Engaged Equines

17/07/2025

🧡 “𝐁𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞’𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 - 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐞.” 🧡

Over controlling or micromanaging the horse’s body produces brace, imbalance and resistance as the horse fights to stay upright.

We are also totally reliant on whether the horse correctly responds to a cue.

- teaching the horse how to feel more balanced
- to rebalance in the event of imbalance
- and building strength, stability and mobility

…𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐞!

11/07/2025

𝑺𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒔…?

You didn’t get it all right,

You failed,

You made some mistakes,

You wish you’d done things differently,

…nobody got it right the first time…

🧡 𝐒𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 🧡

~ Katrina Park // Cadence Horse Training // Engaged Equines

05/07/2025

🧡“𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬.”🧡

Just because your horse allows something to happen doesn’t necessarily mean they’re comfortable with it - we owe it to them to learn how to better understand them and effectively build confidence not just compliance.

01/07/2025

𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 - 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐝?

An overtrack, where the hind feet track noticeably further than the forefeet, is looked at as a desirable trait when assessing a horse’s movement, also used as an indicator of a high quality gait during a dressage test…

…but are we looking at the full picture?

Overtracking can be a sign of power, hind engagement and swing through body, HOWEVER it should not be confused with over reaching.

Overreaching indicates dysfunction, sometimes the fore heels are clipped by the hind feet.

There may be several factors at play, a lack of hind engagement meaning the hinds lack true reach to support the centre of mass and the fore limbs must come further back to provide this support, weak or atrophied forehand muscles which drop the chest and prevent the horse from lifting adequately or a poorly performing recoil system - the tendons and ligaments of the lower limb are not strong or functioning well enough to propel the fore legs.

It’s so important that in any aspect of training and movement we look at the whole horse and realise it is never black and white which inevitably makes our job more challenging.

In my clinics and events I dive deeper into many of the common concepts that might not be quite as black and white as you might think!

Follow the page and join the mailing list to stay tuned for upcoming events!!

25/06/2025

🧡 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞?? 🧡

When most people think of pressure they usually think of pressure release as a training method, in reality pressure is all around our horses with ANY training method.

The feel of halter or rope, yielding or moving away from an aid involve pressure.

But in many other forms pressure exists.

Simply entering a workspace, being in a yard, having a person in proximity, carrying a saddle, wearing a bridle, being in a new environment, learning something new and balancing our expectations are all types of pressure.

It’s essential, therefore, that we prepare our horses well, instilling confidence and resilience rather than just acceptance and tolerance.

Teaching our horses about their own bodies and minds, how to handle themselves and diffuse tension is a must for a reliable, willing and predictable team mate!

🧡 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞,

…𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟔𝐭𝐡, 𝐍𝐚𝐫 𝐍𝐚𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐧! 🧡

Message for the details!

See you all there! 😁 Katrina

24/06/2025

𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐘𝐎𝐔 & 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒!

To my QLD clinic participants, great friends and amazing hosts!

It was a whirlwind visit, starting with a sleepless night and a late night colic episode for my own horse but thanks to an amazing friend I made my flight and he got a short holiday retreat to boot 🙄

So firstly a huge thank you to the team at Sharbrook Estate for taking such great care of my boy so I could make this trip.

Secondly, thank you so much to Mel and Andrew at Strong Stable Seat for allowing us to use their brand new arena!
For making sure I was adequately caffeinated without fail, keeping everyone fed (special mention to the delicious pumpkin cake) and horses happy.

And of course a huge thank you and well done to all of our horse and human participants, mostly for keeping an open mind and really dedicating yourselves to your learning and your horses for the whole weekend! I know there can be so much information out there and I hope that you found some answers, confidence in your ability and faith in your horses.

Mel and I have already been in talks regarding a special extended clinic coming soon!!!

Stay tuned and let me know if you’re interested!

22/06/2025

21/06/2025

𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐐𝐋𝐃 𝐄𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝 & 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜…

The horses were very appreciative of the brand new sand pit at Strong Stable Seat headquarters!

Today was dedicated to brain training and gaining an understanding of how intertwined mental and physical balance truly is.

We had a great variety of horses in age, discipline and experience level.

No matter what you do with your horse building a positive connection to your guidance and any requests you make, is paramount to keeping them motivated and willing and in avoiding resistance or negative behaviours.

We also explored building confidence rather than training for control and simple obedience and the positive influence of this on consistency, reliability and predictability in training.

By teaching our horses how to balance their own mind and body we give them tools that not only benefit our training but benefit them in their day to day lives.

21/06/2025

We're very excited and all ready for our Mind & Movement Clinic with with Katrina Parks.
Perfect Qld weather for our visiting Victorian trainer.

15/06/2025

🧡 “𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲.” 🧡

This is one of the first concepts I teach, as there’s no getting around it.

Everything runs on the same central nervous system and it takes a careful balance of training to develop a calm, capable and confident horse.

I’ll be diving into the how and why next weekend with my Queensland peeps at my Equine Mind & Movement Clinic! 🤗

11/06/2025

🧡 ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE? 🧡

Connection and relationship building are becoming a much bigger priority in horsemanship, a huge step forward in acknowledging that there is more to training than just obedience.

But is it enough?

I loved my first horse with everything I had, I worked two jobs, alongside going to college, to pay for her and never skipped a night with her, no matter how late. I wouldn’t have done anything intentional to harm her in any way, I meticulously made up her stable every night making sure each piece of straw was in its place, I saved up to buy her matching saddle pads, buckets, brushes and rugs. I groomed her until she was spotless, oiled her hooves every night and sat with her while she ate dinner.

But there are plenty of things I would do differently if I had the chance, particularly around the way I trained, my expectations of her and the way I interpreted her behaviour.
She was known for being extremely hot, she had bucked and bolted with her previous owner, but back then it didn’t faze me, I was able to just ‘ride her through it’ and I attributed it to her being ‘sassy’ and ‘mare-ish’.
She didn’t know how to hold herself in a frame and was probably too weak to, so I used training aids to get her ‘round’.
Today my perspective would be very different.

We really owe it to our horses to better understand them, to educate ourselves, upskill and expand our knowledge. Just because things have been done a certain way for a long time doesn’t make them right, and without science, evolution and a growth mindset we wouldn’t have many of the creature comforts or simple things we take for granted that make our lives easier every day.

The first step to a good partnership with a horse is definitely connection, since this builds the trust needed to take and follow direction, HOWEVER teaching them to manage their own mind and body is paramount to creating confidence and maintaining motivation.

In my opinion connection and self confidence are both needed in equal measure for a well rounded, strong partnership.

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥…

…𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜, 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟔𝐭𝐡, 𝐍𝐚𝐫 𝐍𝐚𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐕𝐈𝐂

Let me know if you want the details!