to the horse-human relati...

How well do you listen to your horse? Are they allowed to say "no"?

Reminder. Not only does this apply to horses...

💖🙏

Great article from TheHorse.com with many very important points. Horses are naturally supposed to have a good topline - and if they don't, it means something has gone wrong. Correct nutrition, eliminating pain, saddle fit and correct work all play a part in building a strong, healthy, filled topline.

https://thehorse.com/170405/horse-topline-building-tips/?fbclid=IwAR2xzdt8mXH5fg4cnXOPzuTEM2DLQ0Q1PKgOVr6GHzfE9N0nCovC0UhknG8

Horse Topline-Building Tips – The Horse These six steps can help transform your horse's topline from underdeveloped to well-toned.

“He’s just naughty and needs to learn to stand still”

In nearly 22 years of being a vet and working with horses, I have lost count of the number of times I have heard this. I have recently been working with a couple of cases where handling issues including whilst being tacked up were a big concern. In both cases it had been suggested by someone that clicker training might be the answer.

In both cases I found significant back pain.

“The display of many behaviours during tacking‐up or mounting is likely to reflect lameness or tack‐associated discomfort. Owners must be better educated to recognise these behaviours.”
From Dyson and colleagues 2021

When faced with undesired behaviours the most important thing is to RECOGNISE the underlying motivation for the behaviour.
It’s great that positive reinforcement (reward) training is receiving more attention in the equine world BUT addressing the underlying cause of a behaviour is way more important to both the welfare of the animal as well as helping to actually address the undesired behaviour.

In 2020 Dyson and colleagues published work highlighting the high frequency of abnormal behaviours when horses were tacked up.

“There was an equal frequency of abnormal behaviours during bridling and saddling in 52% of horses; 34% of horses showed more abnormal behaviours during saddling than bridling; 15% of horses showed more abnormal behaviours during bridling than saddling. Repeatedly chomping on the bit occurred most frequently during bridling (67%).
Ears back (57–65%) and an intense stare (54–62%) were similar in all phases.
Fidgeting was more common during saddle placement (32%) and girthing (21%), than bridling (9%).
Tail swishing was more frequent during saddle placement (20%) and girthing (34%), than bridling (10%).
Turning the head to the girth was only seen during saddle placement and girthing (11 and 40%, respectively), in addition to attempting to bite (5 and 15%, respectively) and rubbing the nose (8 and 21%, respectively).”

Conclusion
Abnormal behaviour during tacking‐up and mounting was common.

Now Sue Dyson’s teams new study (just published) has highlighted how many of the horses/ ponies showing these abnormal behaviours during tacking up were associated with current pain / lameness.

“Riding School horses comprised only 12% of the sample population, but had higher rates of abnormal behaviours during both tacking‐up and mounting compared with General Purpose horses. The rate of abnormal behaviour during tacking‐up for horses with moderate or severe lameness was 1.4 times higher than for nonlame horses. Horses with lameness in‐hand or ridden had 1.5 times higher rates of abnormal behaviour during mounting than nonlame horses. Tight tree points and epaxial muscle pain were associated with higher behaviour scores during tacking‐up. Higher static saddle‐fit scores were associated with higher behaviour scores during mounting.”

Owners AND professionals need more education on equine (and canine and feline and rabbit ... well, all animals they handle clearly) body language and behaviour.

And we have to acknowledge that pain and disease are FREQUENTLY present in undesired behaviours meaning that training alone is not enough to help the animal, even if that training may benefit the humans.
Animals can learn to suppress behaviours through training - both through punishment based and reward based training.

In a recent study Professor Daniel Mills highlighted how as many as 80% of the dog behaviour cases seen by vet behaviourists have pain as a contributing factor.

We simply must not keep turning a blind eye to what motivates behaviour. We must stop thinking that training is our first approach.
We must first investigate/ understand motivation.

Dyson, S., Bondi, A., Routh, J. and Pollard, D., 2021. An investigation into the relationship between equine behaviour when tacked‐up and mounted and epaxial muscle hypertonicity or pain, girth region hypersensitivity, saddle‐fit, rider position and balance, and lameness. Equine Veterinary Education.

Dyson, S., Bondi, A., Routh, J., Pollard, D., Preston, T., McConnell, C. and Kydd, J.H., 2020. An investigation of behaviour during tacking‐up and mounting in ridden sports and leisure horses. Equine Veterinary Education.

Mills, D.S., Demontigny-Bédard, I., Gruen, M., Klinck, M.P., McPeake, K.J., Barcelos, A.M., Hewison, L., Van Haevermaet, H., Denenberg, S., Hauser, H. and Koch, C., 2020. Pain and problem behavior in cats and dogs. Animals, 10(2), p.318.

This applies to horses too! Horses are not naughty - they are either in pain, anxious/overwhelmed/overloaded, don't know what you are asking of them, or haven't been prepared how/taught to behave in a certain way (and often a combination off all of these!).

We put them in living and working situations that are so far from their natural state of being, (stables and small paddocks instead of miles of grazing and roaming, alone instead of herds etc) and then expect the to just cope. So many anxious, overwhelmed and overloaded horses out there...

Hidden disabilities are not always obvious, think before you judge🙏🏻❤️

We have to be their voices

"I just wish horses yelped or cried like dogs and cats, imagine the noise, it would be deafening. That's why we have to be their voices"

Thank you, Abigail.

Reiki can, indeed, be done long distance! All energy is interconnected.

Happy Friday

Apollo and the story of his bones

This has been such a fascinating study to follow. Horses are always telling us something, it's up to us to be brave enough to start listening.

After trying every possible course of treatment for her horse, this lady decided it was in the best interest to put him down.
They have now reviewed/studied his bones and what they have found is shocking and enlightening. He wasn't "naughty", he was in extreme pain and unable to do what was asked of him, or even control his behaviour.

The last couple of paragraphs, where she talks about horses masking their pain, is so important. Too many people don't understand that as prey animals, horses hide their pain and lameness until they can't (the lame animals will get taken out by the lions first! so prey animals make sure they keep up with the herd)
It is up to us to look for the subtle cues that all is not well and try to help before it has become a bigger more obvious issue.

Pamela Blades Eckelbarger wrote this beautiful ending on her and Diane Dzingle work on studying Apollos bones. I will be forever grateful for their very time consuming and meticulous work. I definitely shed some tears reading this, since it brought back so many memories, good and bad. Apollo is now in the best of hands and will continue to educate humans and by that help other horses and that was my wish when I decided to share our journey together. Certainly not the journey I had planned and hoped for when I decided to buy this lovely six year old TB, but I have decided to believe that our paths crossed so I could save him in the end, that his time with me was as good as I could provide for him and when he left this world he was with the people he trusted and knew. Too many "problem horses" end up in horrible situations and suffer tremendously because they didn't have a voice. So they speak to us the only way that they can, by displaying "unwanted" behaviors, when they are really screaming for help. So listen. Take a moment and see what they are trying to tell you whether it is a saddle that is pinching, a back or neck that is out of alignment, an ulcer brewing in the belly, a joint that is becoming arthritic, a hoof that needs a different shoe, or a tooth that is sharp and uncomfortable. You will be happy you did, and your horse forever grateful.

The HERD Institute

❤️❤️

No horse is "naughty" - they are always trying to tell us something. Please first look for potential reasons/causes of pain, don't just "ride them through it" - otherwise all you are doing is letting them know you don't care what they are trying to tell you, and secondly you are setting yourself up for problems. Depending on how kind your horse is they will either just shut down and develop physical issues long term, or they will start "acting out" louder and louder until someone gets hurt.

Some of us know you are speaking and are trying very hard to listen, even if we don't understand the language all the time.

x

Lovely

Making mistakes
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

It's just me over here, trying to be a candle :)

Thousands of candles be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. Buddha.

An important read.
"We're all making a different journey, I meet so many people who feel judged, especially if they're lacking conference or trying to listen to their horse. I met so many people at the demonstration last night, who clearly were in a state of confusion because of the information overload that they were getting from so many people and I feel it's really important that we encourage people to explore their own principles and give them courage to follow their own path."

The elephant in the room

Last night while I was teaching a demonstration, I made a comment about the way in which we are happy to treat wounds on a horse for months, and yet we may balk at the idea of spending months mending and attending to emotional wounds.

My comment was that “it is a bit like mental health in humans.” And that made me think.

It seems okay if someone's physically sick or injured that they need our help and support, but if we've got emotional problems, they are stressed, lacking confidence or anxious it seems to be something that we don't address directly or that we hide and feel ashamed. That made me consider the fact that we are our number one asset in our relationship with our horses yet how often we don't treat ourselves as a priority.

Everybody wants to put their horses first and that's absolutely great.

But without our own health and wellbeing we're going to struggle to create the relationships that we want with our equines, and consequently, I think we don't pay enough attention to working with the challenges that we face in terms of our mental strength and putting our needs as a human first so that we can further help our horses, donkeys and mules.

It is pretty clear that if you are a professional athlete, you would pay a lot of attention to your mental wellbeing, you would work on overcoming obstacles in your thinking and you would create new ways to see the world, to visualize your success, to create a pattern of thought that allowed you to become a really serious competitor and to reach to your potential.

So, seems to me that we need to adopt this attitude in the horse world by treating ourselves as the key to our relationship with our equines.

If we're prepared to acknowledge our frailties, our failings, our weaknesses, our lack of confidence, our anxieties and our fears instead of being afraid of them then we can use them as an opportunity for us to grow, to learn, to make new connections and to become a newer better version of ourselves than we've ever been before.

We need to work on our own behaviour at least as much if not more than we work with our horses’ behaviour.

If we're truly to succeed in helping our horses, donkeys and mules then we need to remove any criticism of people who lack of confidence or are fearful around horses.

We're all making a different journey, I meet so many people who feel judged, especially if they're lacking conference or trying to listen to their horse. I met so many people at the demonstration last night, who clearly were in a state of confusion because of the information overload that they were getting from so many people and I feel it's really important that we encourage people to explore their own principles and give them courage to follow their own path.

Improving our mental strengths is so important that we should accept and make totally normal the desire to improve ourselves, to become more confident to become less anxious, and to get rid of that fear once and for all.

The acceptance of our own importance in the relationship will take us on a new journey to a greater and better place for both ourselves and our equines.

Lovely read.... What are our horses asking of us?

This weeks blog

Ask not what your horse can do for you...
(Or)..How my horses have saved the NHS a fortune

I hear a lot of people talk about their horse being a tonic, the thing in their life which gives them some relaxation time. I also hear a lot of people complaining because they just want to ‘go for a nice hack’ or how upset they are that they can’t do the things they want to do with their horses. After all, we spend a lot of money on our horses. We buy them rugs, new heacollars, we put them in nice stables or turn them out in lovely fields. Why wouldn’t they just give us one hour a day of their time to do what we want to do? However, I don’t think it works like that. Although I know my horses like their field, and seem to enjoy the copra I feed them, and two of them appreciate the rugs I put on them in bad weather, they don’t actually owe me anything in return.

I used to have a horse who was a ‘tonic’. Megan was a confident, independent minded mare, who was happy to take me around the countryside. She would bravely jump whatever was put in front of her and apart from occasionally not stopping, pretty much did what was asked of her. She didn’t need me to be a particular way as she could take care of both us, thank you very much. Then I had dear Texas Rose, who was a sweet, easy horse, who would pretty much ignore my state of mind as long as I didn’t ask for too much high speed. Then Gou. There isn’t enough space in this blog for Gou.

So, this brings me to Tycoon. Tycoon ‘should’ have been my straightforward horse. He appeared to have no major physical issues, and no glaring behavioural ones. When I tried him out for half an hour in a small sand pit, his ability to deal with loud noises, or things coming from the right hand side, or people doing unexpected movements, wasn’t really put to the test.

What I wanted in Tycoon was a horse to ‘do stuff with’. I wanted to hack over Dartmoor, and further my horsemanship (without too much hassle, ta) and do some snazzy stuff in the school. What, it turned out, Tycoon wanted, was for me to raise my game and learn how to handle myself better.

For a long time I thought that spending time with my horse would make me feel better by default. What I have now realised is that practicing the way I NEED TO BE when I am with them, is actually the best thing I can do for own my mental wellbeing .

I once watched Tom Widdicombe standing with a large anxious TB on the end of a line. The horse was darting about all over the place and couldn’t find a place to relax. Tom sent a very small flip down the rope, so small it was almost imperceptible, which immediately relaxed the horse. Tom wasn’t actually publicly working with the horse at this stage, he was just holding it for someone while Sarah talked (and talked, and talked...). Watching it happen pulled me up short. He hadn’t said ‘No, stop that’ to the horse, but it seemed he had said something like, ‘Hey, You’re ok. Let’s just hang out’. Whatever Tom offered that horse was something the horse understood. I wanted to find the thing in me which would help horses to relax like that.

I cannot expect working with horses to make me feel relaxed, but I can practice the things I need to do which might help them feel relaxed. I cannot expect working with horses to make me feel valued, but I can work with them in a way which tells them we are both o.k. I cannot force the horse to breathe (BREATHE you B******!), but I can learn to manage my own breathing. I can’t expect my horse to be the same every day, but I can learn to be as consistent as possible.

Tycoon will not tolerate a tightness in me. If he feels it, he’s out of there. But interestingly he can handle me being honest. He can handle my grief if I am open with him about it. He can handle my frustration if I explain to him that is what is going on. He can handle me getting muddled up as long as I claim it as my mistake not his. He just can’t handle me wanting to get something done for the sake of my ego, or because I want to prove something, or because I have a particular end goal in mind.

What working with this little brown horse has helped me to do is well, well beyond the ‘tonic’ of riding around the block looking at the countryside. Or winning a rosette. Or showing off in front of your mates. He has taught me some things about how to manage my emotional wellbeing in a way which meant I survived at a time in my life when everything in my head told me I couldn’t go on. He personally couldn’t give a monkeys about what has happened in my day, he just needs me to meet him in a place which isn’t going to give him any hassle, thank you very much. What I had to practice in order to make sense to this horse also helped me enormously along the way.

So, rather than turning up and thinking that your horse ‘owes you a good time’ imagine what it would be like if you could learn how to ‘be’ in way which is most useful to him. Who knows, maybe it might help you out too.

www.softandsound.org