Bold Equine

25/08/2024

LIBERTY CLINIC

Aug 31- Sept 1, 2024
Rimbey, AB
300$ for participants
25$/day for auditors

4 participant slots available

14/08/2024

When the wild horses come up to the camp fence and you have salt 😂

Beyond The Ride

26/07/2024

Please note: this weekends clinic is now Sunday only.

Thank you ❤️

22/07/2024

Our Video Library is now live on www.boldequine.com

The initial launch includes access to a few starter videos and the community support discord, with new content scheduled to come out each month.

Gain more knowledge and build a better relationship with your horse for the cost of a Tim's run.

20/07/2024

Remember, in this heat your horse needs 3 things in plenty - rest, water and salt. And so do you. Stay safe.

17/07/2024

11/07/2024

This is so real.

Platforms are becoming “pay per views” where content is not being pushed to everyone who just follows a page. Unless someone is interacting with content it won’t show it - and many creators including us - here and on other platforms - are having their content reach less than 5% of our audience unless we pay to push it.

My brilliant red mare crew - something very strange has happened to the algorithm. Every single horse person I know - even the huge pages - has seen their numbers crater. I very rarely look at my numbers, because that's not what I'm here for, but I did take a peek and the monthly reach has halved. Somehow, fifty percent of my Dear Readers have disappeared. I've had a few messages saying that people thought I'd given up writing the page altogether, which made me feel very Lady Braknell-ish, as I tried to imagine the internet without the red mare in it.

I wasn't sure what to do about this, or even whether there was anything I could do. But I've just read a post on the subject from Jenny Pearce over at Happiness With Horses and she seems to have some excellent ideas, so I'm copying this straight from her.

The suggestions are, if you want to make sure you see the red mare's posts:

Like and leave even the shortest comment - one word will do - so that Facebook then brings the red mare to your feed.

Have a look at previous posts and like and comment on those too. Apparently this will 'speed things up'. (Not entirely sure what that means, but I'm going with it.)

If the red mare is not coming up in your feed, click unfollow and then follow again. This resets something. (Again, not quite sure what.)

I do hope these might work. The problem is that if you are not seeing the posts any more, you're not going to see this one. So I'm not quite sure how we can resolve the glitch.

But it must be worth a try. I've noticed that a lot of the favourite people I follow had faded into the ether. (To the degree that I wondered whether Emma Massingale, one of my favourite favourites, had given up horses altogether.) I hardly even comment on people's posts, because I simply don't have time, so I read silently, enjoy, and pass on. But it seems that makes the algorithm elves cross. There was a lovely time, back in the day, when you could simply set your timeline to 'most recent' and read everyone you followed in chronological order. I liked that day. I do slightly resent being at the mercy of some AI drone. But I must not let my Mabel come out and start tap-dancing or we'll be here all morning.

One of the things I have been doing, on my own page and over at The Happy Horse, is madly sharing posts I think more people should see. I'm especially trying to help friends who run their own businesses, because everyone is feeling the pinch a little at the moment, and being a sole trader can keep you up at night.

Anyway, if you do see this, have a go at the suggestions, and if you are still here - and so many of you lovelies still are - thank you. What a dedicated and loyal crew you are. You make me smile every day.

06/07/2024

Morning connection work is always tough. Moose decided he neeeded to nap instead 😂

Jayme Benoit

20/06/2024

19/06/2024

Me: I can’t today, I have plans.

The plans:

13/06/2024

There is power in nothing.

One of the most common questions I get asked about horsemanship revolve around connection.

How do I build a better bond with my horse?
How do I help my horse gain confidence?
How do I help my horse be happy trying new things?
How do I help my horse be willing to work with me?

It all boils down to connection. Relationship.

And the best thing to help with that? Nothing.

Spending time with them, time being present, for nothing other than the sake of sharing space. No intentions, no expectations- just nothing. Hang out with them, doing whatever they are doing. Relaxing, walking, eating, grooming - together. For no other reason than being together.

And when you do - when you get this part right - you’d be surprised how easy everything else becomes. Trauma heals, confidence grows as relationship grows. Doing things around them turns into doing things with them. Without it being transactional, but just two friends doing things together because they want to.

(Pictured here is our new filly, at less than 3 days old happy to come have a nap in my lap because I’ve spent the few days of her life not trying to do anything with or to her - just doing nothing.)

09/06/2024

UPCOMING CLINICS

Horsemanship Clinic
July 6-7, 2024
Grand Prairie, AB

Horsemanship Clinic
July 27-28, 2024
Bold Equine
Rimbey, AB

Connection Session
August 3, 2024
Bold Equine
Rimbey, AB

Beyond the Ride Camp
August 11-18, 2024
Barrier Mountain Outfitters
Sundre, AB

Liberty Clinic
Aug 31-Sep 1, 2024
Bold Equine
Rimbey, AB

29/05/2024

Where’s the rush?

Working with horses is supposed to be fun.

Why have we as an industry created so much pressure to fulfil certain timelines and make hard set training schedules?

Why is it so common for people with young horses to be pressured by peers and trainers alike about when they’re going to move onto X goal with them?

“When are you going to ride them?”

“When are you going to jump them?”

“When are you going to show them?”

And then the subsequent pressure about letting the horse down by not fulfilling their full potential.

Horses don’t care about their potential.

They care about feeling safe and having their needs met.

They care about access to forage, freedom and friends.

So, why can’t we as humans accept the fact that horses don’t operate on set timelines, so we don’t need to either?

Ever since my youngster, Banksy, was born 5 years ago, I’ve been intermittently hounded about timelines and destinations for him, along with my other horses as well.

I used to have set timelines and goals.

I still have goals but they’re much more flexible now.

I don’t like setting hard and fast timelines for horses because they all develop slower or faster depending on a lot of factors.

Additionally, for my own mental health and wellbeing, I need to go at a pace that is suited to me.

In the past, I burnt myself out and nearly extinguished my love for working with horses because of all of that unnecessary pressure.

I refuse to go back to that place because it robbed me of the joy horses bring me.

Don’t feel pressured to fulfil quotas that other people set for you.

It is okay to move at a slow and steady pace.

It is okay to have setbacks.

It is okay to never have any competitive goals.

Heck, it’s okay to never plan on riding your horse and just enjoy them from the ground.

All of the weird timelines that are in place in the horse world are entirely made up and we don’t have to follow them.

Don’t give into the peer pressure that seeks to make working with your horse feel like a full time job or school curriculum that robs you of the fun you could have.

Removing that pressure makes it a lot easier to show up better for your horse because you no longer resent them for disrupting arbitrary timelines and having setbacks.

Go with the flow, enjoy the process.

Ignore anyone who is bothered by that.

14/05/2024

After many requests we are offering this clinic set up for the first time on May 25th.

A clinic focusing solely on relationship.

Have you ever wanted a deeper, truer connection with your horse? Join us at our farm May 25th for a connection clinic.

This clinic will be limited to 4 participants and be closed to auditors. This is about creating real, intimate, face-to-face time with your horse.

$150 per person.

09/05/2024

Is it actually their personality, or is it adaptation or stress behavior?

I watch the behavior of horses in boarding barns and yards and wherever horses are kept with interest. What fascinates me is how behavior changes radically with the manner in which they’re kept.

Large fields of turned out horses often have a peaceful feel to them, with horses grazing or browsing, dozing or grooming.

Horses kept in smaller pens often have more aggressive, competitive behaviors, especially if hay is fed at “meals,” instead of being available all day. These environments often carry the feel of a prison yard- lots of aggressive gesturing, fights breaking out, some horses bully others needlessly and without cause.

Once we get into single kept horses or stalled horses, horses kept alone or spending a lot of time in small spaces confined, we can often see more neurosis develop- horses that bite or make aggressive gestures at anyone walking by, stall walking, cribbing, kicking, etc.

I often get a run down on a horse’s behavior, placement in the herd hierarchy, eating habits, vices etc, when getting a new horse into my training program. I get information about their personality, what they like and don’t like, and while I take note of it, I take it with a large grain of salt.

Quite often, the horse behaves entirely different in a different environment- grumpy or pushy horses become calm and peaceful, horses that are stressed and don’t eat well graze all day, groom friends, and doze.

It isn’t magic - it’s simply setting up the environment for the mental and physical needs of the horse first, human convenience second. Horses need space to move, functional herds (this is not the same as just number of horses- they need horses who know how to read and respond appropriately to other horses expression), forage available steadily, and an environment where being a horse is the top priority. The training helps; but environment plays 50% of it.

22/04/2024

It is with a heavy heart that we share this announcement.

We ask that everyone in our community remain respectful and empathetic to all parties involved as we navigate this difficult decision and transition; remembering that we are in a late-stage capitalist hellscape, and many are struggling.

We know some may find this news shocking, disappointing, or upsetting; and that some may want to rally support - but to protect Becki’s mental health we have turned off commenting on this post and temporarily disabled her DM’s and we ask you respect that privacy. As you can imagine this has not been an easy decision for her.

Becki will continue to offer lessons and clinics and does plan on re-open training programs in the future after this break.

- Bold Equine Management

13/04/2024

Time.

I have had many conversations over the last week with other trainers and professionals about time. About taking the time it takes.

We live in a fast food, high speed internet, stream on demand world. And in this realm of instant gratification we have forgotten how to take time.

How to take time to slowly and thoroughly develop a horse, to measure their progress in months and years - not weeks. To ensure at every step of the way the horse is physically and mentally able to understand and accomplish what we are asking of him.

Anyone who has spent time training horses will tell you that most of the problems horses pick up happen because people are in too much of a hurry, they rush, they skip steps - focusing only on their end goal. Those same people will tell you it takes 10x longer to heal a horses mind once it’s been fractured. And yet rarely do we give them that time.

If we have a horse suffer a tendon injury and it is going to take a year to heal that wound, a year of taking it back to nothing, then very slowly with baby steps healing and rehabilitating that injury, all without knowing if it will ever heal completely right - we do it. We do it happily with the desire to do best by our horses.

And yet often when it’s a wound of trauma? It’s too much time, too much work.

Trauma is a wound. A real tangible, physical would in your brain.

And though time heals all wounds, time it does take.

11/03/2024

Horse Program at the Peace Country Classic Agri Show

I want to thank everyone who came out for the clinics and demos this weekend at the Peace Country Classic Agri Show, and everyone who stopped by the booth to chat. I had a great time meeting you all.

Special thanks to the participants in the clinics for coming in with open minds and open hearts willing to try what might be very outside their comfort zone. Everyone did really well, and their horses as too. It’s no small feat to get a young horse regulated and connected in that environment - let alone out of the tack, and let alone in under 4 hours total so you should all be SUPER proud ❤️

Extra special thanks to Jayme Benoit for lending me moose for the demos - I was so stressed at not having my horse there, and I couldn’t have asked for a better furry helper.

Thank you to the organizers of the expo for having us out! Great event - they had an absolutely stacked line up of great clinics and presentations, trade show, and great entertainment including Skijoring and my favourite, Duck Cutting 😂 10/10 would recommend attending.

07/03/2024

Come and see Becki & Emily at Horse Program at the Peace Country Classic Agri Show this weekend!

05/03/2024

Bold Equine is joining us for an Intro to Liberty Clinic. This clinic will focus on evidence based horsemanship principles & techniques, how to apply them. This clinic covers the foundation exercises to transition a horse from headline work to liberty. Learn to connect and converse with your horse in a way that allows you to move together in harmony and freedom - in and out of the tack.
Becki is also doing liberty demos: Making It Click: an intro to positive reinforcement Friday, March 8 at 6:00 pm and The science of Connection: a polyvagal view on horsemanship Saturday, March 9 at 2:00 pm.