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Hedera Horsemanship, Toodyay Road, Gidgegannup (2025)

29/04/2025

Behaviour, Biomechanics and Stress all go hand in hand! ⚖️

Cisco at the start of our session, and then at the end.

At first glance, Cisco is a young horse who finds standing still to be challenging - until hyper-fixated on something - and can often be observed harassing his handler or paddock-mate otherwise. He can be very persistent, and he escalates quickly with intense emotions and loud demands. 🥁

Cisco presents with
- an overdeveloped brachiocephalicus (under-neck)
- tight fascia around his chest + neck
- uneven weight distribution
- forelimbs camped under him
- an anterior pelvic tilt, with a notable lack of mobility
- poor hind-limb awareness

These signs are indicative of a horse exhibiting biomechanical dysfunction and emotional dysregulation due to unhealthy cortisol (stress-hormone) levels, and/or sensitivity to that cortisol.

Excess cortisol also affects glucose production which may have potentially contributed to his overdeveloped crest, storing excess glucose in fatty tissue. 📦

Giving him conscious awareness of his dysfunction, as well as a space to understand those feelings, is allowing him to develop helpful solutions to his problems. 🌱 Throughout the session, he began to consistently maintain a healthier posture as he found a place of peace and understanding of himself - his own body - there.

In this, his cortisol levels came down. That high-stress underneck finally turned offline, relaxing over his topline, and he was able to find some huge releases. His entire body and demeanour softened. And suddenly, we had all the time in the world to stand still, and Be. 🫶

Behaviour, biomechanics (especially posture) and stress are all interconnected. Looking at the horse through a holistic approach allows us to identify the true roots of their struggles, and how we can best support them moving forward. 🤝❤️

15/04/2025

Just hanging out, sharing space.🌻

From Distress + Freeze response upon the mere idea of mounting, to being able to comfortably ENJOY sharing space with a human on his back. 🥹 Now that’s a contrast. 🥳🤩

Perhaps I’ve not been asking much of him at this point contextually-speaking, but I have been asking a lot emotionally. I’ve been asking him just to be.

•••

“Being”, is not actually an easy thing to do when you want to avoid your emotions.

If the nervous system isn’t consciously “being”, it will subconsciously “do” whatever feels the easiest - this is Survival.

It’s much easier to engage in distractions, pacifiers, displacement, offensive/defensive behaviours, etc.

What is now happening, is an output reflective of
- subconscious thought processes
- dysregulation
- opinions (unprocessed emotions)

as opposed to an output reflective of
- conscious problem solving
- emotional regulation
- judgement (cognitive decision-making)

This is where communication becomes reactive, instead of cognitive. 💥

•••

Unprocessed emotions attached to context, form Opinions and Traumas. 📌

Then, we can start to have behavioural problems…

But it started all the way back there, with the emotions! 👆

Or rather… the lack of conscious awareness and understanding of healthier solutions. 🛠️

•••

If we are moving on, without effective time + space for a nervous system to understand, to feel understood, and to feel safe… we can end up unintentionally teaching the Subconscious Emotional Survival Brain to anticipate a context and react.

Instead of bringing the Conscious Thinking Brain forward, to allow for the nervous system to slow down, be mindful of themselves, regulate their emotions, ask questions (Curiosity) and co-regulate + share space with us (Connection).

•••

“Being”, takes vulnerability.

It takes slowing down, and checking in with how you’re really feeling, right now.

Not what if. Not but. Not because.

Just the feeling, right here and right now.

•••

Nervous systems need the right support to feel like they can do it.

They need the right space, time and coregulation as required to feel like they can understand.

And we have to start somewhere.

❌ It’s not about Point A to Point B.

✅ It’s about Point A to Point B, with
- Calmness
- Confidence
- Connection

08/04/2025

Impressions count 🎭

Meeting Bevan was all about helping him feel understood. He is a 17yo pony who has struggled with chronic reactivity + stress levels for a very long time. Most recently, repercussions of this led to his human’s broken tail bone.

•••

Each nervous system has 3 Biological Needs;
- to feel understood
- to feel like they understand
- to feel safe
These being fulfilled, or not being fulfilled, are biological reasons as to WHY (“Bio Why’s”) nervous systems exhibit the behaviours they do.

Let’s dive into that!

When one or more of these needs is not fulfilled, the nervous system will produce the stress hormone Cortisol. ⚡️

Cortisol goes hand-in-hand with intensity of emotions. 🌪️
Increase cortisol = Increase intensity of emotions
Decrease cortisol = decrease intensity of emotions

Cortisol is critical for survival and it serves many purposes. But, it is for survival. Overexposure to high levels of cortisol becomes neurotoxic, killing off neurotransmitters that allow parts of the brain to communicate, relay and process information. 🚨

Instead of just looking at the surface level behaviour, we look at the emotions and cortisol that create the behaviour, which gives us insight into what parts of the brain are online/offline. 🔍

If Bevan doesn’t have the conscious awareness of his emotions, or the skills to navigate those feelings, he cannot find an emotional solution for himself. This further reinforces those Bio Needs not being fulfilled; “I can’t understand, I can’t feel understood, and/or I can’t feel safe”

This brings his nervous system closer to a state of subconscious survival mode (reactivity). Amygdala producing emotions, but limited access to the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) for emotional regulation. This is also where problem solving, reasoning, risk assessment, empathy (“I want to understand you”, this is a huge one), etc are found. Some of these functions may go completely offline. ⛔️

Bevan is one of those ponies that is “fine when he is fine”, and absolutely “not fine when he’s not”. Black and white. From feeling Comfortable, to feeling Distressed.

He has a very low Uncomfortable threshold, as he is not comfortable in being Uncomfortable. Yet.

We are aiming to bring a little more grey into his life. A little more Uncomfortable.

The trick is getting him to feel like he can do it.

He doesn’t want to be in that high state, but he doesn’t know anything else. This is a neural pathway ironed out by his brain through his experiences, patterns, reactions, and reinforced thoughts + feelings over the years. He hasn’t known how to feel understood, how to feel like he could understand, or how to feel safe.

This is where we are starting. 🌱

18/03/2025

Watching the emotions and the body change between each moment. ⚖️

Whether or not he is in his thinking brain, emotional brain, or both. 🧠

What information he is processing, and what information he is not processing. 📕

How he is, or is not processing those things. ✏️

Why he is processing those things in that way. 🔍

The value isn’t really in what you do, but how it is received. Less so you do, but how and why you do it. Being able to look out for Neo’s needs allows for him to gain the most out of his learning experience. 🥰 We take a lot of time checking in with him and observing his emotions, cortisol levels and active thought processes fluctuate with each passing moment. 📊

With this in mind, I can tailor the session to exactly what he needs to work on, and keep it within his biological thresholds to ensure a beneficial learning experience. Everything we do is consciously for them, not meant at them or to them. If it is received that way, our job is to step in and help them to understand, feel understood, and feel safe. ❤️

14/03/2025

Understanding what a truly happy horse looks like compared to one suffering internally—whether from emotional, chemical, or physical issues—is incredibly important.

This is a photo of Scout, a gorgeous wee gelding who endured severe internal complications. After twelve months of paddock turnout and countless professional assessments, we made the heartbreaking decision to put him to sleep.

I delayed that decision for far too long, plagued by guilt, convinced I must have missed something. But after his autopsy, I felt an even deeper guilt—realizing I should have let him go sooner. I don’t believe in euthanizing a horse just because they have issues; I always exhaust every veterinary and professional avenue first. However, leaving a horse to live in chronic discomfort, confined to a life of quiet suffering, isn’t fair either.

This expression on Scout’s face is a classic example of what we call a "pain/worry eye." The pinched skin beneath the eye shouldn’t appear so wrinkled. When an animal is under stress, the levator anguli oculi muscle tightens, pulling the skin tight and creating wrinkles as a result. In a relaxed, happy horse, gravity should allow this area to soften downwards.

Another significant indicator in this photo is the way Scout is sucking in his cheeks. This was occurring because he was living in a dissociative state—a long-term freeze response—as a coping mechanism for his internal discomfort.

In a freeze response, a horse will often hold their breath as their body starts to involuntarily shut down in preparation for injury or death (causing the appearance of them sucking in their cheeks). This response can be triggered by intense pain, mental overwhelm, or a loss of hope—when the horse no longer believes that fleeing or fighting will ensure its safety. This is particularly relevant for horses trained under duress, where learned helplessness replaces their natural flight instincts.

Other key signs of a horse functioning in a strong freeze response include:

▪️ Short, shallow breaths through the nostrils or diaphragm
▪️ Glassy eyes
▪️ Rigid lips and muzzle
▪️ Tense ears
▪️ Difficulty swallowing (as the freeze response affects the salivary glands)

If a horse displays a pain eye, sucked-in cheeks, or any of these other behaviors, it’s crucial to start searching for the root cause. While physical and chemical issues are common culprits, psychological stress plays a significant role, too. Boredom, loneliness, lack of social engagement, feeling misunderstood, or—of course—abuse and neglect can all contribute to an animal's suffering.

11/03/2025

Emotional Processing: 100% Complete.

Sometimes, understanding just takes a little time. 🤍

02/01/2024

Happy new year everyone! ☀️

This year, we will be operating from our 50 acre property in Gidgegannup which is very exciting. This allows for so many more exciting opportunities as well as the Perth clientele. We are still in the process of building more paddocks, a round yard and an arena, but will hopefully be taking clients very soon.

If anyone is interested in float training, groundwork, starting, general education, working on manners, developing your relationship with your horse, or bringing your horse back into work etc please don’t hesitate to send a message and I can let you know when we are available. If you are local to the Gidgegannup area, I can also travel to you.

Fingers crossed for a great 2024.

Pictured is the lovely friesian warmblood mare, Calliope, owned by Jayne T.

Hedera Horsemanship

29/04/2025

15/04/2025

08/04/2025

18/03/2025

14/03/2025

11/03/2025

02/01/2024

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