Introducing our newest horse in for training, Rhapsody! Rhapsody comes from Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue, INC’s foster trainer program. She was not chosen for their Appalachian Trainer Face Off program and we hear she’s quite a handful if you try to trim her feet 😨. She will be with us to get more comfort around handing and domestic life and maybe even get started under saddle. Interestingly, during the day she seems pretty relaxed around humans and much less snorty. I can walk right up and pet her without any fuss. But last night when I went in the pen to visit with her, she acted like I was an alien. Even so, I love what I saw in her: willingness to express her fear safely (super loud snorts!), curiosity to approach even when scared, and the ability to co-regulate her nervous system with me. Notice toward the end of the video how I scratch my nose and she reaches down and scratches her nose on her leg, instantly followed by a series of nervous system downregulation signals: licking, chewing, yawning, shaking. The ability to release that tension can be really difficult for some mustangs. But the more we hold space for and reward that nervous system downregulation, the easier and faster it gets, and the smaller the fear response is in the future. #HOPTeamRhapsody (fb)

Beautiful post from our campers last night. Thank you for staying with us! (fb)