Tag horse training

Managing anxiety (yours, too) when moving horses

Nancy Crowe
Image by Juncala from Pixabay

The horse didn’t know he was moving that day, let alone why. He had no idea what awaited him at the end of that trailer ride.

As an animal communicator and Let Animals Lead® practitioner, I was working with other animals at the farm when this newcomer, an off-track thoroughbred named King, arrived.

With each attempt to coax him down the ramp, he panicked more. Once the humans finally got him off the trailer and into a round pen, he ran back and forth, stopping every minute or two to whinny.

The humans went into the barn. The horse took little notice as I slowly approached.

“Hi, King,” I said softly. “This place must look pretty scary to you, but you’re safe.”

I don’t recall how long I stood or sat next to the round pen. I turned to the side, as animals under stress can feel threatened by a human facing them head-on, and offered a quiet meditation. The running and whinnying continued.

It was one of those times when the animal’s nervous system was so activated that I wasn’t sure if the session was doing any good. Holding space for King, and letting him choose whether/how to connect with me when he hadn’t been able to choose or even know about this move, was all I could do.

Over the next few years, King found horse and human friends and gave it his all as a working horse. Then his person asked me to ask him how he’d feel about going to a different home as a pleasure horse with one or two other horses. It was up to him, she said, and he could come back if he wanted.

King thought that sounded good. He was loaded and unloaded without incident, and at last report was flourishing in his new home.

Things happen. Horses get moved. It may be for the best, and it may even save the horse’s life. Volunteers with a local rescue carried a miniature horse with badly overgrown hooves onto a trailer during a severe storm a few years ago, and I know they did so with as much calm and communication as humans can muster in such circumstances.

If you are moving, re-homing, selling or rescuing a horse, you both might be dealing with a fair amount of stress right now. Some self-care and animal communication techniques can help the horses and humans involved navigate the change in a way that offers everyone peace.

Here are two things to consider:

1. You set the tone.

Your horse already knows something’s up; changes like these rarely come out of nowhere. She may not understand financial hardship, divorce or barn drama, but she feels its effects. She is very likely to pick up on what you tell yourself about the situation and the pictures you hold in your mind. There is no blame here; we are only human and horses are only equine. Just know that how you handle it from here matters more than you think.

If you and your animals are all moving to the same place, picture all of you loading up and traveling, then all together in the new place. Picture everyone helping one another adjust even though it may be hard. If a horse is going to be with the horse friends he’s used to, emphasize that.

Maybe you’re moving your horses to a new barn. Again, picture an uneventful loading, trailering and unloading at the new place, along with the buddies he’s traveling with or any horse he knows there.

If you and your horse are parting, let her know she’s going to live with someone who can care for her better than you can right now, or where you think she’ll be happier. Picture the trailer ride, the new home, the new owner and friends, even the temporary safe space. If any animals are staying behind, let them know they’re staying and everyone will be cared for.

If you are moving a horse for rescue or evacuation, stay as calm as possible. Let him know his safety is your priority and he can help by trusting you … even just a tiny bit.

2. Help is available. Please ask.

I am not a horse owner myself, but have observed that horse people can judge one another mercilessly or help in a heartbeat if you’re dealing with major manure (literal or otherwise). A friend or neighbor of the latter variety makes a big difference and might be closer than you think.

I can help by communicating the situation to your horse and listening to what he needs. I can support him, you, and the other animals with Let Animals Lead®, a meditation-based stress reduction modality. Both of these also work from a distance and can bring greater peace of mind to even the hardest transitions.

Most importantly: If you are having trouble caring for your animals, please reach out to your vet or a reputable rescue or animal welfare agency. They’d rather help you now than deal with a more serious situation down the road.

Joining up with ‘The Man Who Listens to Horses’

Nancy Crowe
Monty Roberts, known for his nonviolent horse training methods, received the MVO (Member of the Royal Victorian Order) distinction from Queen Elizabeth II. (Photo courtesy Flag is Up Farms)

I love seeing the connections between my work and that of others in the horse world — in this case, trainer Monty Roberts.

Listening to horses (in their language) and building their trust propelled the career of this “California cowboy” and earned the trust of the late Queen Elizabeth II. After listening to Roberts’ Horsemanship Radio podcast for some time, I decided to read his 1996 autobiography, The Man Who Listens to Horses. Though I am not a horse handler, his Join Up® method of starting horses struck a familiar note. I wanted to know more.

Roberts, born in 1935, described a childhood of hard work and harder knocks. His father used traditional and often brutal methods to break horses in body and in spirit. Despite or perhaps because of this, young Monty figured out early that kindness and giving the horse a choice yielded better results.

His father and other horsemen called his methods foolish and dangerous, Roberts recalled. Dad drove home the point with abuse, prompting the younger Roberts to keep quiet about nonviolent horse training until he was out from under his father’s roof.

Word about Roberts’ work eventually got out. In particular, it got into a horse magazine read by Queen Elizabeth II, who invited Roberts to England to demonstrate Join-Up®. The trip was a game changer, not only for Roberts and the monarch who would become a friend, but for a growing number of horses around the world.

Join-Up® uses the natural language of the flight animal to gain the horse’s trust. The aim is for the horse to accept — by his own choice, never force — saddle, bridle and rider.

To my mind, this puts Join-Up® in the same family as Kathleen Prasad’s Let Animals Lead® meditation method, which I practice. It’s all about animal agency. Ditto for Fear Free, in which I’m also certified, which teaches techniques trainers, veterinarians, shelter workers, groomers and pet owners can use to reduce animals’ fear, anxiety and stress.

Likewise, though the book describes Roberts as a real-life horse whisperer, he claims no mystical ability. I agree that communicating with animals isn’t some mysterious mystical thing or the human telling the horse what to do so that the horse understands and complies. It’s about learning how horses experience the world, listening without expectation and respecting the inherent worth of another being.

So many descriptions of horse work in this book, including the step by step Join-Up® guide in the appendix, left me wanting a visual — so here’s a video of Roberts demonstrating with a young horse. Roberts explains what he and the horse are doing at every turn, though the image quality isn’t the best.

Also check out this one of Roberts and British actor Martin Clunes (“Doc Martin”) working with one of Clunes’ beloved Clydesdales.

A few parts of the book about Roberts’ business dealings read like something out of film noir. The depiction of his police officer father killing a black suspect, which he admits family members asked him not to include, is very difficult to read. The introduction and afterword, both by author Lawrence Scanlan, could have been pruned too.

I also found myself wondering why nonviolent horse training (or nonviolent interaction in general), was such a hard sell … but obviously, it was and in many arenas still is.

Whatever your background or philosophy, if you have or work with horses in any capacity, learning more about Monty Roberts’ method is worthwhile.

Finding the try with horses and other animals

Nancy Crowe
Four attentive horses
A thoroughbred, two Haflingers and a mustang walk into a bar … and chances are, Emmie (second from right) would get everyone home safely.

Reading the second, revised and updated edition of Mark Rashid’s Horses Never Lie: The Heart of Passive Leadership immediately brought Emmie to mind. This unassuming Haflinger stepped up — as she does for so many other duties as a therapy horse — as herd matriarch after the much-loved Lola passed three years ago. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Emmie and many of her herd mates for several years as an animal communicator and Let Animals Lead® animal Reiki practitioner.

Though she has her moments, Emmie is not one to nip, kick, shove, or use other aggressive tactics. Leading by example and not force is what makes her effective. Once I watched her stand quietly with Geronimo (at far right in the photo) after Geronimo’s behavior got him grounded, so to speak. I didn’t get the feeling Emmie was conveying either reproach or sympathy. Just standing nose to nose with him in the pasture helped him calm down and see how not to mess up.

Rashid, over years working at a ranch, discovered that mimicking just this sort of lead horse helped the humans gain the horses’ trust. “A horse that is extremely dependable and confident, one that the vast majority of horses will not only willingly choose to follow, but that they actually seek out,” he wrote in the introduction.

Key to this leadership is “finding the try,” which Rashid discovered as a youth working for an unnamed “old man” who turned out to be one of his greatest (human) teachers. After Rashid repeatedly tried and failed to teach a horse to back up, the old man taught him to notice the subtle ways the horse was actually trying to do what he wanted, and to respond in kind.

“There was a little brace here, a little give there, a slight jiggle of the bit, a tipping of her nose, a little bending at the poll — all within a few seconds,” Rashid recalled. Responding to these with released pressure, a pet on the neck or even just a pause led to more tries, and soon the horse was backing up with ease.

Fight with a horse and the horse will fight back, the old man advised, but “even during those fights, the horse is still trying to figure out what you want. The sad part is, because you’re so busy fighting with them, you’ll never feel those tries.”

It made me wonder how many times I’ve failed to notice someone trying to meet me halfway. Any of us can get so caught up in our own efforts that we don’t see how the other person, or animal, is actually trying to work with us.

It’s worth pausing and getting quiet enough to listen to the subtleties.

In his second-edition notes, Rashid wrote: “In the years since writing this book, and in particular this chapter, I have come to understand that a horse’s ‘try’ is very often even smaller than what I understood it to be back then!”