Two Strides Forward Equestrian

12/14/2025

Definitely not beating the “crazy horse girl” allegations with the Christmas craft projects over the years…. 🤷‍♀️

12/13/2025

Couldn’t have said it better myself!

12/11/2025

What to expect (and not expect) in a groundwork lesson with me:

✅ Custom exercises to help you and your horse work towards your goals.
❌ Cookie cutter exercises that may or may not be what you need right now.

✅ Explanations that are easy to understand, on the what, how and especially the why.
❌ Complicated instructions with no understanding of what each exercise is for.

✅ An approach that is gentle, honours the horse’s needs, recognizes the role of the nervous system and equine ethology, and is based in up-to-date research.
❌ Harsh, dominance-based, or outdated methods that work against the horse’s nervous system.

✅A blend of science-backed methods, while also incorporating intention, intuition and feel.
❌ Mechanical training styles with rigid rules.

✅ A trauma-informed approach that values the input and experience of each horse and human.
❌ A “my way or the highway” attitude that dismisses the opinions and feelings of participants.

✅ An open and accepting environment, that allows for personal preference and comfort level in both equipment and technique (as long as it is kind and fair to the horse.)
❌ A rigid or judgemental attitude that utilizes shame or seeks to create conformity.

✅ A relationship-first approach that seeks to improve partnership between horse and human.
❌ A “tough-love” mentality that priorities compliance.

✅ If any of this speaks to you, we’d love to see you at the upcoming groundwork clinic in January!

More details, as well as links for participant and auditor signup can be found on the event page here:

https://www.facebook.com/share/1CUCugGJgC/?mibextid=wwXIfr

12/10/2025

“I need my horse to take a joke.”
People say this all the time about their horses—usually while doing something that would make any self-respecting prey animal file a complaint with HR.

It’s an interesting mindset, mostly because the “joke” is always on the horse.
I can flop around up here like a laundry bag, jab you in the ribs, accidentally water-ski on the reins—haha! Classic me! Lighten up, buddy!

Meanwhile, the rider’s definition of “joking back” is limited.
If the responds with a jig, a little buck, maybe a dramatic head toss - suddenly it’s not a comedy anymore. Now it’s a “behavior issue.” Now someone’s calling a trainer, a chiropractor, and possibly a priest. They're taking their toys and going home.

It’s like that person who loves teasing everyone at the party, but if you tease them back even one ounce, they go silent, stare at you like you’ve shattered their world view, and spend the rest of the night telling other people they were “attacked.”

The whole thing asks a bigger question:
If you want a horse who can “take a joke,” maybe the first step is learning to take one yourself. Because a real partnership isn’t one where only one of you is allowed to be imperfect. Sometimes the horse’s “joke” is just them telling you the truth—with a little extra enthusiasm.

If we expect our horses to tolerate our whole routine, it behooves us to tolerate theirs, right? Otherwise, we just look like that sulky stand up comedian going on a tyiade to an audience. Maybe the audience got the joke, they just didn't find it funny.

Here's Merlin's puzzled expression at my joke. I waited for the punchline to sink in, but he said, "I got it man, you're just not funny."

Photo by Caitlin Hatch

12/06/2025

The struggle is real this time of year to feel like we are doing enough with our horses! Some great points to consider and advice here from Free to Be Equine Services

Do you feel like you aren't doing enough with your horse at this time of year?

That is something I hear from almost every client throughout the late fall and winter. The daylight is scarce, it's almost always raining, the footing isn't great, energy is low, and there's a million other things to do.

Please know you aren't alone! Most people share the same frustrations, and it is a valid way to feel. You are doing your best at a very challenging time of year to be caring for horses.

So what can you do to help with this problem, especially if you can't magically add more hours to the day or build an indoor arena?

Honestly, for most horses with a species-appropriate lifestyle, it really isn't a big deal if you aren't doing a lot of activities with them right now. If they have friends, forage, and freedom - ie. horse friends to interact with, free-choice forage of some kind, and a large turnout or track system for adequate movement - most of them are just fine without additional exercise every day (although I always recommend at least a once daily check over, visually and with your hands, including under the blanket).

However, it is rare that horses have all three of the Fs covered without compromises of some kind - many horses don't have turnout with other horses that they can touch and play with, or their turnout area isn't large enough for adequate movement on their own, etc.

This is where enrichment is your friend. Finding ways to work with what you have, but getting creative about enriching their environment, is hugely beneficial for your horse's physical and emotional well-being.

You can provide enrichment through food (like offering a variety of feeding stations with different choices of snacks) and through activities (like toys, puzzles, and obstacles). There are so many great resources for this online - search for "equine enrichment ideas" (there are even facebook groups dedicated to the subject). I will link one of my favourite resources in the comments. It takes a bit of effort to set up initially, but these are things that you can provide for your horse to enrich their daily lives, 24/7 - even if you ARE doing activities with your horse daily, you aren't providing them with what they require every single hour of the day. The vast majority of domesticated horses are not getting the enrichment they would have in their natural environment through socializing and foraging.

Horses have needs that just can't be met by human efforts alone. Adjusting your horsekeeping and management to get as close to a natural environment as possible is the best way to ensure that your horse is not feeling any negative impacts from our lack of time and resources, and simply from being domesticated - not just in the winter months but all year round.

Photo by Free to Be Photo

12/05/2025

An exercise we have been trying with a few horse-human partnerships this last week or so is to put down the tools (stick/whip/flag), invite your horse to walk out on a circle, and just pause and notice.

Notice what your horse does (or doesn’t do).

Notice where their attention goes.

Notice if their posture changes, if any signs of brace, reactivity or avoidance come into the picture.

Notice the subtle facial expressions and energy shifts. Are things staying stagnant or are things shifting or processing?

Notice if it feels natural to rely on your body to communicate intention and to embody the ask, or if it feels impossible without the tool to lean on.

Notice what arises in yourself if your horse doesn’t respond to the request right away.
Notice if the urge to pull, chase, get louder comes up, and what happens if you sit with that without acting on it.

Notice that if you wait long enough, the horse will usually respond in kind, without needing to resort to chasing, pulling, flapping or otherwise getting loud.

To be clear, I am not anti whip/flag/stick.

I do think it is entirely too easy to use these tools to frighten, bully, or otherwise manipulate horses into doing things they’d rather not.
I also think it is possible to help our horses feel comfortable with these tools if we use them tactfully, sparingly, and consistently, and never to cause pain or fear.
That said I am always looking for ways to rely on tools less myself, and am entirely supportive of students wanting to do the same, or those who do not feel comfortable using these types of tools at all.

Regardless of where you fall on the tool-use spectrum. I recommend trying to put them down at least now and then. This is a great way to explore what lies below the surface of “doing”, and delve into the realm of “being” and “feeling”.

12/03/2025

I wrote this blog post three years ago. In that time some things have moved in the right direction (it definitely seems to be less of an “out there” opinion to be viewing our horses as sentient beings, and considering their needs before our own). Meanwhile not a whole lot has changed at the governance level, and in fact we’ve backslid on some areas (see the recent change to the blood rule in FEI showjumping). I think it’s an important conversation to keep having. If the industry as a whole continues to treat horses like tools instead of partners, training modalities continue to be used that turn to violence and outdated ideologies, and species-inappropriate care continues to be so prevalent, we could well lose our social license to operate.

You may have heard the term “social license” floating around over the last few years. Certainly, some great trainers and authors have already written articles on the subject, and organizations such as the FEI have even created an independent commission for that purpose. But what exactly does the...