15/10/2024
Beautiful Tommy enjoying a head scratch mid schooling session, with his little scoot boots on😍
It was extremely important for me to acknowledge that this was a stressful experience for him, due to being asked to go into a new environment away from the security of his friends, after our hack had finished and our hacking buddy had been put away. We had the goal of doing some schooling exercises in one of the turn out fields after our hack but he found it confusing and stressful, due to the change in the usual routine. I could have became forceful and 'just pushed him through it', however, I remained completely neutral in my seat and mind, kept the questions very small and ensured my aids were extremely subtle, to avoid flooding his brain with too much stimulus, which could have lead to complying with tension rather than offering and exploring relaxation. The goal changed to ensuring that he had the most positive experience possible for that moment and that I showed him there is no punishment for expressing his genuine flight animal reactions/responses. He is a horse, not a machine that can be programmed to fit the mold of human desire it is up to the human to learn the individual personalities and movement capabilities of each horse, we must work to fit them. Not strap them down, push them through it and scream and shout at them for just being a horse and seeking relief from the human. Don't get me wrong safety does always come first and sometimes the choice of safety doesn't always come across so kindly or glamorous but its our own fault for involving ourselves and sitting on them in the first place. I believe these harsh reactions from humans come from the fear of feeling vulnerable and no desire to learn something new, we seem to like to believe we've got it all figured it out and hate to admit even to ourselves when we don't know something and unfortunately I see this taken out on our beautiful, sentient horses every single day. We must start to look deeper.
P.S Highly highly recommend a pair of Scoot Boots for your barefoot ponios! So quick and easy to put on and stay on in all terrain at all speeds!