Fairhorsemanship: Humane, science-based horse training

11/09/2024

In loving memory of Heros
1995-2024

I am sorry to have to let you know that on the 22nd of August, Heros was euthanizied. This decision was made a few months prior during his quarterly veterinary visit. Heros had developed Equine Cushing’s disease the year prior and was receiving daily medication and regular blood tests to ensure the dosage was correct but after a thorough discussion with his veterinarian we came to the conclusion that his welfare will only further deteriorate as time went on. We had particular concern about the tough Welsh winter months. I knew keeping him in a stable could (physically) buy him another year or two but this would come to a great cost to his mental well-being as well as causing leg pain as he has always struggled with inflammation and arthritis when stabled since I met him many years ago as a shut down riding school horse. I believe in providing animals a life worth living, where they should not just be surviving but thriving. In some instances some level of mental suffering could be justified if it lead to recovery (eg. box rest post-injury) but we are talking about an incurable, degenerative disease in a 29 year old animal.

I let Heros go on a sunny day, he happily cantered towards me as I called him over to spend the day with his friends in a paddock filled with fresh grass. He was lively and happy, his quality of life was not great but it was good. It was good from the moment I made the decision until the moment he collapsed from the lethal injection. It is difficult to let your animal go on a good day but in the animal care sector we have a few sayings that I hold on to every single time they exhale their last breath:

Death is not a welfare issue.

And

Better 2 months too early, than 2 days too late.

I thank my veterinarian; the profession with the highest su***de rate. I tell her this is the amazing gift we have and the last, most difficult act of love we can do; stopping suffering, preventing suffering. Euthanasia stands for a good death. Animals have it worse than us in every way except for this.

I gave Heros the best life I could. Yes I made mistakes along the way, as like most of us I grew up in the traditional equestrian industry, but this was not one of them. Through our work together we have bettered the life of many horses and their carers. I am grateful for the lessons he has taught us and the person he has made me. His value was however never dependent on what he could do for me. He had a life of his own and whether he had been a winning champion or a feral horse; he had intrinsic value, a right to a good life and a good death.

23/09/2023

After years of helping animals and owners in need, I am now asking for your guy's help with a very large vet bill for my cat Soy Bean. Sadly the insurance can only cover £3000 of the current £6,125 spent in blood tests, imaging, out of hours care and specialist surgery.

You can support us in 3 ways, first via the fundraiser link here (which further explain what is been happening): https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-soy-bean or by purchasing our online courses: https://www.fairhorsemanship.com/online-classes OR if you are not in the position to financially help us you can help by sharing this post,

Thank you for reading

This is not an easy post to make but I am asking for help. My name is Alizé and for as long … Alize Veillard Muckensturm needs your support for Help Soy Bean

06/01/2023

Happy New Year everyone! The horses and I wanted to thanks all of you that have bought the 2nd edition of our book "Humane, science-based horse training". Unfortunately we have one more thing to ask of you; a review. Our reviews on Amazon and other website do not carry over to new editions, so while we have 4.8/5 rating and amazing comments on the first edition, we do not have any on our 2nd edition listing. This make the book less likely to be view/bought and horses to be helped.

Please leave a review here:
US amazon: https://a.co/d/3kKvUsS
UK amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/74e4IaB

21/12/2022

There is not many people I feel I can recommend without reservation but Jessie Sams is one of them! She offers consultations around the London area and specialise in trauma recovery in horses and dogs. She recently lost her page and is rebuilding on Animal Behaviour and Trauma Recovery Service UK . Give her a follow for more content like this.

08/12/2022

Order the 2nd edition of our book "Humane, science-based horse training" and empower your horse through positive reinforcement training. Order here:

Humane, science-based horse training is a type of training where the user combines an evidence-based understanding of equine behaviour with their genuine love and respect for horses in order to train and handle horses in an ethical yet effective way. This book with introduce you to the science behin...

23/11/2022

We nearly did not make it in time for the holidays, but here we are just before December ready to take the pre-orders. While I usually do not like to deal with orders myself, I believe that by the time the book get to our retailers it may be too late for most people wanting it by Christmas therefore, I will be fulfilling the orders myself for a month. You can buy it here: https://www.fairhorsemanship.com/our-book

The 2nd edition has a slightly different format to make it an even easier read, 30+ new pages including a new section on consent training, 7 new training plans, new theory exercises and answers to frequently asked questions.

17/07/2022

We all seen it and it's incredibly frustrating. Someone has a horse that suddenly won't stand at the mounting block or have extreme phobia of vehicles. They ask for help on facebook, perhaps they even specifically ask for a behaviourist or more vaguely someone that specialise in solving behavioural problems. The comments come in and in between silly recommendations for 'strong bits' and 'showing who is the boss', natural horsemanship trainers or BHS instructors are recommended. Those are not the people for the job! This is like asking your farrier to check your horse's back, or your saddle fitter to check your horse's teeth, they may have some rudimentary knowledge in those area but all of these skills require specific study. Yes behaviour consultations tend to be more expensive than training sessions, yes behaviourists will ask you to go get your horse's health to be checked or if that has already been done for vet referral, but you will save money in the long term, stay safe and improve your horse's welfare because you got the right person for the job.

For info on our training and behavioural services check www.fairhorsemanship.com

16/07/2022

Fairhorsemanship is coming back in a big way this August. I am finishing my bird training contract this month and will be coming back into horse training and behaviour consultations full-time (bird stuff to be incorporated back into my work a little later). Here is a rough road map for the end of 2022:

🐴 New price list for training and consultation is up on the website and booking for August and September are now open.

🐴 Instagram live stream in August. Date to be confirmed. We will be building an enrichment item together, answer Q&A and introduce you to the new member of our team!

🐴 Update for existing on-demand online classes planned for end of August. This will lead to a price increase so make sure to purchase the class you like now and you will have access to the updated content at no extra cost.

🐴 New online class on the topic of "Negative Reinforcement for force-free trainers". Intermediate/advanced positive reinforcement trainers only. To be launched in September/October.

🐴 Course on consent training. Open in november.

🐴 2nd edition of our book "humane, science-based horse training" to be released before December.

22/06/2022

Who has seen the latest discussions surrounding the equestrian industry’s “social licence to operate” and more specifically, the public’s perception of the use of horses in horse sport?

World Horse Welfare did some research and came up with some interesting findings.

In response, a panel has been formed to discuss these findings, they met last night my time. What drives me mad is that the discussion in this article (link below) and all the articles I have seen so far, are centred around how to change the public’s perceptions, not how to improve equine WELFARE and should we really even be “using” horses in “horse sports”???

The panel is chock full of people invested in the equestrian industry as it is, ie. people who are responsible for what it is today. To me, that is like putting the ‘fox in charge of the hen house’!

I also recently read the FEI is trying to, or has banned all photographers from the warm up arenas at certain events. Certainly if the public don’t see the horrors horses are subjected to, it might possibly change their perception of the sport?? Is that what they are thinking? 🤦‍♀️

But it doesn’t change anything for horses and if anything it will make things worse! What remains hidden gives a green light to abusers and further abuse.

I honestly can’t believe the dialogue surrounding this issue. But the statistics are heartening. 20% of people in the survey did not support the continued involvement of horses in sport under any circumstances. 40% only supported the continued involvement of horses in sport if their welfare is improved. 60% said there should be more safety and welfare measures in place.

We can only hope the whole “horse sport” industry is riding that Extinction Wave into oblivion. That all the panels, webinars, committees and press releases are their last gasp attempt to maintain their hold, before it is all gone.

I vote for a new sport to evolve, where ALL participants have fun, feel safe, get something positive out of it, have the choice to participate or not and most importantly, don’t have to risk injury or death!💗

Link to article mentioned above:-

https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2022/06/21/equestrian-leaders-public-perception-horse-sport/

21/08/2021

Out of sight recall downhill. Spirit proprioception have greatly improved since teaching him to jump and pole work and as you can see he is amazingly balanced. (I am currently working on an online class for anyone looking to improve their horse's fitness through the use of obstacles and +R).

Downhill work encourages the horse to reach further under his body which strengthen the pelvic limb and abdominal muscles (Paulekas and Haussler, 2009). This is an exercise that should be done in walk at first and preferably at liberty or on a loose lead to allow the horse to use his neck-head as the balancer that it is designed to be.

03/08/2021

You saw the No, now this is her Yes! (move nose into gag) My previous post raised a lot of interest and there were many questions here are some answers.

Q1. "Obviously the horse said no because of the way you approached".
A1. The whole point is to allow the horse to assent/dissent, the aim is not necessary for me to put the dental gag on but the horse to put it on herself and feel so relaxed about it that a child could be the one securing it on. I also find this worrying when these comments come from men, don't y'all actually understand consent 😬

Q2. "What do you do if the horse says no in training"
Always take the aversive stimuli away, this will negatively reinforce the no and that should be fine as long as you don't make it a habit to overstep your horse boundaries. Then select one of the following options:
1. Cue a well know easy behaviour so you can reward the horse then try the behaviour again this time with a lower criteria.
2. Switch activity until the end of the session.
3. End the session making sure to deliver an "end of session" jackpot so the horse doesn't feel negatively punished.
Remember that those are recommendations for training scenarios using positive reinforcement. If doing counter conditioning then you can take the aversive away and feed, no need to cue something else.

Q3. "Horses naturally do this (in this case the person is talking about head away) and don't need training"
A3. Yes and no. As I stated in my previous post this is a normal appeasement behaviour for a horse to do in a mild tension scenario. The horse will learn to use it more with people if the behaviour is negatively reinforced (meaning the look away is followed by the removal of the aversive). Consent training is not really about training the horse but about training us to listen. The exception are horses that have been shut down and need to learn they have a voice. You can also train a "withdraw" for riding that is not based on your horse natural reaction to an unpleasant situation. eg. I taught my horses to tell me to dismount by touching my boot.

If you would like to learn more about consent for horses, I offer in-person and online coaching sessions. Get in touch on www.fairhorsemanship.com

28/07/2021

Do you know about the subtle signs horses use to communicate mild tension that can possibility escalate in more dangerous signs of tension such as running away, bite or kick threat etc.?
These appeasements and displacement behaviours can be used:
- to gain feedback on the horse emotional state during training and keep tension level low to avoid more dangerous behaviours.
- to help you know when to decrease or increase your training criteria.
- as a dissent behaviour in consent training.

Consent training consists of teaching your horse how to say yes or no to an activity or to withdraw from an ongoing activity in a safe way that you can both understand. In the above picture I am training Lyviera to put on a dental gage, turning her head away is her way to say no. This is particularly useful in helping animals that are traumatised, chronicly stressed or withdrawn. It also empower any horse by giving him a sense of control over a potential fear inducing event or object.

If you would like help implementing consent to your training, contact me for affordable 1 on 1 coaching session either in person or through zoom.