Natural Horse Way

06/01/2024

Love the sounds of birds in the cooler part of the day.

05/13/2024

Please take a minute to watch this powerful video. It is about the need for mental health in rural areas and how Michael is meeting that need. If you don't feel anything, you might be a rock.

In rural America, individuals seeking mental health support often face barriers due to lack of access to quality resources. Often overshadowed by stigma, fin...

05/02/2024

Please consider donating to Horses for Mental Health's 2024 Campaign. May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Horses involved in mental health and wellness sessions help humans heal from anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, and many other forms of suffering. Read the stories to understand how horses can transform our pain simply by being present with us.
Help support organizations providing mental health care incorporating horses to continue their healing work.
Please Share. Thank you! 🐴

Seen Through Horses is a peer-to-peer awareness and fundraising campaign composed of individuals, nonprofits, mental health professionals, celebrities, influencers, and businesses to increase awareness, public engagement, and raise funds to improve access to programs incorporating horses for mental....

09/22/2023

Horse peoples commitment to believing dominance theory / “Alpha” theory despite the lack of evidence showing it to be a real thing is an incredible thing to watch.

There is currently very little, if any, evidence suggesting that horses have a static herd hierarchy in natural environments and that even IF they did, that said hierarchy would apply to how they view humans.

The man who initially perpetuated alpha theory with research on wolves later rescinded his enter belief system due to said study being impacted by the stressors of the domestic lifestyle in addition to the fact that wolf packs are generally family groups, meaning that the older more experienced wolves did take on leadership roles to educate their younger pups… but not for the purpose of exerting dominance.

Now, horses are not wolves but similar findings have been reported.

Much of what is viewed to be attempts of asserting dominance in domestic horse herds is actually resource guarding.

A horse guarding a PERCEIVED lack of resources, this does not mean that the resource actually has to be lacking

Reduced space, infrequent hay feedings, environmental frustration and general stress can increase the aggression we see in domesticated horses.

In feral herds, horses don’t spend much time engaging in aggressive behaviours because such behaviours are expensive physically and risk injury.

Sure, we see lots of photography and video of this happening but those tend to be the more “exciting” shots and thereby more popular, not necessarily more common.

Even in instances where feral stallions are actually fighting, it isn’t an attempt to be the “alpha.” It is attempt to protect and/or secure resources such as breeding rights to mares, space etc.

In addition to this, young horses, especially male horses, will practice fighting behaviours in play and this can be mistaken for real aggression.

Dominance theory is used by humans to label horse behaviour as “naughty” or “disrespectful” which is then often used to justify use of physical punishment.

The issue with this is that much of the behaviour we label as dominant behaviour from horses towards humans stems from fear, frustration, confusion, pain and general stress.

Escape behaviours are merely a horse trying to evade an undesirable situation, not an attempt to exert dominance.

Horses are natural peace makers and would generally prefer to not put up a fight.

But, so much of horse training in the human lens involves disciplining fear based behaviours, creating more fear and then blaming the horse for responding with stress.

We create the very types of environments that make it more likely to see what we perceive as “dominant” behaviours and then blame the horse for it.

The vast majority of undesirable domestic horse behaviours are directly caused by, or at least contributed to by, human influence.

So, it’s about time we reflect inwardly, get with the times and accept the fact that research doesn’t support the idea of dominance theory.

The level of attachment people experience with this theory despite the lack of evidence I think speaks for how desperate many of us are to justify our use of force in horse training.

It is such an odd hill to die on and the level of ferocity that people who speak out on the myth of dominance theory are met with I think exemplifies the crux of the problem: a desire for complete control at any cost rather than a desire to understand and communicate.

Communication and partnership will get you a lot further with horses than dominance, despite what much of traditional horse training may have taught you.

Here is a good fairly recent study on dominance pertaining to horse training: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0737080617300059

“Highlights
•
It is unlikely that horse–horse social status translates to analogues of human–horse interactions.

•
The concept of leadership as advocated in many training manuals proves to be unreliable in the horse.

•
Horses' responses to training are more likely a result of reinforcement rather than a result of humans attaining high social status and a leadership role.

•
Knowledge of horses' natural behavior and learning capacities are more reliable in explaining training outcomes than the application of dominance and leadership concepts.”

08/31/2023

"I will soothe you and heal you ,
I will bring you roses .
I too have been covered with thorns "

Beloved Rumi 💜

The Love poems of Rumi .Translated by Fereydoun Kia ,Edited by Deepak Chopra .
Art Goyo Dominguez
❤️🧡💜

08/30/2023

Great deal for campers who enjoy a base camp and recreation in the Pacific Northwest!

Schedule your tour of R-Ranch in September or October and be eligible for our final run of the 50/50 Sale!

08/29/2023

Look carefully around you and recognize the luminosity of souls, sit beside those who draw you to that.

Rumi 💚❤️💛

Photo by Shaun Smith

08/08/2023

Gi is back home now from the vet clinic. She was so happy to see her friends that she wanted to run to them. Terry had to hold her back.
The other horses and donkeys all came over to greet her.

She's happily munching on hay in her little pen near her friends. She'll need to be doctored each day and given meds. So thankful for everyone who helped save Gi. She's the matriarch of the herd and a protector for people in pain. Photos soon.

08/03/2023

Spent time with Gi yesterday at Rogue Equine.
Dr Timmons is optimistic about her recovery. Aftercare will be at home and take 2-3 months of bandaging, antibiotics, probiotics and inflammatory meds. She will be separated from the rest of the herd in a small pen shaded between huge trees. They will at least see each other and communicate. Looking for her coming home early next week. Thanks to all who sent needed donations, energy and kind messages. Thanks also to Dr Timmons and his staff and Fleet of Angels for their help. 💝

07/24/2023

Fundraiser for Gi. Please help if you can.

I'm raising funds to help pay for emergency veterinary care for Gi, … Becky Strassner needs your support for Emergency Fund - Vet Bills for Gi, Therapy Horse