Distress tolerance

My first ramble on video, just over ten minutes of totally unedited and probably rather unorganized thoughts. And also a cat that just HAD to pick that time to do her thing. But I wanted to address the idea that not everything can or should be formally trained. Some things are better done with the horse leading the way, sometimes literally, and this is how I tried to do that. Some of the stuff I said might be controversial - R+ is my first stop but I don't always use it, don't punish aggressive behavior from the horse, just let the horse do what they want - things like that. I'm not telling anyone how they should go about their training, I'm talking about what worked for me, this horse, and this client, at this moment. All of this is in one specific context, and should not be taken as "thou shalt do it this way every time" advice, because honestly, that kind of thing doesn't exist. There is always a balance between what's good for the horse, what's good for the human, and what feels the best from each of those perspectives overall as well as in the moment (which is not always what's ultimately in the best interest of either). Anyhow, I'm not Denise Fenzi, or Shelby Dennis, or Amy Skinner (look them up, too), I'm just me, and these are just my thoughts right now. Another client, horse, and time may illicit a different approach. Or not! The joy of my job is attending to each situation as individuals within an environment and letting them tell me what will work.​