GROW Horsemanship

GROW Horsemanship I'm Brie Simpson, behaviour consultant, R+ trainer, and the founder of GROW Horsemanship, formerly PATH Equestrian. Please feel free to reach out ❤️

Welfare-focused equine education, discussion, and community

Endorsed Trainer with the WBA

• Behaviour consulting
• R+ lessons (in person and online)

Track-system boarding at Balancing Whispers (Caledon, Ontario) 🇨🇦 PATH was where this work began, but GROW reflects how my understanding and approach have evolved over the years. GROW stands for Guided by Research, Observation & Welfare, the three

pillars that shape everything I do:

Research: keeps the work grounded in evidence and curiosity. Observation: helps us truly see the horse in front of us and respond to them as an individual. Welfare: is the foundation, making sure every choice supports the horse’s physical, emotional, and social needs. I manage Balancing Whispers, one of Canada’s largest track-system facilities, which is home to a healthy mixed herd where horses live in a manner that supports their physical, social, and emotional needs. Designed in collaboration with owner Martine Sudan, who has created a haven for welfare-focused owners and a model for progressive horse management. I’ve hosted clinics and mentorships focused on the equine pain ethogram, consent-based procedures, and welfare-based care, supporting owners, professionals, and students in applying science to real-world horse management. I’ve also mentored students from diverse academic and professional backgrounds, including veterinary and graduate students, as well as co-op placements and horse owners seeking hands-on experience in welfare-based training and management. I’m an Endorsed Trainer with the World Bitless Association, a recognition that holds deep meaning for me because it reflects years of learning, reflection, and dedication to welfare-led, evidence-based horsemanship. Very few trainers hold this recognition, and I feel deeply honoured to be part of that community. GROW Horsemanship is about creating a welfare-focused community, a place where questions are welcome, science meets empathy, and education is meant to empower, not judge.

I believe in realistic goals, even when they are not my personal preference.Sometimes I talk about overhauling industrie...
12/28/2025

I believe in realistic goals, even when they are not my personal preference.

Sometimes I talk about overhauling industries like racing, and I am met with comments like “just get rid of it.”

In an ideal world, some things probably would not exist at all. I am not pretending otherwise.

But wishing something away is not the same as making active changes.

Entire industries do not disappear because we want them to. They are embedded in culture, economics, politics, and power. When it comes to horses and gambling in particular, money is a massive driving force. While we wait for abolition, horses are still living inside these systems every single day.

That is where harm reduction matters.

This is where conversations about possible change come in. We talk a lot about welfare, and I would love to say that every horse should live in a fully species appropriate setup. But sometimes a realistic stepping stone is framing the conversation around how longer turnout can improve a horse’s athletic performance.

That framing feels gross to me. But when welfare is not the priority driving decisions, it becomes a necessary entry point for change.

These conversations are uncomfortable. I hate knowing that many decisions are driven by business rather than the horse.

This is also where R+ comes into the conversation.

In a perfect world, every handler would have access to education, time, resources, and support to train and manage horses in fully ideal ways. That is not the world most horses and equestrians are living in. Achieving that would require a massive overhaul, and it cannot happen overnight.

Harm reduction in R+ sometimes means working with the tools the human currently has available, while reducing fear, force, and fallout as much as possible. It means meeting people where they are, not where we wish they already were.

That does not mean endorsing poor systems or practices. It means prioritizing the horse in front of us right now, and making the changes that are possible in this moment.

This is not me endorsing the system.
This is me trying to do what I can within it.

And yes, I would love to scream into the void that everything should be done for the horse. Most of my page is exactly that.

But sometimes I have to be a realist.
And sometimes that means being criticized from all sides.

Sometimes we need to reduce suffering now, not only advocate for a future we hope exists someday.

Holding a vision for something better and working within the reality we have are not opposing ideas. They are how change actually happens.

Managing Rapid Temperature Drops with Unblanketed HorsesWhen alot of rain concludes with a rapid temperature drop, there...
12/27/2025

Managing Rapid Temperature Drops with Unblanketed Horses

When alot of rain concludes with a rapid temperature drop, there are real risks to consider. Rain followed by freezing rain and a sharp temperature drop can create flash freeze conditions.

In these situations, the concern is not cold alone. The risk comes from wet coats and rapid heat loss before horses have time to dry naturally. Rain collapses the insulating air layer in the coat, and when temperatures drop quickly, moisture can ice over before the horse can dry. This traps cold against the body and interferes with normal thermoregulation.

It can be tempting to want to blanket a horse that’s not usually blanketed during these events but that needs careful thought as well.

Blanketing can help in some cases, but it also comes with potential trade-offs:

When a horse who is very hairy is blanketed their excess heat cannot escape. There is risk of them sweating under the blanket and that moister staying trapped. When that happens we also up the risk of skin conditions like rain rot because there is heat and a lot of moister trapped.

That doesn’t mean blanketing is wrong. It means it’s context dependent. Blanket decisions should always be individualized.

I’ve also made the mistake of putting a rain sheet on a fluffy horse during a freezing rain event in the past, felt like the right decision at the time. Instead he overheated with just a rainsheet as it trapped the heat. And it was not a good solution for him.

My horses are not blanketed and blanketing in these conditions would cause them to sweat. They are extremely woolly. Pale’s name is literally The Pale Yeti.

What I do with my unblanketed horses:

• Encourage shelter use by filling shelters with hay well before the weather shifts. If your horses only option for food is outside the shelter, they will have to choose between food and staying dry.

• Monitor closely. Beyond watching for dryness during the temperature drop, I’m also watching for signs of colic or discomfort

• If horses are wet before a rapid temperature drop, they need access to deep shelter or indoors so they can dry before freezing conditions set in

• My horses come in to dry (and are loose in the barn) if they are wet even with the above prepping (hopefully not but good to have back up plan!).

A dry winter coat insulates extremely well. Healthy horses with good winter coats can handle very low temperatures (mine handle -30s with no issues), but only when they are dry at the skin. A wet coat combined with a rapid freeze is where risk increases for our unblanketed equine friends

Different conditions call for different management choices. Stay safe with this mean looking storm that is coming our way!
Monitor closely, everyone 🤍

👏 The 👏 release 👏 is 👏 what 👏 teaches 👏The majority of horse training is built on pressure and release.This is called Ne...
12/27/2025

👏 The 👏 release 👏 is 👏 what 👏 teaches 👏

The majority of horse training is built on pressure and release.
This is called Negative Reinforcement.

Natural horsemanship and most traditional horsemanship rely on pressure that the horse is motivated to change. The stimulus is “unpleasant” enough that the horse seeks relief and works to make it stop.

Before we even get to the release, there is another piece that matters.

In clear, pressure-based training, the horse should first be given a clear cue, and a moment to respond to that cue, before pressure is added. The cue is the antecedent that tells the horse what behaviour is being asked.

Let’s break down a simple example.

• A cue is given to ask the horse to move over, and the horse is given a chance to respond.
• If the horse does not respond, pressure is added.
• The horse moves over.
• Pressure is removed AS the horse moves over.
• The horse experiences relief the moment the pressure stops.

The horse learns:
“Do this behaviour and the pressure goes away.”

Or put another way:
“Respond to the cue and you can avoid the pressure.”

This relief is not the same thing as a reward. Nothing is being given. Something is being taken away.
Even if the outcome feels good to the horse, the learning process still matters.

Now ask yourself: what happens when the pressure is not released?

What tells the horse which response was correct?
What marks the desired behaviour?

In many cases, the horse continues to experience pressure even after they have done the right thing. Instead of learning, they experience confusion and frustration. Over time, some horses stop offering responses altogether because they cannot figure out what provides relief. The pressure begins to feel inescapable.

The RELEASE and the resulting RELIEF are the lesson.

If pressure is being used at all, understanding release is NOT OPTIONAL.
It is the ENTIRE learning mechanism behind this operant learning process.

Practicing what we preach matters.Over the years, I’ve seen how easy it is for welfare language to become part of brandi...
12/26/2025

Practicing what we preach matters.

Over the years, I’ve seen how easy it is for welfare language to become part of branding rather than practice. From the outside, things can look progressive and ethical, especially online.

When results, speed, or reputation are prioritized over the horse’s experience, welfare is often the first thing to slip. And behind the scenes, the reality can look very different from what’s shared publicly.

Welfare isn’t a brand or a social media identity.
It isn’t what we do when people are watching.

It’s how we behave when no one is around.
It’s how we respond when things don’t go smoothly.
It’s how horses experience US.

Occasionally, employees or students mention how calm and kind the day-to-day handling is here, and it’s a reminder that small, quiet choices are often the most noticeable. Kindness should be the baseline in this industry, not the exception.

Integrity in horsemanship means your private actions match your public values. Every day. Not just when others are watching. Not just when it benefits your image or your business. Horses experience the truth of our values, whether we intend it or not.

Enrichment can be a gift we give our horses ❤️On colder days, warm apple cider can be a simple, optional way to offer en...
12/24/2025

Enrichment can be a gift we give our horses ❤️

On colder days, warm apple cider can be a simple, optional way to offer enrichment. I make apple cider every year for Christmas, and it’s always a big hit with all the horses.

🍎 HORSE-FRIENDLY WARM APPLE CIDER

Ingredients:
• 1 bag of peeled, washed and cored apples
• 1 orange (peeled, sliced and deseeded)
• 4 cinnamon sticks
• Water
• Small amount of molasses to taste (added later and not required)

Recipe:
Add apples, orange, cinnamon sticks, and enough water to cover.

Crock Pot:
Cook on low for 3 hours.
(I like this method because I can leave it and “forget” about it.)

Stovetop:
Bring to a very gentle simmer and cook for 60–90 minutes.

About halfway through cooking, remove the orange and mash the softened apples.
Strain to separate the apple sauce from the apple cider.
Add molasses if desired and serve warm (not hot).

Offer freely, never force.

Important note for metabolic / IR horses:
This recipe contains natural sugars and may not be appropriate for all horses. For some metabolic horses, a very diluted apple peel tea (using peels only, no apple flesh) may be an option with veterinary guidance.

This time of year can be busy and loud. Sometimes enrichment is simply choosing a small, calm moment that adds comfort to our horses and to our day.

We need to tackle a persistent myth in the horse world.That some breeds “mature faster” and are therefore ready to be ri...
12/23/2025

We need to tackle a persistent myth in the horse world.

That some breeds “mature faster” and are therefore ready to be ridden earlier, often starting at 2.

They don’t.
At least not in any meaningful way.
And not SKELETALLY.

Yes, there is variation in how horses grow. Some fill out sooner. Some develop muscle earlier. Some look mature at a young age. But breed does not meaningfully accelerate skeletal maturity.

Across all breeds of horses growth plates follow similar timelines. Their lower limb close within 2–3 years. The spine is the last to mature around 5–6 years old.

There IS research comparing different breeds and it shows differences in how quickly horses grow and fill out, but only small variations in when growth plates actually close.

Those differences are measured in MONTHS (at most), not years.

When posts like this come up, people often point to studies showing that light exercise can be beneficial for young horses. That exercise can easily be done without a rider.

So why do we continuously see people arguing specific breeds can be started earlier than others?

Because early competition is normalized.
Because futurities reward EARLY results.
Because talent and willingness get mistaken for readiness.

None of that changes what is happening with their skeleton.

When horses are started very young, the timeline is rarely set by biology. It’s set by systems that reward speed, turnover, and profit. That’s not development. That’s greed.

Horses can LOOK ready at different ages, even though their skeletal growth is the same. Looking mature and being skeletally mature are not the same thing.

Breed doesn’t change meaningfully skeletal development, and rushing timelines doesn’t change their biology.

“You can never rely on a horse that is educated by fear. There will always be something that he fears more than you. But...
12/23/2025

“You can never rely on a horse that is educated by fear. There will always be something that he fears more than you. But when he trusts you, he will ask you what to do when he is afraid.”

When I was a source of fear for my horses, they would bolt when they were afraid, be hard to catch afterward, and try to create distance from me.

Now, my horses look to me for guidance and stay with me even when they are afraid.

That kind of trust doesn’t come from forcing bravery or suppressing fear. It comes from staying within a horse’s threshold, noticing uncertainty, and responding with clarity and care.

Trust doesn’t mean fear disappears.
It means the horse has learned that we are a source of safety and information when things feel hard.

That’s true teamwork. ❤️
And it’s something built, not forced.

“Before you can be great, you’ve got to be good. Before you can be good, you’ve got to be learning. And learning starts ...
12/22/2025

“Before you can be great, you’ve got to be good. Before you can be good, you’ve got to be learning. And learning starts with trying.”

I was looking back at older posts and came across this quote again. It still feels important.

Trying is the first step.
The first step to change starts with trying.

You’re not expected to be good at everything right away. That’s why community matters, and why trainers and coaches can be such valuable support along the way.

The first step to change.
The first step to learning something new.
The first step to becoming better for the horse in front of us.

Starts with trying. ❤️

You do not need to hit horses to train them.Horses should learn through timing, clarity, and reinforcement. Not pain.Eff...
12/21/2025

You do not need to hit horses to train them.

Horses should learn through timing, clarity, and reinforcement. Not pain.

Effective training is built on understanding learning theory, setting the environment up for success, and communicating in ways the horse can process without fear. You can teach boundaries, safety, and complex skills without relying on pain.

Violence should have no role in learning.

In fact, training without violence often produces clearer responses, better emotional regulation, and safer outcomes for everyone involved.

If the only way to train a behaviour relies on hitting, there is a gap in knowledge and skill.

If a method requires pain to “work,” it doesn’t belong in modern horsemanship.

Charlotte Dujardin’s return has stirred a lot of emotion and conversation.This is not just about her, but it’s impossibl...
12/20/2025

Charlotte Dujardin’s return has stirred a lot of emotion and conversation.

This is not just about her, but it’s impossible to have this conversation without bringing her up.

After footage of Charlotte repeatedly whipping a horse, released by a whistleblower and widely shared, she served a one year ban from competition. This week, she returned to international competition and was met with “applause and celebration.”

Depending on where you look on social media, there is absolute die hard support or questions about change.

I want to offer this space for discussion, not defence and not a pile on. But I do think this moment is worth talking about.

I want to start with an important point I’ve already spoken about this week, reflecting on my own previous training behaviours and how people can and do genuinely change.

Many of us in this community are crossover trainers.
We did not always train the way we do now.

There are many prompts for change, but they are not often driven by public outrage or punitive systems like bans.

Punitive systems can stop behaviour temporarily.
They do not automatically create insight, empathy, or responsibility.

So I am genuinely asking:

Is it “negative” to still be concerned about past actions, even after someone has served a ban?

How do we hold space for growth without erasing harm?

Is any of this being overlooked because of who she is and the level of success and talent she brings to the sport?

And how do we talk about serious welfare violations without minimizing them by calling them a “mistake”?

Language matters!
There is a growing concern around people referring to her abuse as a “mistake.”
A mistake suggests an accident or a misunderstanding.
This was intentional behaviour that was caught.

This is not about denying the possibility of change. This week we’ve already discussed that many of us do change. But that change is not often forced.

I’m sharing this because I’ve been sitting with it myself. As someone who has changed my own training practices, I know growth is possible. I also know that growth doesn’t mean pretending harm didn’t happen. Both of those things can exist at the same time.

Please keep this respectful. I very rarely delete comments, but I will on this post if discussion turns into personal attacks. We can talk about hard things without harming each other.

12/20/2025

Brought my children in to dry during the temperature drop today.

They are a 3 horse demolition crew.

Horse ownership is so glamorous 🫠

The reverse round pen can be most simply explained as the R+ version of traditional lunging.Instead of the horse moving ...
12/19/2025

The reverse round pen can be most simply explained as the R+ version of traditional lunging.

Instead of the horse moving forward to avoid pressure from a whip or line, forward movement is taught without driving. The trainer reinforces offered movement and builds duration and rhythm gradually through R+ shaping, rather than maintaining motion through pressure.

In this setup, the trainer works from inside a barrier while the horse moves around the outside. This creates protected contact, which can make it easier and safer to reinforce movement, especially when teaching faster gaits or working with horses who may struggle with traditional lunging.

The RRP makes it easier to see what the horse understands and how they are experiencing the session. Because the horse is not being actively driven, it becomes clearer whether the horse was previously responding to a verbal cue or simply to pressure. Loss of rhythm, disengagement, or choosing to leave provides immediate information about cue clarity, motivation, or physical comfort.

For some horses, particularly those with a history of stressful or punitive lunging experiences, this setup can help separate forward movement from past associations with pressure. It does not erase learning history, but it can provide a cleaner starting point for rebuilding movement with positive reinforcement.

I also find it useful for observing movement. Because the horse travels around the pen itself rather than being held on a line, balance, asymmetries, or reluctance can be easier to notice.

The RRP is also highly adaptable and does not require a permanent or elaborate setup. It can be created using cones, poles, tape, fencing, or existing structures, depending on the space available. The setup you see here is made with pylons and pylon extenders purchased from a construction supply company.

The goal is not a perfect circle. It is simply a way of setting up space to work on lunging in a different way.

The reverse round pen provides a different framework for lunging while working toward familiar goals. The end results may look very similar, but how they are taught is where things differ.

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