Great to see Your Horsemanship, Jason Webb this morning in the sunshine to help us with one of our horses loading.

Lovely Hettie loads but being such a large lady she finds the space in the lorry quite overwhelming so we sought out the help of Jason to give us some tips on how to keep her calm; and install confidence in her whilst maintaining our principles of posture and balance.

What did we learn from this session?

TIME – do not rush, patience helps create a work environment which is safe and welcoming for both you and your horse.

PAUSE – allowing her to pause allowed her to process and make independent choices about where to put her body.

SPACE – enabling Hettie to always see the exit made her feel less trapped; if she wanted to leave the lorry she was allowed to but we asked her to try again.

REPEAT – don’t stop after one go, keep going to solidify the behaviour pattern.

OBSERVE – watch for signs of relaxation, using a hay net helps this as stressed horses won’t eat so it’s a measurable factor to observe.

Next time anxiety is found in your loading process, remember this post and try these principles.