Alternative Horsemanship™ with Samantha Harvey the Remote Horse Coach

Alternative Horsemanship the Remote Horse Coach offers horse and rider a training approach that teaches equine enthusiasts the awareness, recognition, and belief of the horse's communication and creates a willing equine partner.

Over three decades Samantha Harvey developed her Alternative Horsemanship™ approach, based on teaching introspection of the rider, rather than generalized, quick-fix mainstream horse training offered in a 1, 2, 3 step type program. As equine students learn to recognize the root cause of unwanted behaviors in their horses, they can learn the horsemanship skill sets needed to offer specific support to their horses. She educates equine enthusiasts on self-awareness, self-assessment, and mental presence to have clear, specific, Conversations with the horse or an "alternative" approach. 

Equestrian students can choose from online horsemanship courses, webinars, and weekly coaching or participate in individualized distance horse training programs. Sam's goal is to help horseback riders learn how to recognize mindless patterns within themself and their horses. She helps change the equestrian's mental dialogue replacing self-deprecating or distracting thoughts and helps students recognize emotional triggers in response to the horse. Offering strategic, simple, and practical approaches with an "alternative" mindset of making proactive decisions to proactively offer horse-specific communication. 

Frequently riders are fixated on the self-focused "I want," which dictates and limits the quality of the equine interaction. This diminishes the rider's mental availability to adapt their intention to the now, offering clear interaction with realistic goals. Often the "modern-day" horse lacks quality education, has not been socialized, is suffering from pain and diet issues, and their exposure to the "real" world is limited. Without recognizing possible unwanted contributors, too many riders become frustrated, overwhelmed, or stuck in their horsemanship journey.

The Alternative Horsemanship™ approach prioritizes creating a mentally available horse, and then asking for physical responses. If a horse is stressed, fearful, or concerned, physically asking more of him at his peak worry, teach him that humans will add pressure and critique rather than help him work through an unsure moment. If too much pressure is forced upon the horse coercing him to contain his stress, often there is an explosion of dramatic and dangerous behavior that follows.

The online horse courses or remote horseback training and coaching are to help students learn how to build a quality equine partnership based on mutual respect and trust. Riders learn how to have a "Conversation" with their horse (versus being hopeful) to create mentally available, physically willing, and reasonable equine partners. Taking the time to address the seemingly minor details that can lead to significant "cracks" in the partnership allows a continual progression that empowers students to independently use their newfound skills to work with their horse in the "real world," irrelevant of their chosen discipline.

Sam offers a combination of explaining horse behavior, traditional classical riding concepts, and addressing the rider's mental focus teaching students how to become supportive leaders to their horses.