Engaged Equines

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!

09/06/2025

🐴 Want to know WHY your horse does what they do?

🐴 Want to stop the constant setbacks and resistance in your training?

🐴 Tired of the spooks & unpredictability?

ʟᴇᴀʀɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴋᴇʏs ᴛᴏ sᴜᴄᴄᴇssꜰᴜʟ ᴛʀᴀɪɴɪɴɢ! ᴜɴʟᴏᴄᴋ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜᴏʀsᴇ’s ᴛʀᴜᴇ ᴘᴇʀsᴏɴᴀʟɪᴛʏ ᴀɴᴅ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴇ ᴀ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴍᴜᴛᴜᴀʟ ᴘᴀʀᴛɴᴇʀsʜɪᴘ!

✨ 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 & 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐂
✨ 𝐂𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 / 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐄𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬
✨𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟔𝐭𝐡, 𝐍𝐚𝐫 𝐍𝐚𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐧, 𝐕𝐈𝐂

You will learn:

✅ How to get your horse in a learning frame of mind and make the most of your training sessions.

✅ Identify readiness to learn and know when to put the brakes on!

✅ Accurately read your horse’s body language AND use the information to your advantage.

✅ Create a connection that keeps your horse motivated and willing.

✅ Create a ‘thinker’ not just a ‘doer’ so your horse is able to respond not simply react.

🦄 Stop riding that rollercoaster!

🦄 Stop the spooks and end the explosions!

🦄 Enjoy your time together and have a happy horse!

Katrina has accumulated almost three decades of international experience working with horses of all ages, backgrounds and breeds.

Through years of observation, equine research, rehabilitation and training, Katrina has the ability to effectively read each horse to identify their individual learning style and potential problems in your training journey.

If you’ve been searching for a low pressure learning environment surround by like-minded people this is the perfect opportunity for you and your horse.
In Katrina you will find a supportive and encouraging trainer who believes that each and every one of you has the capacity to improve and succeed.

Event Location: Nar Nar Goon VIC

$347 with horse
$147 without

STRICTLY LIMITED with horse spots!

🌟 CLINIC INCLUDES!! 🌟

2x Theory sessions
2x Practical sessions

PLUS! Morning Tea & Lunch
☕ 🥪🥗

AND all facility fees included!

Let me know if you want more details!

I can’t wait to meet you all, Katrina! 😁

04/06/2025

So you decide you want to run a marathon…you can replace marathon with any type of sporting event, competition, fitness goal or new hobby.

What kind of timeframe do you set for yourself?

If you’ve already achieved a goal, taken part in a sporting event or started a new hobby you’re probably well aware of the steps you took in order to prepare and perform to the best of your ability.

You’re probably also aware of the challenges you faced along the way.

I can guarantee that most of your work wasn’t during the pinnacle but in the weeks, days, hours and minutes spent mentally snd physically preparing.

People are often surprised by the amount of prep time I take during training, whether it be starting under saddle, re educating or bringing back into work, perhaps even in a single session.

Most of this is slow and steady mental and physical preparation and usually the majority is not done under saddle.
When I start prepping for my marathon, I’m not running huge distances daily and I’m not moving at speed - if I do it’s likely I will cause myself an injury, fatigue will set in and my recovery times will be slow.

With a background in equine exercise physiology and rehabilitation I was always aware of how the body worked and developed but I too ignored it for a while when I began training exclusively because with horses we just did what we did and there was a universally accepted timeline.

I began to notice when the most physical (and mental) changes happened, usually right before home time and thought of all I’d asked of the horses before this.
Logically there was no way that they would be able to be adequately prepared to be performing what I’d been expecting.

When a horse isn’t able to reach OUR goal in only a couple of months or even less they might be written off or even labelled as dangerous or difficult. They are also often working above their capabilities which is a good way to kill motivation, create resistance and cause unsoundness.

Everyone wants a confident, capable horse who is willing, motivated and easy to handle but not everyone is prepared to do what it takes to get them there.

𝙅𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙚 𝙅𝙪𝙡𝙮 𝟲𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙥𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙚 𝙪𝙥 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 & 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝘾𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙘!!

𝙒𝙚’𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙛𝙞𝙩𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜!

Message for more info! 😁

29/05/2025

How well do you function when you’re stressed?

Or tired, nervous or fatigued?

We’re all familiar with what it feels like to be running on fumes, irritable, brain fog, heart pounding, tired muscles and lack of sleep.

Why do we think it would be different for our horses?

If your horse is not well prepared for what is being asked of them, hasn’t been taught to cope with the pressures of a human world or has experienced trauma, there can be many side effects both behavioural and physical.

Asking for anything when your horse is stuck in fight, flight or freeze will either have limited success or quite possibly create more resistance and negative behaviours.

Your horse is not in a space where they can retain or process information or learn well, their bodies will be restricted and try to brace against movement.

The first step to helping your horse is MENTAL FITNESS. Without it your progress will be extremely limited.

🌟 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲’𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 & 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝟭-𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝟱𝘁𝗵, 𝗡𝗮𝗿 𝗡𝗮𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗻 𝗩𝗜𝗖 🌟

Let me know if you need the details! 😁