Equitatio

01/09/2024

New pony scratch post. I wonder who will be the first to use it 🤔

14/08/2024

It isn’t as profitable to tell people what they don’t want to hear.

There’s a reason why so many trainers, to the detriment of the horses, maintain outdated viewpoints and double down to defend all aspects of competition.

There’s a reason why people don’t want to admit to themselves, or others, that common welfare concerns in the horse industry hold scientific merit.

Clients might fire you if you tell them their horse is showing signs of discomfort.

Particularly if they don’t want to deal with veterinary expenses and if any signs of lameness are mild.

They might opt to find a new trainer if you tell them you won’t ride their horse without a fitted saddle.

Or that their horse needs months of ground work to build top line before they can be in active ridden work.

Or that their horse shouldn’t be jumping yet, that they need to focus on flatwork.

Many people don’t want to hear it if you tell them their horses’ behavioural issues are largely related to their boarding barn.

The lack of turnout.

The lack of socialization with other horses.

Going hours at a time without hay.

If they don’t want to leave that barn — you, as the trainer suggesting the need to, will be the villain in the equation.

Especially when they can find crowds of people who WILL tell them what they want to hear.

So, what do you do?

Do you standby your morals, maintain integrity and lose the client?

Or, do you fold and do what you know they want? What you know you need to do to keep them.

Or, perhaps, you’ll try to find a compromise, something less impactful to horse welfare, but still something you know isn’t the best decision.

You need to pay rent. You need to make a living.

And this is the challenge so many trainers are met with.

In order to make a good living, especially while you’re becoming established as a trainer, there is so much pressure to sell out.

And many, I would argue most, do.

Even if it’s just temporarily before they assert their boundaries.

What does it say about our industry if, in order to be successful, you need to abandon yourself? If you need to abandon horse welfare, to some extent?

I think this is an “open secret.” Something many are aware of but that few honestly talk about.

It’s a “right of passage” for those who’ve dreamed of being a trainer since childhood.

I was one of them.

And I lost myself for quite sometime before I found myself again.

It took a while to get my head right and realize that abandoning my integrity, my morals, was what was causing me so much internal distress.

And I had to step wayyyyy back from training to the extent I used to in order to actually put my beliefs into practice.

Because the pressure to abandon them was too much.

I think I speak for a lot of trainers, whether they’re established or up and coming, when I say the pressure of the industry corrupts.

Even if you don’t want it to.

The environment that makes it so needs to be healed.

Try not to lose yourself in the process of chasing that dream of “making it” in the horse world.

It isn’t worth it.

And if you do get lost, try your damnedst to find your way back.

31/07/2024

Back from a fantastic weekend away learning about the whole horse approach to hoof care. Trimming cadaver hooves and then watching disections of the hoof and lower leg. 3 very long days, only touching on the tip of the iceberg.

07/06/2024

Just put a new blog post up on the website.

Equitatio is a holistic, accredited consuiltancy for all your equine and canine requirements.

07/06/2024

EDIT: Please do feel free to share/replicate/display this sign - I’d rather it went out into the world to be used freely and help horses far and wide than if it was just kept on social media!

I seem to spend a lot of time thinking about the ethics of horse sport, and whether we, as an industry, will be able to keep our social licence to operate.

Although we won’t get it right 100% of the time, I think the intent and knowledge behind our actions is a key part of the puzzle.

I have put this sign up on the gate of my arena, in the hope that it reminds me, all my clients and other users of the facilities to stop and think about our intent before embarking upon working our horses each day.

What do you think?

Photo: HDE ‘Promise to the Horse’.

29/05/2024

Very happy with my first published magazine article ♥️🦄

24/05/2024

Had a busy few weeks with work but have spent several spare hours re-painting the jumps.
Pretty happy with how they turned out 😀

07/05/2024

As show season starts in a couple of weeks and Rexelle hasn't been in a trailer since last August (8 months!😳) I thought it would be a good idea to do some loading practice with her, so we had 10 minutes on Sunday afternoon.

A short training session with Rexelle, hadn't done any loading for 8 months so wanted a refresh before show season starts.

11/04/2024

Helpful post, especially at this time of year when moving from winter grazing to summer (hopefully) it's good to remember to treat this as any dietary change and do it gradually

11/04/2024

Always worth double checking that any equipment is fitted/fastened and used correctly

Equitatio is a holistic, accredited consuiltancy for all your equine and canine requirements.

08/04/2024

After seeing multiple videos posted by various breeders bragging about their 2 ½ year olds/recently turned 3 year olds and sharing videos of them cantering around in the arena, I have decided to once again circulate the below article.

First of all, breeders *should* have the knowledge to understand a horse’s fragile and slow maturing musculoskeletal system. Breeders should not condone their own horses let along anyone’s horses being cantered around under saddle at an incredibly young age. Period. This sets a terrible example and is quite honestly animal abuse. Just because a horse does not object does not mean it is right. And quite frankly, most of the videos posted show animals that are already in pain or developing pain…

As breeders, we should strive to produce healthy and sound animals. We should promote horsemanship that produces long term soundness. No, starting a horse later does not guarantee soundness. But it certainly helps.

I am a firm believer in scientifically backed approaches to horsemanship. You can’t argue with science that has been proven time and time again. Let’s dispel some stupid rumors:

1. There is no such thing as a (skeletally) slow maturing horse or one that is fast maturing. No horse is skeletally mature before the age of 6. And that is on the low estimate for age.

2. Growth plates are not just in the knee. Every bone behind the skull has a growth plate. Not every single one needs to be converted to bone before starting. There is a schedule of when bone fuses…this is the information needed to know when to start a horse. Not their outward appearance. It is a known fact that during growth, proprioceptive awareness can regress, greatly increasing the risk of injury.

3. Starting a horse is not the same thing as riding a horse. Starting a horse does not mean cantering it 3-4 days a week in an arena.

4. Injecting a horse that is in pain does not mean you fixed a problem. You masked it.

5. You can build correct muscle and teach a horse how to move their body from the ground. This creates a solid foundation to work from once your horse is ready to actually be backed. Teach a horse to use its body correctly before backing and you’ll save yourself a lot of vet bills down the line.

Hocks are “late” for maturity. The growth plates on the tibial and fibular tarsals do not fuse until a horse is 3-3 ½. Ever wonder why so many horses seem to have hocks issues?? Horses need to learn to carry themselves and their own weight well before adding a rider.

The growth plates that are LAST to close are at the base of the neck. This area is where we ask a horse to raise the base of their neck and come round. If under too much stress, the growth plates can fracture or be permanently damaged.

There are DOZENS of activities you can do with a young horse to build healthy muscular development. None of them involve a saddle or your weight on their back. Teaching a horse to carry themselves correctly BEFORE adding a rider is essential and cannot be done in a week. A 2 ½ year old horse is a baby. Mentally and physically. We see far too many injured performance horses at VERY young ages - broken down and/or sour from work. It’s wrong. Period. They need slow and steady work and need time to recover from even the slightest of injuries.

PLEASE, if you are considering when you should start your horse and what that work load should look like, please read the below. There are some wonderful things you can do with your young developing horse. Please don’t rush a year out of greed.

http://www.equinestudies.org/ranger_2008/ranger_piece_2008_pdf1.pdf

06/04/2024

A bit of insight into what my diploma in equine training and coaching and ABTC registration actually mean.

Equitatio is a holistic, accredited consuiltancy for all your equine and canine requirements.

01/04/2024

After a lot of time, effort, sweat and tears though thankfully not blood, the website has been fully re-vamped and is now live.

Equitatio has been a dream of mine for a long time. This is the start of the web site where I'll be sharing the journeys of the horses in my care, along with Natural Horsemanship and Complimentary Remedies to help your horse. Currently just a hobby alongside doing general yard duties for paying clie...

04/03/2024

Turn your damn horses out.

Solitary confinement is used as punishment for humans, yet stabled horses are described as "living like kings".

Horses don't want to live like kings, they want to live like horses; horses run, play, roll, doze in the sun, mutually groom, fall over, get kicked, get bitten- it's just how herd life works and they need that entire spectrum to be functional individuals.

Maybe you have a horse who doesn't like his pasture time. I can assure you that your horse likes time outside. What he doesn't like is lack of shelter, lack of company/incompatible company, lack of hay/grass/forage and whatever else is it that the average pasture tends to lack.

Another argument is "my horse has all that and he's still waiting to come in every evening!", chances are that you feed your horse in his stable and he therefore has a positive association with it. What if you fed your horse in the stable then instead of bolting the door, left it open all night? Would he still be in there by morning, content to stare at the walls for 12+ hours, or would he be raiding the feed bins or going around saying hello to his neighbours?

Everyone is doing their best and the reality is that the majority of horse owners are bound by the rules of yard owners, so 24/7 turnout in herds is not always possible. However, let's stop pretending that the main reason we lock horses up for half their lives is because they like it. No being on this earth likes being locked up with no choice about when to come or go, so why would horses? Sure, all horses are different but all horses are horses!

Here's some of our mare herd letting off some steam with Spring living up to her name!🤠

04/03/2024

They say you reap what you sow.

So, I stopped for a moment and took a look around.

In my training of horses, I was sowing seeds of stress, ones that would blossom into entire thickets of chronic anxiety.

And in that moment, I was stunned by the emotions my actions were harvesting in horses.

My goal was to have relaxed and well behaved horses who enjoyed their jobs and I was failing at doing so by pushing them to “work through it.”

When they tried to communicate their stress, I would make them work harder until they stopped that communication entirely.

Tired, sweaty, panting and foaming with sweat, their training session would then end.

How was I to expect that they would enjoy such a thing?

It all seems so silly now.

But, in a way, it was a gift that despite the way I tried to silence and extinguish communication when the communication was what I didn’t want to hear, my horses kept trying to communicate.

They hadn’t given up on the hope of me finally listening to them.

And while the persistence of these unwanted behaviours were upsetting my goals as a trainer, it was a sign my horses still believed in my ability to finally hear them.

They hadn’t shut down yet.

So now, I thank them for their perseverance.

For getting louder and refusing to let me drown out their voices.

Because, eventually something did click and I realized that I wasn’t heading to the destination along the route I wanted to.

It was no enjoyable journey of only one half of us was having a good time, while the other was so miserable.

To be honest, I question whether I was even having a good time most of the time.

Frustration, anger and anxiety that were common emotions for me during and after training are no longer ever present.

In helping to heal the damage I had done to my relationship with horses, I was healing myself in the process.

15/11/2023

With the weather being so wet at the moment, many horses are spending more time indoors. It might be in a stable, shelter or barn. Either way, with increased confinement comes the increased need for enrichment.

Understandably, many owners are, at the same, time trying to juggle valuable turnout time with weight management - particularly during the autumn grass growing season. A shift away from food-focused enrichment can be helpful for the management of some horses. As long as equines are receiving their appropriate daily forage provision, planning can centre around other types, such as sensory enrichment. Of course, there are many aspects of nutritional enrichment that are low calorie alternatives, but sometimes other types of enrichment can be overlooked in favour of food-based activities.

Developing a DIY scent board can be a brilliant way of providing sensory enrichment in the form of different smells. You might choose to add horse-safe essential oils to different sections of the board, using various textiles.

Be sure to check relevant anti-doping information for horses that compete, as some governing bodies include essential oils in their controlled or banned substance lists. Also, remember to ensure that any oils used have been pre-prepared for equine use, as most oils should not be used neat. Check the suitability of specific oils for particular horses, such as breeding animals, as some substances should not be used in pregnant or lactating mares.