http://www.lshorsemanship.co.uk/

LS Horsemanship, Stokesley (2025)

20/04/2025

My boys lining up to go on the weighbridge at liberty with positive reinforcement training 😎❤️

Lenny is the super slimmer, Dan we aren’t going to talk about 😅 we’ll do better next time.

Thanks Horse Weighbridge North East for such a wonderful service and for being such a great advocate for the horses always. They love their Auntie Kelly 🥕

20/04/2025

Misinformation around pain in horses 🐴

There seems to be such a huge blind spot in the industry around pain and discomfort in horses. It is all very simplified in that you get “all the checks” done and the horse is either in pain or he isn’t. “All the checks” often being saddle/teeth/back, or if we have gone to the vet a basic lameness workup, maybe a gastroscope and a back x-ray. Then we deem the horse all clear from pain regardless of any behaviour they’re displaying to the contrary, we are told we are in the clear to put the horse through training to “fix” the behavioural issues.

Unfortunately issues with horses cannot be simply packed into 2 neat little boxes of either pain or behaviour, I cannot stress this enough. Its a really convenient narrative but it is so much more complex than this. It can promote pretty nasty treatment of horses who are really struggling. People feel the horse owes them something, “I gave him the benefit of the doubt and did all the checks so now he needs to just get on with it”.

I’m going to talk about back issues as they’re such a common one. I often hear that, despite the behavioural issues, the owner has been advised not to x-ray as the horse doesn’t seem to show any soreness when you palpate his back. You cannot tell what is going on inside without good imaging, this is terrible advice when someone is trying to get to the bottom of behavioural issues.

Another common scenario I come across is a horse who has had a diagnosis via imaging, it has been treated and supposedly rehabbed, the owner has been cleared to ride the horse, yet the horse I see in front of me has a significant lack of muscle development over their back and is, in my opinion, in no place to carry the weight of a rider without causing them harm.

I find it really hard to watch trainers explain away stress/pain indicators and continue to train distressed horses because the horse is “fine now, he had the treatment and he’s been given the all clear”. I think the horse disagrees.

There is a really frustrating pattern of find the problem, treat the problem and crack on as before without really looking at the whole horse, why this occurred in the first place and what we can do to support the horse going forward. This is absolutely not a vet-bashing post, but we do need to start looking at things differently and working together with a range of professionals who have expertise in equine behaviour, postural rehab etc if we really want to help our horses.

I’m going to share a personal story about my horse Lenny. I was looking through old photos last night and it was really jarring to see him through the postural lens I have now. He is now 20 years old, has not been ridden for over 10 years and has better muscling now than he did as an 8 year old when I was trying to ride him.

I was having behavioural issues with him, in that I fell off him every time I tried to ride him as he would just explode, over the period of a year I took him for a work-up at 2 different vet practises. He was diagnosed with navicular changes, side bone, grade 2 gastric ulcers, SI pain, hock arthritis and inflammation in his facet joints, all of which were treated and I was cleared to bring him back into work and “crack on”.

The photo I am sharing with you is what he looked like when I was cleared to ride him. I appreciate he is lean in this photo, but the total lack of muscling in his neck and over his back shocked me, if I saw a horse like this today there is no way I would be telling someone it was appropriate to ride them. This complete lack of appropriate muscle would be enough to cause him pain and discomfort when ridden and could easily have been rectified with the right approach.

During this time he was seen by several vets, body workers, a saddler and a behavioural trainer, nobody ever mentioned his posture or muscle development to me. This just isn’t good enough. The industry needs to change.

I got back on Lenny once more after this, he was awful at the mounting block and once I did get on we walked 6 steps and I felt like he was going to explode, so I just gave up and “retired” him at 8 years old. Happy ending for him in that he is still with me and living a very nice horse life, but I so wish I knew then what I know now, because I could’ve really helped him.

If we can develop our own eye and our own knowledge we can make informed choices for our horses, be really good advocates for our horses and choose a team of professionals who will work together to support us. 🐴

www.lshorsemanship.co.uk

www.patreon.com/lshorsemanship

19/04/2025

When it’s Spring at 5pm but winter at 1am 🌻🥶🤷🏻‍♀️

19/04/2025

Pain Memory 🐴

A common story I hear is that a horse had a behavioural issue, we took the horse to the vet to investigate, found something, treated, the behaviour didn’t change, but its just pain memory now. The horse can’t be in pain because we treated the thing we found, so we just need to show them it doesn’t hurt.

I find this extremely unlikely in most cases. What is more likely is the treatment didn’t get rid of the pain, there is more to it that hasn’t been found and/or we have only treated a symptom and haven’t addressed the primary cause. So the horse is still in pain.

There are a couple of common scenarios I want to talk about to give you some food for thought.

Stomach ulcers are extremely common and I think extremely misunderstood. They’re one of the first things people are told to look for when they’re having behavioural issues. You often see horses unhappy about being saddled, they treat the ulcers, and the behaviour continues. But we’re told the horse just has to get on with it now, ignore the behaviour and they’ll learn it no longer hurts. But what if it does still hurt? Why are we deciding to ignore their communication?

To me if the horse was no longer uncomfortable, this behaviour would disappear fairly quickly using training that builds new, positive associations with the task. Even if you did nothing except continuing to saddle the horse and ignore the behaviour I would expect it to lessen over time as they realise it no longer hurts them. Instead sometimes we’re months down the line and the behaviour is the same.

Maybe the ulcers were the least interesting thing about that horse but they’re just the first thing we looked for and found. Ulcers don’t just randomly occur, they are often secondary to stress and ongoing pain elsewhere in the body. Even if we did clear up the ulcers and the horse is having an emotional reaction, the answer isn’t to trash on through their boundaries and continue to tack up and ride them while they shout at you not to.

Another common one is the kissing spine/not quite kissing spine diagnosis, the amount of horses I see that have had some treatment and been cleared by the vet as pain-free and ready for ridden work, only to find they have extremely inadequate muscling over their back, sometimes even with a saddle shaped dip. This is a really obvious, simple one to see, and yet we are encouraging clients to crack on and ride these horses and are seemingly baffled by their continued lack of co-operation. It doesn’t matter if you’ve done 6 weeks of long reining over raised poles religiously, if the horse isn’t developing that muscle over their back then it isn’t working and we need to go back to the drawing board. Postural rehab only works if the horse is able to recruit the right muscles, otherwise we’re just strengthening compensatory patterns which probably contributed to this in the first place.

I just cannot see the logic in a horse having to go through an extremely high-stress training situation in order to “learn” they are no longer in pain. It seems to me that what is actually happening in those cases where the behaviour seems to improve is that the horse is learning nobody listens no matter what they do and they’ll keep being hassled until they comply, so they eventually give up and comply.

When we’re finding arthritis in horses that are only 4/5/6 years old, maybe we should pause and wonder why this occurred and how we could better support the horse going forward, rather than just medicating the joints and cracking on as we were.

If I had a pound for every time a client has been told by a professional their horse isn’t in pain and just needs a firmer rider/is lazy/taking the mickey/trying it on/just weak, and it turns out their horse is in fact in pain on further investigation, I’d knock a good chunk off this month’s hay bill.

I am not saying every horse is in terrible pain and we need to spend £1000s at the vets or should just put them all in the field and never touch them again, but the current system needs to change. We need to be looking at the horse’s living environment and emotional health. Then we need to be really thinking about whether that horse’s body is in a place to take a rider without it being detrimental. You can absolutely transform a horse with the appropriate approach from the ground, even horses with complex issues.

Training should never look like a battle and I cannot understand why we are watching these horses struggle with training only to be shocked further down the line when we find pathology. “Nobody could’ve known.” The horse was telling you. 🐴

www.lshorsemanship.co.uk

www.patreon.com/lshorsemanship

18/04/2025

Short notice availability 🐴

This Tuesday 22nd April Newcastle/Sunderland area, could possibly do Durham on the way up.

Equine behavioural consultant - kind, horse-centred training and support

Behaviour/ground work/ridden work/postural rehab

Please see my page/website for further information.

www.lshorsemanship.co.uk

18/04/2025

Working them through it 🐴

Following on from my last post, I want to unravel the commonly encouraged idea of “working the horse through it”. The idea that you need to go to battle with a horse who is having behavioural issues and that if they end up complying then there is no pain issue is false. If you hassle a horse enough they will give in despite being in pain.

If someone is supposed to be a behavioural expert, then they should be able to recognise obvious (and even subtle) signs of pain and lameness in a horse. They absolutely have a responsibility to assess the horse in front of them and not just say “well the owner says he’s had all the checks so its definitely not pain”. You are one of the checks? You’re meant to be a behavioural expert? Where is your assessment? Why aren’t you telling these clients their horse is showing signs of discomfort and stress? I run a terrible business model because often my assessment is we need to go back to the vet or another relevant professional and training isn’t appropriate in this moment.

Watching extremely stressed and often obviously sore horses be put through high-stress training in the name of helping them leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I keep getting videos in my feed of horses really clearly trying to communicate pain, the owner being told the horse is aggressive and going to really hurt someone as a justification of their harsh treatment, then punishing the horse every time they pull a face until they shut down and stop doing it. The owner can now enjoy using the horse without any annoyance from the horse trying to express his feelings. Everyone is all smiles except the horse, and the poor owner doesn’t understand what just happened because they’ve been sold a story and told their horse is happy now. Fixed.

Being very skilled at coercing horses into doing things and being able to work/ride through their protests is not the same as being good at reading behaviour. You absolutely can train through pain, most horses if you keep pushing and adding pressure will give in eventually. We put human emotions in, we can’t see the horse past the story we’re being told, the humans are all pats and smiles so it must be kind right? Look at what the horse is experiencing, stressing the hell out of a horse, ignoring all of their anxiety and carrying on anyway, is not kind because you call him a good boy while you’re doing it.

With these horses that get passed from trainer to vet to trainer trying to fix fix fix, I just wonder what would happen if we backed off for a few months and just allowed the horse to unravel emotionally with no pressure, focused on helping them feel better rather than getting them to do stuff and then actually built them from the ground up at their pace. Sometimes the answer is no, it is not appropriate to ride this horse right now, and putting them through that in the name of “diagnostics” is not kind. We don’t need to see the horse fall apart repeatedly under saddle to decide that.

One of the rules I keep myself to strictly is if the horse isn’t okay with any part of the tacking up or mounting process then we do not get on the horse that day. Horses do not need to be ridden, that’s for us. They are so stoic and far too tolerant.

My horse Dan has discomfort in his body, yet I know I could get on him tomorrow and take him out jumping and he would do it without protest, not because he loves jumping, but because that is what he has been conditioned to do, he doesn’t realise no is an option, because it never used to be. Let’s not take advantage of the horse’s compliant nature. 🐴

www.lshorsemanship.co.uk

www.patreon.com/lshorsemanship

17/04/2025

The "problem" horse 🐴

There is such a recurring theme in the clients I’m seeing that I really feel the need to talk about this more. Time and time again I am seeing horses displaying significant signs of pain, who have been to the vet to have some diagnostics and been told there is nothing wrong, the horse definitely isn’t in pain and they need to send the horse to a trainer. It is incredibly frustrating and upsetting as an owner when you really feel something isn’t right but are being told by professionals that the issue is you and you’re overthinking it or being soft.

The idea that a problem is purely behavioural is a fallacy in and of itself. Behaviour is a manifestation of how the horse is experiencing life, whether that be pain/discomfort in the body, the environment, the people, the training, the diet, trauma, past experiences etc. It is unfortunately not packed into two neat little boxes of either pain or behaviour and, even if it was, the idea that we could easily rule out pain with the limited diagnostics available is unrealistic.

When we have a horse that is displaying concerning behaviour, beyond the usual joint, back x-rays and scoping for ulcers, we need to consider hind gut issues, liver issues, hormonal issues, muscle myopathies, congenital defects, old injuries, compensatory patterns, the list goes on. Often we do find pathology, medicate it and declare the horse pain-free and ready to crack on without considering the other factors at play.

I cannot emphasise enough the role of environmental factors. Sometimes we are chasing pathology, buying expensive supplements, paying every professional under the sun to fit our horse’s tack, train them, give them bodywork and hoof care while entirely missing the fact the horse’s basic needs are not being met. If your horse is stressed in his living environment you are setting yourselves up to fail. Horses that are living in a chronic state of stress and have very little ability to down-regulate their nervous system are unable to thrive and develop healthy bodies.

So many horses have poor posture which is causing tension and soreness in their bodies, it is so normalised that it seems to be rarely recognised as an issue as horses can still perform at high levels even when their bodies are compromised, we’re used to seeing horses with poor muscle development. Winning trophies does not necessarily mean the horse is comfortable, it means the horse is compliant. A lot of training views compliance as the main measure of success without really seeing how the horse is feeling both emotionally and physically, with the training itself often contributing to more tension, stress and strain on the body.

All of these things together create the “problem horse”.

I feel really strongly that we need to start looking at things differently if we want to train ethically and also increase longevity for our horses. What if instead of just medicating the horse then sending the horse to the trainer to be “fixed”, we took a step back and really looked at the whole horse and maybe why this happened in the first place.

I genuinely think we’d have much more long term success if we took the pressure off, made sure their living environment was the best we could get it, learned to help our horses down-regulate their nervous system and train at the horse’s pace in an environment they’re comfortable in. In doing so we can really help their bodies and support them as best we can with their issues.

Watching horses find relaxation in their bodies, find peace around people and start to find joy in movement through slow, low-pressure training doesn’t make very exciting videos but it does transform horse’s (and people’s) lives.

If you take anything away from this just know that you absolutely CAN train through pain if you're persistent enough, people are doing it every day and getting 100k views on their reels. Don't mistake compliance for willingness and don’t disregard your horse’s voice just because someone told you to. Behaviour is communication, not something to be fixed. There are people out here who will help you and your horse and not dismiss your concerns.

www.lshorsemanship.co.uk

www.patreon.com/lshorsemanship

16/04/2025

with Equus with Millie

13/04/2025

Just because we can doesn't mean we should 🐴

A common theme with the horses I go out to see is that they have been given the “all clear” by vets/bodyworkers/various other professionals. Therefore the owner logically assumes they are definitely dealing with a behavioural issue as they have done all of the things they’re supposed to do as a caring owner.

Unfortunately diagnostics can be very limited and people seem to have trouble seeing the whole horse. Just because we haven’t found a solid cause yet doesn’t mean the horse isn’t in pain. Horses don’t lie and if they are behaving like they’re in pain I believe them. There is more to pain than hocks, kissing spine and ulcers.

With permission, I’m going to tell you a story which is unfortunately not an unusual one. I was called out to this horse as he had a “fear” of being mounted, but they said he was fine once they were on and they were jumping him competitively up to 1.20m. They had done x-rays of his back, stifles and hocks and scoped him for ulcers. A physio had also seen him and said they found no issues. The owner had tried every training method under the sun to fix this behaviour, pressure/release, chasing him around with a flag, clicker training, putting him against the wall, having someone hold a lick in front of his face etc. The horse was still biting, swinging away and becoming really agitated. I observed him being ridden and he was showing several conflict behaviours, tail swishing, unhappy in the mouth, head tossing etc. I didn’t do any training with the horse, to my eye the horse was definitely in pain and I referred them onto a recommended specialist vet. Upon investigation this horse had extensive arthritis in his neck and issues in his spine that had not been picked up by the first vet.

Horses are so, so stoic and we are also rubbish as an industry at seeing discomfort in them because it is so normalised. We see them as “fine” to ride as long as they aren’t actively decking us. We ignore them until they’re screaming and even then many do not listen because it is justified away as “quirky” or “sassy” behaviour.

Imaging is only useful if the person reading it has the skill to do so well and I have experience of one vet saying x-rays are fine then a second-opinion specialist vet making a pretty devastating diagnosis from the same images.

Now I am not saying we all need to spend thousands at the vet immediately, a huge part of what I do is gently, quietly improving posture and emotional health to see if we can start to help the horse feel and move better over time, but a hill I absolutely will die on is if the horse is unhappy with any part of tacking up/mounting then we do not ride the horse that day.

There are so many things we can do beyond just medicating and cracking on, if we can all learn a bit more about recognising postural issues and behavioural indicators we can potentially avoid a lot of heartache and frustration.

The industry as a whole is blind to postural issues, I’m still seeing horses regularly who have been “cleared” by several professionals who I find with saddle shaped dips in their back and incredibly poor hoof balance which is going to make their body really uncomfortable. Yet the owner has been told again and again the horse is fine and they need to crack on and get a trainer out, and then the training methods make the posture even worse...

If your horse goes to the back of the stable when you arrive with your tack, you need to restrain him in cross ties or he repeatedly moves away from the mounting block, I encourage you to think about why that is. There is a reason he doesn’t want to, be it physical or emotional discomfort with the situation. Making him move his feet and harassing him until his only option is to stand still isn’t going to change those feelings. A horse complying once you’re in the saddle does not mean they’re fine with it, they just know they have no choice once you’re on because nobody has ever listened to the no. 🐴

www.lshorsemanship.co.uk

www.patreon.com/lshorsemanship

Pictured is the lovely Conor standing quietly at the mounting block waiting for his reward. (not the horse featured in this story)

12/04/2025

Goodnight boys ❤️😴

12/04/2025

Loading 🐴

Loading issues are extremely common. As we discussed in the previous post, asking a horse to get into a small, confined space with no idea where they’re going, having to balance with no idea when it is going to stop or turn and having no idea when you’ll be let out again is stressful and scary. I think it is extremely logical from the horse’s point of view not to want to load.

The most common loading techniques use some form of pressure and release, but unfortunately this often slides into using punishment. We must understand that if we are using pressure halters, chains, chifneys etc, the choice for the horse is either load or be caused pain. Regardless of your thoughts on welfare, this is not going to build positive associations with loading and the box. While it may (or may not) produce compliance quickly, that’s going to be a very internally stressed, shut down horse. It is also very dangerous to both people and horses, we’ve all heard stories of horses flipping over backwards.

The language used around loading training is interesting, I see many people advertising their techniques as “kind”, “ethical” and even “stress-free”, yet their videos show rearing horses desperately trying to get away. I used to load horses like this, and I was successful in that I would get compliance with most horses, but now I realise I was causing them so, so much stress until they just gave up and realised there was no way out. I wasn’t building confidence or helping them feel safe.

The way I approach loading now is to focus on the horse’s emotional state rather than the task itself. People find this really unappealing as we all want a quick fix. Why would I spend weeks desensitising my horse to being near the box when that other guy can just come and get him on in 2 hours? Because I don’t want compliance, I want co-operation. I want a horse that feels comfortable and able to cope with what I’m asking. If we cause horses to experience high levels of stress during training we will pay the price in their health and their associations with us. Everything is linked.

When dealing with any sort of anxious or fear-based behaviour (which all loading issues are) I personally try not to use pressure anymore. I find the point where the horse starts to become uncomfortable and work there until they’re okay with it. Sometimes this looks like feeding the horse from a bucket with the trailer in sight or using poles and jumps to build a fake partition in the arena so we can get used to being in tight spaces. I heavily utilise positive reinforcement to build positive associations with what we’re doing and we slowly and carefully shape the steps we need to get the horse confidently loading, standing, being shut in and doing everything that requires.

Please understand this is very different to just trying to bribe a horse to load with food or treats, people always say “we’ve tried food it doesn’t work!” It’s because you went too fast or the ask was unreasonable (i.e. the trailer is unsafe, the space is too small, the horse is in pain, the horse isn’t in a trainable state)

When we try to train loading by presenting a horse to the ramp and waiting for them to say no so we can get into a battle with them, we are setting them up to fail, there are much easier and safer ways for everyone.

I’m really excited to offer a free live on this topic with Equus with Millie - Accredited Equine Behaviourist on Wednesday at 7pm , we will be discussing different techniques and our experiences, questions very welcome. Sign up here https://www.facebook.com/share/15t8suwSfF/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Pictured is Millie loading a police horse in central London with positive reinforcement 😎

09/04/2025

Loading problems 🐴

Loading is probably the most common issue that people seek professional help for. There are so many tutorials and videos on how to fix loading issues, from using positive reinforcement or gentle pressure and release to pretty horrific abusive methods to scare a horse on. But, more often than not, loading issues are not just behavioural issues, there are other factors at play.

Lets look at loading and travelling from a horse’s point of view. You’re going to walk into this tiny box, I’m going to shut you in, you have no idea when it will stop or turn so you have to constantly rebalance yourself and you have no idea where you are going to end up or when you’ll be let out again. Doesn’t sound very appealing does it? Sounds quite scary and stressful right?

So without any of the other factors, we can see that travelling by itself is a huge ask of a horse both mentally and physically, and reason enough to not want to load. There is no horse on the planet who is refusing to load because they’re stubborn/rude/disrespectful/lazy/vindictive/obstinate etc.

Travelling is physically taxing on any horse, take a horse that is already compromised in their body, which many are whether we realise it or not, and they are going to find travelling uncomfortable. Many loading issues are actually underlying pain issues. This is why it is so common to hear that horses will load to go out but won’t load again to go home, they are tired, it hurt on the way there and they don’t want to do it again. They have learned that if they load it results in an unpleasant experience.

Another thing to consider is what you are travelling your horse in. Does he have enough room? Is it safe? Is it ventilated and airy enough? Would he prefer to travel in a different position? Does he have access to forage? Does he have company? Does he have enough rope to use his neck to balance?

Sometimes it can be a case of negative association, does your horse end up at the vets every time they load? Or going somewhere they find stressful or really hard work? Has he experienced a lot of yard moves?

Often the loading attempts themselves cause horrendous negative associations and at times serious injury. One of my client’s horses was blindfolded, lead in a chifney and smacked until he fell over up the ramp, and this was by a vet practice! While he was hesitant to load before this incident, he was impossible to load afterwards to the point he would sweat and try to pull away at the sight of the trailer.

Travelling is such a huge ask of any horse, try to figure out what your horse is telling you when they refuse and how you could support them better. These days my loading training looks a lot quieter, slower and less exciting than it used to.

I have another post coming tomorrow on some thoughts around how to train your horse to load.

I am doing a free live on this topic covering causes and training ideas with Equus with Millie - Accredited Equine Behaviourist on Wednesday the 16th at 7pm, sign up here https://www.facebook.com/share/162L2AnaB3/?mibextid=wwXIfr

08/04/2025

Quick stop off for a snack on the way to the water trough 🌿❤️

04/04/2025

To follow on from my post yesterday about hacking alone, here's a video from a few years ago of Dan going out on his own for the first time in a while so you can see how I try to manage his stress without adding to it.

I would also add positive reinforcement (food rewards) into this scenario now to make it an even better experience for him and build positive associations more quickly. 😎🐴

04/04/2025

Putting feelers out for 1/2 small horses or ponies to join our small herd on a private track/equicentral type setup near Stokesley.

Part livery, would consider full for the right horse.

Please read carefully before messaging.

The horses live free-range with
🐴 large open barn
🐴 track system
🐴 ad-lib tested low sugar hay
🐴 aubiose bedding area
🐴 post and rail fencing
🐴 unfertilized meadowy grazing available all year
🐴 horse-friendly hedgerow
🐴 purpose-built hay boxes
🐴 slow-feeder haynets
🐴 20 x 40 arena
🐴 access to nice hacking as we're on the edge of the North York Moors
🐴 peaceful, quiet environment
🐴 barn/track cameras for late night checks

Looking for small horses/ponies who are used to living in a mixed herd and are quiet to handle. Horses must be barefoot due to how we feed hay etc. Must be respectful of fencing.

Can accommodate horses needing less grass/prone to laminitis or horses who can tolerate more grazing. The horses live communally at all times, while we do have a stable for emergencies we cannot offer regular stabling.

This is a private, peaceful place which is also someone's home so it is important we find the right person. Looking for someone like-minded who is as passionate about keeping horses this way as I am.

Please understand that with the amount of work that goes into maintaining fencing, surfaces, drainage etc and providing 24/7 high quality hay and bedding this is not the equivalent of cheap field livery just because the horses live out.

Please drop me a message if you think you might be the right fit.

LS Horsemanship

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