RaeKen Arabians & Miniatures

08/13/2025

"I Don't Like Boulders and Rocks". Fun Trail Rides with my created music clip.

I Don't Like Boulders and Rocks is a fun little video of trail rides that we have taken this past summer. We don't like Boulders and Rocks but we LOVE to t...

08/02/2025

Your Horses Emotions are NOT TRIGGERED.

A trigger is a stimulus that elicits a reaction. When we watch our horses, this appears to be true. We do something, then the horse responds. This A-B-C approach to horsemanship is the approach most training systems are built upon.

A- Our Aids, Cues, Signals, Gestures, Body Language, Feel etc.
B- The Trigger in the Horse (Their understanding etc).
C- The Behavioural Response, Action the Horse takes.

This feels intuitive. Feels correct. For a long time, this has been science's best understanding too.

But out there, in a corral, a barn, a field, for eons, there are talented horsemen and horsewomen who keep experiencing something that is not ABC. Something divergent.

"Sometimes 1+1= 47 with horses. Sometimes the trigger is not the trigger but something else."

Not until we began to properly research the neurology of emotion did we begin to understand how much of a flawed understanding of Emotion the Trigger concept is.

This stuff can get very convoluted very quickly, so allow me to offer a NERDS SYNOPSIS for horse people on what IS happening, if emotions are not in fact, triggered.

A- Before any aids, cues, signals or stimulus occur, your horses brain is filled with memories of every experience they ever had. They remember. Their brain has already prepared a menu of responses, in anticipation of what they predict will happen next.

B- As the human begins to think, feel or begin to offer a cue, aid, signal, stimulus... BUT HAS NOT OFFERED IT YET... the horse feels anticipation of what will occur. This happens faster than the speed of light, and usually unconsciously. Based on what the brain unconsciously predicts is about to happen, the brain chooses the best possible response from its menu of responses. The menu of responses is based on what worked best in the past, and what they think will best suit the anticipated next step.

C- The human cues, aids, signals, stimulates the horse.

D- The horse offers the response they had already predicted would probably best suit the situation they anticipated.

E- The horse observes if their response was in fact, well suited to the situation. If it was well suited, this REGULATES their emotions, their nervous system. This soothes. If they discover that they anticipated poorly, this UPREGULATES their emotions, their nervous system from comfort into discomfort. The technical term for this discomfort is called; Learning.

F- The brain files away for future predictions this memory. If they had a moment of Learning, they will likely predict differently next time a similar situation occurs.

If emotions and behaviours actually worked on a trigger, the brain would always feel "late to the party". If they had to apply active real time cognition to be totally unprepared for every instance of two way communication, and respond only after a "trigger" the brain would spend way too much metabolic energy. This is too expensive. And the role of the brain and the nervous system is to ECONOMISE all systems of the body to a seamless, simple flow state a being can live with as easily as possible and as efficiently as possible.

Knowing now that my horses predict my actions, and have already prepared a response, I can "read" exactly what happened to them in their past if I "simulate" something someone in their past might have done. You see, I had never whipped my horse Sanson. But the first time I held a stick in my hand, just held it, ten years ago, he gave me rope burn, bolted, jumped a fence, crossed a road and headed for the hills. Not because my intention was bad. But because the last person who held a whip near him, beat him with it. So his brain had already pre-loaded that bias, and had a prepared response for any instance he saw Human With Whip. I have now changed that pattern, by exposing him to whips and then not whipping. So now his prediction runs differently.

Not a trigger.
A prediction.

This explains spooky situations where I am riding a horse and I FEEL them asking me to trot, but they have not trotted. They are sending a pre-loaded, anticipatory signal that my animal body recognises as a future situation not yet entered into. Then I say "Yes" and the trot I predicted was there.

This fundamentally changed my riding from an action-reaction, signal-response, aid-behaviour paradigm into a Predict Me Better- Then Take Action paradigm. Allowing me to clean up responses, before we respond. Allowing me to "taste" canters we have not cantered, and believe what the horse predicts the canter will be like. Making my life safer and building trust with the horse.

It actually helps me feel empowered. To know that I am not a victim to my triggers, but in command of my predictions, and I can remind my animal body in instances where I feel troubled, that the past is actually not repeating itself, and I can predict something better this time.

I cover these cools bits of science and integrate them into gentle horsemanship and riding in my online course Homecoming 2.0; Ahead of the Curve. Designed to develop Selfless Riding in horse people who wish to be ahead of the curve of developing information in the world of science, empathy and feel. There are 70+ hours of material including practical demonstrations, theory deep dives and community calls. It was a difficult program to teach but I am very very proud of what we taught there as cutting edge material you probably won't see anywhere else.

It is available to sign up at any time on my website, and professionally hosted on the EH School.
Phillips

08/02/2025

Parade Time. July 4th in West Bountiful.

07/04/2025

For those family and friends that just don't get our obsession with horses, let me break it down. You're either born to love horses or you're not - it's that simple.
We horse people don't need your understanding, and honestly, we don't really give a 💩 if you don't get us.
We're perfectly fine eating a sandwich with one hand while mucking stalls with the other.
Our tack room is stocked with more meds for our animals than we have in our own bathroom cabinet.
Our feed bins are always full, but you can bet our fridges are low on staples or empty - a bowl of cereal is a win….
We're those people who get kicked out of laundromats for washing our horse blankets, and we can yell at our dogs to stop eating horse p**p in a voice that can shatter glass.
We are those people that cluck our tongue to get you to move over in the shopping aisles.
We'd rather give up our significant others than our horses.
We talk to our trucks to get them up hills, and a new truck is just a distant dream.
Our horse trailer is spotless while the house boasts dust bunny’s and dirty windows.
We know and care about our horses' diets more than our own, and we buy grain and hay before we buy our own food.
Our winter coats are old and patched while our horses wear a brand new “Rambo”.
You'll often find us wearing our barn clothes in public, mud and all, and we're proud of it.
Mucking stalls is our therapy, and we get along better with animals than people.
We're always willing to lend a hand in a crisis, and we'll drop everything for a friend in need. Only fellow horse people understand our quirky community!

03/24/2025

So excited about our new Renegade hoof boots. Check out the halter and lead accessories

12/12/2024

12/04/2024

Teaching My Mare to drop her head through correct pressure and release; praise, reward, and synergistic communication. The purpose of this training is for ease in bridling your horse, removing the bridle with no head tossing, haltering, removing the halter with head control with zero pulling away, and making it possible for a child to bridle and halter this horse in a safe atmosphere.

11/19/2024

I'm an Essential Hoof Care Specialist. I have been certified 4 times under the best of the best Hoof Care specialists since 2002. Today a post in a miniature horse group about a little mini mare with the most horrible hooves filled with thrush and infections and whiteline disease claimed that the horse had been trimmed 3 weeks ago in October, really had me concerned. (Upset for the little horse). This photo is of my little miniature stallions hoof after I trimmed him.. This is the easiest way to tell you how your horses hooves need to be trimmed if a miniature horse. If your trimmer is cutting corners in any of these procedures then you need to find an educated qualified hoof care specialist. Remember "NO HOOF NO HORSE"

08/27/2024

A very inspirational lessen and experience by Kelli Snider......."Sometimes The Billet Breaks"

08/24/2024

Helping in the hay room. Sweet beautiful Remarkable(aka Remi).

07/02/2024

My new graphic design banner poster for the up coming July 4th parade in our local town. We'll put it on our side x side that will go before us as we lead our Miniature Horses in the parade. I must admit this was the hardest banner I've designed because my sweet beautiful Daniela is not on it. How we've missed that sweet angel mare. How we love her still.
P.S. Please please be mindful of how the fireworks horrify my beautiful horses, minis, and dogs.

06/16/2024

Next time someone says that horses can’t be service animals, I’ll just show them this.
By: Mona Ramouni and her miniature horse Cali. Mona is blind and she and Delores Arst trained Cali. See photo of Mona and Cali.
"I often wonder if the reason someone said man’s best friend is a dog is because they hadn’t had a horse yet! I believe that horses are often just as loyal as dogs, and as protective. Breeding and training miniature horses as service and therapy animals is my passion because I have seen just how much they can help.
When I first got Cali, I had to learn to trust her, which was easier said than done. Once, in that first week, she stopped, but I thought I knew exactly where I was in space and decided that I should walk. I took another step, smacked my head into the corner of a wall, and realized that I should trust my horse’s eyes!
But things were anything but smooth sailing. The bus company I was using to get back-and-forth to work was not happy about transporting Cali. They understood that legally, she is considered a service animal and must be accommodated. However, they also tried to get out of transporting us by telling me that some days, they could transport us to work, but they had no available vehicles to transport us home. I would ask Whether the vehicles they had could accommodate wheelchairs, and they would say yes. I would explain that the vehicle that could accommodate a wheelchair could also accommodate a miniature horse. But that did not matter. They still did not want to work with me.
Other times, they would schedule a ride for me to go home at a certain time, but then, I would wait for over an hour to get a ride. Since the ride home was about half an hour, we were both exhausted by the time we got home. Poor Cali took this all in stride.
One day, I was the last person in the office because my ride was over an hour late. Cali and I amused ourselves by racing up and down the hallway and learning new words. She was learning to trust me just as much as I had learned to trust her. I tried not to be frustrated about waiting for the bus because it would do no good.
The vehicle arrived, and I open the door to get in. The driver was not very friendly at all, and I could tell he was unhappy about having my perfect horse aboard. I got in the vehicle and touched each of the seats to see where I could put her. This van happened to have three bench seats and no floor space, not even room for a wheelchair as the company had told me it would. I was furious but had no other way home. So I took a deep breath and asked Callie to jump into the vehicle.
This was not a short jump. It was much taller than her head because she needed to jump onto the seat. Because it was such a high jump, she slipped and started going over backwards. I weighed about ninety pounds, and she almost two hundred. Somehow, though, I managed to pull her up onto the seat and almost on top of me. The seat was also made of some sort of leather material, so it was slippery and gave under her weight, which meant she was standing very precariously.
At this point, I was so angry I did not know what to do with myself. I just sat with her through the whole ride, whispering to her and encouraging her. She was almost on top of me the whole way home, which was nerve-racking. I had no idea that the best was yet to come!
We finally reached home, and relieved, I reached over beside me for what I assumed would be the doorhandle, as usually, there are doors on each side of the van, but not this time. I froze. This meant Cali could not jump out of the vehicle unless she turned completely around. The space was so small that it did not seem possible at all.
I asked the driver what I should do. He seemed unfazed. “Have her jump out backward,“ he told me.
I was incensed. “You want my horse to jump out backward and fatally injure herself?“ I asked.
He didn’t say anything.
I slipped under Cali‘s head and got to the other side of the seat where I could open the door. Then, again, I started whispering to her about how wonderful she was, how sorry I was that I had put her through this, and how we were going to figure out how to get out of this situation. I did not know how we would do it, though. I was determined to make sure she was OK. She had trusted me, and now it was my turn to show her that she was justified.
So, I put my face to hers, kissed her soft, sweet nose, and turned her head so that she faced me. I remembered Dolores telling me that wherever a horse’s head goes, the body can follow. It did not seem possible that there was enough room at all. The width between the seats was too narrow, in my opinion, and I just could not imagine how she would turn herself. But I asked, and asked, and finally, she was able to turn her whole body, and to my mind, miraculously, she jumped what must have been at least 4 feet to get to the ground.
I wonder what Cali thinks is the pivotal moment where she believed that I would take care of her, no matter what. Was it that particular moment when I helped her jump out of the van? Or was it some other moment that I have forgotten but which sticks in her memory? I will never know, but the fact that she trusts me just as much as I do her is one of the greatest miracles in my world."