There is already thread about this.
The rider in this video, is just that, a rider. She is capable in the saddle. That is All.
Her lack ft intelligence as far as the the physiological recovery involved in time off, is sickening. She needs to be put on bed rest for a month, and then run behind a pickup for a mile with a noose around her neck.
Welcome Roger! Thank you for your great work documenting AD/AF’s abusive and manipulative tactics.
Why did the owner allow that? I would have told her to get off my horse! And why allow him to kick the walls at all? She couldn’t bring him in away from the walls?
My young horse had a bucking fit tonight. She resents being asked to move forward into the canter and bucks in the transition. I put her on the lunge and spent about 10 minutes working on transitions until she offered a nice canter without fireworks. That was all and we quit and will work on it again tomorrow. She’s not malicious but she is lazy and sometimes pulls an attitude when being told to do something that is more work then she wants to do.
I agree with you 4horses and would have a similar reaction. I suppose all we can do is gain some benefit for the future - use this as a learning and growth opportunity to understand people & traumatic events.
Flight, fight, freeze are all trauma responses.
My response is to fight, as it seems yours is, the owners response was to freeze.
The trigger is irrelevant, whether you yourself are being abused, or you are witnessing abuse, we all respond to trauma differently, and that response is NOT a choice. It is an autonomic nervous system response, set up and hardwired from the first few years of life.
I know you were looking to understand Gun’s owner but she is a victim here. I’ve promised her that I would encourage others to be kind and broaden understanding.
We, the fighters, may have to step in to advocate if we see a freeze or flight response.
What do you think?
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Totally agree, although the “fawn” response also needs to be included. The question then becomes how to step in? There are many who would say “none of my business” and walk on by.
When your youngster reacts to the canter transition, it may be that they are not yet fit enough to handle it on a bend, rather than the straight line, they would probable use in freedom.
Using transitions on the longe is a good way to build up the strength and coordination necessary for the transition on command.
OOPS!!! This was accidentally addressed to the wrong poster. It was meant for 4 horses. Apologies!
I really feel for the owner of this horse. It can be terribly hard to step in when you are in shock about what is happening. Kinder people have a harder time as they process thinking “Oh this is a moment that will end soon”. Owner needs lots of hugs as does her horse. I am sure the horse will recover. They are more resilient than we give them credit, especially from a one time experience. Just sad they had to go through this.
I did scratch my head a wee…!
All good!
Word from folks who were around at the time AF was in the area is that AF (AD) had very vocal supporters, and any dissent meant being howled down and evicted from the clinic. The owner had reason to be cowed - other people had been literally thrown out of clinics before, and allegedly her supporters were definitely mean and compounded the gaslighting (“you know nothing” etc).
I think by this point that I would know enough to stop abusive training on my horse. But I have witnessed questionable things like this (notably at a Western clinic I audited) where it wasn’t my horse, and certainly didn’t step up when the owner wasn’t. You really can’t get between an owner and a trainer if you are just a nobody average ammie.
Clinics can be toxic because the trainer is called to fix things fast and show a marked improvement because they are charging so much. I will not take my horse to a clinic unless I’ve already audited in person and observed the trainer carefully.
But I see all kinds of crap training at my barn over the years and I’ve learned owners don’t want to hear you badmouth their trainers so it’s very much not my monkeys, not my circus.
A long time ago I was asked by my local club if they could use my 2yo in a Gentle Horsemanship type clinic. I agreed as the clinician was world renowned and respected. In the first 10 minutes, he threw a bridle on her head and tied her head down between her knees. She flipped over backward and I stepped in and stopped the proceedings stating I would not have her treated that way. This clinician went on to tell the audience that the filly flipped because she was on Equipoise (completely a lie) and it had nothing to do with his training method. I was furious. I eventually started the filly under saddle with zero issues by being patient and kind.
100% this.
And I think the “freeze” and “fawn” responses are by far most prevalent when it comes to students (of all ages) witnessing bad behavior from trainers. The horse world in general still strongly promotes an almost god-like perception of trainers, and many many many trainers freak out if you question them in the slightest. Because a poor puny student couldn’t possibly have a clue about anything, right? Or else surely they’d be the ones charging a ridiculous amount of money for others to have the privilege of their presence.
In my 20s I surely would have had the “freeze” response. I like to think that now in my 30s I have learned how to get unfrozen and fight back. But I’ve also learned how to identify potential negative situations ahead of time and largely avoid them completely, so I haven’t been tested in a while.
