06/19/2025
There are life skills that EVERY horse needs to be a solid equine citizen.
My horses and clients horses here, are outside 24/7, and I am a firm believer in TURNOUT and a lot of it! However, they all have a stall available incase of a need, or extreme weather. Today, we were supposed to get "heavy" storms, so we brought the training horses into the barn for the day. One, to make sure they had adequate protection from heavy rain and hail or high winds (that never came 🙄) and two, to make my life a little easier by not having to go out into the elements to get them when it was time to work. 😉
While it rained most of the day, it was nothing severe or storms as they predicted...the horses absolutely could have stayed outside. But, for the two in to be started right now, it turned into the perfect learning opportunity. A learning opportunity that is training, but training they have to do themselves. I can set it up and keep them safe, but this is one of those lessons they really end up teaching themselves.
So, today these sweet girls learned that they can be okay in a stall for a period of time...they can be okay in a stall when their neighbor leaves for a while...they can be okay leaving their friend to go to the indoor...they can develop the skills to down regulate themselves.
A young horse, or any horse for that matter, can only develop these skills if we give them the TIME it takes to figure it out. The time to find their way through it, without saving them. Yep, sometimes there are some big emotions, especially in the youngsters...but as long as they are safe, let them feel those emotions and get to the other side of things on their own. You're helping them develop vital life skills that will serve them the rest of their lives.
The timing of when they get untied, when they leave the stall, when their friend or neighbor returns, it matters SO MUCH. How they feel in that moment, when the relief comes, is what they are going to remember and therefore, the behavior you are going to strengthen...so if the friend returns or they get untied when they are way up in their sympathetic system, thats what we are building on...but if we wait, usually just a hair longer, for them to bring themselves out of sympathetic and find some down regulation and relaxation on the other side of all the worry, THAT is the behavior we will build. That is the pattern we will strengthen.
In other words, sometimes, its really best not to save them.
Cool video of Gracie right at the moment she found her way through her worry standing tied.
Contact Simple Connection for any of your training needs! Booking into November for training horses, but have some room now for haul in lessons!
