Mistakes teach. I wanted to re-shoot this little video I made about Magneto’s progress with the saddling and unsaddling process. Then, I realized its teaching value was greater by showing the mistakes I made in this video.

Magneto has a bad trigger around saddling that is improving. When I finally realized his trigger, I gave him a year off and decided to restart him in a completely different way and even in a different location.

This time, I did the whole process loose and invited him to participate with a few treats as payment. I wanted to work totally off his will to join me in the process.

Look for the moments when I race him and do not respect his concerns. See if you can catch them. After the video, I have posted still shots where I could have moved slower, gotten present, and waited until he did not object or react by increasing his concern.

All in all, I am very pleased with his progress in getting over what was a really bad fear of being saddled. He used to shut down in a frozen state, with a completely frozen look on his face, frozen eyes, clamped in tail, and a super tense body no matter how gently one put the saddle on him. He was also scared of the bridle and the rein coming over his head. The slightest brush or noise after saddling could unglue him completely, causing him to fly into a series of bucks whether you were on the ground or in the saddle.

When I finally understood that his response was born of a deeper place than the conscious brain and that he was reacting from a set nervous system pattern to a traumatic experience around saddling, then I began to make progress as I addressed healing his nervous system instead of trying to “train” the reaction out of him.

To do this, I am careful to stay below threshold and to bring his mind back down every time it starts to come up too far. If I can keep him calm and far from a freeze response, he can begin to make new associations with being saddled, and that is what is happening. The advice to myself is to keep my focus on the horse and to slow down even more. Wait out that last bit of concern and resistence.

 Bernie and I both participated in the Mustang Summit and Equus Film Festival in Aiken, South Carolina. It was a lot of fun to hang out, watch and participate in the various programs being offered over the three days. On Saturday I gave a talk about deepening connection to your horse with the Trust Technique and Bernie's film the Lost Sea Expedition was the 7pm feature film on Saturday night. It was great to see the Lost Sea Expedition back on the big screen where it looks so beautiful. It was also a blast to meet this years group of mustangers and to watch them work with the lovely yearling mustangs they drew. All in all a really great weekend so well organized by Lisa Diersen. The best part for me about the whole event was to see how relaxed and well cared for the young mustangs were. A truly lovely event from start to finish.

Change is in the air. Fall is upon us. Autumn is a transitional season. I see the changes in physical ways, the coats growing longer on our animals, their metabolisms ramping up, the colder air that makes them frisky, the lower light in the mornings and evenings. This time is also reflexive for me as I think where we have come from this summer and where we stand now in relation to that.

Many of my equine clients have come miles due to the lovely mindfulness practice the Trust Technique offers and their dedication to helping their horses with it.

I think of Rebecca’s horse Ali, who when I first met him early this summer, stood in his stall giraffe-like in his hyper-vigilant, sleep deprived way, who has relaxed so much that the difference in appearance when one approaches his stall is so evident that it gives me goose bumps. Rebecca has been so dedicated to working with the Trust Technique with Ali that when he does still get freaked out by something in his pasture he runs to her instead of his pasture mates.

Ali has learned through Rebecca’s use of the Trust Technique that she is aware of him and his concerns and that she will help him to be calm with the things that worry him. Trauma takes a long time to fix all the way but Ali is definitely on a healing path. He is sleeping. He is eating better, and he is relaxing more and more and not always hyper-vigilant now. This is a lovely thing to witness.

To read two earlier articles about Ali’s journey click the links below.
Unfreezing Ali's Nervous System With The Trust Technique: Re-balancing The Sympathetic And Parasympathetic Branches
Two Different Vagus Nerve Responses To Longterm Trauma In Horses And How The Trust Technique Is Helping Both Horses To Re-regulate Their Nervous Systems

About a month ago I was asked to help Trayce and her borders gentle and halter train to feral horses named Izzy and Ivan, who Trayce had rescued out of a kill pen two years ago but had not done much work with besides caring for them. Read their initial story here where I present a slide show of the first work with Izzy. Building Trust With Ivan And Izzy Using The Trust Technique

Izzy and Ivan have come a long way in a very short time. Izzy now takes her halter peacefully and is starting to lead and have her legs picked up. Ivan the shyer, wilder sibling has progressed too. He is now accepting pats and is allowing people to come up to him in his pasture. We are going at just their pace and every step is full of peace and respect. I am so proud of the great job that Trayce and Dauby, Karen and Sue and the rest of the team at Renovatio Farms is doing.

Below are some pictures of the work with Izzy and Ivan and two little videos of the first work with Ivan and Izzy. Their progress speaks for itself, the dedication of their human support team and the effectiveness of the Trust Technique approach.

I was recently asked to help with two feral Clydesdale-TB cross siblings, Izzy and Ivan, who have not been fully gentled. The mare, Izzy, is a five-year-old. She has been haltered a few times in the past (not consistently) and has been led a few times. The gelding, Ivan, six, has only been handled when he was gelded and when he was shipped with Izzy from the Bowie Kill pen in Texas, where they were found facing slaughter two years ago. Trayce rescued them.
 
Trayce is a busy woman with a full-time business running a boarding barn, training horses, and teaching clients. She also had health issues that required medical attention when she took Ivan and Izzy on. For that reason, the two have not had much handling but have otherwise been well taken care of. They need to be gentled so that they can get their shots and have their hooves trimmed. So far, they have been lucky that their hooves have worn down enough on the surface of their paddock not to need trimming.
 
My work with Ivan and Izzy will be to teach Trayce and some of her boarders, who have volunteered to help, how to work with Ivan and Izzy using the Trust Technique to get them used to being handled, haltered, lead and worked with.

I notice the light is changing. The ponies and mules are shedding again and getting ready to start growing their winter coats. The summer is moving on. We are in mid August. I wanted to reflect on the wonderful summer we had on and off the farm in a little photo essay. I like every now and then to slow down enough to appreciate the beauty of living here and the enjoyment we get from this life together with animals and friends. What's more beautiful than a fresh peony in a glass jar? What more poetic than the Strawberry moon in a cloudless indigo sky? What more cozy than a couch shared with animals?

Co-regulation is a way for a horse owner to help support a horse who is nervous about his environment or situation or to help a horse who is stuck in a long-term response to trauma. To co-regulate in a calming way with a horse who is nervous or traumatized, an owner or caregiver pays close attention to the shifting emotional and physiological cues of the horse while also regulating their own emotional state.

The caregiver must be attuned to the moment-to-moment regulatory needs of the horse as it reacts to its environment. This means that the caregiver will not only pick up on the horse’s emotional state and energy level but will also match it and, when appropriate, help to down-regulate the horse’s emotional state by bringing down their own thinking levels, thus inviting the horse to calm down with them.

The Trust Technique provides a beautiful set of tools to help co-regulate a nervous horse. The Trust Technique practitioner oscillates between holding a space in the present moment and mindfully regarding the horse. Below is a photo essay of me assisting a horse named Eli with the Trust Technique. Eli goes from anxious to calm in a brand new environment in which he has just arrived as heavy rain pelts the metal roof of the shed we are standing in.

The last photo in the series shows the difference in Eli as his owner is being taught how to help him using the Trust Technique. The feeling is almost always stronger when the owner or regular caregiver is doing the co-regulation, as the horse already has a certain level of trust and connection built up with them.

To learn more about the Trust Technique and the services I offer, please visit my website: www.consideringanimals.com/the-trust-technique.html

Also, there is a wonderful free video series called the Messages Of Trust, which can be watched for free at the Trust Technique’s home website: https://trust-technique.com/product/messages-of-trust/tt/316/

A big, big thank you to Nancy and Bill Sluys who hosted me at their beautiful Triple C Ranch over the weekend of July 20th and 21st. It was so interesting and exciting to be able to help each participant and their equine with the Trust Technique. Many have expressed an interest that I return to that area of Va., so I will keep you posted of further dates for Trust Technique sessions to be conducted at the Triple C Ranch, near Independence, Va.
Below are some photos from the weekend at Triple C Ranch.

When I am off to a new Trust Technique consultation, I never know what to expect. The caller, a nice, woman named Rebecca explained that she would be interested in my help with her new, six year old horse, Ali. She was hoping I could help her settle him a bit more and help them improve their connection. She wanted him to be her next dressage partner. She described him as flighty, unsettled, sometimes running from something as benign as a leaf.

She explained that she had started all her horses and wished to do one more. She had bought Ali unbacked from the farm he was born and raised on. He is a Frisian Arab cross. He was shown in halter classes and had done well. Rebecca explained that he had been almost exclusively kept indoors in a stall and turned out in an enclosed arena. She suspected his flighty behavior was due to his breeding with the Arab blood and also the fact that he had not yet in his life seen very much.

Ali was offered to Rebecca at a price she could not refuse. She liked his underlying personality, which seemed playful and friendly, so she bought him as an unbacked six year old in November of 2023. She arranged for him to go straight from the farm she purchased him from to a trainer she admires and his assistant. She left him there for three months, and they did some groundwork with him. Rebecca flew out a couple of times to work with the trainer and Ali. On the last visit she backed him, and she was able to put on the first couple of rides. He seemed to take the riding in stride and never offered a buck. He still hasn’t.

In March, he was shipped to her farm. She has been riding him since and was just beginning to canter him. She told me sometimes he was starting to get stubborn and was being cheeky and kicking out when she was asking for the canter. She also told me he was a bit underweight, did not eat great, had trouble getting fit, had loose stools, and was having a difficult time building muscle and getting a nice top line.

Her biggest complaint, however, was his spookiness and their connection. She felt that when he got nervous about something, he disconnected from her. Being a large horse, this was a scary feeling. He could run her over on the ground or perhaps take off with her under saddle, although he never had.

It was early June when I first went to see Ali and Rebecca. I met Rebecca first outside the stable. She seemed calm and friendly, and she had a bunch of large, sweet-natured dogs around her. She immediately did not strike me as the kind of high thinker who would make her animals on edge and nervous. The dogs were friendly and comfortable with people.

I walked into the very clean, well ventilated stable, with a bunch of ceiling fans whirring. I saw two calm horses at rest in their stalls on the right side of the aisle, back hooves cocked, lower lips dipping with relaxation. At the end of the aisle on the left side, I saw Ali.

His head was held high towards the ceiling like a giraffe. His ears were flipped around backward. He had a frozen wide open eye with a heavy V-shaped crease above it. His fascia was pulled so tight he looked shrink-wrapped, and there were dents in his neck, muzzle, and flanks where everything on his body had been pulled in so tight from stress. Here was a horse whose nervous system response seemed to be stuck in a perpetual fear response. When I walked into his stall and stood next to him for the first time, my body felt like it had been given a massive shot of caffeine. I was picking up on his nervous energy.

He circled. He raised his head to its maximum limit. He stared with flipped back ears and tense body into space. Sometimes, he circled and looked out the window with pricked ears and a nervous expression as if something out beyond the window was of concern. Sometimes, he would come back to himself and lower his head with a friendly sniff of acknowledgment. His eyes would blink a little, but then he would return quickly to his wide-opened eyed stare and high neck. He was disassociating from us, his environment, and himself. His nervous system was locked in a sympathetic freeze response, not unlike a human suffering from PTSD. Because he had been operating from this sympathetically dominated, autonomic response for some time, his fascia and muscles were contracted. No doubt his heart rate was higher than it should be. I could feel this in my own body when I stood beside him.

I knew the Trust Technique could help Ali. It is a wonderful mindfulness method that helps an animal reset its nervous system. It works on the relationship between the owner and their animal, recognizing the feeling relationship. It understands that people and animals share feelings, and it provides a tool for the owner to take responsibility for the shared feeling and bring their own mind down to a peaceful state where their nervous system switches into a parasympathetic response (also known as the rest and digest state), with lowered heart rate and blood pressure.

They can then share this feeling with their animal at the animal’s own pace. To share a peaceful space with an animal at their own pace means that the human must listen with eyes and ears and feel why the animal can not be peaceful.

By doing this type of “listening,” which we call mindful regard in the Trust Technique, we can make an animal feel seen, felt, and understood. This feeling makes them feel secure, and through this work of alternating between the peaceful state and listening at precise times, they gain confidence in their surroundings, in their owners, and most importantly, in themselves.

As a daily practice between an owner and their animal, it really promotes trust and confidence and leads to a much deeper connection. It also restores the nervous system to a better state where there is more heart rate variability, which means the horse can increase heart rate when under a true threat but also slow it back down into a rest and digest state as soon as the threat has passed. When the nervous system is working properly, the horse can dump his stress and relax, which means the fascia, muscles, nerves, and organs can also relax.

When a horse is in a panic or stuck in the past from a traumatic experience, they have real trouble evaluating what is authentic and, therefore, can not learn new things or reevaluate their situation. They can become stuck in an automatic fear response (sympathetic, freeze, autonomic nervous system response) when nothing that is fearful is happening to them in the moment. To help horses like this, we need to bring their minds down enough so that they can understand that, in the moment, they are fine, and then they can start to rewire their brain and nervous system to respond differently. It’s like rebooting them. Over time, the nervous system heals as they gain back their confidence in themselves, their surroundings, and in the person who has helped them to be less afraid.

Since peace and unpeace can not be in the same place, most horses who have not suffered any traumatic experiences will go through a fairly typical process when unloading their unpeace with the Trust Technique. They will first lick and sometimes chew a little. That’s a sign they are picking up on the feeling of peace being offered. Then, as the unpeace comes to the surface, they may scratch (they often get itchy), move around, paw, try to mouth things, nip, and pin their ears. Eventually, when they are ready, their heads will lower, their eyes will start to close, male horses will dangle their penis from the sheath, and all of them yawn as the feeling of peace starts to influence their nervous system, and they release the tension they are holding on to (parasympathetic, rest and digest, autonomic nervous system response).

Not Ali. When I offered Ali the feeling of peace, he circled his stall once or twice, sniffed me, and the camera Bernie was filming him through the stall with. He then stared at something in the distance out his stall window that worried him. He moved as far away from the window as possible, licked and chewed a little, and fell sound asleep with his head still high in the air and his eyes frozen wide open. He kept ahold of all his tension except his lower lip, which drooped. You could tell by his breathing and the expressions that came across his face that he was in a dream state.

He stayed just like this for close to 10 minutes but came out of it when I whispered to Rebecca to watch Ali’s face. I wanted her to see his expression, which was reacting to something unpleasant he was reliving from his past. He woke and did an enormous whole-body stretch and went right back to dreaming, with open eyes, a high head position, and still a ton of tension throughout his body and face.

At that moment, I realized that he was totally sleep-deprived, that the sympathetic branch of his nervous system was stuck on like a seized-up emergency brake, that he had also activated his parasympathetic branch, and that he was responding to the feeling I was offering by falling asleep and relaxing his lower lip. His upper lip was still pulled in very tight against his upper teeth.

In the Trust Technique, we judge thinking levels (relaxation) on a scale from zero to ten. A zero is a complete dreamlike state; a one is a head-lowering, eyes-going sleepy state; a five is alert but neutral, a good learning state and a 10 is a full-on panic.

Ali was on two levels at the same time, both a 0 and an 8. His mind was in a dream state (rest and digest), but his body was still stuck in a state of high vigilance. With a horse caught like this between states, one must be very careful not to startle them. The body is already in a high fight-or-flight state, so if they were to wake up suddenly, they could become very reactive.

I watched Ali sleep for quite a while longer, alternating between offering more of the peaceful feeling and observing the tension in his body and the expressions crossing his face. Eventually, he shifted a little, his head got a little lower, and he did some more licking, all good signs that he was coming a little more out of his freeze response.

I taught Rebecca how to deliver the feeling of peace to Ali and how to mindfully regard him so that she could keep working with him for the next couple of weeks to lower his thinking levels and start the work to restore his nervous system. I advised her to work with him during a quiet time of his day when the horses were usually resting. I suggested she start in a place where there was not a lot of extra stimulus, like his stall.

I explained that Ali needs daily work of the Trust Technique like a person under severe stress can be helped by a daily meditation practice. Ali needs to decompress, and the Trust Technique can help him do that. I explained that Ali reacts like he is living in a haunted house; he is so tightly wound that the littlest things can make him jump and overreact. I explained that his nervous system was so stuck in a sympathetic state that he couldn’t sleep because he had too much adrenaline running through his system.

I explained that he does not eat well because, in this state, he does not even feel hungry and that he can’t get fit because there is no room for his lungs to breathe. Most of all, Ali needed to feel relaxed enough to be able to sleep. Since his arrival at her farm, Rebecca had never seen him lying down or any signs that he had, and this is what I suspected.

We made a plan for Rebecca to work with Ali, practicing the Trust Technique every day, and I would return in two weeks to see where things were.

I checked in with Rebecca after the first week had passed. Ali was eating better. He had normal poops in his stall, which he had not before, and she had a feeling that he was a little calmer overall. There was still no sign that he was lying down to sleep.

At the end of two weeks, I returned to see Ali. I walked into Rebecca’s barn and could tell the moment I saw Ali that things were going well with their practice. His eyes were moving around a lot more in his head, and his face no longer looked frozen. His neck was being carried a little lower, and some of the dents in his neck and muzzle had gotten shallower.

Rebecca told me that, indeed, things were going better. He had been yawning a lot when they were doing the Trust Technique. He was, however, still going into the wide-eyed trance when they were doing the Trust Technique. He was also eating better and seemed calmer in his stall overall. Still, there was no sign that he was lying down.

I watched Ali and Rebecca practicing the Trust Technique in Ali’s stall, then suggested I work with him in the aisle of the barn for a while. There would be slightly more stimulus, and we could start to carry the feeling of peace and regard out into a new area to help Ali get more comfortable in his surroundings.

Upon working in the aisle of the barn with Ali, I became aware of the fact that Ali wished to be moved into the stall next to the alpha horse instead of his own, which was alone and separated by the aisle. He kept staring into the stall while I worked with him. I remembered that James French, the founder of the Trust Technique, had told us that when in regard the information from the horse’s behavior always means something. I knew right away that the message Ali was sending me was that he would be able to be a whole lot more peaceful if he could live in this stall next to the alpha horse. Perhaps he would finally lay down and sleep.

I asked Rebecca if she would consider switching Ali and the horse that occupied that stall. She said that would be fine with her if I thought it would help Ali. Upon the exchange of this request, Ali started giving off the biggest yawn releases I’d seen him do. Two days later, I received an excited text that Ali had hay in his tail, and Rebecca suspected he’d lay down to sleep. The news after a week was that he was definitely making progress.

After two weeks, the news from Rebecca was that he was getting frisky when she was trying to lead him out to the pasture. I told her that was wonderful news even if it seemed worse to her, as this was his system starting to unfreeze and feel. He was getting sleep. He was eating better. He was likely going to be more of a handful for a while as his nervous system was waking back up and unfreezing. He was going to probably get more energetic and expressive before he could become peaceful and calm.
Each time I have seen Ali, he has been doing better and better. It is such a joy to see him mending. Over time, I have learned more of his story. I learned that he had really not been exposed to anything as a youngster, and when the old owners needed to show him or control him, they had done it with drugs, which probably scared and confused him and did not allow his nervous system to develop properly.

I pictured how it must have been for him to leave his original farm alone and off the drugs that had sedated him before when things were new. He had not learned any coping skills. Taken away from the horses and everything he knew. He spent a few months at one farm without really settling in, then off to another, with no other familiar horse friends to help him control his fears. I can now totally understand why he had become so spooky, sleep deprived, and insecure, with a body and brain so full of tension. It is a testament to his kind spirit that he held all this tension inside him instead of really exploding and hurting people.

I am so glad that Rebecca found me and that Ali and Rebecca have been able to practice the Trust Technique. Ali will heal, and a beautiful bond of trust, confidence, and connection will be built between them. With each visit, I see more healing.

Update: Sold out!
The Trust Technique sessions for this weekend in Virginia have almost sold out with three weeks to go before the dates. If you want the last slot grab it quick. The remaining slot is July 20th at 2:30pm.

In this article, I discuss the presentation of old fear and trauma that is stuck in the memory and body of one of the mules I was asked to help with the Trust Technique. This post is a continuation of the Fear Series (Click Here) from my Trust Technique sessions during Leatherwood Mule Days.

Cowboy is a 14-hand, 5-year-old black mule with a sweet face. It is obvious to me that his owner, Christy, adores him. When I ask her how I can help her with him, she tells me she would like my help teaching her how to help him overcome his traumatic past. She explains to me that when he gets frightened, she can't reach him. She feels disconnected from him, and nothing she does can soothe him in the moment.

I tell her the Trust Technique can help. I ask her to give me his history, and she does. He was started well, slowly and kindly. At three years old, he was sold to a man who took him on a 30-mile pack trip in the mountains. He got terrible rubs and soreness from ill-fitting gear and more work than his young body was ready for.

While still sore from this trip, the packer's young son tried to ride him. Cowboy came unglued from nobody noticing he was in pain, and threw the child off his back, badly hurting the child. The owner and his wife wanted to shoot Cowboy on the spot but decided teaching him a lesson by tying him up, starving him and restricting water for five days was a better idea. After that they sold him.

A mule dealer bought him and put some weight back on him, then sold him on to Christy, who has had him for a year and a half. She says his past makes her sad and almost physically sick to her stomach when she thinks about it. She'd almost bought Cowboy when his breeder had initially offered him for sale. She wishes she had, as it would have saved Cowboy the horror he went through.

I am watching Cowboy while Christy is telling me his sad tale. I see him getting more anxious, licking, walking around his stall and breathing harder than he should be. He is picking up the feeling of his past from Christy's emotions as she tells me his tale. I used not to understand the extent to which animals and humans share feelings, but now, with all the experience I have gained helping animals and their owners with the Trust Technique, I am very aware that Cowboy's reactions are coming directly from Christy sharing his past with me.

I ask Christy for a chance to work with Cowboy on a rope so I can get a sense of what he's feeling. She puts a halter and a rope on Cowboy. I can see growing concern in his face and body as I enter the stall. His eyes widen and move less. His head raises, and his neck stiffens. There is a lot of tension in his whole body. I can feel his heart racing in my own heart. After working with the Trust Technique for several years, I now strongly feel the animal's reaction in my own body. I always did but I did not stop to recognize that the nervous system response is not my own but the animal's. His nervousness is now palpable to me.

I think of what must be racing through this mule's head—a stranger entering his space in an unfamiliar environment. At one time he lived a good life with his mule buddies on the ranch where he was born. At two and a half years old, he was taken away from there, brought to a new ranch where he knew no one, and was not treated well, hurt, ignored and then abused. Then, on to another ranch, and when things were adjusting for him a bit and he was making friends, he was moved again. He is now with Christy, and things are good, but here he is in a new place with a stranger in his space. He must wonder what is to happen to him next. He has only past experiences to draw from. Is he about to be moved? Is another round of traumatic events about to start? The mule has no way of knowing and little trust that things will be alright.

As I near Cowboy, I stop for a moment when I see the first increase in his nervousness. I get present and wait for a moment to finish my approach. Christy hands me the rope. I stand very still next to his side and watch him. I see his unease. I see tension in his neck and back. I see his wide, barely blinking eyes. I can feel my heart and his heart beating faster than normal.

I still my mind and offer Cowboy a feeling of peace. Christy leaves the stall, and I stand next to Cowboy. He starts to relax a bit, but then he grows concerned about a noise from outside the stall. He raises his head, points his ears toward the noise and stares. New tension enters his body. I come out of the present moment and regard him. He begins to move. I let him but hold on to the end of the rope. He pulls against me as he circles the stall. I do not pull on him. He stops. His body and mind relax a bit. I offer him the feeling of the present moment again. He relaxes some again, and then a new concern arises. This time he feels a need to check out something in the corner of the stall he is standing in. I come out of the present moment and walk to the corner with him. I regard him as he sniffs the wall. When he relaxes a little I again offer him the feeling of peace through being present.

Cowboy eventually realizes that I am seeing him, feeling his concerns and understanding his needs. I am opening back up a channel of communication that he has given up on with humans. Even those who love him miss the subtle signs. Through my work with the Trust Technique, I can help Christy to open this channel back up with Cowboy so that she can let him know that she sees, feels and understands him and that she will help him not to feel scared when he needs her to. In this way, they will build their connection and confidence, and Cowboy will be able to relax more in his life.

Christy will learn the importance of regarding Cowboy's unpeace. Just listening to him without judgement. She will also learn the importance of holding the space of true peace which is the present moment with out giving into feelings of feeling sorry for him, which can amplify his traumatized state instead of healing it.

Christy told me she had had a chiropractor work on him. The chiropractor said Cowboy was tight everywhere, worked on his body to release some tension, and prescribed a supplement of calming herbs.

Cowboy is tight because his nervous system is stuck in a sympathetic (fight/flight) pattern from all the trauma in his past. He lives scared. To have someone really see and understand his concerns and then be able to offer him a feeling of real peace is the fix. This will allow him to calm his mind and reevaluate that in the present moment, all is well. Instead of automatically reacting in a sympathetic pattern he will be able to generate new and authentic responses to his environment. When he is not sure about something he will know that he can tune into Christy to help him. While the calming herbs and chiropractic appointments will help, the real fix is the work of the Trust Technique.

If I were to die tomorrow these would be the words I would have wished to share. The following is the most important thing I know and have to offer others. We all want to build and grow our connection to others yet we often feel as if we are failing at it or not sure how to do this.

With our animals it is often a lot worse and though we love them we sometimes wonder if they are connected to us, or we marvel at the connection others seem to have with animals. Frustratingly sometimes we see a person working with one of our own animals and it seems immediately more connected to them than to us. We assume the person who has this connection power has a special innate gift. Something they are born with and not something you can learn and with effort, practice, and do just as well.

I am here to explain what is important in building and growing connection, no matter if it is with another human or animal. All of us including animals seek in a friendship two things, one, a feeling of comfort and safety, and two, to be well seen, felt and understood. If we feel these things from another being and we respond in kind a deep connection to one another will blossom and grow.

Good points, and all true, but we must slow way down and take this apart to really get at the essence of what it means. How does one present a feeling of comfort and security to another? The answer is, the same way as they would to themselves, by having a calm mind, one void of worries about the future or bad memories from past experience. A mind focused in the present moment, the hear and now in both space and time.

It is work to cultivate this mental state but it can be done with a number of forms of meditation and practice. It’s not just a nice state to work with an animal in, but a vital state in building the connection, because the animal picks up on your feeling state and it can not be faked. So to offer a feeling of well being and security to an animal you have to be in that state yourself.

The second part is the listening, the letting the animal know that you see, feel and understand them. We’ve all probably heard this a lot recently, this is getting to be buzz word stuff, but again, what does it really mean?

It means to be in that present state and really paying attention to what you are seeing. To understand that the horse that lifts his hind leg at you when you go to fly spray his flanks is not “being bad” he is responding perhaps to being sprayed with a cold liquid in a sensitive area. If you were attentive, you might notice that his whole body draws in and tightens up before he lifts the leg in warning. Think how you would react without words to someone spraying you with a cold substance. It means that the horse who has a desire to run and buck when ridden in the ring may be responding to most of his life in a stall alone. How did you feel during COVID? He is after all a herd animal designed to run on large plains and live among other horses. He never did dwell in a cave. It means that the dog who won’t get in the car is not bad but feels sick by the motion.

Animals have been trying to tell you things. The brushing feels too hard. The pavement burnt their feet and they no longer like going for a walk. They have been bought and sold so much they are afraid of getting on the trailer for fear they will not be returning to their herd mates and home. We do know animals feel these things yet we ghost them so much without meaning to.

Learn to pay attention to what your animal is telling you on the micro level. This is so important to them. See that there are legitimate reasons for their anxieties and their “nos” to your questions. Understand that their acting out is an expression of not being seen, heard, felt or understood.

Listening on a deep level will make your animal feel so much better. They will learn that they can trust you to understand them and their concerns. This will grow the bond and the connection. Some might pejoratively call this getting soft, but when a horse is soft for you he is in a flow state with you, and therefore you are soft as well. Softness is a flow state. It does not force. It works in the present moment in a state of mutual cooperation. This is the ultimate goal of a human- animal partnership. Let's move towards softness with our animals.

About the sticky ant that brought this article into being. Lately, I have been growing even more, my practice of awareness, present moment and attention to what animals are telling me. I walked by a plate of sugar water that had been put out for the honey bees. The water was almost gone and had been drying in the sun so the last bit of sweet water was like a thick syrup. There was an ant in the middle of the syrup all crumpled up. I saw him make a slow little wiggle barely being able to raise a leg out of the sticky syrup.

Old me might have gone on by, not noticing hm and his plight, but the new me saw that the little wave of his leg was a struggle for survival. A plea to stay in life a little longer. I was paying attention. Could I help the ant to live? I got a little stick and fished him out. He did not grab the stick but rather instead just stuck to it. He was crumpled up and all stuck together. He barely had any energy left to move or to fight for life. I almost just gave up then but then the thought occurred. Could I perhaps rinse him off with a drop of water? It worked. Attention is the key to life and connection. Aim for ultimate softness

The plan was to teach Malachi and Shannon how to share the present moment feeling with each other and to teach Shannon how to do this at Malachi’s pace using Mindful Regard in a comfortable space. Once Malachi and Shannon get used to going in to the present moment together, they can start to do this work together in situations and places that are a little more stressful. Overtime this practice will teach Malachi to self-regulate his nervous system appropriately in situations that are new to him or that might scare him a bit. He will also be building a stronger connection to Shannon as he will be aware that she is the one listening to him and helping him to adjust to new circumstances and experiences.

This means instead of immediately switching in to a high thinking panic state Malachi will have a lower default thinking level and will be able to judge his situation better when something scares him. He will also instead of turning “woody” out of panic, he will tune in to Shannon because they have built a connection where by Shannon being present will be able to help Malachi to calm down and feel safe.

Despite Malachi only arriving the day before our session we were able to bring Malachi’s thinking levels down from a starting point of about 5 (calm alert state) to a 0 (fully asleep) while working with him in his borrowed stall. If Shannon works regularly with Malachi, first at their home and then later in new places, he will become a really adjusted and chill mule even in new situations and when stall buddies can not be right next door. He will also know to look to Shannon when he gets scared instead of becoming “woody” and unresponsive from fear as their connection and trust in one another will really grow and deepen.

Pickle was a mighty fine chap. I had a lot of good times with him. Sadly, he had to be put down at his retirement farm in Va on May 10th 2024 from complications due to laminitis. He was living these past four years on a beautiful farm in a herd of retired horses. He palled up there with a horse named Sarah who had also belonged to me even though they did not meet until they were both retired  in Va. Pickle was rescued out of a kill pen and had once been starved. It was nice that his life became one of love and richness but unfortunate that excess had to be his undoing, although many tried their very best to keep him fit and healthy. He will be missed. He was well loved.

This week I have been at Leatherwood Mule Days visiting with people and their mules. I have been doing individual Trust Technique sessions with mules and their owners. It has been really interesting finding out what's on the brains and hearts of some of these mules and their owners and being able to help them find peace together in their partnerships. I am planning to write a post about this experience when Mule Days comes to an end on Saturday. For now I will just note an overall feeling I am having about the will of these mules to try hard and to be OK in their lives and for their people and the will of the people to love and want to help their mules.

The Trust Technique Sessions for Leatherwood Mule Days have sold out but if you did not get to book an appointment with me for a Trust Technique Session. I do offer Zoom appointments anywhere and appointments in person within an hour of Lenoir. Appointments over 30 min away have a $50.00 farm call fee. Find out more here.

I was touched that Bernie Harberts, my husband, wanted to write a little piece about how the Trust Technique had helped him develop a deeper and better connection with his mule Brick. Bernie and Brick know each other well. They have spent 7 months on the road traveling and camping out together on their way to Idaho from our farm in North Carolina. Cracker, another of Bernie's mules also went on this voyage but it was Brick that seemed to hold a little funny edge with Bernie after the trip. There was a little glitch in their relationship which was preventing a stronger connection. Click here to link to Bernie's blog post on his Riverearth website.

For more about the Trust Technique and my services click here.

Dogs relaxed as Bernie finishes putting the horses in the field. We were not sure this day would ever come.

 I will be on Today's Horsewoman podcast having a chat with Rose Cushing about the Trust Technique and why I chose to become an equine practitioner of it. It was a very enjoyable interview. I will let you know when it comes out and post the link.

I will be offering one on one sessions of the Trust Technique during Leatherwood Mule Days in Ferguson, NC. I always love attending this mule days, and getting to spend time teaching people and their mules about the Trust Technique will make it extra fun this year.

I recently got a promotional email from Warwick Schiller containing an article about desensitizing horses called A Polyvagle View of Desensitising. (Horse Deals magazine in May 2022.) www.horsedeals.com.au/news/a-polyvagal-view-on-desensitising-with-warwick-schiller

The article was a great description of the mammalian autonomic nervous system, how it functions, and what happens to it in horses during an evolution of approaches to desensitizing them. The first approach is the old-school way of snubbing them down and sacking them out, which causes them to switch on their sympathetic nervous system response and freeze because they can not flee or fight. This kind of training causes shutdown horses or ones who become problem horses because they can no longer normally regulate their nervous systems.

The last example in his article is his most current and refined method, which he sees as noticing the littlest changes in the horse’s expression (eye blinking rate, ear position or head position) as the flag approaches them and then pausing the minimal pressure he has applied with the flag until the horse shows even the tiniest sign of relaxation, he then removes the flag (pressure). While doing this, he holds the horse on a loose lead, allowing it to move if needed. In this case, he feels he keeps a horse well under threshold where they can train their nervous system to be able to regulate the little bit of stress he has created and also stay soft enough in their mind to notice that Warwick is profoundly aware of them and can remove the pressure for them once they have started to relax.

The Pressure Box

Warwick sees this last method not so much as desensitization but rather as the horse building trust and interest in connecting with him. Warwick is aware of the horse’s concern and has helped him to overcome it by noting his concern and then removing the pressure as soon as the horse has relaxed a tiny bit to the presented pressure. He says the whole demonstration is so subtle people think he’s doing nothing but see that the horse is becoming visibly more relaxed. This last method that Warwick describes is the one he has found works best for him. He describes it as being about the connection, not the desensitization, as a connected horse will tune into you when something scares him. Connection is far better than desensitization.

However, even with this effective and refined method of “helping” a horse gain trust and confidence, Warwick is still working in the traditional box of pressure and release when interacting with the horse. Warwick has to create a concern for the horse to react to. He applies pressure with the flag, though very minimal, and the horse responds subtly. Warwick notices immediately, stops the pressure, and the horse begins to relax again; Warwick notices right away and removes the flag (pressure).

The Trust Technique: The New No Pressure Box

There is, however, another box, a whole new way in which no pressure has to be applied to the horse to deepen the connection, one in which we can offer the horse a down-regulation (lowering) to its nervous system through a form of mindfulness instead of having to apply pressure to create an up-regulation (raising) to then regain a down-regulation. Through the Trust Technique, we can offer horses a sense of calm and then listen to them to understand and become aware of what is bothering them in the moment, thus being able to help them let go of their concerns and find their peace.

For example, with the Trust Technique, instead of having to wave a flag to create a worry that we can then help the horse get over, we can work with the horse to help him feel calm by entering a meditative state and then regarding him as he goes through a process of letting go of his worry. We can just be there to be aware of what is genuinely causing him his unpeace and then we can offer him the space to become peaceful. This method creates a true sense of connection and builds a durable bond of trust between the horse and the human. The Trust Technique looks even more like nothing is being done by the practitioner as it often appears the practitioner is just standing by the horse with a big loop in the lead rope. Still, the results are evident, as seen by watching the horse move into a peaceful state.

The Trust Technique is built on two main principles. The first is that people and animals share feelings. Second, all mammals’ perception of things and situations is affected by their thinking levels. Thus, if one is in a panicked state, one can not be open to experience, whereas if one is in a calm state, one can be open, curious and capable of learning new things. Since people and animals share feelings, the state of the human mind is also very important in the partnership with animals. The Trust Technique helps people learn to take responsibility for their relationship with their animal, in this case, their horse, by lowering their thinking levels first. Since these feelings are shared, this, in turn, reduces the horse’s thinking levels as well.

The Trust Technique is a very effective method of reducing the thinking levels of both the horse and the human to promote trust and confidence not only for the horse but for the human as well. James French and Shelly Slingo founded it. As I have already described, the Trust Technique does not use pressure. It works by lowering the nervous system. It offers tools for doing this. It presents a way to let the horse know you are aware of him. It is a healing tool that can help a horse or any other mammal let go of their genuine stressors. This way offers true mental and physical help for the horse as it meets him where he is and helps him to become peaceful. To learn more about the Trust Technique, here is a link to The Trust Technique website: https://trust-technique.com/product/messages-of-trust/tt/316/. To learn more about me and the Trust Technique services I offer as a practitioner, visit my webpage: www.consideringanimals.com/the-trust-technique.html. For a more in depth article on the Trust Technique follow this link: https://www.consideringanimals.com/saddle-under-the-stars/the-trust-technique-a-simple-and-effective-way-to-build-trust-confidence-and-connection-with-animals.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays of all kinds. This is a reflection of our year here on our farm, looking back. Enjoy this year in reverse.