Sand Point, Idaho Trainer Helps Students Recognize What Their Horses are Saying
What is the name of your business?
Alternative Horsemanship with Samantha Harvey
Where are you located?
The Equestrian Center in Sandpoint, Idaho.
How many years have you been in business?
20 years.
What kinds of training do you do? What services do you offer?
I offer many services including starting colts and rehabilitating difficult horses. I work with various breeds, and ages of horses and different disciplines at both a local and national level.
I teach horsemanship clinics, groundwork, horseback riding lessons, and more. My training approach helps both competitive and pleasure riders of all levels and backgrounds. Groundwork and riding lessons help riders interpret and understand horse behavior to refine their communication and build trust with the horse.
What breeds do you show and/or train?
I no longer compete. My competitive students participate in cutting, eventing, dressage, competitive trail, reined cow horse, hunter/jumpers, endurance, and even liberty performance.
What are your training goals?
My goal is to help humans better understand horses. So many training approaches offer after-the-fact “band-aids” rather than educating equine enthusiasts how to understand horse behavior, refine their communication with the horse, and learn to be proactive in the partnership.
The challenges and problems so many riders of various backgrounds face come from a lack of education in their perspective of how they interact with the horse. Therefore, they misinterpret and offer critical responses leading to dangerous and unwanted scenarios.
Educating people to become clear, intentional, and supportive in the equine partnership diminishes the amount of fearful, reactive, defensive, and dangerous situations and improves the quality of life for the horse leading to rewarding, trusting relationships.
Any accomplishments you’re especially proud of?
I’ve lectured, presented, and offered demos at equine symposiums and expos. I’ve taught horsemanship skills and equine behavior to pre-veterinary students, been a featured speaker on nationally syndicated radio programs, and I have an award-winning horse blog. I also have a regular horse trainer column and have contributed to several published horsemanship books. I offer specialized horsemanship clinics worldwide, and have worked in South America, the Caribbean, and Asia.
Memberships/Organizations/Affiliations/Clubs
Past USPC graduate and instructor.
What’s your training philosophy?
My training philosophy comes from more than three decades of experiences as an equestrian student, equine competitor, horse instructor, mentor, equine business consultant, and from offering horsemanship clinics worldwide.
My horse-and-rider training approaches teach equine enthusiasts the awareness, recognition, and belief in the horse’s communication and how to create a willing equine partner. It’s based on teaching introspection by the rider, rather than the common generalized quick-fix of mainstream horse training that’s offered in a 1, 2, 3-step program.
As equine students learn to recognize the root cause of unwanted behaviors in their horses, they can practice the horsemanship skill sets needed to offer specific communication with their horse. Horsemanship and horseback riding students are taught horse behavior, biomechanical riding concepts, and methods that refine rider mental focus to help them develop into supportive leaders.
What are your goals in training your own horses?
Nowadays the goal is to help the many troubled and misunderstood horses become confident equine partners.
Contact Samantha Harvey
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.learnhorses.com
Phone: (208) 265-2644
Facebook: www.facebook.com/alternativeHorsemanship
See this article in the November/December 2022 online edition:
Nov/Dec 2022
The Northwest Horse Source is an independently owned and operated print and online magazine for horse owners and enthusiasts of all breeds and disciplines in the Pacific Northwest. Our contemporary editorial columns are predominantly written by experts in the region, covering the care, training, keeping and enjoyment of horses, with an eye to the specific concerns in our region.
