Laura Padgett Corrective Horsemanship and Bodywork

01/11/2025

So true

Horse sales, expectations, an epidemic in problems getting along with animals, and why I’ll never sell the horses I have

All this has been on my mind more than usual recently as I’ve helped a few students navigate the process of finding and purchasing a suitable horse for them.

I’ve been on about every side of a horse sale there is, and find every angle distasteful personally. I used to sell a few horses here and there and found the expectations of those looking to purchase unreasonable, and the horse quickly reduced to an object sold for a price- one that should come with buttons and a manual and not change no matter what the handling or environment was like.

As I helped my students find horses, I found the sale and presentation dishonest, and uncomfortable as well. These horses carry high price tags and are presented as these types of robots that fulfill the desires of a purchaser : ten minutes of video of all the things the horse will tolerate- tarps blowing, people standing on their backs, but very little into WHO this horse is and what they need.

For clarity, it’s not that I’m opposed to purchasing or selling horses. I just have very few personal experiences of it being any fun

The focus on horses in the industry often is very much on what the person needs or wants to get out of an experience with horses. Because of this, we struggle to get along with horses. Over the years, I’ve found my heart broken time and time again to hear some of the gentlest and easiest horses I loved moved along because their owners simply could not get along with them - often because they took too much, expected too much, and gave to the horse too little of what a horse actually needs.

What a horse actually needs - that is such a nebulous concept anymore. Of course it’s fine to purchase a horse that suits your needs, and we aren’t required to get along with horses who’s temperaments don’t suit us - but any horse can quickly unravel when we don’t commit to husbandry, to rising to the occasion, to being the kind of person and having the kind of life a horse needs. They didn’t ask to come into our lives - it is not their responsibility to bend to unrealistic requirements, and it isn’t even possible for them to do so most of the time.

I’ve had reports of my horses, the most gentle ones who I can’t imagine being difficult for someone to handle, becoming unruly and unmanageable for folks - won’t stand for trims, won’t lead, aggressive or spooky. These are the horses my children ride , the quietest ones I have - what does it take for a horse to unravel? A persons lack of awareness, poor support to the horse; and unreasonable expectations.

So long as we societally don’t focus on GIVING to our animals but instead taking, we will continue to have problems getting along, and horses will continue to bounce through homes, with their stressed behavior becoming increasingly described as their personality

04/25/2024

One of the most common questions I often get asked when a horse is injured is

How did this happen?

That's when I feel my brain start to scrunch up as I try to figure out a way to succinctly share the horses story which more than likely started long before the horse even had tack put on.

Long before they ever knew the horse

Sure, do I have ex clients that used to tear up their horses in wildly predictable ways ??
Absolutely

But most the time even those horses had already lost most of their resilience to compensations patterns

I'm re doing my website cause its only been maybe 16 years.
I'm still talking about treating compensation patterns AKA body lameness instead of injuries.

Only now I have so many more tools to support them

This little baby year old horse is showing the beginning of a compensation pattern that has started and will likely now continue for the rest of his life

Making his body chronically asymmetric and depending on the 'program' he winds up in this could be managed or lead to any myriad of pathologies preventing him from reaching his full potential'

He may wind up with kissing spine or cervical issues, lumbar spine pathology, shivers, behavioral , difficulty training., or just have a bunch of things he does like throwing his head, pawing, cribbing, ulcers, running out, hates dressage ..

Worst problem of all - people will go to the mat and even draw blood trying to convince me this is normal

Its not

We could change the world if we started early.

Built a foundation formed in the parasympathetic nervous system,
spinal flexion not extension.

It all starts with understanding where the roads diverged and how to get back on track

03/31/2024

Lightbulb moment!
This is how important balance & co-ordination are to the horse.

In my own head, from learning Human Physiotherapy first, the Cerebellum is a small part behind & below the main part of Brain (cerebrum). It co-ordinates gait, balance, and posture control.

So to see in real life, that the horse’s cerebellum is almost as big as the rest of the brain itself, was a massive eye-opener!

We know that horses don’t have a large frontal cortex, the complex thought part, like humans. But, naively, I kinda thought the whole brain was just smaller. I never expected the ratios of parts to be so clearly different.

So is it any wonder then, that horses react when they feel unbalanced? They react when their co-ordination is messed with?

The size of the cerebellum means it is VITAL for horses to maintain balance, gait & posture co-ordination.

If you put your horse off balance when riding, because your own body is wonky or weak, they have to react. Biomechanically, they HAVE to stabilise the system. But it could be a behavioural reaction too.

If you mess with their gait & posture control because you have no idea about timing of aids, or suddenly pull them around, or block their spinal movement with your rigid seat… they will probably react. You’ll be met with resistance. They might even rear or buck you off.

It’s not just about pain. A rider that puts their horse off balance doesn’t necessarily hurt them, but it does impact these vital things that horses need to feel safe.

If your horse doesn’t like their feet being picked up… or they do silly behavioural things with the farrier… Please ask yourself if it’s because they find it difficult to balance, and therefore don’t feel safe!

A lot of people these days are looking for pain when there’s a behavioural problem, which is fantastic and right. But if your Vet doesn’t find anything, don’t just assume ‘it must be behavioural then’ and try to TRAIN them better.

Consider balance & muscle/posture control. Ask a Physiotherapist to assess and teach you exercises to help your horse.

Sort your body as a rider, to improve your own balance & symmetry, to avoid throwing your horse off balance.

Save this post to remind yourself again.