Horse Behaviourist
Improve your horse’s behaviour and deepen your bond…
Meet Shady, horse behaviourist and trainer.
He uses a holistic, natural horsemanship approach to help you:
- Understand your horse’s behaviour
- Solve problems
- Improve performance
- Speak to them in a language they understand
Throughout the years, Shady has helped a number of horses in all disciplines overcome various behaviour problems from trailer loading and phobias to ridden problems (such as rearing, bucking or napping). He has also helped horse owners improve their relationship with their horses, teaching them how to live and work alongside each other harmoniously and improve performance in all areas.
Through one-to-one horsemanship training Shady will support you to better understand your horse’s behaviour using his natural horsemanship methods, and will work with you to create a sustainable and efficient training programme that is suitable for both you, your horse, and your individual circumstances.
As a result, you will: communicate more effectively with your horse, understand their behaviour, and develop a deep, life-long bond that will improve both yours and your horse’s confidence in all areas from training and handling to riding and competing.
Shady’s Approach
When working with horses to improve or change behaviour, Shady always keeps the “Three W’s” in mind:
- What
- When
- Why
By patiently observing what your horse is doing, when they are doing it (e.g. before or after a specific event or trigger) and why they are doing it, Shady can quickly determine the nature of the problem and develop a personalised plan to help both you and your horse make adjustments that you can apply consistently to great effect.
Shady attributes his success as a horse behaviourist to his Seven Pillars training structure. Each pillar focuses on tuning in and tapping in to your horses motivations, natural instincts, and body language, as well as your own sense of self awareness to better improve communication and correct problem behaviours when they arise.
Separating The Horse From Their Behaviour
A key component of Shady’s approach lies in separating the horse from their behaviour.
This means understanding that, if an issue arises, the problem is always related to what the horse is doing, not the horse themselves.
As Shady sees it, so-called “bad behaviours” are actually a way for your horse to communicate their feelings. By separating the behaviour from the horse, and viewing it as an opportunity to improve the relationship, it is possible to work towards sustainable solutions that are beneficial for everyone involved.
In most cases, undesirable horse behaviour arises because a horse isn’t adequately prepared for what is being asked of them. These moments, whether they arise in the course of training for a competition or while doing groundwork, offer the important opportunity to learn and meet our horses’ needs in a way that deepens our bond and develops our relationship.
Learn And Apply Shady’s Approach
If you would like to learn more about Shady’s natural horsemanship approach outside of a one-to-one session, check out Shady’s online horsemanship training courses. These accessible, self-paced online courses are suitable for everyone from owners to those who simply love horses and want to learn more about training and horse behaviour.