LOVE Locke! I have been watching him since he acquired Suerno Matt’s previous horse and I AM SO happy that you got him! What an awesome trainer you are and I am hoping that more humans will take note and try these fabulous techniques to give horses the love and understanding that they deserve! ❤
This is a great conversation. I am Gen X and grew up riding and showing. I really appreciate Lockie putting things into context...because you need that when talking about horses.... I am 'middle of the road' in some respects when dealing with horses, because if I know that horse does not have a guaranteed forever home, I want them to know how to be 'good citizens' such that they don't get into a great deal of trouble in their life, and i.e. worst case get into a slaughter pipeline. Because they are going to encounter all kinds of 'speakers' in their life. People that are impulsed to get into horses/are into horses should really ask themselves what do they want to acheive/do with them...as is pointed out here...having a deep relationship with the horse is so rewarding, and this kind of thing can really be served. The agricultural context, is a different beast as he rightly points out. What this does point out is the need for the 'everyday' type trainers that want to serve the empathetic type person.
I don't know much about Lockie, but after watching about 30mins of this video I get the picture. There are a few dozen professionals selling the same message and what they have in common is a lack of understanding of our ability to alter ill feelings and hard thoughts in horses in the face of a challenge. Forgive me if I have got the wrong message, but it seems that "empathetic training" involves tip-toeing around a challenge. Every response begins with a change of thought and to change a thought requires helping a horse let go of the thought it has. Training is helping a horse make it's mind and emotions available for the new thought eg. I want my horse to turn left, it wants to turn right so first I have to help it feel safe enough to let go of the importance of the idea to turn right. Now turning left is available and weighs nothing. From what I can gather Lockie is suggesting (and others do this too) to go with the horse's idea to turn right . This may placate the emotions and keep the stress at a minimum but it is NOT training. We do the horse no favours by avoiding challenges - just like we do our kids no favours by protecting them from strife in their life. The secret is how to build focus, clarity and softness so that when our horse says NO to a question, it creates very little trouble inside our horse when ask it to give it a try. Get a CHANGE in the emotions, then the thought and the feet will follow. I repeat. We need to get a CHANGE in the emotions and thoughts NOT go with the emotions and thoughts that a horse presents. If we are to get along with a horse and be part of their life (instead of an intrusion in their life) we need to be the 51% partner where what we say helps get a change in emotions so we can direct (not drive) it's ideas. The bottom line is don't avoid trouble in a horse, (assuming it is at a manageable level) but change the trouble inside a horse first. Cheers.
Thank you thank you thank you for having Lockie Phillips on your program. I don't hear enough voices that encourage what my instincts are telling me. This was fantastic.
150 million years of brain evolution....really? This typ of speak discredited himself. Sorry not that he may not have valuable information but fiction often distracts from fact. My opinion. Thanks for Video.
