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1
Monday, March 02 2020 / Published in General

Repairing an Equine Partnership

Margie Sugarman

By Margie Sugarman

Margie Sugarman is a leading board-certified psychotherapist and sports consultant based in New York. Margie’s desire is to enhance performance through the connection between the mind and body, and her current client list includes Olympic, professional and amateur athletes across the country. Her experience employing various therapeutic modalities has helped equestrians win classics, junior medals and grand prix. Do you have a question you want Margie to answer? Send questions to editor@sidelinesnews.com.

I recently returned from a college semester abroad and my horse and I aren’t clicking the way we used to. I think he’s trying to tell me that he’s mad at me for being gone for such a long time. During a pleasure ride, he even tried to throw me, which is something he’s never done in the eight years I’ve had him. When he’s in his stall, he holds his head low with flaccid ears. He also stands in the corner with his back to the door. How can I mend our broken relationship, along with his feelings of hurt and abandonment?

Horses are highly social animals that require contact with humans or other horses for normal daily maintenance and well-being. The main goal in managing behavior problems in horses is to identify the deviation from normal equine behavior, and then correct it.

Unique to the equine species is their body language. Being social, horses communicate their intentions and emotions through both vocalization and body language. To effectively handle a horse, one needs to be able to read its body language.

Horses are easily dominated. Being a herd animal, dominance hierarchy is always established. Your horse has to respect you as the dominant one. Hopefully then, a bond forms between human and horse through shared experiences and time spent together.

Horses really are quite good at letting us know what they’re feeling. The only problem is most of us don’t speak “horse.” Consequently, we have to observe equine body language in order to translate their behaviors into human emotions.

Think about when you’re upset or depressed over something. When you’re sad, do you want to go out for a run with a friend? When you’re feeling ignored, do you sometimes hold a grudge? Horses often respond just as we do to situations.

Look at your horse’s tail.

Is it:

High? The horse is alert and excited.

Low? The horse is exhausted, in pain, depressed or submissive.

Swishing? The horse is irritated.

Held high? The horse is alarmed or being playful.

Look at your horse’s ears.

Are they:

Pricked? The horse is alert.

Airplane ears? The horse is tired or depressed.

Angled backward? The horse is attentive to the rider or listening to commands.

These are only a few examples of a horse’s body language. So let’s assume that because of your absence, your horse is depressed and a bit upset.

I’m sure you had, before your semester abroad, some rituals with your horse. Perhaps you liked to stand in his stall and rub his ears. Perhaps there was a place on his neck that you always scratched and he responded with a lowered head and eyes at half-mast. Perhaps the two of you enjoyed walking in the field together and your horse would stop to graze as you enjoyed sharing time.

These are all bonding behaviors and they become “rooted” in each of your personalities. Let’s again think of your relationships with people. Perhaps you and your best friend have some rituals to your friendship: texting everyday before school starts, watching certain shows together every week and going to get ice cream over the weekend.

If these expected behaviors suddenly were to stop, with no explanation – just stop, how would you feel? Moreover, if your friend just disappeared and didn’t return for months, how would you respond? Would you be upset and depressed? Very likely.

What would it take to reestablish the relationship? Time and energy, proof of caring and reinforcing the qualities that established the positive connection.

As long as your horse is physically healthy and nothing else is causing the change in his personality, you can find your “old” boy again.

Return to your old routine with him.

Spend a little more time on each special behavior the two of you shared.

Try to spend relaxed riding time with him and not ask for any advanced work until you start to see his personality returning. You have to regain his trust. He has to feel that you won’t disappear again.

Remember, a horse will forgive more quickly than he will forget.

With time and some extra effort on your part (and maybe a couple of big juicy carrots!), your boy will forgive you for leaving and your relationship will return to normal. In fact, it might even be stronger.

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Tagged under: margie sugarman, Sports Psychology

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Breeding season is underway at Iron Spring Farm! W Breeding season is underway at Iron Spring Farm! We're proud to offer exceptional modern Sporthorse stallions, with wonderful temperaments and quality gaits to North American breeders.
 
Among our stallions are Cum Laude and Kaiman. Cum Laude (Apache x Weltmeyer) is a winning FEI horse and sire of quality dressage horses, breed show champions, and offspring scoring 9.0s on gaits.
 
Kaiman (Dark Pleasure x Gribaldi) earned high scores at his stallion testing and in the young horse classes. He's also the sire of a Licensed Oldenburg stallion. Kaiman's first North American foal crop is arriving now and they are gorgeous!
 
If you're looking for top international bloodlines please check out our 2023 stallion collection, now available fresh, frozen, and by the dose.

Among our stallions are Cum Laude and Kaiman. Cum Laude (Apache x Weltmeyer) is a winning FEI horse and sire of quality dressage horses, breed show champions, and offspring scoring 9.0s on gaits.

Breeding season is underway at Iron Spring Farm! We're proud to offer exceptional modern Sporthorse stallions, with wonderful temperaments and quality gaits to North American breeders.

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❗️George Williams column❗️ The FEI World ❗️George Williams column❗️
The FEI World Cup Final in Omaha is coming up quickly. That means that it’s starting to heat 
up as the end of the qualifying period for both the Western European League (WEL) and the 
North American League (NAL) nears. I started to write this column before the Amsterdam CDI- W, and I was using the FEI Ranking List from January 15 as a reference. As I sit down to finish 
my column, I’m now looking at the results from Amsterdam. While the list of the top contenders 
for the WEL hasn’t changed, they’re definitely moving around on the ranking list. The WEL has 
three more legs, as they’re referred to: Neumünster February 16–19, Goteborg February 23–26, 
and ’s-Hertogenbosch March 9–12, and they could change things dramatically.
Looking at the top 12 athletes from the WEL as they were ranked on January 15, there are five 
from Germany, three from the Netherlands and one each from Great Britain, Denmark

➡️Read Georges's full column by clicking the link in our bio, and never miss an article by subscribing to Sidelines Magazine 🦄 

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Lisa Goldman-Smolen and Ivaro N strike gold in Gre Lisa Goldman-Smolen and Ivaro N strike gold in Great American $300,000 Grand Prix at HITS Ocala!! 🏆🥇

Crowds filled the stands at the HITS Ocala Grand Prix Ring on Sunday afternoon to watch the world’s top athletes compete in the Great American $300,000 Grand Prix. The day concluded with a thrilling five-horse jump-off featuring athletes 
representing four countries. In the end, it was Lisa Goldman-Smolen (USA) and Ivaro N who produced the only double clear effort of the day, claiming one of the biggest wins of her career. Scott Keach (AUS) and Noble De La Chapelle earned the second-place prize with the fastest 4-fault jump-off, while Aaron Vale (USA) and Obi Wan placed third as the day’s pathfinders.

“I'm still on cloud nine, I still can't believe it – I’ve used up all my luck for the year,” smiled Goldman-Smolen after her win. “I've been knocking on the door a long time in these bigger classes. I am so proud of my horse – he gave every ounce of effort.”

Sunday’s Great American $300,000 Grand Prix marked the conclusion of the 2023 HITS Ocala circuit. HITS CCO Joe Norick concluded, “We are so excited about the new HITS, with 2023 as the launch. New footing, many new arenas here, and a lot of our facilities across America are getting a lot of love and new footing. Our partnerships with Worldly Martin and others across America including our footing leader Bart Poles overseeing our operations – it really makes a big difference for us. Today is about Ocala and these three riders sitting next to me who supported us this entire winter. We want to be a proud destination for our exhibitors and our friends. We know we have to provide them a beautiful showplace to work from that's horseman friendly, and that's our go goal. 

Congratulations to all of the riders, horses, owners, and groom who participated in this prestigious class!!! 🎉
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It's #STUDSunday and today's featured stallion is. It's #STUDSunday and today's featured stallion is...

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Diarado-Diamant de Semilly- Chacco Blue
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