Foust/ Patten's Farm

11/27/2025

11/23/2025

Love when all the hard work starts to pay off. SaraBeth has always been dedicated to Xena and showing, but something changed in September. I could tell that she had a new confidence. Excited for next year.

11/16/2025

Is It Behaviour or Soundness⁉️

A Practical Guide to Reading the Whole Horse📖

You know that moment when your horse spooks at a leaf, pins their ears at a saddle pad, snakes their head at you, or decides the mounting block is cursed and must be avoided at all costs?

Most people call it behaviour.

But sometimes it is actually your horse saying “I am struggling” in the only language they have.😕

Trouble is, horses do not come with subtitles.

And the horse world is full of confident people offering confident answers based on hope, habit, or the last guru video they watched while avoiding folding the laundry.

Meanwhile, the real clues are sitting quietly in front of you.
➡Etched in their muscles.
➡Hidden in how they move.
➡Shifted in their posture.
➡Expressed in their emotionality.
➡Revealed in changes of willingness.
➡Red flags masquerading as sass.

I used to miss these signs.

I was a training purist. Everything was behaviour until proven otherwise.

Then I learned the hard way that many behaviour problems are early warnings. And once you know how to read them, you cannot unsee them.

And here is an important truth.

Sometimes the answer is not more training.

Sometimes the most responsible thing an owner, coach, or trainer can do is recognise when a horse does not need a trainer at all. They need an equine vet or another expert professional. Early referral is not failure. It is how you protect horses and avoid bigger, more expensive problems later.

Which is why I created this workshop.

Because owners deserve better than guesswork.

And horses deserve better than being labelled difficult when they are trying to cope.

This is not a fluffy feelings class.

It is not a “learn your horse’s love language” afternoon.

It is a practical, evidence informed, eye sharpening session that will teach you how to actually read your horse so you can prevent problems, support them early, and stop spending money on the wrong solutions or waiting until symptoms become significant and management becomes unaffordable.

If you want clarity, confidence, and the ability to spot things long before they turn into big, expensive issues, you need to be in this room.

Seats are limited because I prefer quality learning environments.

Come along, to this non-horse event and sit down and learn without distraction, and finally learn how horses are trying to tell you what they need. This is real, tangible information and no spirit world communication required.

Is It Behaviour or Soundness?
A Practical Guide to Reading the Whole Horse
There are 4 workshops I am holding around Australia. The first is next Saturday 22 November 2025 near Canberra - see comments for link.

11/10/2025

Balancing on our hands vs true balance

10/26/2025

We have new members to our farm. Please meet Choco, Jericho ( mule) Spirit ( donkey) Maggie and Ivan. Was nervous about going back into dairy goats but I have been enjoying them.
Shout out to Cell Block G Nubian Goat Farm
& MSM Ranch Mini Equine Rescue.

10/26/2025

Starting in novice halter has been a great confidence booster for me. My pony was born intelligent and willing. Between my coach and my pony I have learned so much. Lots of jogging but it is fun. I am amazing how at the start my brain goes blank but the moment we step out, auto pilot! Glad we practice a lot. I did mess up the 3rd cone on trial. I did make a bad choice on how to handle it, but Jellybean just followed my lead even though she knew I did it wrong. lol

10/26/2025

SaraBeth finished her Elberton Pleasure series in first place Senior Novice category and gained all her work points. She earned her buckle. Something she did not expect. She and her horse Xena have established a strong partnership. Next year she will be in youth. Time to work on canter and leads. We are very proud of SaraBeth.

10/25/2025

Here are a few training methods I use when introducing young or green horses to having their hind legs and hooves handled. Tips from a farrier that YOUR farr...

10/20/2025

Embrace the messy

🐴 The Groundwork Gap: Or How Being Brilliant in the Saddle Isn't Enough

There’s a certain irony with equestrians: the better people get at one thing, the more allergic they become to feeling like beginners again.

A talented young event rider once brought me her young Clydie cross - anxious, unpredictable, and prone to bolting. The vets had cleared him, the tack was fitted, but something didn’t add up.

So I stripped everything off and turned him loose in the round yard. Within two laps, a problem revealed itself - he couldn’t canter a balanced circle to save himself. He’d rush and get discombobulated. I told her, “You’re asking him to gallop cross-country and jump stuff when he can’t even stay upright on a circle. He’s not naughty—he’s freaked out he’ll fall over.”

The logic landed. Until she said, “I don’t do groundwork.”

Ah yes—the phrase that has quietly ended more riding careers than kids and financial resources combined.🥺

It made her feel clumsy, awkward, uncoordinated - a beginner again. She would apologise profusely as I coached her. Apologising because she wasn’t learning fast enough… and then apologising for apologising when I told her to please stop apologising 😕.

She stopped after two sessions - apologising she was just hopeless at groundwork - and went back to riding through it. A few weeks later, she fell off and broke her ribs. That was over ten years ago, and her name hasn’t appeared on an eventing start list since.

It’s sad - not because she didn’t try, but because she felt so much shame at the discomfort of learning something new. That awkward, messy stage that’s actually normal.

Versatility isn’t optional; it’s what separates capability from calamity. You can be brilliant in the saddle, but if you can’t help your horse from the ground, you’re only half a horse person.

Versatility makes you adaptable to the horse's needs.

So be versatile. Be curious. Embrace the messy. Fight those shame demons in your head 💪—for the sake of both you and your horse. ❤️

Collectable Advice Entry 57/365 to hit SAVE, SHARE...and no copying and pasting!

10/16/2025

20 Ways Horses Talk Without Saying a Word

1. They talk through their behaviour when asked to do something, e.g. how they perform a canter transition.

2. They talk through their reactions to situations, e.g. when you go out to try and catch them.

3. They talk through their gestures, e.g. when they tighten their mouths and swish their tails.

4. They talk through their posture, e.g. when they hollow their backs and how they stand.

5. They talk through their movement, e.g. when their movement is rushed, tense, or discombobulated.

6. They talk through how they brace to protect themselves, e.g. how they react when you pick up the rein.

7. They talk through how their muscles have developed or become wasted away, e.g. stand your horse square and examine the symmetry of their muscling from one side to the other.

8. They talk through their conformation, e.g. what does their conformation tell you they will excel at or struggle with?

9. They talk through inspecting their mouths and teeth, e.g. bits can cause damage, and once you know how to see it, you can never un-see it.

10. They talk through their hooves, e.g. from stress rings to hoof wear, flaring, and balance.

11. They talk through the health and quality of their coat, e.g. is their coat shiny or dull?

12. They talk through their weight, e.g. are they underweight or overweight?

13. They talk through the way they are bloated, distended, or have no core.

14. They talk through their breath, its smell, rhythm, and depth.

15. They talk to you in their heart beat and other vital signs.

16. They talk through their footfalls, the timing and heaviness as they hit the ground.

17. They talk through the contraptions people attach to them or use to control them, e.g. nosebands, bits, chains, whips, spurs, or food, etc.—all tell a story.

18. They talk through their curiosity, preferences and what they wish to avoid.

19. They talk through their owner’s frustrations and the names they are called.

20. They even talk to you in their manure and how often they pooh!

Horses will always tell you what they know, how they feel, and provide an in-depth history of their lives. Important things. In fact, horses have a lot to say if you watch, observe and learn what things mean.

I welcome you to add to this list.

📸 IMAGE: Here’s a horse demonstrating the quirks in how efficiently he processes in this part of his visual field. A shoutout to Ross Jacobs for the quote — he was the first person I heard say this, and it’s stuck with me ever since. Thank you to everyone who has taught me to hear, see, feel, and smell what truly matters when it comes to understanding horses.

Come along to one of my Whole Horse Workshops, where we will work through the observations that matter.

This is Collectable Advice Entry 53/365 from my notebook challenge — SAVE it, hit SHARE, and as always… no copying and pasting, thank you!