Tash D’ski - EquiMinds Academy

02/02/2025

🌟 Calling all horse lovers! 🌟

As we plan for an exciting year of horsemanship clinics and workshops, I want to hear from YOU! What types of events would you like to see this year? Whether it’s groundwork, riding techniques, communication, behaviour, or something else- let me know!

Drop your ideas in the comments or send a message with your thoughts. Let’s make 2025 the best year yet for improving our horsemanship skills together! 🐴✨

❤️💜

05/01/2025

Happy new year to all my lovely clients and followers 🥳

As we head into the New Year I have updated my prices for 2025.

Don’t forget to book in if you havnt already done so :).
Looking forward to seeing what this year brings 🙃

25/11/2024

Thinking of holding a clinic or workshop next month 😀 but aware it will be getting close to Christmas so just testing the water to see if much interest? Comment or PM if interested :). 🐎

05/10/2024

Huge thank you to everyone who attended ‘the road to rehab’ workshop today 🤩. A very engaged group who arrived as strangers but left as friends :) (with a deepened understanding of rehabilitation and core strengthening 😉)
I hope to see you all at future workshops and clinics 😄 thank you for the amazing feedback ❤️

18/08/2024

Exciting News!!!
I will be running a series of clinics and workshops this Autumn/Winter
Dates and venues will be announced early this week!Watch this space 🐴

29/05/2024

Australian pony club are nailing it!

UNDERSTANDING THE MENTAL ABILITIES OF HORSES | Horses are very similar to humans in many different aspects of their brain and behaviour. We are both social species, we like to play and we both have excellent memories.

But in order to truly understand the horse, you must get to know the difference between a human’s and horse’s mental abilities.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲

When compared to other animals, humans aren’t very fast or strong, so we evolved to use tools and think out ways to solve our problems. We needed significant reasoning abilities to feed ourselves and avoid being eaten by other animals. So we evolved an enlarged area of the prefrontal cortex, and this is where our imagination lies. We can imagine different scenarios, we can reflect. We can think ahead and plan to do things in the future.

Horses, however, did not evolve in the same way as humans so we cannot expect them to have the same mental abilities. We cannot blame them for things that they have done in the past or expect them to plan for the future.

𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀

Studies of the horse’s brain tell us that his immediate short-term memory regarding choices that he has made to solve particular problems is accurate for about three seconds, then diminishes. This is the reason why all animals (and humans) require many repetitions in order to learn. It is also why positive punishment is rarely if ever effective, as it is usually applied too long after the behaviour has occurred (remember, positive means ‘adding’ something).

𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗺, 𝗣𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗺, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀

Horses, like humans, can become optimistic or pessimistic as to the outcome of a certain event. When a horse is always successful (that is, the behaviour used to elicit behaviours goes away every time he performs the behaviour) because the training is clear and consistent, they become optimistic.

However, if the pressure doesn’t go away reliably or the training system relies heavily on punishment, they can become pessimistic. They learn not to try and solve problems any more and become apathetic or give up. If this apathy continues the horse can enter a state of learned helplessness. The horse stops trying to find ways to solve problems and can become dull and almost robotic. It is extremely important not to confuse this state of learned helplessness with being ‘quiet’ or ‘bombproof.’

⭐ This information comes from PCA’s B-Certificate Manual for members.

09/05/2024

Lovely change of scenery working over county lines in Wiltshire this afternoon ☀️😊

28/04/2024

This has been a very hard decision but we are tentatively looking to find our lovely boy indie a new 🏡. As much as we adore him he is currently being wasted due to lack of time 😢. He would make an absolutely wonderful partner for someone. He has done lots of liberty work as well as having lovely groundwork and ridden training. He was backed by me and then ridden by my other half (a novice)- walk, trot and small amount of canter, hacking and in school. I am currently bringing him back into work after about year or so off due to lack of time. Would suit a confident rider as he is still a bit green in terms of experience in new places. Would love him to go to a client or natural horsemanship home! If you’d like to know more please PM me 🙂. 5🥕🥕🥕 ovno, tack not included

23/03/2024

Ready for a weekend of learning at a ‘gait assessment and exercise programming’ 2 day workshop 🤓

19/03/2024

Very relevant for this time of year!

My name is Dr Rosemary Waring. I have spent my career as a toxicologist. I have a particular interest in digestion and the chemicals produced by the gut mic ...

03/03/2024

🤩 New Client Call 🤩

With longer and lighter days imminent and my little one starting nursery I am Opening up my diary to take on a few more clients 🤠
Whether you are looking to build an unbreakable partnership with your horse, improve your communication and relationship or are struggling with behavioural issues, my approach will be tailored to your unique circumstances :)
Sessions £35hr members, £40hr non-members
please get in touch to register your interest 🤠

09/01/2024

Good morning all 🤩

As you all know I rarely put my prices up, but due to the current climate (both economical and meteorological) I will be increasing my prices effective 1st February 2024. Equi-minds academy members will remain at the current price ☺️ so if you haven’t joined already head over to
http://www.2dskihorsemanship.com/equi-minds-academy.html

On top of your session discount you will be able to access training videos, a monthly webinar, private Facebook group and ongoing support 🐎

I’d like to thank you all for your ongoing support and look forward to what we can achieve in this new year ☺️❤️