Healing Trauma In The Shutdown Horse: A Case Study Series

If you are looking for guidance on how to start to work with horses who have trauma towards humans and exhibit behaviours like being difficult to catch, avoidant or flighty, this video series is for you!

This video package follows Steve, a QH gelding who was rescued from a feedlot in spring 2026. He has severe trauma associated with humans and would periodically go into a shutdown/frozen state and appear "relaxed" but then suddenly explode. This series follows the process of addressing his fear of humans, keeping him out of shutdown and noticing the signs of shutdown.

These videos are the entire session by session progress with Steve for the first 8 sessions and include teaching behaviours like the halter target, addressing issues with being caught, working on hoof handling, addressing anxiety of ropes, introducing the saddle pad and more.

Throughout the videos, the science behind the behaviours is discussed as well as breakdowns of what behaviours Steve exhibits throughout training as well as other important things for people to consider while working with traumatized horses. 

This is an ongoing case study and new videos will be added for purchase as available.