The Horse Geeks Podcast – Where we look at horses and riding from the inside out

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Topic: Horses that lean into the fight defensive strategy as a means for expressing fear, uncertainty or instability suffer the most in our horse world because they are misunderstood and often punished for this expression of fear. The fight defensiveness from our horse can manifest as pushiness, biting, kicking or extreme signs of aggression. But all of that behavior is rooted in fear. When we punish or fight with our horse in this state, we only act to escalate fear instead of reducing it and building trust. We need another strategy! Defending ourselves, holding our ground, is something that a horse understands and does not escalate fear. When we simply defend our own space from our aggressive horse, then we show our horse that we are qualified to defend the herd. Finally our horse can relax and let of the underlying fear because we have proved ourselves worthy of protecting our horse. We stand our ground or defend ourselves as a way to help restore confidence and build trust with our aggressive horse.

Guest: Deb Romero, certified Alexander Technique Instructor
www.optimalposture.org

The workbook series mentioned is only available at: https://kirstennelsen.com/shop/

Host: Kirsten Nelsen, professional horse trainer

Developer of Training for Optimal Balance
https://kirstennelsen.com/

The post Horse Geeks Episode 133: Aggressive Horses appeared first on Kirsten Nelsen.