Horsemanship Tips to Ensure Good Horse Days!
I would say horse connection is the reason many horse owners have horses in their lives. Although there are some who simply have them for business, profit, or professional standpoint only. The average horse owner I believe has horses to enjoy a connection and bond that you don’t get from motorized ATV and recreational activities. You might look at the title “No Bad Horse Days” and be a bit skeptical, but I decided with the time, effort, and work that horses require, I would not accept having any more bad sessions or days with my horse.
Just like with any habit or goal, some days it takes focus and determination to keep yourself positive. It is a choice of the mindset that you can train yourself to gravitate towards and eventually it will become a natural, automatic response. As an entrepreneur, I spend a good amount of time in personal development, but as a horse lover and owner, I find that horses are amazing teachers and can push and drive us to become better people if we are open and give them the opportunity.
In this post, I will share how I help myself through my own bad horse days so that you can learn to enjoy your time with your horse. I believe the emotional health of the horse is just as important as physical health. Horse connection and emotions have a big impact on horse behavior as well! It is a synergy that Equine Essential Wellness helps horse owners balance and take responsibility for. This is how you achieve your dreams, goals, and passions with your horse!
Essential Oils and Horse Behavior
The great thing about essential oils is they can be utilized by both horse and rider! In relation to improving horsemanship and horse sessions, there are two factors to think of while selecting the right essential oil single or blend to maximize your results.
- Mindset and Focus– To improve or increase focus and shift mindset to a more positive vibration, I like to use Clarity Young Living blend, Citrus Fresh Young Living blend, and one horses’ seem to really enjoy Magnify Your Purpose Young Living blend. If you prefer singles or have a therapeutic grade vendor that you trust Peppermint, Grapefruit, Orange, or Basil are great options too! These essential oil options can bring mental clarity for both you and your horse.
- Emotions and Stress– Whether you or the horse tends to get emotional or brings tension into the session it is not productive and will have a negative impact on your session. For blends I would utilize Peace & Calming, Stress Away, Grounding, or Harmony, these are Young Living essential oil blends. For single essential oils Lavender, Ylang Ylang, or tree oils (tend to be grounding) Frankincense, Idaho Balsam Fir, etc.
Horsemanship and Mindset
When undesirable horse behavior arises I like to remind myself of a couple of quotes from some great horsemen:
“The horse may not be doing the thing that is the right thing for what the rider is asking him, but as far as the horse is concerned, he is doing the right thing.” ~Tom Dorrance
“One of the primary ways horses communicate with us is through their behavior. Again, it is my belief horses don’t distinguish between how they feel and how they act. So if they act a certain way, their actions are reflecting the way they feel. A horse’s body then becomes a mirror for their emotions. So the body informs us of what is truly going on internally.” ~Mark Rashid
These two quotes help me to view undesirable horse behavior through communication. I am open to making sure the horse is understanding my communication, while also listening and assessing their behavior as a means of their communication to me. From this information, you can determine the horse’s need. Does the horse need clearer direction from you, do you lack respect or rapport from the horse, is the horse connected and paying attention to you?
It is imperative to leave blame out of the equation! Do not blame yourself or your horse, when things don’t go as planned. Focus on a solution, if it is beyond your scope of horsemanship or abilities to seek help. Otherwise, if both you and the horse are safe then it is time to get to work improving yourself. Blame will keep you stuck and only produce more frustration.
Nutrition and Conditioning
Although many times sessions go awry it is due to lack of horse connection, communication, and mindset reasons; it is important to review and assess the horse’s fitness and nutrition. If we eat junk food and are out of shape we often don’t want to go hiking, running, or other physical activities. Horses are no different. Making sure they are physically comfortable, building their fitness, and adjusting their nutrition is something many overlook.
For steps on how to effectively assess your horse’s lifestyle grab your copy of my book Healthy as a Horse, Click here to reserve your copy now.
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Life is better when you’re horsin’ around!
