Silkwood Equestrian

12/12/2024

Huge thank you to Matty for doing a fantastic job constructing our new pens. We now have even more turnout options for the winter months and the horses have been enjoying the new spaces.
We used the same tried and tested companies for our materials and can't recommend them enough for quality and service. Thank you once EcoGrid Limited and Equestrian Surfaces for supplying us with such brilliant products. 😊👍

22/11/2024

When it's this icy even the ponies have to go on the walker. Cute though! 😍

15/11/2024

A busy morning.
More turnout areas = more happy horses 🥰
Thank you Yellow Hill Equestrian.

16/10/2024

Even the frogs have come inside tonight 😄☔️

16/10/2024

Pony stroll then horsey stomp....thank goodness for the walker, on for the 4th load already this morning! 🫣☔️

03/10/2024

It's very rewarding working with young horses. Add the sunshine and it's even better! 😄🌞🥰

17/09/2024

Couldn't agree more with this, I hope it is starting to filter through. 🤞
We need to stop normalising stress behaviours in our horses.

“That can’t be true… every horse I know looks like that!”

“That can’t be true… my professional trainer said —“

When people are exposed to the reality of horse stress and how extreme and prevalent it is in the industry, denial is usually their first stop.

Accepting the fact that many common horse behaviours are actually stress signals means admitting to yourself that a huge portion of horses you’ve interacted with have been stressed.

Accepting the reality of how certain coercive and harsh equipment works means acknowledging that you caused the animals you loved pain in order to gain their compliance.

Accepting just how entrenched all of this is in equestrian culture means overturning the face of the horse world as you know it.

Denial is a lot easier than having to look at years worth of experience and learning and to admit that you’ve been led astray.

It’s a lot easier to believe that the people who expose problems are just extremists.

That they’re just liars, tree hugging hippies or “pony patters.”

That they have an ulterior motive that has nothing to do with desire to improve horse welfare.

Because the scary alternative is admitting the extent to which you’ve been taught misinformation.

Admitting this means having to kickstart a very scary unlearning and relearning journey.

One that will change you forever.

Because once you see it, you can never unsee it.

And that realization is full of a ton of grief.

Grieving the utopian version of the way you believed things to be, having to admit that much of what you were taught of the “horse-rider bond” was an idealized fallacy.

It’s a hefty undertaking.

But a worthy one.

The sad reality is this:

A lot of the behaviours studied and shown to be correlated with horse stress are commonly seen.

The common occurrence of them does not make them normal or healthy behaviours.

10/06/2024

Early morning stretches in the pony field.
I love this field. It's safe enough for all our natives to enjoy the summer out without the constant laminitis risk. Normally I would leave rugs off the hairy's to let them use reserves but they don't have the same grazing as the horses so it's no so easy for them to keep warm. On nights like last night they get their rugs 🥰

16/04/2024

Just had such a nice little outing.
Rode through a shower (we were never going to dodge them all 😄) then had a fab ride with plenty canters and sunshine. The highlight had to be having a pint at the Dog and Otter, Great Harwood. ....we allowed the horses a treat too and met sone lovely people with a tiny little girl who enjoyed a sit on Lola. Her mum enjoyed a ride around the car park too 😊. Hello 👋 if you read this and I'd love to see any pics. It was a pleasure meeting you and I predict ponies in your future 😂🐴❤❤ xx

13/04/2024

Lola at the Winter Championships yesterday 🐴💖

02/03/2024

Had to share this afternoons group banter,
sums it up for us horsey folk....😂