My Horse Taught Me That (Sara Jackson)

Hear the story of a horrific training incident that changed the course of my life with horses and sent me on a journey to discover how to build the relationship I was dreaming of, with my horses. To feel that my horses wanted to work with me and that we had a beautiful connection with each other. 

Learn how the concepts I'm going to talk about in this podcast have literally changed my life, a little bit about me and what I intend for this podcast. 

When it comes to training our dogs, our horses or even keeping our own kids in line, punishment is often the go-to strategy.

Why? Because we have been marinated in it since birth, it is an integral part of how our society functions. So it can feel like second nature for us to use punishment. Partly because we understand it really well, and partly because we don’t really know any other way to stop our horse, our dog, or our child, from doing something we don't like.

In this podcast I explore why punishment is so prevalent, the problems with using it and what we can do instead.

How our horses feel about their experiences with us will shape their opinion of us. And their opinion of us and whether they want to spend time with us or would rather avoid us – is absolutely key to our relationship with them.

In this episode, we explore the way that we, as our horses' human, can get associated with different emotions. Perhaps pleasurable, or perhaps unpleasant, and how these associations can influence our horses', behaviour. 

So what can we do to make sure that our horse associates us with pleasurable emotions and wants to hang out with us?

Hit play, to find out. 

Don't you just LOVE those unicorn situations where things just work out perfectly and everyone is happy with the outcome! It's the BEST right?

Well, it doesn't only have to be a happy accident. It is possible to set ourselves, our kids, our colleagues and our horses, up for success, so that we can ALL win.

This is one of my favourite strategies for changing behaviour and I'm so excited to share it with you here. 

Links mentioned: Constructive Eating https://constructiveeating.com/

Sometimes events can stack on top of us and start feeling overwhelming and very un-fun. It's like that time when the dishwasher breaks the night before guests arrive, when you are already dealing with a whole load of work pressure, a flare up from an old back injury, a child who needs you right now and a house that desperately needs cleaning before the guests turn up. It's enough to make you want to scream right!? 

Well, that un-fun, overwhelmed feeling happens to horses too. And it's often responsible for the crazy behaviour they can do, that just seems to come out of nowhere. 

But the truth is, it doesn't come out of nowhere. When we really start to understand our horses, and what their priorities and needs are, we become much better at predicting, and therefore avoiding, those outbursts. 

In this episode, I explain how you can do just that, and in doing so, keep yourself, and your horse, safer. 

Consent. 

It's a big deal, and rightly so. 

Everyone has the right to control who touches their body and how. EVERYONE. 

In this episode, I present the argument that this includes those who rely on us to care for them. Our children, our animals, our horses.

I explore what asking our horse for consent looks like, explain why doing it can really improve our relationship and then, practically, what it means when it comes to getting things done. 

Links mentioned: Scott Morrison hand shaking video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kePvZkV-Zcs

Do you have a naughty horse? or perhaps a naughty child?

I totally get how frustrating it can be when we need them to cooperate and they won't, or they are doing some sort of unwanted behaviour that we'd really rather they didn't do!

In this episode I explore another way of looking at this behaviour. Which opens up a completely different way of responding to it - one that helps us to build our relationship and stop the behaviour! Total win right?!

Links mentioned: Dr Susan Friedman's Living and Learning with Animals course https://www.behaviorworks.org/htm/lla_professional_overview.html

Oh man, horses can do the most embarrassing stuff can't they?

Typically, right when everyone is watching! Urgh.

But what if . . . instead of taking on board their behaviour as a reflection of US, as a reflection of how good we are as trainers, of our competence as horse people. What if we could consider that behaviour as a reflection of what our horse is experiencing and leave ownership of that behaviour, with the horse?

Whew. It's a relief, right?

We explore this concept in Episode 9 and take a deep dive into the things that influence our horses behaviour and which of those things we actually CAN influence and take responsibility for. 

Let's face facts. Horses will often respond to new experiences, or novel stimuli in their environment, with a run first, ask questions later approach. Which can be downright unsafe at times and jolly annoying at others.

So how on earth do we help them be LESS reactive and spooky when it comes to dealing with new situations or novelty in their environment?

How can we set them up to succeed when we know that we have a new experience coming up for them - perhaps a vet visit or their first time at riding club, where we know they will be dealing with a lot of 'firsts'?

I address this important topic in this episode. See you on the inside. 

As horse people, a lot of us consider being with horses as our 'happy place', somewhere we can go to recharge and reset after a tough day. 

In this episode, I talk about the AHA moment that made me realise that it wasn't just in my imagination, the way that I interact with my horses and train them nowadays, really has improved my wellbeing and my mental health, over and above the benefits I used to get from just being with my horses.

Listen in, as we do a deep dive into this topic and get really specific about what small changes you can make, to experience these awesome benefits too.

Links mentioned: The Resilience Project, by Hugh Van Cuylenburg https://theresilienceproject.com.au/shop/product/book-trp-finding-happiness/