South Wind Equestrian Center

10/29/2025

Stallion Cooperation
A natural dynamic observed on the range similar to Monty Roberts horse gentling method known as "join-up". This is also a second case observed/documented of TWO stallions cooperatively working together to "teach" a new mare to the band to stay with them. In the past I have also shared an album showing the successive images of a pair of stallions (Caesar & Re*****on) from the same band cooperatively working together to bring a wayward filly back to her natal band from an outside stallion.
There have been other observations of dual or co-band stallions pairing up to manage their family group, and of stallions or their Lieutenants also encouraging new members to "join" or remain in their band.

In the images black stallion Obsidian and bloodbay stallion Phoenix are schooling a new young mare (Wildflower) to their band who came from the Atlas band. The two stallions were clearly working cooperatively to manage this filly. Obsidian and Phoenix are dual stallions both equal standing/hierarchy, overseeing one harem or group of mares... each had specific mare alliances, but for years have traveled together - backing the other up -- essentially an impenetrable "fortress" to the mares and offspring in their care. I have images of them together since May of 2012.

This was yet another incredible display of intense and clear social dynamics at work- the intelligence and coordination/communication of two stallions to work this new filly into the band, and keeping her and reminding her to stay close to the rest.
The young mare, Wildflower (natal band Renegade), was new to this Phoenix/Obsidian band. She looked like she had a rough time coming out of winter, and since she was new, seemed disinterested, and lagging behind the band, laying down a lot and resting while the rest grazed and moved forward, and I suspect also wanted to get back to her natal band.

Somehow both stallions had noted her lagging behind and not paying attention- Now, whether a coincidence they both noticed at the same time- or somehow 'communicated'- nothing obvious detected - but somehow this "coordinated" effort took place - but so precisely, as though it had been practiced. They mirrored the other's movements- ran the filly around us several times and back to the band. In my training in psychology- I looked for a motivator-- but they didn't attempt to bite her/hurt her in any way, or breed her, just ran her together a while and eventually back into the family band- sort of like an initiation. The intensity and intent on the two stallions was clearly precise and premeditated in nature. They had a goal, and when it was achieved, backed off and peace returned to their band. As a result, Wildflower seemed much more focused and motivated to remain with the others.

In fact a training technique was based on a well known trainer who observed wild horses in Nevada. Some of his Monty Roberts training techniques were inspired by watching mustang behavior- when he formulated his own gentling technique/theory known as "Join up" (see link below). These stallions ran the new filly until she gave in and "minded"- resulting in following their lead and what they wanted- which was for her to follow the band closely- similar to Monty Roberts running a new horse in training in the round corral, until he or she gave in and faced him, ready to listen.
The two stallions ran her hard and for quite a while until she gave and faced them, and they brought her in. With the intensity, my initial obvious assumption was she was in season, but as said, there was no interest or attempt at breeding, so that wasn't it.

I could hear the sagebrush as they ran by, and the thudding 3-beat gait on what sounded like hollow desert dirt. From the horse-crazy child corner in my mind, in my recollection- I can about feel the wind as he ran by. Sheer exhilaration.
Quite honestly, I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it for myself.

To read more of my field notes from things I've learned on the range, they're in this link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10158717834863956&type=3
Follow me on my video channel www.mustangjourney.com
Store: www.wildhorsespirit.com
Wings: www.roamwildfund.com

09/26/2025

This is why it is so important to allow Horses to say goodbye to their herd mates.

You may have noticed that many of our recent posts have focused on family and emotion. Today, we continue with that theme.

Death is not an easy subject to face—neither in our own lives with those we love, nor in the lives of the animals around us. But if we pay attention, we see that all animals exhibit emotions around death.

Our volunteers have been honored to witness wild horse behavior that most people will never observe—and that some may even choose not to see. The death of a bandmate, and the funeral that follows, brings together nearby bands to pay their respects to the grieving group.

When a family member dies—whether from illness, injury, or colic—the lead stallion lets out a long, shrill whinny while his band hovers near their fallen companion. In the distance, faint vocal responses can be heard. Within the hour, the sound of hooves begins to approach. One by one, other bands arrive nearby.

The ritual begins. The visiting stallion greets the mourning stallion with a sniff and a snort. After this introduction, the visiting band approaches, stops, sniffs, and sometimes touches the deceased horse before moving on in single file. This scene is repeated with each band’s arrival. When the final band has paid their respects, the family is left alone to maintain their vigil. This watch continues until the lead stallion decides it is time to move on.

The photo below, from 2019, shows a mother saying her final goodbye to her youngster—struck by a vehicle—after an almost 24-hour vigil. (Top
right)
Another photo from 2017 captures bandmates grieving over Clydette, who passed away due to birthing complications and a band showing respect.(Middle and bottom right)
Another photo shows Uncle Sam's bandmates saying farewell. (Top left)
Our next photograph from 2024, shows Bella watching over Cholla.(Bottom left)

So yes, we are “those crazy horse people.” And yes, we not only believe that horses are highly intelligent and capable of feeling deep emotion—we bear witness to it. Every day, we are privileged to observe these beautiful animals during some of the most intimate moments of their lives.

It truly is—As the River Flows.

09/22/2025

So true! Stay calm and present. Do not punish them for natural responses. Teach them to trust you by reassuring them and being the safe consistent partner they can rely on.

09/19/2025

Morning Wisdom!! ❤️🐴

09/18/2025

The R.O.A.M. Act
From the archives.... The rise and fall of Legislation written with the intent to restore protections for wild horses and b***os since amendments (1978 and 2004) put thousands of captured wild horses at risk - See my Notes on the deadly 2004 Burns Amendment https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=399600834859294&set=a.10158717834863956

Here is a video from over ten years ago, and the will of the wild horse for freedom as so apparent watching him run and unwilling to give in...
https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=100939136634831&ref=nf (fb video format may not open on handheld devices, but can be seen on regular pc's. Apologies for the inconvenience). ~ Video by Wildhorse Chronicles, called Big Bay Horse. A friend brought this video to my attention in 2010.

I remember early on I watched this video, eyes glued on this big stallion who was hell-bent to stay free. This chopper chase went on for quite a while, but this wild American stallion didn't break his pace and turned away. Attempt after attempt to get this mustang to the catch pens was futile, had he succeeded, (at best) he would be behind fences for the remainder of his life. 3/4 of the way through this video a fierce gust of wind blows hard which surprises the person/people videotaping and not too much longer, the pilot finally gives up his pursuit of the stallion determined to be free. This was a case in point that wild horses are this Nation's icon of the wild west and indisputable symbol of Freedom- and the determination to be free. He was run a while, but I'm impressed how he didn't break his stride. I did see him stumble, but undaunted quickly regained his footing and ran like the wind.
The Burns Amendment in 2004 shot holes into the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971- protecting wild horses and b***os on Herd Management Areas (HMA) but subject to gathers about every 4-5 years. The ROAM Act. H.R. 1018, aka Restoring Our American Mustangs Act passed the House of Representatives by a wide margin, but was "stalled" and “Expired”

If the ROAM 1018 passed, part of it would return some of the land (millions of acres) to wild horse and b***o management - decreasing the tens of thousands of horses in captivity. It makes some sense why it had stalled out as these bills have a certain shelf life so-to-speak....and eventually dropped. There may be interest in those lands wide open public lands by way of development and sell-offs and protected wild horses and b***os might might be a barrier. Congressman Ron Klein at the time of the ROAM Act stated - "H.R. 1018 would update existing laws that protect wild horses by encouraging the reopening of certain public lands to mustangs, thus potentially decreasing the number of horses in captivity.... H.R. 1018 is pending in the Senate." Fast Forward - the bill expired. It expired, but like that mustang and his desire for freedom, who didn't give up, or give in, or back down, perhaps there's more we can do and time to circle back.

With knowledge there is power. Below is more history and information about the ROAM Act – what is was, what happened, what worked, what didn't. Management on limited lands will be necessary, but the least invasive, least costly, least deadly and “on range” management will be best and a win-win for all.
The ROAM Act~ H.R. 1018, the Restoring Our American Mustangs Act- .Gov Report/Status: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1018

Hearing on the legislation introduced by The Humane Society of the United States (2009): https://www.humanesociety.org/sites/default/files/archive/assets/pdfs/wildlife/pacelle_roam_act_0309.pdf

BLM on H.R. 1018 (2009): https://www.doi.gov/ocl/hearings/111/HR1018_030309 -content

Never give up. Never give in. Never back down. And...
Keep the WILD in our WEST!
Mustang Meg

09/07/2025

Load Transfer: The Invisible System That Keeps Horses Sound (Until We Break It)

(This is probably the most significant blog I have written to date...and I am deadly serious.)

1️⃣ Why We Miss the Point

Most riders and owners look at legs, joints, or hooves when a horse goes lame. We obsess over hock injections, tendon scans, or shoeing tweaks.

But here’s the blind spot: horses aren’t Lego sets where you can just swap out a dodgy block and keep stacking. They’re whole systems where forces - rider weight, ground impact, propulsion - have to be absorbed, stabilised, and passed on like the world’s most complicated game of pass-the-parcel. That process is called load transfer.

If load transfer works, the horse moves fluidly, distributes force safely, and stays sound. If it doesn’t, the wrong bit cops the pressure - joints, tendons, ligaments - until it breaks. Cue “mystery lameness” and your savings account crying into a feed bucket.

2️⃣ What Load Transfer Actually Is

Load transfer is the art of sharing forces across the horse’s whole body:
- Hooves = shock absorbers (your horse’s Nike Airs).
- Tendons and ligaments = springs (boing, boing).
- Core and spine = suspension bridge (though honestly, comparing a living, moving horse to a bridge bolted to the ground is a bit crap - sorry Tami, I’ll get to you in a second and anyone else having a fit over my analogies :P ).
- Hindquarters = the engine room.
- Trunk = the bridge deck, carrying weight forward.
- Nervous system = Wi-Fi (sometimes 5G, sometimes “buffering…”).

It’s not one joint or one leg doing the work - it’s a team effort. And when one player drops the ball, the others cover… until they tear something.

3️⃣ How It Gets Compromised in Domestication

Here’s the catch: our horses don’t live or move the way evolution intended. Instead, we’ve gifted them the equine version of late-stage capitalism:
- Sedentary living → Wild horses walk 20 km a day. Ours do laps of a 20 x 60 and then slouch around on the couch bingeing Netflix. Fascia weakens, cores collapse, proprioception clocks off.
- Gut health issues → Ulcers, acidosis, restricted forage. Imagine doing Pilates with chronic indigestion. Goodbye stabilisers, hello bracing.
- Rider influence → Saddles, weight, wobbly balance. A hollow back under a rider = hocks and forelimbs eating all the force. “Congratulations, you’re now a wheelbarrow.”

And then we act shocked when the “bridge” collapses and the legs file for workers’ comp.

4️⃣ Why This Explains Early Breakdowns

A horse with poor load transfer isn’t just inefficient - it’s a ticking time bomb.
- Hock arthritis by six.
- Suspensory tears that never heal.
- Kissing spine in a horse that never learned to lift.

This isn’t bad luck. It’s physics. And yes, physics is painful. But so is paying vet bills the size of your mortgage repayments.

Once you see it, the endless cycle of injections and rehab isn’t fate — it’s the logical result of pretending your horse is four pogo sticks with ears instead of a system that has to share the damn load.

5️⃣ Why Talking About This Will Probably Annoy You

Here’s the thing: people who really understand the sheer magnitude of load transfer will most likely confuse you… or offend you.

My good friend Tami Elkayam is the one responsible for hammering this into my thick skull. And I’ll be honest: it took four clinics and two years of friendship before the penny really dropped. She will read this and her hair will stand on end, because load transfer and how the body works is far more interconnected and complex than I’ve made it here.

Because here’s the reality: there is a reason your six-year-old has the joints of a 27-year-old, or why your horse developed kissing spine. And while I’m pretty good at spotting when dysfunctional load transfer has already chewed through a part of the horse… my bigger mission now is to spread the word before more horses — and bank accounts — get wrecked.😎

It may sound like physics, and physics isn’t sexy. But this is physics that explains your vet bills, your training plateaus, your horse’s “difficult” behaviour, and that nagging sense of “not quite right.”

6️⃣ What We Need to Do About It

Instead of obsessing over the parts, we need to step back and care for the system:
- Movement lifestyle → Turnout, hills, hacking, grazing posture. (Not “arena prison with cardio punishment.”)
- Gut health → Forage first, low starch, fewer ulcers. (Because no one engages their core mid-stomach cramp...and that's not even mentioning how digestion impacts the whole things - that blog is for another day)
- Training for posture → Lift the back, wake up the core, balance the bridge. (“More forward” and "rounder" isn’t a strategy, in fact saying those things can be part of the problem...)
Rider responsibility → Balanced seat, good saddle fit, some self-awareness. (Yes, because we have a massive impact on load transfer and how dysfunctional we make it...but let's get the idea in our heads before we beat ourselves up.)
Preventive care → Conditioning, fascia release, thoughtful management. (“Wait for it to break, then panic” is not a plan.)

7️⃣. Closing

Load transfer is the invisible system that keeps horses sound. When it fails, the legs, joints, and tendons take the hit - and horses “mysteriously” break down.

The tragedy isn’t that we can’t prevent it. It’s that we’re too busy staring at hooves or arguing on social media about everything from bits to barefoot to notice the actual system collapsing under our noses.

Once you understand load transfer, you can’t unsee it. And once you can’t unsee it, you’ll never settle for patching symptoms again. You’ll start caring for the whole horse - because that’s the only way to keep the bridge standing, the system working, and your horse sound.

This is Collectable Advice 17/365 of my notebook challenge.

❤Please share this if it made you think. But don’t copy-paste it and slap your name on it - that’s the intellectual equivalent of turning up to an office party with a packet of Tim Tams and calling it “homemade.” This is my work, my study, my sweat, and my own years of training horses (and myself) before figuring this out (well with Tami Elkayam's patience too). Share it, spread it, argue with it - but don’t steal it.

08/17/2025

About right!

08/17/2025

Buckle up. It's a long one. Let’s talk about patience poles.

You’ve probably seen it on TikTok - a horse tied to a post or tree, short and high, left to “figure it out.”

The goal? To “teach patience.”

The result? Often misunderstood, and sometimes deeply harmful.

Here’s what’s actually happening.

A patience pole (some people use a tree) is typically a tall, fixed object where a horse is tied for extended periods.

It's often used to "break" fidgeting, pawing, pulling back, or other behaviors people consider rude or disobedient. Some trainers use it regularly. Some use it as a one-time “lesson.”

But what’s being taught isn’t patience. It’s something else.

So, why do people use them?

The idea behind it is that the horse will go through its tantrum, realize it’s futile, and “settle.”

What’s often interpreted as learning is actually a freeze response.

Because of the freeze response, this method continues because it looks like it works. The horse gets quiet. The behavior stops. But inside that horse’s nervous system, something entirely different is going on.

From a learning theory standpoint, patience poles rely on flooding - a technique where an animal is exposed to a stimulus it finds aversive until it stops reacting.

It’s widely discouraged in behavioral science due to its risk of trauma, especially when escape is impossible.

According to Paul McGreevy and Andrew McLean (founders of the International Society for Equitation Science), horses tied and unable to flee can experience extreme stress that engages the limbic system, the brain’s emotional and survival center.

When this happens, the prefrontal cortex, responsible for rational thought and learning, shuts down.

In other words, the horse isn’t learning anything. It’s trying to survive.

That stillness you see? That’s not patience.

It’s a conditioned shut-down response, or the buzzword of the 2020's - learned helplessness. When animals (humans included) believe there’s no escape, they stop trying. Not because they’re calm, but because they’ve given up.

Horses that panic under restraint are at high risk for physical injury.

Studies in equine biomechanics and veterinary medicine have documented the effects of poll pressure, neck strain, and TMJ compression due to sudden or repeated pulling.

Fractures at the base of the skull or cervical spine

Strained nuchal ligament and neck musculature

Lingering soreness that makes future handling or bridling more difficult

Behavioral sensitization or reactivity when tied, trailered, or confined

And of course, there’s the unseen trauma - what that horse now associates with being restrained, alone, and unheard. Sometimes that trauma buries itself - and you get an unexpected explosion months or years down the road.

My take: this isn’t training. It’s a shortcut.

Force enters the picture when education/patience runs out.

And yet, when someone chooses a gentler approach, shaping behavior, supporting regulation, creating safety, they’re mocked for being “soft.”

But here’s the truth: soft training doesn’t create dangerous horses.
Lack of education does.

We’ve normalized calling horses “bullies” or “brats” as a way to justify using harsh methods.

But horses aren’t manipulative. They’re not testing us.

They’re communicating as clearly as they can. If we don’t understand, that’s our gap to close.

So what can we do instead?

There are safer, more effective ways to help a nervous horse learn to stand quietly:

Teach standing behavior through successive approximation (small steps toward the final behavior, reinforced positively). Warwick Schiller teaches this - and well.

Use positive reinforcement (like food or scratches) to reward calm behavior

Address physical discomfort or anxiety that makes stillness feel unsafe

Teach patience while moving first - walking, stopping, rewarding

Use safer methods, like blocker ties or teaching ground-tying, as interim steps

Remember, if the horse is dangerous - protected contact is your friend.

But please, stay present. Don’t tie them and walk away or stare at them and call it training.

If you’ve used a patience pole this way in the past, this isn’t about shame. We all do the best we can with what we know.

But we’re at a point in our relationship with horses where we can’t keep clinging to tradition over truth.

You deserve to know how to train your horse with clarity, confidence, and compassion.

And your horse deserves to be trained by someone who sees behavior as communication, not disobedience.

I don't care if you came from a long line of cowboys who've trained 400 colts and we've always done it this way blah blah blaaaaah.

It’s time to retire the shortcuts.

Let’s do better, for them, and for ourselves.

Photo cred: Clinton Anderson 🙃