Madi Holmes Animal Training

08/10/2025

If someone holding a carrot 'disrupted the communication' of you and your horse, then its time to assess your horses motivation.

You've lost once. Want to try again?

22/09/2025

My fluffy pony has a more species appropriate lifestyle than any racehorse, school horse or performance horse I've ever met.

“Trust me, this horse is pampered.”

🫧🧽What People Often Think Pampering Means:

• A spotless horse with not a speck of dirt or sand on them

• Braided and kept in permanent “show-ready” condition

• Living in an isolated stall inside a spotless, polished barn

• Bathed daily, sometimes multiple times a day

• Tack gleaming, polished until it shines

• Constantly clipped whiskers, ears, and muzzle for a “clean” look

• Limited turnout so they stay “safe” and don’t get a scratch

• Ridden or exercised on strict schedules so they stay trim and polished, even if it doesn’t match their natural rhythms (“he only has to work for one hour a day”)

All of these things make HUMANS feel good. They fit OUR picture of luxury. But horses don’t define pampering the same way we do.

🐴 What Pampering Looks Like to Horses:

• A full hay net or grass buffet so their stomachs are never empty

• Rolling in dirt or sand to scratch, shed hair, and coat themselves naturally (like in this photo 🤣)

• Mutual grooming with friends, scratching each other’s withers in exactly the right spot

• Safe Turnout with space to move freely, stretch their legs, or gallop when they feel like it

• Shelter they can choose to step into or out of depending on weather

• Comfortable footing that keeps hooves strong and joints supported

• Play and exploration, whether it’s a new log to chew, a ball to nudge, or just time to be curious

• Positive interactions with humans, where training is cooperative instead of coercive

✨ A horse isn’t pampered because they look like a showpiece. They’re pampered when their needs are met in the way horses understand.

07/09/2025

Horse racing isn't ethical. They dont love to run. They aren't treated like royalty.This isn't a once off bad actor, this type of treatment is common and its properly fu**ed.

29/08/2025

CONSIDER COUNSELING 👏👏👏

Using electric shock collars on dogs in the twenty-first century might be a competence issue: a trainer may feel dependent on using them and not know how to wean themselves off. It might also be a psychological issue: a trainer might feel competent training without one but prefer shocking dogs. If you think about this latter case, it is either that such trainers either don't see the suffering inflicted or they don't care. If it were a child inflicting pain deliberately on an animal, we'd flag them for possible psycopathy. Child or adult, it's an issue for mental health professionals.

17/08/2025

Punishment based training is SO lazy.
You don't proactively prepare your animal for the world, you don’t anticipate behaviours you'll need and train them at home and put the time into proofing them elsewhere.
You react emotionally, often impulsively.
'Dont do that!'
'No!'
'Get out of there!'
You react with aggression and force because you can't control your own emotions well enough and honestly, you need to see a therapist.
The amount of horse and dog trainers that are absolutely giddy at the thought of having a living animal under their complete control is unnerving.

01/08/2025

Best purchase. No regrets.

23/07/2025

14/07/2025

I'm not above a little bribery when the situation warrants it, but it's not my go to. First, positive reinforcement.

06/07/2025

Many people can identify their horses body language, and just don't care. They write it off as a silly horse having silly fears, because WE know that the barrel in the arena isn't going to jump up and hurt them. But their feelings are real. Of course, there's also a shocking number of horse owners who can't identify their horses body language past ears back means they're angry 🙃

26/06/2025

It’s sad to think about how many horses lack the space to pick up a canter, or in some cases, a trot in their turnout situations.

For many horses, the only time they get to move faster than a trot is under saddle, at the instruction of a rider.

Then, people wonder why horses are explosive and difficult sometimes.

One of the biggest contributors to behavioural problems under saddle is unmet needs.

The abundance of pent up energy created by a lack of ability to move.

Horses would be much sounder, calmer and sure footed if they all had the space to practice free movement at all gaits.

19/06/2025

If anyone has any personal dealings or witnessed abuse, you can report it! They're investigating 🔎 because Nico didn't deserve that!

FEI PRESS RELEASE | Please see the link below for information on the launch of an FEI horse abuse investigation into Australian athlete Heath Ryan.

https://www.equestrian.org.au/news/fei-launches-horse-abuse-investigation-heath-ryan

Equestrian Victoria Equestrian Queensland Equestrian NSW Equestrian Western Australia Equestrian South Australia Inc Equestrian Northern Territory Equestrian Tasmania

14/06/2025

I appreciate that we can all agree (most of you, anyway) that Heath's treatment of Nico was wrong.

Now let's talk about riding in general 😏😂

Horses, like every species, have some basic biologically driven needs. These are described and encompassed beautifully in the Five Domains Model by DJ Mellor.

While we should always have these needs in mind when making decisions regarding our horses, we must especially consult them when having issues with our horses.
We must also consult the Humane Hierarchy by Dr. Susan Friedman.

Seemingly neither of these paths were explored by popular equestrian Heath Ryan before he allegedly used a whip on a warmblood gelding by the name of Nico, in excess of 40 times.
The PPGA is strongly against any use of force or punishment in training, and is dismayed and appalled by the video footage of Heath Ryan on Nico. There shouldn’t be a world where this behaviour is tolerated, condoned, justified or thought appropriate. EVER.

In the most basic sense, a horse's needs can be drilled down to the 3 F’s

Friends
Forage
Freedom

In Heath Ryan’s response to the video, he explained that Nico had been well cared for but had always been a ‘problem child’. He expressed that Nico had been rugged, regularly ridden, and had his own paddock, to say that Nico had ‘wanted for nothing’.

When examining a horse's needs per the Five Domains Model, we can see that Heath Ryan’s examples don’t align with what we know to be true.
While under specific circumstances rugging might be advised, it is not necessary and can often lead to more problems than it solves. While freedom to move is needed, what’s really required by the horse is the freedom to express normal behaviours. Riding is not the only way to achieve movement and isn’t suitable for every horse. As horses are herd animals, the freedom to move should encompass its social needs and enrichment. Individual paddocks are strongly discouraged.

The possibility of Nico’s behaviour being health related isn’t addressed by Heath Ryan in his facebook post about this situation. But a thorough medical assessment should be conducted well before any training methods are employed as per the Humane Hierarchy. Some of the things that should have been done include the horse being scoped for ulcers, x-rayed for kissing spines, lameness tested and more.

This situation also brings up the simple question of horse ownership. The horse Nico was given two options - perform, or be sent to slaughter. This gives the impression that a horse like Nico only has value if he’s able to be ridden to a competition level.
It’s unfortunate that anyone who’s met a horse could feel that way.
The unridden equine is still a sentient being who is infinitely capable of bringing joy and value to those around them. And more importantly than what they can do for us, is what we should be doing for them.
Every horse deserves to live with freedom from pain and punishment, in a species appropriate way.

Mellor DJ. Operational Details of the Five Domains Model and Its Key Applications to the Assessment and Management of Animal Welfare. Animals (Basel). 2017 Aug 9;7(8):60. doi: 10.3390/ani7080060. PMID: 28792485; PMCID: PMC5575572.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5575572/

Written by the PPGA Equine Sub-Committee