White Alpine Equine

17/02/2025

A certain emotional vampire is doing the rounds again lol. Not working this time old girl, not this time.

17/02/2025

My thoroughbred ‘bookends’ 💕❤️ Tough life lol

16/02/2025

This XOXOXO

Way to go 🫶❤️Elizabeth
A horse rider who recently turned 100 has no intention of hanging up her reins.

Elizabeth Breton, from Cirencester, first took to the saddle at just two years old and celebrated her milestone birthday with champagne, a party, and a card from King Charles.

Although riding is “part of her DNA,” Ms. Breton took a 30-year break before returning to the sport in her 70s, eventually competing for several years.

Now a centenarian, she remains committed to her weekly visits to Cotswold Riding Stables, saying she “came to life” when she got back in the saddle—and she has no plans to stop.

15/02/2025

Resharing this wonderful story XOXOXO

Spread the loveIn the Kosciuszko National Park in Australia, a woman spotted a newborn foal fall into an icy stream. The woman didn’t hesitate to help and retold her experience on her Instagram account garnering more than 762,000 likes. In Australia, feral horses known as Brumbies, run freely in t...

14/02/2025

Yeah! Do it - promise it feels great 💕

14/02/2025

So on the Grey Horse Scale of Happiness - being how mucky they can make themselves - what would you rate Darcy as from 0 Clean to 10 Filthy 😜

13/02/2025

I didn't make it to the 6am Australia time live session this morning but thought I would share the recording link.

Below are links to recordings of webinars presented by the Homes for Horses Coalition. Our webinars present information from experts related to equine rescue, care, advocacy, and more. Rethinking the Origins of Horse Domestication and Its Impact on the Ancient WorldJoin HHC and Dr. William T Taylor,...

12/02/2025

The Government's response to the Animal Welfare Committee was released today. Not a happy read :-(

The Animal Welfare Committee was established on 22 June 2023 to inquire into and report on matters relating to the welfare and protection of animals in New South Wales.

10/02/2025

It took me a long break from horses to understand and feel this. I was so competitive that I would be ill if I stuffed up a jump or missed a turn on a cross-country course.

Fortunately I did always blame it on me and not the horse but I was pretty heavy handed with them just as a matter or course - the old style way :-(

Now, I couldn't care less if I make a mistake - laugh, learn and move on XOXOXO

So true 🥰
credits: Cavaliere Couture

10/02/2025

Such an awesome outcome for the last brumbies rehomed out of WAE. Nothing like finishing on a high note :-)

09/02/2025

This lovely light rain has given us the perfect opportunity to make some space in our spa conservatory by planting our baby oaks, hedging, lucerne trees and liquid ambers into their 'winterising' beds.

We will cover this with a shade cloth to help them get through one season of snow/frosts and then they are on their own and planted in the zones. It may go up earlier if we get some super hot days to give them some shade protection as well.

Hedging and lucerne trees will go around the horse arena and near the stables and the oaks and liquid ambers along the driveway from the front gate up to the house.

It is tough on plants in this environment so some of the trees have gone through a couple of seasons of being nursed through - this will give them a chance to season to the conditions before we go to the trouble of spacing out and digging holes for them. Well, that is the theory anyway lol

And thank you to the brumbies for their p**p donation - nice and aged :-)

06/02/2025

So true!

HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU LEARNT TO RIDE⁉️

If You Have Only Learnt to Ride ONCE – You’d Better Read This…⬇️

Because that might be the reason you struggle with getting your horse into a good posture and frame, the horse travelling willingly forward, or not rushing.

The reality is—you have to keep learning to ride!

The reason why your coach or trainer can get on your horse and it performs better for them is that they have continued learning to ride!

Let me explain…

There is so much to sitting on the back of a horse and being a good load for them to carry!

I describe my own experience like this—when I first learned to ride, I considered I had achieved that mark when I could walk, trot, and canter on a horse, steer them in directions I wanted to go, and slow and stop when I wanted to without falling off.

I always struggled with getting a horse soft in the bridle, but I thought that was what different bits, double bridles, side or draw reins were for.

To be honest, I really stayed at that level for nearly 20 years, and my story is not uncommon.

Really, that is the equivalent of me learning to play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star🌟 on a piano and needing to put on a recording of other music to cover up the fact I could only play a simple melody.

Luckily for me, I had a horse that didn’t put up with the mediocre standard of my riding and made me aware that I was grossly ignorant about my skills. However, this horse also ignited an amazing experience of discovering how good I could get with the right practice.

You see, I was practising my riding—I just wasn’t aware of what I was doing wrong. Therefore, I was continually practising the equivalent of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star🌟 on the piano and hoping to become a concert pianist🎹!

Because I was not aware of what I was doing wrong, I was not able to develop my ability to sit on a horse, communicate, and influence them effectively.

Therefore, over the years, I have continuously learned how to ride, and each time I have had to work through the same frustration and discomfort as when I was initially learning to ride.

I remember initially learning to rise to the trot and how uncoordinated that was. But trust me, I have experienced the same awkward feelings when I have refined that skill of rising to the trot many times. Then there is sitting trot—that has been many times too, as I keep exploring my own compensation patterns and asymmetry!

There is how I pick up the reins, communicate to the horse flexion, bend, shoulders, contact, connection… gosh, that has been an amazingly endless journey.

I could go on, but I hope you get the idea and can reflect back on yourself.

When you dearly love the art of riding horses and you have that drive to be good at it, you have to understand that mastery is an inside job. It is not an outside job of bits, gear, or even the horse. It is seeing yourself as an evolving masterpiece of skill—the equivalent of someone who started playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star 🌟but has evolved to play pieces of music with more complex rhythms, intricate fi*****ng, or virtuosic technical work!

I even have a very simple test for people to give themselves some indication of the most basic quality of their seat and balance.

If you are brave enough to expose your own seat, you can do this test yourself—trot on a loose rein.
Now, when I mean loose, I mean buckle loose, so you have no way of balancing on your horse’s mouth!

If you feel super awkward and out of control, fantastic! You just gained an amazing insight that opens up an opportunity to work on the independence of your seat! This solves so many training and performance issues with horses!

If you tell me you cannot do that because your horse will take off, well, guess what? That also means you have to refine the way you ride and communicate with your horse, as reins should not function as some kind of handbrake. In fact, it usually means you have most likely been balancing on your horse’s mouth too!

Again, this opens a door of opportunity for you to take yourself to the next level in your riding.
Remember—knowing your weaknesses is how you can focus and refine your practice. That’s how your use of time becomes more effective, and you see progression!

📸IMAGE: Me at 12 with my Dad (being a good "Show Dad"!🥰). I had made it to "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star🌟" riding level - and stayed there for nearly 20 years😎! My only evolution during this time was discovering different bits, side and draw reins🫣!

06/02/2025

Here is a meme just for those who may be planning any dramas over the weekend :-)

06/02/2025

This is so inspirational for me!!!

I am 61 this year and see friends and family dropping off their perch or with illness that is stopping them doing what they would love to do. Or worse, the PERCEPTION that they can't/shouldn't do it anymore.

I still feel fit and hale - and ready to get back into it and actually enjoy competing again, now I've learned not to take it so seriously. I've had a long break in between but I still feel it is so 'doable'.

Who else is out there still doing 'stuff' at 60+?

Then I hear of 70 year olds getting to major level dressage and showjumping with never having ridden before in their lives.

I wonder how much I constrain myself with worrying about age. What is the old saying 'you are only as young as the horse you feel'.....or was that supposed to be 'man' :-)

I posted a comment a while ago about some people in rescue being 'past their used by date'.

That wasn't an age inference - it was an attitude inference.

If you have become so inured to pain and suffering with having been involved in rescue for so long that you turn a blind eye to it, get out. When those in your care are seen as wastage that it is easier to shoot, get out.

There are some shocking things occuring behind closed doors by people who, in my view, have completely lost their way. THEY need to step away.

How inspiring is this, 70-year-old lady riding dressage on her 30-year-old horse, together they are 100 years old! Just Beautiful ❤️

05/02/2025

Mine are half and half - and I’m putting Oli the tb back into work bit less to start with. Can’t always compete that way but we won’t be doing that on a regular basis for quite some time :-)