Flow Riders Equestrian - Music Clinics

15/09/2025

01/09/2025

The sense of smell in horses is exceptionally acute, thanks to the vast amount of tissue dedicated to olfaction within their nasal passages.

When a horse inhales, air is warmed and circulated under pressure, allowing scent molecules to condense and settle onto the sensitive lining of the vomeronasal organ (VNO) for processing.

This enables horses to analyze and remember complex scents with remarkable precision—the VNO’s sensory cells can separate chemical cues almost down to the individual molecule, performing like a biological mass spectrometer.

Horses often display the flehmen response—curling back the upper lip and drawing air into the nasal passages—to intensify their perception of certain scents, especially pheromones and markers of other animals.

This action, apart from being a sign of olfactory investigation, may signal abdominal discomfort such as colic.

The ability of horses to differentiate between myriad scents supports their advanced recognition memory and plays a crucial role in their behaviour and communication.

This ability also is the reason why horses are increasingly being trained and used for scent-based search and rescue (SAR) as "air scent detection" animals in wilderness and missing person searches.

While historically valued for covering rough terrain and offering searchers a higher vantage point, horses’ natural olfactory abilities are now also being actively harnessed through dedicated scent detection training, similar to methods used with dogs, with progressive training methodologies and emerging certification standards guiding their deployment.

📖 Adapted from information in Modern Horse Training: Equitation Science Principles & Practice, Volume 1 by Andrew Mclean

🛍️ Available for purchase from our webshop

01/09/2025

A rare opportunity to gain Level 2 Equine Groom qualification through whilst working with top horsemanship trainers and a wide range of horses in a special yard environment.

We are looking for a very special person to join our team this Autumn. Applicants need to be reliable, personable, conscientious, proactive and not afraid of hard, physical work. Ideally, they will already have a background in horse care and management and have a keen interest in developing their horsemanship. Whilst this is not a riding position, experienced riders are welcome to apply.

Role;
👌All yard and grooming duties
👌Handling and care of a 12-15 young or "difficult" horses in training within a team
👌Checking and handling stallions, broodmares and young stock
👌Help with event management, client liaison, office administration
👌5 days a week to include a weekend day 7.30am - 4.30pm
👌Training for qualification
👌Salary in line with Apprentice wage
👌Live out position, but on site accommodation may be available
For more information on apprenticeships and whether you can apply for one, head to https://www.gov.uk/become-apprentice.

How to apply;
Please send your CV and a cover email stating why you would like to work for us and why you feel you would be great for the role to [email protected].

27/08/2025

Good equitation is not just about a certain look but more of a function. It’s about sitting “into” the horse and absorbing their movement through our bodies, instead of just perched on top of them. A good rider is not something for a horse to carry, but instead creates no discrepancies between the horses back and theirs.

That means that every body will have the same principles of movement, but there will be many modifications for individual bodies.

To be able to absorb the movement of the horse, we have to move beyond achieving a look and develop a feeling. It means letting go of some places and becoming more structured in other places.

I always remember the words my teacher said to me: if you can’t feel the hind legs of the horse under you, you are not absorbing movement but perched. When I understood this that feeling became as clear as day - no longer just an idea or a memorized and disconnected timing, but a very clear feeling.

And so good riding is mainly that- feeling ourselves to feel the horse, and going together. Becoming more than a body controlling another body, but one entity, two bodies moving in harmony together.

Photo by Jade Premont

27/08/2025

I wish more people would ask themselves why their horse would try to bite them during tacking if they enjoy being ridden and the types of things that predict riding, like being tacked.

It’s easy to post videos where you laugh at horses clearly saying “no” to being ridden.

It’s a lot harder to set your ego aside and listen to what your horse is trying to communicate but doing so makes you a better horse person.

Blatant signs of discomfort in horses are far too normalized and shrugged off and the ones that suffer are the horses simply so their humans don’t have to think deeper into what their horse is trying to say, god forbid it impacts how much they can ride or how they ride. 🤷‍♀️

If your horse is frequently pinning their ears during tacking, snaking their head and/or trying to bite you, something is wrong.

This isn’t normal. It’s not a personality quirk. It’s the sign of a very unhappy horse and if you value your horse’s wellbeing, you should care.

27/08/2025

It’s !🐴

Meet Dave – this little black fell pony came into our care when he was, indeed, not quite so little! He had been found severely overweight, showing early signs of laminitis and was suspected to have been abandoned. Subsequently Dave was taken into World Horse Welfare Glenda Spooner Farm and signed over to us when no owner came forward.

He may not have been happy about it, but Dave was placed on a strict weight loss and rehabilitation programme and what a transformation he’s made! By helping him shed the excess weight, we were able to significantly reduce his risk of developing laminitis, and he’s now a much happier, healthier pony.

Dave is a great reminder of just how important it is to regularly monitor your horse’s weight. Horses can gain weight quickly and by regularly fat scoring and weigh-taping, you’ll be able to spot changes much sooner than by eye alone. This simple routine can make a big difference in reducing the risk of laminitis before it even starts.

Not sure if your horse is the right weight? Take a look at our handy Right Weight guidance here 👉 http://bit.ly/4mhEEw1

25/08/2025

How does this resonate with your experience? As a retired flautist, occasional keyboard player and Penny whistle squeaker it makes total sense to me. Balance, tone, breathwork, timing - all something we work on in Flow rides 🎵

François Baucher Musings....

I promised I would share my thoughts, for what they're worth, as I read through the newly translated book: Method of Riding based on new principles by François Baucher translated by Róisín Magee and published by Mangaiti Equine.

There are many meaningful quips and quotes and I can already tell I will be reading and re-reading this book a few times to garner all the nuggets of wisdom contained within.

I struggled between sharing the quote I chose below and a quote from one of Baucher's long time students, Maxime Gaussen, who in relaying the changes in one of Baucher's mounts, Partisan, states "...he proves in the most undeniable way, that balance determines movement." Balance determines movement. Gold! It may resurface in a future post.

I digress, I was drawn to the quote, "The horse, however well conformed, needs preparatory work to arrange his forces for a coordinated effort..." (Page XXI). He goes on to compare riding our horses to playing musical instruments, something I can certainly relate to having learned to play several in my lifetime. You don't just sit at the piano bench and begin playing Mozart, or pick up the saxophone and immediately break into a jazz rendition. No, first you learn the instrument intimately, the feel of the keys, the scales, the breathing...

Our horses require us to feel into them in much the same way as a musician does her music. To smooth out the rough notes or in the case of our horses, areas they experience tightness and resistance.

To be continued...

22/08/2025

I wish you all the very best of luck as you receive your Leaving Certificate results. Whatever your results, just remember that there are many different paths that will take you to where you want to be!
I didn't get the results for my first choice university, and yes I let the tears flow initially but then I picked myself up and looked at other options and off I went, the first in my family to head off to uni. I didn't let my reality dampen my dreams, I made sure the belief in myself matched my goals! 🙌💪
If I can offer one piece of advice when you open up your results, read them and PAUSE, BREATH, and BELIEVE IN YOURSELF and YOUR POTENTIAL