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GROW Horsemanship

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Canada
Caledon East, ON
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.

01/16/2026

30 seconds of me just GUSHING about how cool thermoregulation is! It’s minus 28 and my horses are doing exactly what their bodies are designed to do!!

01/15/2026

Listening to a horse’s discomfort is not a slippery slope.

Talking openly about discomfort is not a slippery slope.

Asking for accountability is not a slippery slope.

Silencing these conversations is.
Refusing to listen is.
Refusing to see harm is.

Welfare conversations are not going to “ban horse ownership” or “end the sport.”
Turning a blind eye is the REAL slippery slope.

These conversations may actually be the only thing that saves it.

01/14/2026

A horse will tell you more than any advertisement text ever will.

Marketing language is easy to polish and easy to fake.
Words like ethical, welfare, positive, and biomechanical are used constantly.

But they become meaningless when the horses in the advertisements show otherwise.

Horses displaying full-body tension while chasing a human for food are still communicating something important. Yes, food is being used. But what does the horse’s expression and posture actually tell you about their emotional state, regulation, and comfort?

The same applies when someone claims to be biomechanics focused, yet consistently advertises photos featuring draw reins, flashes, or other equipment that restrict natural movement and expression.

No amount of buzzwords overrides what the horse is clearly communicating.

Discomfort.
Tension.
Bracing.
Artificial head and neck positioning.
Management or equipment-based shortcuts presented as solutions.

You can often learn more about a trainer’s priorities by the images they choose to represent their work than by the terminology they use to describe it.

Trainers are showing you who they are through the photos and videos they choose to advertise with.

Remember:
Photos are curated.
They are intentionally chosen.

01/13/2026

Be the empathetic kid you were before the lessons.

The kid who imagined working with horses at liberty.
Who pictured quiet trail rides, loose reins, and moving as a team.
Who thought horses were about partnership and communication, not force.
Who wanted moments of sitting in the field resting with horses.

Before expectations.
Before rules.
Before being told how it was “supposed” to look.

Be the kid who paused when an instructor said to hit the horse.
Who hesitated when told to “kick harder!”, “yank HARDER!” and “HIT HIM AGAIN UNTIL HE LISTENS”

The one who saw the horse was clearly struggling even after being told “their skin is thicker”

Be the kid who paused when the horse didn’t respond, the instructor always asked for more.
More leg.
More hand.
More pressure.

And be the kid who felt, deep down, that something about it wasn’t right.

Be the kid who saw horsemanship online or on TV and would go “that’s the relationship I want… that’s what I’m missing”. I want THAT: a teammate.

Most children come into horses with empathy first.
They ask:
“Doesn’t that hurt?”
“Why doesn’t the horse want to do that?”
“I don’t think he likes me”

Those questions aren’t ignorance.
They’re awareness.

Growing up in the horse world often means being taught to override that awareness in the name of tradition, success, or safety.

But losing that inner voice was never a requirement for good horsemanship.

You don’t need to outgrow compassion to become skilled.
You don’t need to harden to be effective.

Be THAT kid. That kid had it right. The child whose first thought was empathy and love for the horse.

Be the person your younger version hoped you would be. And model that for all the kids who started just like us, with love for the horse.

01/11/2026

9/10, when horses come to me for severe aggression or significant behavioural breakdowns, they do not need more training. They need a veterinarian.

Most extreme behavioural problems I see are resolved through proper veterinary care and appropriate management changes. Across disciplines, management styles, and countries, the pattern is consistent. In the vast majority of severe behaviour cases, pain is the underlying driver.

Before behaviour modification training starts, a veterinary check should be a priority when a horse is showing severe behavioural concerns. This includes aggression, extreme reactivity, or what people label as “serious behaviour problems.”

Any knowledgeable, ethical trainer knows this. Behaviour does not exist in a vacuum, and pain does not announce itself politely.

The science supports this. Behaviour reflects an animal’s internal state, and pain is well documented to change behaviour in horses, often before obvious physical signs appear. Research in equine welfare and veterinary behavioural medicine shows that pain frequently presents as aggression, reactivity, avoidance, or shutdown, and that these behaviours often improve or resolve once underlying pain is identified and treated. This is why medical rule-outs are a prerequisite, not an optional step, in severe behaviour modification cases.

Good horse care and ethical behaviour work look at the full picture first.
This includes physical health, management, nutrition, social contact, workload, equipment, and environment. Models such as LIMA and LIFE explicitly prioritize antecedents and environmental factors before behaviour modification strategies are applied. Training, including R+ training, comes after these foundational needs are addressed, not before.

Severe behaviour is a medical question before it is a training one.

01/08/2026

“It was just a moment in time” is not a defence, no matter how you try to spin it.

We have more than enough evidence that these incidents are more than just “a moment in time,” and it’s honestly wild how that phrase keeps getting parroted anyway.

These so called “moments in time” are popping up more often not because something suddenly changed or because people are being suspicious or dramatic, but because more footage is public and the public is learning how to recognize pain and distress in horses. People are seeing what they were previously taught to ignore.

I have had more than enough conversations explaining why this is not just a moment in time. But for the sake of argument, let’s pretend it is.

That single moment still includes:
• pain, sometimes blood and bruising
• panic and fear
• outright abusive use of equipment, especially the bit

If your defence is that it was just one bad moment that happened to be caught on camera, then you are still admitting that pain is part of the training and riding picture, even if it’s brief.

And listen to the logic being used to excuse it.

“The horse was excited.”
So pain is acceptable when arousal is high.

“The horse wasn’t listening in that part of the test.”
So pain is an appropriate response to confusion or lack of compliance.

“The horse was nervous.”
So we combat fear with pain.

Read that again.

In no other context would this be acceptable.
A child, a dog, or any other animal experiencing pain because they were excited, confused, overwhelmed, or non compliant would immediately raise red flags.

If dogs or zoo animals had these same “moments in time,” there would be public outrage.

Calling them “moments in time” does not absolve responsibility.
It exposes it.
Especially when we have already shown, repeatedly, that these are not isolated incidents.

And if the only way the so called “most advanced riders” can handle these moments is through pain, that is a massive red flag. You don’t get to claim elite skill while excusing repeated welfare failures as unavoidable accidents.

You can keep calling it a “moment in time” if you want. But understand this: either way, you are normalizing harm. Whether it happens once or repeatedly, pain is still being accepted as part of the picture. And that should concern everyone.

Photo credits: Crispin Parelius Johannessen (for more information on how you can support see pinned comment!)

01/07/2026

Horses are herd animals. Nothing will change that.

Yes, there ARE situations where separation is necessary. Medical isolation, injury, quarantine, or short term safety concerns can require a horse to be separated from others. That is not what this is about.

This is about choosing a horse’s monetary value over their fundamental needs.

Risk management does not justify long term social deprivation. A price tag does not make a horse less social, less sentient, or less affected by isolation. Horses do not stop needing connection, shared vigilance, and social regulation because humans are afraid injury will cost them their investment.

Protecting financial investment is not the same as meeting a horse’s needs. Horses are not assets. They are social prey animals whose biological needs do not disappear with a price tag.

Horses are horses. They are herd animals. Our responsibility is to manage them accordingly and meet their species-appropriate needs, not redefine their needs to protect financial interests.

01/06/2026

If your horse is pinning their ears when you saddle and instead of taking that as information you mock it, that is exactly what is wrong with the horse world.

That is not a funny moment.
That is not a “red mare.”
That is communication.

I am exhausted by videos of horses showing clear signs of discomfort or distress while humans laugh, tease, or dismiss it as personality. Even worse are the people openly admitting they post these clips because it makes them more money. Because it is controversial. Because it drives engagement.

When profit matters more than listening, welfare stops being the priority. And when money is prioritized, empathy erodes and welfare becomes negotiable.

A horse pinning their ears while being saddled is telling you something is wrong. Pain, fear, or anticipation of discomfort. The correct response is curiosity and concern, not ridicule.

Listening is the bare minimum of welfare. Mocking is a failure to meet the bare minimum.

01/05/2026

This is a good example of subtle and calm communication in a stable herd!

Anyone who knows Asher knows he’s an angel and puts up with a lot, so even his “mean” face is pretty polite.

01/04/2026

People will look past abuse when it comes from someone talented.
People will minimize suffering when the outcome looks successful.

And yet we keep hearing:
“The abuse wasn’t that bad.”
“Others have done worse.”
“They wouldn’t perform if they were abused.”
“You’re only seeing a moment in time.”

That logic protects systems, not horses.

There is abuse throughout this industry.
It is not limited to one discipline, one level, or one type of rider.

But at the highest levels, harm is not just ignored.
It is actively protected and rewarded.

Horses are still being competed, marketed, and showcased even when veterinary records document pain, injury, or unsoundness.
Performance continues anyway.

It is protected behind NDAs.
It is protected by restricted media access.
It is protected by money, medals, and reputation.
It is protected by carefully curated images and selective moments presented as the whole story.

What the public sees is not the full picture.
And success is often used to silence concern rather than address harm.

These are not systems designed around the welfare of the horse.
They are systems designed to protect outcomes.

At what point do we start acknowledging the harm being normalized simply because the horse is considered “successful.”

Photo credit: Crispin Parelius Johannessen

01/03/2026

Guys, please stop sitting on hard tied horses to start them.

There are many ways to safely sit on a horse for the first time.
This is not one of them.

Hard tying a horse is dangerous enough.

When a horse hits the end of a tie, the force is absorbed by the poll, cervical spine, and surrounding soft tissue. Horses can and do suffer cervical fractures, poll injuries, nerve damage, and fatal trauma from being restrained when they panic.

Now add a rider.

You have increased leverage, added weight, and removed the horse’s last ability to rebalance or escape. If they go up or back, the neck is the failure point.

I have seen this exact setup four times on my Facebook feed today. That is not coincidence. That is a trend, and it is a dangerous one.

Address

Mountainview Road
Caledon East, ON
L7K2G2

Opening Hours

Monday	12:30pm - 6pm
Tuesday	12:30pm - 6pm
Wednesday	12:30pm - 6pm
Thursday	12:30pm - 6pm
Friday	12:30pm - 6pm

Website

https://growhorsemanship.com/

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