Equisentient Coaching

02/04/2025

01/04/2025

Over and over again. 💪🏼

01/04/2025

Viggo Mortensen said: "One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from a horse master. He told me to go slow to go fast. I think that applies to everything in life. We live as though there aren't enough hours in the day but if we do each thing calmly and carefully we will get it done quicker and with much less stress."

01/04/2025

Speaking of nurse mares after posting the story of Arwin and Miracle (both babies needed nurse mares) I wanted to share the story of the ultimate nurse mare from the Helping Hands Sanctuary: the wonderful selfless mare, Tango. After we were left with an orphan, we searched for a nurse mare for our new baby, but were unable to find one. The biggest miracle of this story is that Tango had her baby two hours after the orphan was born and we were able to smear the umbilical contents of her baby onto the orphan, and she immediately adopted her as her own. I will post more heartwarming pictures and videos in the next few days. In this picture, you see the trio, mama Tango had just had her baby and still had the placenta hanging. We had just put the orphan in with her hoping that she would take her on as her own .Special thanks to Bald Peak Equine for their help. **t

31/03/2025

'Golden Hour' - New Artwork - Happy Mother's Day!

On this beautiful Spring day, as I gaze out from my studio window, I see new life frolicking in the fields at home. Lambs dance in the sunshine, finding their feet, while the mares gently watch over their fast-growing foals.

A mother’s love is both strong and gentle across all species.

Wishing all the incredible mums out there a very Happy Mother’s Day!

Pictured: 'Golden Hour' - https://katiehough.co.uk/gift-shop/ #!/Golden-Hour/p/711961002
Commissions welcome - https://www.katiehough.co.uk/commission-artwork/
© 2025 Katie Hough - Artist

31/03/2025

Normal lamellae are distinct structures, they look white (epidermal lamellae) and red ( dermal lamellae). They literally lock together and there are also strong fibres running from the inside of the capsule and attaching to the coffin bone.

Healthy lamellae are shown on the first photo.

The second photo, scrutinise it.
Write down all the differences you see. Then let’s go through them together and work out what is happening. They look similar but they are very much the opposite!

Just to help you - the laminar bond is pretty flexible and it accounts for quite a large % of energy dissipation at each foot fall.

With flexibility comes stretch. Laminae can stretch and stretch far too much for too long.
This is typical in diet/insulin related laminitis.

Stretching still causes problems jn the foot. It’s the precursor to ripping so the termed stretched white line is inportant to understand. It’s one of the things we can see in the living horse.

Blood flecks in the white line are other warning signs.

Tomorrow I’ll go through the similarities and differences in these 2 photos and help you understand.

Folks, I understand that many of you are pretty well qualified to understand my posts but the folk I’m wanting to help are those new on their hoofcare journey. So let’s help them with their learning.

And also help me!

Let’s learn together.

In this case I am focussed on newish onset, diet related insulin related laminitis.

Not concussion, not supporting limb, not chronic.

Id be very grateful if you would consider sharing my post thank you. We need horse owners to be educated on laminitis

Thanks my sponsors that are listed in the comments. The slice was taken like a stack of pennies.

31/03/2025

TRUST YOUR GUT!

I find that more often than not, my initial response to something or someone is right.

When I go and explore a little, or start to engage with the person, I usually find quite quickly that my initial Yes or No was spot-on.

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve exclaimed: “I was right the first time!!!”

Now, it’s not ALWAYS 100% accurate of course, and this is usually because some trauma-response has been activated, based on my past, which can blur the truth about the other person or situation, so occasionally the initial feeling can be a little “off” and more about me than them.

That being said, nine times out of ten, my initial feeling is usually spot-on in terms of what I need and what would be optimal for me, my well-being, safety and life.

I see it as being very much like a horse’s response to something new coming into their environment, whereby they act very quickly based on the initial information coming towards them. Yes, sometimes they may pause briefly and check it out a little, but then, they don’t hesitate: they just act and move themselves to a position of safety and optimal well-being.

This can look like defensiveness and hostility in humans. But, it’s usually more a case of self-preservation. And it can also be down to having been burned too many times in the past, by being too nice, too accommodating, too lenient with boundaries and too trusting.

Whereas, this much more clear-cut discernment based on my gut-feeling, feels a whole lot healthier, and saves me a whole lot of time and bother.

So, trust your gut is my advice. Trust the messages coming up from your gut and your body, which is your first line of information input and response from your nervous system.

You can always change your mind later if you’ve over-reacted. But really, at the end of the day, your well-being, safety and inner-peace is far more important than any perceptions others may gain of you, or anything you feel you may have lost in the experience.

And your gut feeling is only ever serving you in its role as your best friend and most staunch, loyal supporter. And over time, the more you listen and heed your gut, the more self-trust you build.

So, give yourself permission to trust yourself and your body, and to act from your inner-power centre at long last!

Angela Dunning
The Horse’s Truth
www.thehorsestruth.co.uk

Image by Nyam7, licensed via Shutterstock.

30/03/2025

I had a sudden swoop of sadness yesterday. It was an unfamiliar melancholy and it stayed with me most of the afternoon. I didn’t rummage about in my Place of Peace toolbox and find the tools to drive it off - write it down, walk it out, dance it away, talk to a friend - I simply let it be. I thought it had a message for me and I wanted to hear that message, although I never quite did work out what it was.


I remembered what the wise old people used to say when I was a child: ‘It will be better in the morning.’ And so often, it is.


The funny thing is that the sadness felt unfamiliar and slightly alarming even. (The Perfection Demons and The Shoulds were rushing about saying, ‘Hunt it down! Work it out! Do better!’) But I remember now that this kind of low, pulling sorrow was something I used to live with all the time. In fact, I was almost proud of it. I’d put on my Leonard Cohen records and write sad books. I thought that melancholy was where the poets and the writers lived, so of course I’d be mooning about and randomly weeping because I was a creative and we sensitive souls simply felt the world more deeply.


The odd thing, I suddenly realise, is that the red mare has trained me in a variety of happinesses - contentment, stillness, release, acceptance, ease, purpose - so that those old melancholies now feel dislocating and strange, where they once were my default.


I think I may have been tired, au fond, and a little worn down, and my body was saying, ‘Stop.’

Perhaps I was missing my mum. It is Mothering Sunday today and I always used to stomp in to make her breakfast on the Saturday before and complain about the idiotic corporate commercialism of Mother’s Day and then I’d sneak off to the flower shop in the village and get her a delicate fold of tulips and she was always so pleased and would get a tear in her eye.


I might have got my Expectation Dial a little wonky. Tern and I have been going for most excellent walks and I’ve been boasting a little bit about how good she is with her saddle on and how her body has splendidly changed and yesterday we did some slightly showing-off liberty and she suddenly decided to turn herself inside out. Wild circus rearing - rather impressive, actually, now I replay it in my mind - and lunatic bucks and ventre à terre galloping. I’m normally quite delighted by this because my theory is that it is horses seeing that they are allowed to let their emotions out and, as my old mum used to say, ‘Better out than in.’ But I confess that I was a little dumbfounded as she hurled herself about. We still have a long way to go and perhaps my tired body was suddenly weary and longed for a mythically docile little Fell pony on whom I could potter, like the late Queen.


Perhaps it was just that.


I can feel myself moving gently back to normality, as the winds holler outside the window. I wanted to write this for you because all of us humans - and especially those of us with horses - sometimes get a little tired and bone-weary and sorrowful. I don’t ever want to be in the ranks of the Insta-Perfects. Look at me, with my perfect house and my perfect life and my perfect everything! Although The Perfection Demons would be pleased if I did go down that route, I have to do reality so that you, my dear crew, don’t get exhausted and baffled. (I suddenly think: maybe that was the melancholy. Had I seen one too many perfect houses on Instagram? That’s making me laugh quite a lot.)


Leonard Cohen once sang that there is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in. And I think often of the noble Japanese art of kinsugi, where pots and plates are repaired with gold paint tracing the broken places. Perhaps we are all like that, when we get to a certain age. We have our broken places, and sometimes they ache.


And then we smile again and find our good hearts, and go on.

30/03/2025

Dear all Horse Mums... 🐴💕

30/03/2025

To all of us.

For the sleepless nights worrying about if you’ve put the right rug on, for the endless trips to the tack shop, and filling of your millionth haynet.

For the wading through mud, for the rain, wind and soggy turn outs.

For that extra treat before you leave the yard, for the neck snuzzles and soft nose kisses.

For the love of our horses 🐴

29/03/2025

28/03/2025

28/03/2025

You are probably thinking what a ludicrous question, of course I love my horse, Emma!

I often here cry's of “I love my horse" to "she's just being stubborn!” all in the same sentence! And it does makes me wonder, do you really love your horse!

Answers to my question "Tell me about your horse" tend to be filled with a list of their faults, what they won't do. And yes, I get that you here for a lesson to help solve your current riding dilemmas!

I then ask the rider tell me three things you love about your horse! (This question is often met with surprise!)

As we are well aware, the horse world is very judgemental.
Imagine how you would feel if day in day out you were judged!

What if you didn't judge your horse, but observed with no judgement, just noticed!

That your own internal dialogue about your horse changed to positives!

What effect do you think it would have on your horse and your riding?,

The judgemental dialogue undoubtedly creates tension, stubbornness and ultimately force in your riding!

I’ve been reading Manuel Jorge de Oliveira book “Vertical 1 – The Riding School for the Conscientious Rider , and he talks about the heart aid.

He goes on to say that without love you can’t train your horse and that the most important aid is the ‘heart aid’ the flow of energy between your heart and your horse’s heart!

Now some will dismiss this as pseudo science, whoo hoo, away with the fairies, but I am going to tell you that there is science behind this….

The HeartMath Institute has been around for 30 odd years, pioneering the science of heart coherence.

Heart Coherence is a state of cooperative alignment between the heart, mind, emotions and physical systems.

Research has established that an emotional bond between horses and humans can be measured using Heart Rate Variability (HRV) measurements. Horses and humans can synchronize their heart rhythms during interactions, especially when humans express positive emotions. This heart coherence leads to improved emotional well-being and stress reduction for both horse and rider.

The research highlights that horses are highly sensitive to human emotions and can mirror them, creating a unique and powerful connection. Positive emotions like joy and gratitude produce coherent heart rhythms, while negative emotions result in incoherent patterns. This synchronization is believed to occur through electromagnetic fields and non-verbal communication.

The study supports the idea that spending time with our horses, can encourage emotional coherence and improve the connection between humans and horses!

As you know, I am on a bit of a rehab journey with Fiddle and in January we were on walking duty! 10 mins a day slowly building up each week! Now this walking was a mix bag with Fiddle, we started off all enthusiastic and then her enthusiasm waned! It felt like I was dragging her around in circles, up and down the driveway (to get variation and make it interesting). And unless I had a carrot or other such treat in my hand, it was a torturous task!

If I was being judgemental, I would describe her as stubborn and ultimately use force to get her to walk!

At around the same time, along came Holly Barnett and her Heart Horse Experience! I decided to give it a go as there wasn’t much else I could do with Fiddle, a part from walking and it might prove beneficial for both of us!

As with all these things it requires a lot of input from you for it to work, but when it does, my goodness you then want to interact with your horse like this all the time!

Walking Fiddle has become a joy, for both of us!
We walk together, as one!
The more you practice it, the better it gets!

I know what connection feels like!
I know that I love my horse!
I know we can move together in coherence rather than through force, duress or insistence!

I can help her through any anxious states – see lawn mower behind hedge this week!

Why would you not want to move from each others heart. I now understand what Manuel Jorge de Oliveira means that the ‘heart aid’ is the most important aid of all!

Enjoy your riding

Emma, Lady and Fiddle ###

FREE Heart Horse Masterclass: https://www.facebook.com/holly.barnett.505

The Horse-Human Heart Connection - Mindful Horse, Mindful Leader" by Ellen Kaye Gehrke, Ph.D., and Dr. Rollin McCrat

27/03/2025

The Short Back ‘n Sides Effect

Have you ever had a skin-fade, grade one or super short haircut that the minute you walked out of the hairdressers in mid-winter you regretted the decision?

The feeling of a shorter trim takes a few days to get used to, from both the elements and the feeling of clothing touching the area, especially if there has been a drastic re-style.

Horses have a thinner epidermal layer than humans and are super sensitive to skin stimulation; just look at the Cutaneous Trunci reflex, or the ‘fly twitch’ response.

Putting aside the reasons why a horse may be clipped, either for aesthetics or medical and comfort reasons, there area few beneficial considerations to consider to understand why there may be a temporary change in behaviour.

Clipping removes the hair which acts as a protective layer and barrier between the external environment and the skin directly, and as we know, the variation between coat quality and density varies greatly between breeds.

All horses will experience increased skin sensitivity as a result, which may result in a temporary change in behaviour for certain individuals; some may become irritable and itchy, others may seem more sensitive to tactile cues or may not offer too much of a change at all.

It is all down to the individual, and the environment.

Allowing your horse a little time to make these sensory adjustments and habituate to everything from the breeze of the wind, the feel of being touched over the new hairs and providing a good muscular warm up routine (muscles will contract more to keep warm if there is less protection on the body) can all be beneficial in avoiding attempting to create an issue where there isn’t one.

Yes, a little time to let them adjust, it really can be that simple!

A little consideration and adaptation can go a long way.

26/03/2025

'Miracle' birth, and survival, of twin foals

A set of rare twin foals born near Te Puke have stunned animal experts at their arrival and survival.

The fact the filly and c**t have since survived, let alone were born in the first place, has been described as a ""miracle"".

Equestrian manager was expecting just one foal from a pregnant mare when it arrived at the centre several weeks ago. When two foals were born, equestrian workers were amazed - and worried.

The odds of a horse giving birth to twins are one in 100. The chances of those twins then surviving are even rarer.

""We've got quite a few specialists quite stumped,""

""so many chances where it could have all gone wrong"" for the foals. ""It was just luck after luck after luck. The fact I happened to see it [the birth] for starters.""

""The little one was so weak, we had to pick him up every two hours just for him to feed. He couldn't stand on his own. We really thought he wouldn't make it.

""We just kept thinking 'When she's got strong enough we have a little bit of a celebration that at least one will pull through'. We didn't believe both would. But so long as he's fighting, we'll fight with him. Every day there's improvement.""