“the first lesson a horse teaches us is patience.”
Or at least it should be. Patience isn’t something we are born with. It’s something we learn, we cultivate, we practice. It’s a way of being and doing. It’s something to fail at and to try again. Patience is something that shows up when we put others’ needs before our own. When I work with a horse and put their feelings and body above my agenda, I have all the time in the world. It isn’t learned in day… It isn’t perfected in one year or two… Patience is found and lost and found again. It becomes easier with understanding and empathy. It becomes harder when we expect something the horse can’t give in that moment. Patience feels harder to find when time gets away from us. I say patience is the first lesson horses teach us, but only if we are open to it. We can only learn that lesson if we are ready. No one can force us to slow down and listen. Here’s to the horses who teach us and all the people who listen, ready to hear and learn and fail.
Listen with audio. Am I scared of Swagger??? A lot of people have watched some of my training videos with Swagger and have assumed that I am scared of him. Why else would I feed him food? Why else would I move slowly around him? (both questions are rhetorical) I am not scared of Swagger. Just watch my body language when he spooks away from me. I stay still and calm. I move slowly around Swagger because, for now, if I were to move faster, he would move away, he would spook. This would not be building trust. I’m trying to build trust by being trustworthy. I’m trying to be trustworthy by being consistent and not scary. What you might not see is how far we’ve come! In the early training with Swagger I couldn’t face toward him or he would move away. I couldn’t feed by hand because I wasn’t close enough to him. Then when I was close enough, it was because I was sitting down. It took months for Swagger to be consistently comfortable with me standing and hand feeding. I also couldn’t talk or say anything when I was close to him or he would spook away. I couldn’t reach up to my face to brush a fly away or scratch an itch. For months, I couldn’t consistently touch him or get close enough to hand feed right away. For months, it would take him a while to come up to engage with the training. For a year, I couldn’t touch his left side, only his right side. Now? Now I can talk while being right next to him. I can brush flies from my face. I can touch both sides of him. He comes up every day now right away and engages with me. I can hand feed while standing up. Do I move slowly when working on things that are hard for him? Yes! Do I heavily reinforce things on days he is more scared? Yes! Am I building trust by not pushing past his boundaries? Yes! Will I eventually be able to move around him like I would a domestic horse? Yes! Swagger will continue to be more brave and more confident. —- 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧-𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 $𝟐𝟓 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: https://gofund.me/909cd1ad 𝐍𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐝. • Swagger is a very unique, feral horse. • Please resist the urge to offer suggestions. I know there are many techniques that work well for wild/feral horses, but this is the path I have chosen for myself and Swagger. I have worked with Swagger for 200 hours over the 15 months I’ve had him. • I am NOT looking for help, unless you are willing to come to Fort Worth and work with me in person and/or you have been following our journey since Summer 2023. • Please do NOT recommend a trainer I should follow unless you are offering to help pay for training. • This is a WILD horse. He may look calm because I work to keep him under threshold, but he is NOT a tame horse! He only accepts touch on his body in certain places and on certain days. • I do not own the property and am limited to changes that I can make to the space. • I am working with a professional and am a professional myself. • I welcome ideas and suggestions from people who have followed our progress in its entirety (since May or June 2023), and understand the restrictions and time limitations we are under. • I pay over $800/month for board and feed and professional training (virtual lessons). • He is a feral horse, but not a mustang. He is gaited. • He’s a 6 year old Appalachian brumby gelding. • He is getting a mixture of hay stretcher and sweet feed. • I pay Michelle Martiya to work with me and Swagger virtually. We have been working together for over 14 months. She is an amazing animal trainer! #hopteammcswagger #appalachianbrumby #clickertraining #clickertraininghorses #positivereinforcement #positivereinforcementhorsetraining #forcefreehorsetraining #fearfreehorsetraining #happyhorses #horsetraining #positivereinforcementhorses #wildSwagger
“𝑇𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑔 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑒’𝑠 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑡, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑔 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑒.” Sometime people are looking for the easy thing to change to get gait from their horse. I get asked all the time, “how do you fix a pacey horse?” The question that should be asked is how do I change myself to get a horse to gait. However, it isn’t just how you sit in the saddle, but your attitude toward riding and training your horse. You will only get quality smooth gaits from your horse when you are focused on quality training and riding. I get good gaits from a horse because I am always training. Every time I ride a horse, I am focused on helping them be softer and stronger and only reinforcing the smoothest gaits. You should always be training. Focus on softness, focus on relaxation, focus on reinforcing the smooth, strong gait, and you will have a relaxed, strong, smooth gaited horse.
Whorls are the patterns in a horse’s coat where the hair changes direction.
The idea is that these are formed very early on when the horse is an embryo at the same time the brain is forming and reflects the horse’s inborn (literally) nature.
Most horses have one whorl on their face and these are thought to suggest things about a horse such as an active mind or calm mind, relaxed, crazy, reactive, smart, etc.
Horses with two whorls can have them side by side or one on top of the other. Horses with whorls on top of each other on the forehead are complicated horses.
Swagger has two whorls, on top of each other. From everything I have read, this is indicative of a horse who has two personalities and can switch between them very fast.
“Double whorls on top of each other are tougher because their two personalities are many times extreme. Some of the words given are untrustworthy, unreliable, and accident-prone… Double (or more) whorls will not take the pounding and criticism that many single whorl horses will endure. One must be fair and just in all requests. ” 1
“Two whorls on top of each other can indicate personality swings and unpredictability.” 2
This seems so true for Swagger!
Most of the videos I post show him in what I call “normal mode”. But he can very quickly switch to “mustang mode” (even though he isn’t a mustang, this is what it reminds me of).
During the work with Swagger with Nelson to get his feet trimmed, we could see him switch in and out of these modes, even with very little human pressure on him. He could suddenly leave and want nothing to do with us or decide to stay and relax, even though it was hard.
Swagger’s two whorls both rotate clockwise, which would suggest him being more “right-handed” which is very true! He has a very strong preference for me to be on his right side.
It doesn’t really change how I train him, but I want people to recognize that this is a very challenging horse to train. He is not as simple as some wild or feral horses.
He is wonderful and smart and gentle, but also wary and frightened and wild. He is a complicated horse and I am thrilled to have the pleasure to work with him.
If you want to support me and Swagger, these are the best treats we train with right now. We often go through one bag every training session. Thank you to everyone who has already supported us!!! You guys are amazing!
What do you enjoy doing most in your leisure time?
I really enjoy painting. I got started doing watercolor a few years ago and have really enjoyed it. I love and hate the fact that you can paint loose and you can’t totally control the results. These are some of my favorite ones from the last couple of years.
How do I even start this article? I have so many ideas floating around in my head right now. What is love? Is it a feeling? Is it an act of the will? Can it apply to horses? Are there parallels between God’s love for us and my love for a horse?
What is love?
“Love is an act of the will accompanied by emotion that leads to action on behalf of its object.” ~Voddie Baucham
I have a tendency to try to overpower things and to dictate terms, especially in horse training. I would try not to let my feelings get involved. Yet this tendency is not always helpful.
I had this mare for training (2011). I started by “explaining” to her how things were going to be. She promptly showed me that she was a lot bigger and did not like my agenda. I tried to “tell” her to be calm, and she showed me she had more patience than I did. I tried to show her that the rope wasn’t scary; she showed me she didn’t believe me.
Here I was, trying to force my will, my thoughts, on her and she wasn’t agreeing. I needed to take a step back. Why was she distancing herself from me? It took a while, but I think I figured it out. I did not love her; she was not my horse and I wasn’t even trying communicate that I cared for her, that she was more to me, more than just something to tame.
I realized I had to change that.
I started by just going to her, rubbing her forehead and being content. I would rub her gently and firmly. Then I began petting her, with the intention of feeling and being calm and relaxed myself. There was progress. Where before, she would stare off into the distance and hold herself aloof, now she would look back at me. She would allow me to rub her forehead and allow me to help her to relax.
Then while I was down in the round pen with her, as I was thinking about love, and God’s unconditional love toward us, I realized that I needed to love this horse that God had given me stewardship over (just for a little while). This horse had not done anything for me, but I was to show her compassion and understanding, just as God does for us.
I went down to her and prayed that God would give me a love for this horse. That it wouldn’t just be an action or a choice, but that it would be a feeling, a state of being. In that moment, I felt God’s love for me and how much He has forgiven me. After that, I felt an affection for this horse and I think it really helped us to connect. I left her halter and lead rope off. I just stood with her and worked with her (and myself) to just relax.
Then I was able to throw the rope over her, without her moving (previously, this was impossible), and then saddle her up, with her staying calm and relaxed. She could have left whenever she wanted, but she was much happier to be with me today. I felt such a joy just being with her. Me being me and her being her. No agenda and no set plan. Just living.
Before that day, she didn’t want anything to do with me or the saddle or ropes or anything that I was asking her to do. Then, in one day, that changed. But what changed? I was the one who changed.
We had a nice day of training and relaxing after that. What a difference attitude and thoughts can make. A lot of the “training” took place doing nothing other than thinking about being relaxed. I would look away from her, listen to the birds, feel the wind on my face, and try to really feel my weight on my feet. It seems to have a lot to do with being in the moment and living in the here and now (Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling).
I wanted to love this horse. I can’t just tell the horse I love you or do something for the horse so that she will know. I wanted to see if my feelings toward a horse could influence how the horse reacted. There was a change, but I can’t say how the change came about.
I think of how God loves us. We don’t seek Him. He must first seek us. We are resistant, sinful, rebellious, and unknowing of what can be a beautiful relationship. Is that not what we do with horses? We take horses who would rather have nothing to do with us and try to show them the joy of a horse/human bond, but they resist, they run away, and they are fearful of anything we try to do with them. We must be patient and lovingly seek them and allow them to come to us. Sure, we could throw a rope around them, tie them to a post, and jump on, but this will not give them a chance to love back.
So my prayer is that God would teach me to love as He loves.
Thanks for putting up with my ramblings. ❤
God bless,
Ivy Schexnayder
”It would be easier to count all the stars in the heavens or each grain of sand on the earth, than to measure or even seek to describe the love of God.” Paul Washer
“Whether or not you feel that God is around doesn’t alter reality. Whether or not you feel he loves you or that you are worthy of his love doesn’t change reality either.” -Brant Hanson
“When a man is wrong and won’t admit it, he always gets angry.”
–Thomas Haliburton
It’s all too easy to get angry and take that anger out on others. With horses, we often find ourselves at a loss as to what to do. That loss can often turn into frustration or anger. I have become unreasonably angry with my horse and done things I regret. I need to admit when I’m wrong or need help and make sure I never make those angry decisions again. The anger I feel isn’t always at the horse specifically. It could be directed at myself, the situation, life in general, or just my reaction to fear of what the horse’s doing.
No one starts the day trying to be angry. I never intend to be harsh with my horse. I never intend to lash out.
“As an emotion, anger is rarely productive. It releases stress hormones and neurochemicals that disrupt your ability to evaluate and properly respond to situations and it blinds you to the fact that you’re angry in the first place. And it gives you a false sense of confidence.” Chris Voss
One way I can see around the anger is to admit that I don’t have all the answers, to see if I can find options, discover more tools, or look deeper into the cause. It could be something in myself that I need to fix or it might be that my horse is trying to tell me something.
“Anger is extraordinarily easy. It’s our default setting. Love is very difficult. Love is a miracle.”
― Brant Hansen Page, Unoffendable:
In place of anger, I want to feel love. I want to show love. I want my acceptance of the horse to take precedence over my instinctive reaction to lash out.
“Choosing to be unoffendable, or relinquishing my right to anger, does not mean accepting injustice. It means actively seeking justice, and loving mercy, while walking humbly with God. And that means remembering I’m not Him. What a relief.”
― Brant Hansen, Unoffendable
I don’t have to know everything. I don’t have to have all the answers. I will never be the best there is. All I need to do is:
Make each step its own reward. What are you doing with your horse(s)? Are you making an effort to be better each time you ride? Do you enjoy the time with your horse? If you are struggling, perhaps its your perspective on what you want from your horse.
Book I quote from: Think Harmony with Horses by Ray Hunt
Riding Macaroni Bridleless! What an amazing day! This journey has been amazing! I have learned so much. This mare has an amazing personality and is super calm. If someone were to tell me that I would be riding a rescue horse bridleless for all the rides, I would have thought they were crazy! I am so in love with this way of training!
I am training Macaroni using almost 100% positive reinforcement (R+) or clicker training. I am still learning how to be most effective and not frustrate her (which I did a LOT in the beginning, but I worked through it!). With help from Michelle Martiya, we keep doing better and better! Check out her virtual lessons/training. She can help you with ANY animal!
This evening was a the breakthrough I had been looking for. I hopped on Macaroni just as the sun set. Up until this evening, we had only gotten 6 or 7 steps forward (while riding) and then often in a circle. But this night she walked almost to the other end of the pasture and back calmly! It was amazing!
So, what kind of groundwork should you do with a gaited horse? Should you lunge a gaited horse? How often should you do groundwork? How do you connect with a new horse? I try to answer these questions in this video. Here is the ground work video with the grey mare:
