🦚The Peacock, The Chaos… · Get Good With Horses Courses

29d (edited) • 👀 Observations from the Field

🦚The Peacock, The Chaos…

...and The Training No One Sees.

Might wanna grab a cup of tea for this read 🍵

Just this past week, we had a very unexpected guest move into the yard - a female peacock.

No one knows where she came from. The Animal Ambulance won’t take her because she’s not injured, Bird Rescue won’t take her because of her species and no one seems to be looking for her, o for now, she’s just here. And I have to say, she is beautiful. Impressive even, but also a bit of a ticking time bomb in a place like our stables.

Our barn sits right on the edge of nature, backing onto the dunes that lead out to the sea. You can ride straight there, which is pretty special. But with Amsterdam only 30 minutes away, it’s also a busy place. Always people, always movement, machinery, horses and especially in the mornings when everything is being cleaned and organised.

It can feel idyllic and it can turn chaotic in seconds where recenty we had chaos.

The sun was out, so naturally many people was there, orses tied up, being groomed, tacked up, people chatting, a normal, busy day. I had Lenny tied up with about five other horses nearby, and a few more across the way. Everything was calm.

Until it wasn’t.

Out of nowhere, a dog started chasing the peacock aaaaand she honked loud, very loud and flew straight up into a tree.

And in that split second… everything exploded.

Two horses pulled back and broke their halters. People were on the ground. Things went flying. One horse slipped on the concrete trying to scramble away. Horses in the paddock took off galloping like it was their cue to join in. It was absolute chaos.

And this is the part I think matters most…because these situations happen. Maybe not always this extreme, but often enough. And when you start to understand horses, really understand them, you begin to feel when something is about to tip - for me time almost slows down.

And in that moment, I’m not thinking about anything other than keeping my horse safe from the situation, from other horses, from people… and from themselves.

By the time that bird had taken off, I’d already untied Lenny and quietly moved him away from the horse next to him, kept a soft feel on the rope, took a deep breath and got ready in my head what to do next.

💥Just like in a Matrix movie and BOOM - everything erupted.

Now don’t get me wrong he was nervous, of course he was. But he had somewhere to go with it.

I could give him something to come back to. A way to regulate, to think, to stay with me even while everything around him was falling apart.

Within about five minutes, he was back in a place where he could process again.

We even went looking for the peacock afterwards so he could follow it a little, move his feet with purpose, build some confidence by moving the bird. Then he had his food and went back to his paddock like nothing had happened.

Meanwhile still some 25–30 minutes later, people were still high on adrenaline, restless horses etc. etc.

Even as I was walking Lenny back to his paddock, another loose horse ran past. Felt almost comical inside the tragic mess.

I’m not sharing this to say I know it all or am godess to horses, far from it actually but what I am saying is this is exactly why I do what I do. Everything we talk about in here, all the groundwork, the feel, the timing, the awareness, the breathing, the shoulders - it’s not just for nice videos or controlled environments - it’s for this.

For the unpredictable moments, for the situations you can’t plan and for having the tools to recover quickly, instead of being part of the chaos.

Because the reality is, some of those horses that pulled back might look fine but you and I both know that that kind of strain doesn’t always show up immediately.

And here’s the slightly ironic part - my next podcast episode is called “Don’t Live in the Spook.”

But the truth is, most people at that yard will never hear it, maybe just a handful.

And even today, no one would have really noticed what I was doing differently partly because they were too busy dealing with their own situation. Just like they don’t notice the amazing moments my horses and me share. But they’ll happily pay €80 to go watch it at a show somewhere else. And that’s okay.

Because if you’re here, reading this, you’re already choosing something different and you’re learning how to live it.

So that was that, hopefully a long time until The next catastrophe, only time will tell 😅

❓In those unexpected moments, do you feel like you have a plan to help your horse recover as soon as possible?

🐴✨🫶

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