Big Blend Radio

Christy Wood - Equine Energy and Emotions

It's all about how to read and understand your horse's energy and emotions on this episode of Big Blend Radio's "ABC's of Horses" equestrian podcast with Christy Wood.

Christy Wood is a World Champion horse trainer, also exhibiting in jumping and trail. She is a winner in extreme trail obstacle challenges, and is a carded horse show judge with 7 breed associations. Along with being an author and instructor, she is the owner of Wood N Horse Training Stables in Three Rivers, California. Learn more about Christy, her equine services, and her books, at: https://wdnhorse.com/

The "ABC's of Horses" Podcast with Christy Wood airs every 2nd Saturday. Listen to the latest episodes here: https://abcs-horses-christywood.podbean.com/

This episode is also featured on Big Blend Radio's "Pet Connection," and "Nature Connection" podcast channels.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Duration:: 45m
Broadcast on:: 14 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Welcome to the ABCs of Horses, a big blended radio podcast featuring Kristi Wood, a world champion horse trainer, a carted horse show judge, an equestrian expert, and an author. Welcome everybody. Today on our ABCs of Horses, we are going to be talking about E, energies, well, energies. I can say energies because energy is not just one thing, but energy and emotions, how to read them, whether it's yourself or the horse. And so Kristi Wood is back on the show. Kristi, this is your show, so welcome. How are you? Well, thank you and welcome to all of our listeners again. Yes, so energies, I say energies, that's kind of interesting as I introduce that, we're supposed to say energy and emotions, but energies actually use interesting because we have different energies that we could be happy, we could be sad, we could be angry. All of that, when we go to our horse, can they pick that up? Oh, of course they can. They're going to reflect what you are. So the horse is going to be a mirror to your energy or your mood that day. And so obviously the calmer you are, the calmer your horse will stay. And the more alert and traumatized and nervous and fluttery around that you are, it's just going to get your horse all wound up and wonder what's going on. Well, also, what if like you may be stressed out and maybe not being flamboyant about it, basically, and like waving your arms like I'm so stressed out, I'm freaked out, you know, oh my gosh, but you could have it internal. What I've noticed with animals in the past is that they actually picked that up anyway, no matter what. Yes, they will. They will. So that's why you need to take control of that. I've always had a really fun saying that I've told my show students before they go into the arena, and I've told them it's okay to have butterflies as long as you train them to fly in formation. Yeah, so I don't do that when you yeah, I mean, that's the thing. And what about a horse's emotions and energy? We should pick that up, right? We should, but let's just go back real quick just before we start to go get our horse out of the paddock and say if you're that tense, if you're that tense that day, and you just can't forget something that happened at work or person that cut you off driving your car and you're just mad and you're angry at the world, you know what? Turn around and go see your horse another day. Take a day off for the horse. Your horse doesn't deserve that because he won't understand it. Or you go down instead of just it instead of getting your horse out and struggling with brushing and and getting worried and worked up even more. Take a chair to sit down outside that paddock and appreciate that you have that horse to go look at and just calm yourself by enjoying the beauty of what that horse is doing out in his paddock on his own. And I'll bet you that horse is going to walk up to you and kind of wonder are you okay? You need to calm down today and they're going to come over and actually console you. So it's it's better to take a break if you're that wound up, if you're that upset than to create an even bigger problem. But also don't expect your horse to be your therapist. Not a hundred percent. Yeah, you know what I mean? You know, I know what you were saying. I mean, I've done that. You know, I know animals know when you're upset and they fit. I mean, animals have altercations too. They fight with each other. Horses will fight with each other. Dogs will cats. They all have their little moments and it's kind of part of nature, right? Yes. You're pissing me off. You know, so it happens humans and I think they recognize that. But it's it's so short lived with animals. It's kind of weird. They get they they are different where humans harbor shit. You know, sorry. I said that word. I didn't mean to. But it's true. We do harbor stuff and it becomes this bigger thing. And whereas animals, horses will like, okay, what are you doing to me now? It's survival. So animals are in that survival mode. Whereas we are in this. Let me be like, for the emotion moment. You know what I mean? Well, that makes sense. Yes. And I did not mean to say the S work, but I did. Sorry. I can hear myself out, but whatever. We have a responsibility of being the superior being in this partnership with horses. And so, they are truly not going to completely comprehend why you had the argument with somebody at work that day or your co-worker or whatever the situation is. You need to be you need to step above that. If you're going to enjoy your horse and realize the limitations they have and attitude they have to want to please you, don't dump that on them. Just don't do it. It's just not right. So don't do the S word like I just did. You need to go 100%. No, but I'm going to use this as an example. It's a great teaching moment. Right. If you're going to go to your horse, if you had the worst day, worst month, whatever it is, you use that as a moment to reflect. Clear the air 100%. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Use that emotionally. If you're having a really bad time, go, I'm going to get in my horse, but I will not dump this on them. You know. So even if you're on the ground doing groundwork with them or trying to brush them or doing whatever you're doing, it's going to be twice as bad if you're on their back. So you don't really want to even carry that over to putting your foot in that stirrup and trying to ride them and still have anger in you, still have depression or sadness, whatever is going to distract you. And it's going to affect how you ride. These horses are sensitive. They're going to pick up on all this, not truly understanding why. So you just don't need to deal with it that day. That's how a lot of people get hurt. I've hung out with horses when they know that I'm upset, but I'm just hung out with them. And talk to them. And they just kind of chill. They just like, all right, you're going through some, whatever, you know, whatever. But that's it. I'm just sitting there breathing with their noses and stuff like that. You know, that sounds weird. That's not weird, right? No, I'm a horse person, it doesn't sound weird. Yeah. I mean, there's a breathing thing and you just can't be flighty around horses. So if you've got something going on and you want to talk to your horse, I've talked to my horse and like told her what's going on. And I'm just like, dude, this stuff is going down. I had my teenager. I don't know, you know, when I was a teenager. And she just look at me and stomp her foot, like get a grip. You know what I mean? She did. I mean, there's of either a fly or like grow up. It was like, but I will tell you this, I have consoled with like gone to horses at times when really serious sadness has happened. And they consult me. Yes, I am going to be honest about that emotionally and we talk about energy and emotions. I will tell you a horse knows when you're upset and sad, but like a sadness, not anger and all that stuff. I mean, true sadness, a horse will console you. And if you're flippant and just crazy, they're going to kick you. But you know, that's kind of my relationship on things. Like you could get kicked if you're stupid and flippant around them. Eventually they will kick you if you're that crazy, but consoling, I don't know, all I can say is horses have been really kind. Good. I'm glad to hear that. Yeah, kind. And they deserve our kindness back, for sure. Yeah. I mean, I know, I'm, yeah, horses have consoled, but I mean, they know when you're just sad, right of grief. So grief of loss of a loved one kind of thing, right? So it's like elephants do that, you know, other animals have that. And so they know that it's different than being coming up to your horse while you're angry. That's different. But now going into a show, like you were talking about butterflies. And maybe what about, can I, can I just back up before we talk about getting on the horse, is the entourage of the people around you, if you're going into a show. But what, how important, how important is it to have the right people surrounding you? So when you go in, because that could actually, if you have the wrong people, can that not make you more stressed that makes the horse stressed out? So yes, so you just have to hopefully have a good crew, you have a good team, you have good support from other team members helping you get ready. And they're experienced horse people. So no one's going to be truly upset. And if they are, they know to walk away. So the real experienced people around horses, will know that they need to change their attitude and be a little bit different to help you to get that horse prepared to show, or the rider that's going to be riding it to prepare to show. And everybody works on a team, you've got my team, they do. When you talk about going into show and energy and emotions, because emotions are high, right? When you go into a show, whether it's show jumping or all that kind of stuff, right? Do you pick a team accordingly that they can handle the emotions of it? Like you can have family members that maybe can't handle it and you have to go sit in the features. You know, I'm going to get you your Bloody Mary up there, you know, whatever you need. It depends on how you're looking at them about picking a team. If you're going down the road with a show team, you're already a team. Everybody helps everybody else. Everybody knows what needs to be done. If you have family members that come in because they're in the local area and they want to see you show, most of the time people know that you're involved with horses. Have you seen you show before or understand being around that if they don't, then it's a responsibility of a team leader, which would be me to ask them to possibly just sit up to the side and observe, or put them maybe just holding the lead rope and petting the horse's nose, which is a very simple thing to do, but can help calm the horse. So you've got to be observant as the team leader to really kind of troubleshoot anybody else that might be running up and down the aisles and screaming and yelling or running it right in a tricycle. That's not that this is not the time to do that. So energy. Yeah, talking about that. Team leader is the horse. I hate to use the word owner, but if you are the main rider, right, and you're going to go into an event, that's going to be your energy, right? And so you've got a coach, you've maybe had a groomer person or you, right? Your energy has has to be right with you more than anybody else. So if your groomer or your coach is even in having a bad day when they shouldn't, you have to override that. You have to do it no matter what. It's on you as a rider. Well, you're probably real sensitive to your horse. I know it's upsetting your horse, but you know, when you get to that level of really competing, even if it's a local horse showing you have a team or you have a parent or a husband, a spouse, a friend that's going to help you with all of this, they, everybody pretty much knows we all need to stay calm, let's get focused. We're here to present this horse to the best that he can and encourage the rider to be the best rider she can be. So we really don't have problems with that. Really, do we have to ask somebody to leave? Because people already know what we need to accomplish and we need to do that in a calm matter and an organized man. Calm, calm. So calm is the thing for emotions and energy as you talk about. And so how do you know when a horse is not energetically happy? Oh, yes, too much energy. So why don't we set up a scenario? You're coming out to ride your horse that day. And everything's fine with you, by the way. So you haven't been run off the road by somebody. No, yeah. You haven't had a fight with your co-worker. Everything's great. You're here to enjoy your horse. It's a beautiful day. The temperature is just right. And you walk down to that pack to go to so see your horse. I actually have a whistle for my horses. I have a whistle that they understand that they recognize it's me. I'll call their name and my horses come to me because they know it's going to be a pleasant experience. So the very first thing, if I whistle at my horse or I go to the paddock with the halter in my hand and my horse's head pops up and sees me and he's halfway down the paddock and he takes off and goes the opposite way. And I'm telling you right now that rarely happens with my horses. That horse has a lot of energy doesn't want to be caught that day. It's very frisky, very playful. That's the first indicator that we may need to spend some more time on the ground or possibly lunging before we even get on this horse's back because we have a lot of energy. Energy can be created from a lot of different stimuli. It could be overfeeding. They've got too much fat and energy in that they they've stored up. It could be the weather if the weather's cooler, if the wind is blowing. Let's say another horse has been taken out that was in the paddock next to them. There's a lot of different things that can stimulate that. So there's your first observation. So I'm not going to go in there and try to chase that horse around the paddock and worry about it getting tired even in the paddock. That's not what I want to teach him. So I'll go back out of the I'll go I haven't even gone in the gate yet. I'll go back out and pick some grass. Maybe pick a few a few mulberry leaves that I know my horse loves, have a carrot in my pocket, go back into that paddock with the halter, whistle that horse again, show them the treat that I have and folks there's nothing wrong with bribing your horse. They're truly motivated and this is gets their attention. This is going to be a pleasant experience and we basically need to diffuse that energy that that horse has. So let's get it refocused on food. So let's pattern interrupt. It's a pattern interrupt. That's right. That's right. An educator we know Bob is a reporter. She's retired now but she always talks about that with teenagers and everything. She goes in a classroom at times you just need to pattern interrupt. That's very good. So yeah, yeah, because it can go this way or that and sometimes I do it on podcast too because it has to happen. But that's it. It's like, okay, we need to diffuse this energy and move it to another place that's positive. Okay, so the second thing I'm going to do is I'm going to put the halter on that horse and while I'm doing that, what's my horse's body language telling me? Is my horse tense? Is he standing with his legs really, really rigid? Is he fidgety? Is he moving too much? Is his head higher? Which also indicates a lot of energy? Look at that horse's eye. What's that eye look like? Is that horse look like he's just seen just out of this? I just thought of the scene of the scene from Tombstone said, I think so. You just look like somebody walked over your grave. I mean, their eyes are really wide. They're going, oh my gosh, there's a monster in this paddock. Observe what your horse is telling you by his body language. And they may actually be right about something's going on. It could be, you have a snake in the paddock. You never know. Okay, that's true. That's right. Right, there could have been, we have bears in our territory, so in the fall, there could be a bear behind the bush. But that horse will then, once I get the halter on, we'll turn around and stare at what he thinks might be danger. So I'd watch in his body language and I'm going to observe that same area just to make sure everything is safe. I mean, I'm going to respect what he's seen and hearing is hearing is much more a keen than mine. His sense of smell is much better. His sight is definitely better than mine. He raises his head that horse is going to see twice as far as I can see. So I'm going to, I'm going to cue in on what that horse is telling me from that body language, even before I leave the paddock. That's, that's important. So body, we talked about that before with horse behavior is the body language is so crucial, right? Right. So his eyes really important. You know, his eyes are just eyes are really, really wide and he's just tense and the head is high and the nostrils are even starting to flare a little bit. Just, you know, you're going to have your hands full at that time. If you want, you could back off from riding that horse that day depends on your skill level to take care of this energy. That's what we're going to talk about. You could calmly undo that halter and walk away from your horse and that's an okay release. The wrong release is to have that horse dancing around, pulling back on you and jigging. You try to get the halter unbuckled. He pulls away from the halter. He runs away and now he's free. That horse has learned that he can bolt and break away from you and you don't want to do that. So releasing when it's your choice and then decide whether or not you just want to give him another 15 minutes to blow off some steam if you don't feel comfortable with it. But I'm going to talk about now what we do and how we control that energy and how we, I love that you talk about that because you've got to think about even for understandability, humans need a break at times, right? And if someone just keeps dogging you in your face when you're like, I'm pissed at something, you're going to make it worse. So letting go is kind of a cool thing if you are able to, depending on what your situation is, especially if you're at a show and a show, the energy is so high. You have people traveling in with trailers and all that. And so you have to kind of know where your horse is to, right? Yeah, yes and no, but yes and no, it's showing because honestly, these horses that are going to horse shows, they're written every day, almost every day. So their energy levels controlled and contained. Yes, they get excited when they get to a new show, you give them a little bit of hey, let them settle in their stall while you're setting up. So there's time for them to kind of come down. They've been used to this though. They're used to the noise activity, the announcer, everything that happens. But the same program, the same procedure that I'm going to tell you right now to do, you can still do that at a horse show. But these horses usually come, usually come down because it's a better routine. Yes, they'll be high, but then they can come down for that. So okay, so now let's lean our horse out of the paddock. You can really just let the gate turn around, close the gate. Is this horse walking beside you calmly with his head down and his shoulder, his draw next to your shoulder? Oh, if that's the case, then you've got a nice calm horse that's leading up to the head tether. We're going to tether the post or the hitching rail, wherever you're going to put your horse. If not, you've got a horse with a higher head, a wide eye. It's jigging that's pulling on you. It's just all over the place. You need to get that horse. Hopefully you've trained your horse in prior times of spending time with this horse. You've taught them that a light tap on that halter with that lead rope and the word ho or a quit or a behave, whatever word key word you want to use tells them, pay attention. This is not acceptable, and we need to walk calmly up to the head chain rail. Wow, because their heads will go up and down. Like it starts getting kind of, yeah, yeah. And if you need a 17 hand horse and I'm only 5 foot 1, I'm going to become a kite. We don't need that to happen. So this horse needs to have a discipline of groundwork to know this is not acceptable. A couple of taps, this isn't right, or backing that horse up again, breaking the concentration here, making that horse back so he has to use his body. He's got to use his brain. Oh, I've been asked to back up. I better back up. He's going to forget about what excited him. And then you try to walk up calmly again and try to get to that kitchen rail. So again, body language is so important to observe. But this this is really interesting to me because you're talking about like actual body work, right? Like you are talking about subtle language, subtle, calm, a horse could be upset. And this is this giant being, right? Compared to you, right? Right. And you're just going, let me do tap tap. And everyone, I know they're like even with walking, there's like these, well, I don't know what they're called, but there's a way there's a leash kind of thing. And it's just tapping, tapping on the left, tapping on the right, and that's how the dog knows how to walk. I don't know what the name is. Sorry right now. But it's really, I'm mind blown because I'm also walking a dog that will kill somebody in their path. Like a really a dog. No, I mean it. I mean it. I've done it. And then I'm like, we gotta, we gotta turn around. You're going this way. And they're like, okay, we will. And it works. And it's weird because it's life. And back in the day, we thought we had to kick our horses to do things. And that was kind of stupid mythology in a way, right? Kick, kick, kick, kick. I watched people in shows just kick their horses thinking it would make their horses do what they wanted. And it's called it's called bullying today with people. Oh, don't don't bully your horse. Don't do that. But training is important. Training is important. You need to train your horse to have good ground manners. Ground manners. And that's communication. So go into the seat. So like, and you understand each other, you will understand each other. But we've got to go back to the deeper boundaries. This was not allowed to override, to overstep you, get into your space. He needs to walk beside you. And he needs to do a calmly for both of you to be safe. So that's something you need to work on with your horse. If you're sometimes when your horse is excited, maybe just a little excited. Stopping, asking to back, asking to do a quarter turn on the haunches. Just do different things on the ground to get their brain back focused on you. And on what the way objective is. And that is to walk forward calmly. And sometimes your horse is energetic and upset because something is like a snake in the barn. You know what I mean? Like there is a real deal. Like, you know that with your dogs, there's like the real bark and then the fake. Oh, yes. Yes. Right. So that's the same thing. Like horses, horses know everything. Right. They do. And I think that this conversation is so cool to understand, to read the energy of your horse. It goes to communication and knowing your horse. And that's something we talked about in the last few episodes. And we're still new on these episodes. But I want to bring that back, Chrissy, about how important is you can own a horse. And I mean, you do need to connect. You can't just ride a horse or you have to have that connect. I mean, those people who own horses and have other people ride them. I'm telling me on that. Well, it's not just a connection. It's a partnership. Let's go beyond that. These horses are capable of friendship, of a partnership. I think I said the very first podcast and through every podcast is that you're working, you're working out on a team effort here between you and your horse, but there has to be a team leader. And the human is the one that needs to be the team leader. And the horses actually do have fun doing things when you do showmanship and stuff like that. I think you know when the horse doesn't want to, right? I mean, is there a horse? That's actually a really good question. Are there horses that you've seen that horses just go, I'm not into show jumping. I'm not doing it. Have you ever seen that? Well, yeah, so that goes way back to when you want to start training your horse, you've got to decide, you might decide, I love show jumping. And guess what? Your horse really doesn't have the mindset or the physical ability, athletic ability, or even the comprehension to size up with. Like my horse. Son of our dad. So the brain is don't force that horse to be a show jumper if he's not capable of it. Find find an event where your horse loves it has a niche for it and can do it well. Don't try to get the what the square peg in the round hole. You go and what's your horse is the best step. So if you don't and you sit there and force that horse to be that show jumper, he's going to sound on you. He's going to have a bad attitude. He's going to he's going to learn ways that he can get rid of his rider or just completely get stopped and doesn't have to go face those jumps anymore and go back to the barn. And that's by refusing or throwing you off. So don't develop that. Don't develop that in him. Let the horse be able to have a relationship with them. Yeah, partnership, partnership. Yeah. That's that's a thing. I think, you know, isn't it go down to when we look at horses and horsemanship, we actually is the individual need to know what we want first before we do anything. You should have like we love horse. You know me, like I was the girl with the horses all the room and I'm just like bringing horses. I don't care. I just want horses. You know, like I truly, I mean, I don't care if I write them or not. I just love horses. I just want to be around them. And that's still true to this day. And then it was like, oh, you need to do showmanship. And my horse in a bar at hell now. But now Sir T's Nancy's horse did it. And she did it when she she won awards. And even the way he did it in the paddock at home, he won and he went and Nancy didn't know anything about show jumping. He she went in this show jumping thinking she's like, Holy cow, what's happening to me and my body as he's jumping over these things. And then he did go and redo the whole thing backwards on the actual course. And my horse in a bar said, screw you to all of you. I'm not doing it. And I'm like, I don't care. I don't I can't even believe you're here. You know what I mean? Because it was such an endeavor to even get her to be. I can't even tell you what we went through. So it was like, we knew Cinebar was never going to be a show jumping horse. We knew Sir T's was at his retirement, but he loved it. He absolutely and Nancy did it for him, not for her. He wanted to do it. He wanted to compete. He was he was named after a race car driver. This horse absolutely loved it. And if people don't realize this, I want to say this. Horses have had so many roles over there are lives of humans. And they actually do like to do things. I don't think I mean they love to be wild horses and animals out in the wild too. But Sir T's changed my mind of that in that he really loved it. He knew it. He loved it. And he knew he could dominate. And he did. He won everything. He you can't. There was not a horse in that place that could outdo him. And you could let him go without Nancy on his back. He would have won. Doesn't matter. Nancy and him, like they had a good relationship. And but that horse loved it and did it all his life. And it was his thing. It was good. It was more than us. It was weird. He had good energy and energy. Does that make sense? Yes. But he wasn't. He wasn't unhappy being around you. So that's what this is. Oh, no. He had a ball. Yes. So we're talking about this energy and and now the horse is up at the hitching rail. Sometimes horses can calm down for whatever reason. We talked about that a few minutes ago. What could create all this by just a grooming session. So if your horse is calm and enjoying it and he's dropping his head, he's enjoying the brushing, cleaning the hooves. That's great. You still have to kind of read the energy while he's being groomed. If this horse still can't stand still, and he's moving his legs around and his head is high again. The tail is straight up in the air, even standing at the hitching rail. You've got a horse that you really don't want to climb on to just yet. I suggest you go out and you lunge your horse. So instead of just turning on loosened and arena and chasing them around and making them running anymore. The idea of lunging on a long 30 foot long lunge line is to control that energy and read that energy and actually give that horse a project to help again focus on getting that energy out and using it and calming down. So the lunging is very important. It's important to get the horn. And you reconnect with your horse when you do it. Yes, but you also do it in a in a in a good way. You let them exercise on the lunge line, but there's discipline in that. You're going to go through the steps of walk, trotting and canner or walk, jog, and lope. And you're going to see how you're going to reverse. I can get my horses to do different. I can get them to collect or extend and all the gates even on a lunge line. So I'm constantly using their brains, making their brains work, having them bring their bodies back to rounding up and framing or extending, allowing them to kick up and play and have a good time. But again, reading that energy. So getting them out there on the lunge line is your horse start out by walking. You can't walk and he's jigging. Look again, is his head high or nostril slurry? Is he snorting? If that horse is snorting, he has got a ton of energy and he's interested in playing with somebody. And probably somebody the same size he is not you. He just wants to go out and rough house. And then their tail, their tail is so important as a barometer to how much energy your horse is going to have. If it's flat against his buddy, you've got a nice calm horse. He's going to work for you today. If it's straight out parallel with the ground straight out from his dock and out from his bikes, you've got some energy going on there. If it is straight up over his back, like you've seen a lot of the Arabian horses do when they really show off really well, it's absolutely beautiful. Bad horse has a ton of energy and you're going to be out there lunging for a while. When that tail comes down and finally relaxes, then you're ready to ride. So you don't need to get on the back of a horse that has that much energy that's going to test you and try to push the boundaries again with you. You don't need to be riding that and you don't need to create a scenario where you're either going to get afraid and give in or you're going to get mad and believe your horse. You don't want that to happen. Don't get mad around horses. That doesn't work. So the lunging is a great exercise, a great pool. The round corral or even in the arena chasing them just sort of wears them out a little bit, but it does a structure what you're asking them to do. That sounds so good. I want my horse to be structured. I want him to go through the gates that I asked for and to give me what I've asked. I like that because you're staying in communication and that's something we've talked about on this show. Staying in communication with your horse. That's that relationship, that bonding. This is what we know about. I think when you go to a show, you have all this external stimuli like we're talking about and that can excite a horse. I saw this young little lady over here. There's a way that you're saying, try it out. Try it out. I mean, we all say that as individuals. That's why work it, work out, go for a walk, take a cold shower, whatever it is. Well, especially in a horse show, you've just driven into a different facility. Not all horse show facilities have an extra arena where you can learn some do. Some will let you lunge in the show arena and some won't, but you've got a great ability to get your horse warmed up. Actually show them the arena ahead of time. So they're going to see the and out your stand. They can see the colors sitting. You go lunge your horse around that arena. So that's why we always go in a day early so they can get familiar with just the facility. Do you just ride them even also around it? Like, just get on there. Yeah, after we're finished lunging, then yes, you ride your horse in the same arena they're going to be shown in. Here's you watch your horse desensitize to any stimuli that could be at this different facility. Yeah, same as like when you do the Chief Joseph child, you want to do that, like have it all come. Well, yes, but that's a different scenario because now all of a sudden we're out in the complete wild and we're in areas where there may not be level ground to lunge. We may be in areas that are so rocking you don't want to lunge and shouldn't lunge. So you've got to be able to either take your horse for a nice long walk, go out in the group and go for a nice trot somewhere, try to get down a trail. You really don't have that ability to lunge. It's very difficult to lunge in a camp, you know, where there's 50 to 60. But you can kind of walk them around and kind of get to see it. Yeah, walk them around, go out. Yeah, go out for rides. So that's why I go into the Chief Joe a day early too is actually two days early to let my horse rest from the long trip it took us. Well, yeah, because I mean, I always think about this about animals on the road. We know what we're doing. But what does the horse know in the back of the trailer? How do they feel? Like I look at that even with cattle and stuff and nothing like what is the horse feel, you know, and I always worry about the trailer. Yeah, but that's a thing. I've got to laugh because Buckley's really happy as long as he's got the hay in front of him, he doesn't care, you know, the good girl, he doesn't stay there. He has to be a good driver too, right? We have to be a good driver. You have to be good. I mean, I've seen some things I don't want to talk about on the show on the roads with people and horses and trailers. And I wanted to like, dude, what are you doing? But we get to the ride we unload and that horse is going to see a different a different mountain range. So you have to be there for every trace. Yeah. But that's that I get that acclimated. That's why I go in a day early. He gets to see everything about where he's going to be and settle in. And I've got a really nice setup for my trailer and my horse. So he has room to actually move around off the trailer. It's called a high tide. So they're familiar with the trailer and they can merge around when they get out like they can. You are there. They know you and you you acclimate them to that place. Even though it's new for you too. Right. You know, it's new for both of you. But that's where the relationship comes in. I think energy when we talk about energy, it is about what are you our expectations dictate our energy, right? In a weird way. And so it if if you had a hard time getting there with your horse, whether it's for a show or the chief Joseph trail, yeah, horse is going to pick it up and be like, now I'm really uncomfortable. Because I don't know what the hell you just dragged me through. You made me sit on the trailer for X number of miles. I get out. I don't know where the hell I am. And now you're pissy. That's not working for me. You know what, that's you know what Lisa, the people that do this type of writing, like the chief Joseph trail ride, can pretty much handle anything. I'm really going to give to people. They can handle driving for three or four days. I mean, when the ride gets over towards buildings in Montana, it takes me four days to get to the ride. So my horses are comfortably in a trailer 12 hours a day for four days. They know that's my life. That's their life. And if you have a flat tire, if your car breaks down, there's going to be people there to help you. You'll be able to get to a place. Nobody gets really upset about this as a sort of part. I hate to say this, but it could be part of the experience. And you just don't let it get to you. The idea is that you're still living, breathing, everything's fine. You stay calm. Everything's going to work out just fine. See, stay calm. And what about shows? Like what I just said, it wasn't just about the chief Joseph trail, but shows. They're going to a show. And maybe it's the first time you're doing a show with your horse and your trailer. Like we're going to get in the trailer. We're going to do this now. It's the first time. And everyone's no one's going to not be anxious. There's no way it's not going to be. Here's a little tidbit for those people that want to start showing. They've never done this before. You're going to go through the same scenario to prepare to get ready to a show. They're going to groom your horse, going to bathe him, get the tack loaded, have your horse trained, go in a horse trailer, get to that horse show. You really need to go to your first horse show and not show. You need to go through that pattern of loading, unloading, grooming your horse, selling your horse at the trailer, and riding in the warm-up arena, and then sitting on that horse for several hours, watching people show, letting hear the announcer, letting see the activity, letting see some of the problems that people have, and observe what your horse again observed, what your horse does in that scenario. I wouldn't go out and just try to show the first time, never being to a show and not knowing what it's all about. Wow, I love that. Nancy and I were kind of right of just doing it for fun. Yes, and silliness. We had no idea what we were doing. I wouldn't even compete the first time. No, we didn't care about it. You need to understand what the announcer is going to call for, what people do, the sound about an announcer for your horse. Go through the steps, saddling, riding, warming up, and sitting there, and of course, you're sitting quite a bit. You may be sitting in a couple of hours on your horse's back, depending on how many classes you have, or when it's called. That's good, though. You know, I never remember, of course, giving your horse water, go back to the trailer, put the halter back on, tie them up for a little bit, let them rest, have some hay, some water, get back on them again, spend the entire day at that horse show observing what people do. I think that's a huge piece of advice. That's massive. So I'm going to do a little plug here, my very first book. My very first book is called Your Best Horse Show. It's a guide for managers and exhibitors, and someone that wants to get involved with horse shows needs to read the book. The book is there to help clubs put on a more successful horse show because I've been through some of it have been very, very difficult and weren't managed very well. But it also, there's tips for exhibitors there. If you read that book, you're going to have a better knowledge of what is expected at a horse show and what you need to go through to prepare and even be a part of a horse show. Join the book, go read that book, go pick that up on my website, www.dnhorse.com, and get your best horse show. It will help you. But take your horse to that first show and don't show. Oh, that is huge. Because, like you said, you could go to a horse show and the management sucks. Right? And so you and your horse better be connected to get a... I'd rather use this word they're unskilled because they don't know. Oh, I'm not the horse spirit. I am the other side. I say the bad things. You don't. But no, but I mean it. Like you could get there and then it's it it yeah. Okay, whatever you say. Well, that's another reason. It's challenging. It's a challenging environment. By reading the book, you'll know what to expect at a normal horse show. A regular horse show and you're going to recognize that. So there may be some things you're going to say, gee, maybe they need to do that. Maybe they need to do this. They shouldn't have done this. You know, there may be some gaps in whoever's managing it. You can help them show them the books that you need to read this book. But I'm going to go back to ease for energy today, right? And I want to go back to if you and your horse's energy is aligned, there's no stopping pretty much, right? That's I think that's the important thing. No matter what you're doing, if you do not read your horse's energy, you don't know if the horse is sick. You don't know what's going on. So understanding and observing, just like we've talked about with behavior and care and everything in the past episodes, the energy is important. If your horse is not happy when you see him last day they were, you've got to look at why. So these energy is a huge deal. Right. So Lisa, let me say this in closing because why take that risk? If you're not sure if that horse's energy is low enough, if you're not sure that your attitude is good enough to ride in that day, don't risk it. Because if you make a major mistake with that horse, he's probably going to remember that more. Then something that happened that was really good. You're going to take a five steps back for one step forward. If you risk that and you don't know how to handle it, or you get hurt. And that doesn't matter whether it's a show or not, right? That's it. It could be riding that day in your own arena. If you read that energy, you've got to know what you're dealing with. This is a 12 pounder pound horse with energy. And you need to be smart and savvy about this. And there's going to be another day where the horse is going to be a little happier and the same. You might be happier, whatever the case may be, or you get professional help with training the horse. Not professional help for you. I mean, there's people out there that can help you. Maybe. Sorry. I said it. I said it. Oopsie. Get professional at that horse. On the energy thing, I want to just zoom back into that. Your horse is telling you something if something is wrong. If their energy is not what they, it used to be like happy, healthy, I'm right. Something different. Yes. Yeah. So you need to look at that and go to your vet or behavioral, you know, look at the trainer. Yeah. Something. Someone can do it. Yeah. It could be they have a nail in their house. Seriously. Well, that's going to be pretty obvious. That horse is going to be looking pretty good. Oh, yeah. Oh, God. We don't like to see a lame horse. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. None of us like to see it. Oh, the horse doesn't like it either. Oh, God. No, I know. Of course they don't want to live. No, no, no, no, no. Always good information. Christy. Everyone, stay tuned. We are here every second Saturday. I'm big blend radio.com and keep up with Christy. Go to wdnhorse.com. Thank you so much, Christy. You're welcome. And I hope you hear from the people that are listening. Please send us emails. Oh, yeah. Let us know and give us some ideas of what you like on your alphabet and what you'd like to discuss and we'll be more than happy to listen to them. Be good on that alphabet. All right. Thank you, everybody for listening. Thank you for listening to Big Blend Radio's ABCs of horses featuring Christy Wood. You can keep up with Christy and learn more about her services and her books by going to her website, wdnhorse.com. Keep up with Big Blend Radio at Big Blend Radio.com.