AUDIO VERSION ATTACHED: A Better Way

Is There a Better Way?

The story that is about to unfold over the next year, began when I started doubting myself; when I lost whatever apparent ‘Magic’ I once had with horses. And in my deep dive into how to regain it, following the incident when I was outed for this loss while trying to ‘fake it’, I learned some things that forever changed how I looked at Horsecraft and the possibilities that exist between humans and horses.

These are things that I think could change the way YOU think about creating safety and connection, and a relationship of mutual benefit with YOUR horse. Incidentally, it will spill over into the rest of your life outside of the barnyard, too.

I came from the perceived pinnacle of equestrian sport, as an International 3-Day Event Rider with a knack for making hot horses happy and a decent grasp on how to motivate horses with the industry standard use of pressure and release training. And yet, I began to question everything I thought I knew, as I seemingly lost what Magic I had and witnessed others bring Horsecraft to a whole new level.

At over six feet tall and blessed with a lifetime of experience immobilizing horses for veterinary treatments, I once waltzed into the barn with all of the confidence that came with that. I knew, without having to test the theory too hard, that I could apply pressure and get compliance.

Most horses understood this implicitly. And if they understood how the world of pressure and release worked, AND they didn’t carry the explosive energy associated with the trauma of feeling trapped, they gave in. Having absorbed the lesson ‘never holler whoa in a tight spot’ since before I can remember, and with an innate ability to sooth them, I generally stayed out of trouble.

It didn’t occur to me that others couldn’t do what I did … or that there might be a better way. It was the way I knew. And it worked for me. Until it didn’t …

Yes, I used all kinds of incentives to encourage my horses to do what I wanted them to do, and when I saw they were going to do something I wanted to encourage, I would say, ‘YES!” and praise and reward them. And, because of my love of adventure and propensity for riding all over the countryside, my horses stayed out of the arena, so their training sessions were usually pretty positive.

But there was still this implicit underlying understanding in the relationship; YOU, serve ME.

I came through a ‘Make him mind!’ and ‘Show ‘em who’s boss!’ era, learned from the early settlers in the Foothills of Alberta who needed horses to work all day plowing, cutting, bailing, pulling, carrying, roping, herding – you name it, horses powered it, and my own father used them in all of these capacities. Hell, he RODE TO SCHOOL ON HIS PONY! He tells dreamy tails of local girls galloping bareback, their long black braids trailing in the wind, taking this little farm boy’s breath away!

I was also from the last generation of riders to be taught by Captains, Colonels, and Officers of their respective National mounted defense units – cavalry officers and gentlemen in tweed, with steely hearts and an underlying attitude best expressed as;

‘You have to break a few eggs, to make an omelet.’

These were tough times, both on the ranching frontier – people trying to eek out an existence in the Canadian Foothills - and Military men, trained to lead men and horses through a war-torn country and do things ‘come-hell-or-high-water’.

As Denny Emerson recently reminded me, there was a common saying at the old-fashioned long format Three Day Events;

‘You start with a sponge full of water, and at the end of cross country day – every drop should have been wrung from the sponge.’

A whole new level of ‘leave it all on the field’.

In the old days, horses often finished the cross-country phase on their last legs. I have been a part of a bucket brigade, to revive horses who collapsed in the heat. My own horse O’Reilly tied-up more than once when I asked for too much. It was what we knew. And when you add human ambition to the strict instructions we had to finish at all costs, you had riders climbing back on after MULTIPLE FALLS and finishing to their detriment, and too often, to their horse’s detriment. Some horses got ‘cooked’ and never went on to do anything else, after a major Games, but if you got emotional about it, you were told to ‘suck it up buttercup - it’s the cost of sport.’

I asked a lot of my little horses, and they paid the price in stiff, sore muscles, banged and bruised knees, creaky hocks, sore stifles, bruised feet ... and they tried so hard for me! It was a tough sport. Eventually I didn’t want to ask that much anymore.

Our mentors were tough as nails. THEY had to be. Do we?

Things have changed. Most of us (adult amateur horse lovers, that is) don’t NEED to use horses to get cattle out of the woods, rope a calf, or complete some life-or-death message-carrying mission across a war-torn country anymore. Most of us also don’t need to compete. As soon as we compete, we complicate life A LOT; human ambition and ego being what it is ...

Sure, it works for LOADS of people and more power to them. But it is a turn-off for many adult amateur horse lovers and what they are really looking for; safety and connection, and a relationship of mutual benefit. And it is THOSE folks I am speaking to. There must be a better way.

I stepped out of the horse industry over a decade ago, because nearly everywhere I went the school horses were miserable, and the average adult beginner came without the pre-requisite understanding or physicality to do what they ‘expected’ to be able to do.

As pros in the industry, we were taught tactics to create ‘compliant’ horses for the average adult to learn from and do what they thought they wanted to do with them, to make this work. After all, it is the adult amateurs of the world who are fueling the equestrian industry. So, we dumbed them down and ‘tuned them up’ and ‘bomb-proofed’ them.

And our newest, most eager horse lovers still went home feeling dissatisfied. It didn’t feel good to be a part of, but I was supposed to just suck it up and so were the horses. The model we were working with was broken – any burned out horse professional can tell you that. There had to be a better way!

And so, I began to look at what others ahead of me on the Liberty training learning curve were doing, and exploring horse-human possibilities. As I re-approached horses from my former ‘What can you do for ME?’ approach, to one of ‘What can I do for YOU?’ and a mindset of ‘ANYTHING is possible’, things began to shift.

And this shift began to take place all over the industry – a wave of conscientious Horsecraft backed by a deepened understanding of sentient communication and nervous system regulation, fueled by a deep well of compassion, is spreading across the horse world. The time is ripe for change.

So if the model is broken, and adult amateur horse lovers and horses aren’t getting what they need, what do we do? What is it that most of us need, to be around horses in a way that is mutually beneficial? And how do we model that?

And here is where I sit now, after years of research, ready to tackle the change myself and apply it with horses in my own backyard. Having been awarded a scholarship to Mustang Maddy’s 20-week Horse-Human Connection course to explore positive reinforcement and clicker training, I began looking for horses and humans to learn alongside and document this journey.

How do we integrate positive reinforcement into what is generally a pressure-and-release world for horses? What are the possibilities? Who would join me?

First came an opportunity to shelter and house 3 local miracles – a mare and her ‘surprise’ twin foals owned by a local horsewoman desperate to keep her little horse family together after nursing them through the jaws of death and out the other side, with her teenage step-daughter steadfastly by her side.

Twin foals in horses who survive are one in a million. It almost NEVER happens! I was immediately invested in their outcome and intrigued by how I could help them … but without any money to spend on aging infrastructure on the farm - gone fallow through my trials and tribulations with cancer, bankruptcy and divorce – I had to get creative.

Truth be told, although it pulled at me, I didn’t initially think I was equal to this dream. I had lost faith in myself, and become a worrier, always looking at what could go wrong, and looking for evidence of the impossibility of my dream, so I could let it go and move on to a simpler, more secure life.

Thankfully, I have friends who are visionaries and dreamers, as well as boots-on-the-ground-we’ll-help-you-get-it-done kind of people. I am truly blessed in the friends department!

So with growing trust and imagination, I fleshed out the rest of the dream that would make this a reality.

First of all, best practices dictate that this lovely mare belong to a part of a larger herd, so that she is not the only horse constantly on sentinel duty. A small herd of 5 seemed ideal, and would keep the farm quiet enough in terms of human traffic for my parents to enjoy some peace and quiet in the old age.

So who would these other two horses and their humans be?

I asked the Universe to send me the perfect horse steward to explore R+ training (positive reinforcement training including clicker training) and be a part of our 5-horse herd and living, breathing experiment. They had to be willing to sign up for the course my Dad and I are putting out, as well as Mustang Maddy's 20 week Horse-Human Connection Course, and to be a part of something that documents the evolution of Horsecraft to a level I have yet to take it - ‘A Better Way, With Horses’.The Universe delivered! Big Time! Introducing our #4 of 5 horses coming this Sept - Maverick and his human, Jessica.

Maverick is a 2.5 year old Quarter horse, bred for the kind of ranch work in the mountains that my Dad grew up knowing. He is bred by Jason and Bronwyn Irwin, from Northstar Livestock. I will let his beautiful human tell you about her journey into Horsecraft and how she came to find Maverick, in her own words.

“My riding journey started in 2006 at Knowlton Ridge. I was one of those once-a-week riders that thought they knew it all and could do anything. A few years later I experienced I couple of bad falls off a horse I really had no business riding. It was not so much fear that kept me from returning to the saddle, but trust. I returned to riding in 2018 after being encouraged to do so by my mother, who wanted me to join her on her lifelong dream of riding the Rockies. We rode and camped for 7 days. When I returned, I found a place where I could continue riding and after 3 years of leasing a wonderful paint horse, I was ready to take the plunge into horse ownership. I originally was thinking a 2-3 yr old that was ready to start might be the way to go but I had learned by this point that even a relatively young horse can still come with a lot of baggage, and I didn't think my skillset was up to the task. A foal was the next idea but who was going to trust an amateur with a foal?

I did a lot of research and I communicated with the Irwins extensively. I was drawn to their horses from the moment I started looking at their website and FB pages. Temperament is a key component of their breeding program. In August of 2021, I took a trip down with my coach and we walked through Smoke's herd of mares and foals. I picked Maverick (who they had been calling Arctic Circle due to the circular blaze he was born with) or maybe he picked me. Two weeks later, I brought him back and we've been building a solid partnership that I hope will last the next 30 years. ”

Aren’t they perfect?! :)

On top of it all, I have a production partner attached to this project and we are going full steam ahead into fundraising to make a full length documentary on the theme of finding a better way with horses … and with LIFE!

We have all the ingredients coming together, including a small group of volunteers. The final piece – horse #5 – is next. I am looking for the right racehorse owner with a suitable OTTB (off the track thoroughbred) to apply these positive reinforcement training methods with, and rehome to a new life post racing career. They are just around the corner, and I will let you know when they reveal themselves.

In the meantime, enjoy the pictures of Maverick on my Facebook page and join us on our journey here for updates.

Take a chance,

Paige, Thelma, Maverick, Jessica, Nikky, Lylah, Steve, Costar, Harley, Jetta and ??? ‘Mystery Horse’