Avery Happy Horse LLC

09/05/2025

I mean this from the bottom of my heart:

If you want something that you can jump on and ride whenever you want without having to factor in emotional or physical well-being, there are a number of great machines on the market that you can do this with.

Horses are not one of them.

If you choose to get a horse and pursue riding as a passion, that should come with the responsibility of caring about their well-being instead of feeling so entitled to riding that your desires come above their physical, emotional and mental well-being.

If your horse’s physical and mental comfort does not matter to you in your pursuit of riding, you are better suited to a hobby that involves machinery because then you can disregard emotion without there being a negative impact to your mount.

09/02/2025

08/12/2025

Neglect isn’t just the emaciated horse with overgrown feet.

Sure, that is a great example of extreme physical neglect.

But neglect of needs does not just have to relate to needs that are immediately physically obvious when they are not met.

Neglecting horses’ innate species need for socialization with other horses is still a form of neglect.

Isolation can result in extreme stress in horses with chronic health issues like lowered immune response, development of stress behaviour, chronic baseline anxiety and more. (1)

Neglecting the need for horses to move is also a form of neglect. Horses are a free roaming herd species that trickle feeds. They’ve evolved to cover a lot of ground and move nearly constantly.

Confining horses to small areas like stalls or small paddocks for excessive periods of time is very detrimental to physical and mental welfare.

It increases risk of gastrointestinal issues like colic and stomach ulcers (2). It also is one of the leading causes of the development of stereotypic behaviours, which are abnormal stress behaviours that are similar to what is known as “zoochosis.”

Confinement also increases reactivity and baseline stress in horses, making them more difficult to handle and resulting in unpredictability that can lead people to using more harsh and forceful equipment to achieve control. But the behaviour stems from unmet needs.

Lack of access to forage is also a form of neglect. Horses are trickle feeders which means their bodies are made to ingest food near constantly.

Their stomachs produce an incredibly large amount of stomach acid to accommodate this. When they are unable to eat forage for most of their daily time budget, they can start to see ulceration of the stomach lining in as little as 4 hours.

This is a very painful condition and causes chronic pain and stress.

Additionally, the drive to eat and forage is so strong that when they’re unable to do so, horses become stressed and may develop stress behaviours because of this.

Another form of neglect is not allowing horses freedom from distress and discomfort, which encompasses all of the problems discussed above as well as a number of training and handling methods that rely on force, pain and fear to produce results.

Any time humans put their own desires above the needs of the horse, they are neglecting the horse.

This doesn’t need to be done intentionally.

People can love a horse very much while still neglecting them.

Love is not enough.

We also need to be educated and informed on what care practices are harmful and what horses need as a species.

The information that we learn from cannot just be personal biases, status quo and what’s been normalized in the industry.

Keeping horses isolated and confined is very normal in the horse industry.

It does not have the shock value of the emaciated horse so many people are comfortable continuing these practices even though they are harmful.

We can’t wait until a horse is facing extreme physical neglect to care.

Mental and emotional wellbeing are just as important as the physical.

Mental and emotional wellbeing can also damage the physical in less obvious ways.

Colic, the number 1 cause of mortality in horses outside of old age, is dramatically influenced by isolation and confinement.

Horses who are stalled more extensively have a significantly higher risk of colicking (3).

Despite this, much of the industry will still attempt to argue that it is not a welfare issue for otherwise healthy horses to be stables 18+ hours a day.

Research does not support this mindset yet much of the industry stubbornly pushes back against implementing changes in how we view what adequate care for horses looks like.

Neglect isn’t always going to be obvious, especially when you’ve been conditioned to not view certain practices as neglectful.

It doesn’t change the fact that for the horse, not having these innate species needs met is still neglectful, even if the humans do not see it.

Sources in comments. ⬇️

07/28/2025

Rare opening for September 1st. Lesson board or horse development board. Canterbury, Conn.

07/16/2025

This!

How much outside rein?
(Prerequisites for “Inside-leg-to-outside-rein connection”)
Before we connect a horse into the outside rein, we need the horse to readily flow away from the inside leg.
If the horse doesn’t bend through the rib cage and step under and across from JUST the inside aids, they ARE NOT READY to be connected into the outside rein!
The horse below is clearly not balanced. She is STARTING to learn to soften off the inside aids, but she’s also rushing and leaning. I would want to see this more solid before using much of any outside rein.

People create major resistances by combining the aids, before the horse understands them individually.  We would not ask a child to spell and write sentences when they are still learning the alphabet. That would absolutely frustrate them, and they would most likely have a meltdown! Yet all too often people try to ride green horses, the way they would expect to ride an advanced one, with the same combination of aids.

Once a horse can emotionally regulate and stay at a regular tempo, and demonstrate at least some kind of bend, we can start thinking about adding outside rein.

Inside leg to outside rein connection is all about getting the energy to flow through the horse’s body diagonally, and then catching and guiding it with the outside hand. If the energy isn’t flowing from the horses inside hind leg towards the outside shoulder (or if they are really advanced, the outside ear) then there is nothing to catch, recycle, or guide with the outside rein.

Also, it’s not like one day, your horses ready and then forevermore you connect with the outside rein. It ebbs and flows moment to moment!!  For example, if you try to start a leg yield or shoulder in, and your horse is not quite ready for it, or is distracted, or a little tense, you may open or loosen the outside rein for a few steps, to get the shoulder to start to go a little sideways, and then once the energy is going in the general correct direction, you reapply the outside rein to get a quality movement.  Or maybe you are circling left on your horse, starts to drift right to join his buddy or head to the gate! In that moment you might lock down your outside rein, but you certainly don’t wanna live like that!

The real irony is that take some outside rein to get a horse to really go sideways correctly, but yet we want to be able to go a little sideways as a prerequisite for utilizing the outside rein. 🫣 I bring this up because people who have started young horses and brought them up through the level of doing nice lateral work, absolutely understand exactly what I mean! There is a big difference between getting a horse to just sort of flow the direction that you want, and to get the energy to move through their body diagonally, versus doing “real” lateral movements! Don’t let the fear of doing lateral movements “wrong” keep you from getting your horse supple and soft and moving diagonally through a bendy body!

07/11/2025

Mel Robbin’s viral ‘Let Them’ theory works with horses, too.

Leaking toward the gate?

LET THEM.

Distracted and wanting to look to the outside of the circle?

LET THEM.

And then LET US…

Set up better patterns of anticipation around the gate. And better associations with being with us.

Work on counterbending…

“First you go with the horse, then the horse goes with you, then you go together.”

… Until our idea becomes their idea, and the ‘right’ thing becomes easy.

Pic of Tait and Relic, because they fit the aesthetic. 😁

(This is all just modernized Stoicism, of course, but ‘Let Them’ sounds so much cooler!)

06/16/2025

When horses are denied regular contact with other horses, they can experience increased stress, which may manifest as restlessness, stereotypic behaviours (such as weaving or cribbing), and even health issues like digestive or musculoskeletal problems.

Social isolation has also been linked to heightened anxiety, learning difficulties, and a greater risk of injury, as horses deprived of companionship are more likely to become despondent or withdrawn.

Humans can offer comfort and support to horses during periods of social isolation, but cannot fully substitute for the social bonds horses form with other horses.

A recent (2025) study by Janczarek and colleagues examined this issue by measuring heart rate, heart rate variability, and behavioural responses in 12 horses during brief isolation periods.

The researchers found that even with attentive human support, horses still show physiological and behavioural signs of stress when isolated from other horses. Mares, in particular, remained stressed regardless of the type of human interaction.

Janczarek, I., Gazda, I., Barłowska, J., Kurnik, J., & Łuszczyński, J. (2025). Social Isolation of Horses vs. Support Provided by a Human. Animals

06/15/2025

Horses did not evolve to be ridden.
They did not evolve to go in circles.

They weren't designed for any of it.

WE decided that we would get on their backs and ride them into battle.
Then, we decided we'd ride them for sport.

We didn't know better. Not at first.

We tacked them up and threw ourselves on top of them. We labeled any and all misbehavior as some kind of rebellion, as if the horse was plotting against us. We "worked" it out of them with sweaty saddle blankets, tied up legs and leverage.

We broke the horse. Literally and figuratively.

Then, decades later, we learned more about their bodies. We learned about growth plates, development, the spine, the structures and how it all works together. We learned about their nervous systems, their social structures, how they learn, how they feel. We began to know better...

Yet we didn't do better.

And so we continue to break them.

We push them too far, too fast, too young. We accelerate training to meet the needs and desires of the human ego. We use gadgets and tools designed to create pain and leverage to put the horse into the "frame" that we deem desirable.

And we break them.

We do permanent damage to the spine that can't be undone.
We create lasting scar tissue to ligaments and tendons that support the most delicate and intricate structures of the horse.
We overdevelop muscles that create nerve impingements, continuous pain and hyped up nervous systems.

And for what?

A blue ribbon? The thrill of the ride? The jackpot? To be able to say we've conquered the beast?

Cool.

I'm not saying we can't do the things we love to do with our horses. I'm saying we need to do it WITH them. Not TO them. Our success in the saddle cannot continue to exist at the expense of the horse.

We know better now. So do better now.

Take the time it takes to properly develop the body.
Take the time it takes to heal the nervous system and teach it to regulate.
Take the time it takes to create an emotionally healthy horse who loves the work as much as you.

"Okay, well how long will it take to do that?"

As long as it fu***ng takes.

For one horse, it may be 6 months. For another, it may be 3 years.

They are individuals. Beautiful, imperfect, intellectual, spiritual, kind individuals. And they do not conform to the timelines of human existence.

Enjoy the journey instead. Savor the small moments of progress and fall in love with every single part of your horse that makes them who they are. Give up the need for dominance, for quick fixes and for human satisfaction.

I'm so tired of seeing horses who have bodies and souls that have been ruined by humans...sometimes past the point of "fixing" any of it.

So please, do better.
You can be the difference.
Be the human your horse deserves.

06/02/2025

Enhance your relationship with your horse through my week-long training program, available on select Mondays to Fridays, 9am-1pm, this Spring and early summer. Limited spots available. Please PM me for more information.
Located in Canterbury, Conn.
Licensed Parelli Professional
4 Star Instructor and Horse Specialist
Avery Gauthier

05/16/2025

Enhance your relationship with your horse through my week-long training program, available on select Mondays to Fridays, 9am-1pm, this Spring and early summer. Limited spots available. Please PM me for more information.

04/24/2025

This. Just do your best.

A Paddock Is Not Turnout

This one really gets to me.

“I give my horse turnout every day,” they say—then show me a paddock about the same size as the stall.

I get it. Space can be limited. I live in one of those areas too. That’s exactly why I tracked my own small rental property—to create real turnout.

But here’s the hard truth: a paddock does not meet the physical or psychological needs of a 1,000+ lb prey animal. So how did this become normal?

Most people would never dream of keeping a dog in a kennel for 22–23 hours a day. Yet somehow, it’s acceptable for a horse?

So what can you do if you can’t change your horse’s boarding situation?

First: acknowledge that your horse’s needs aren’t being met. And that means adjusting your expectations. You can’t blame them for expressing discomfort, frustration, or unwanted behaviours in this environment.

Instead, focus on doing what is possible.

That might mean committing to getting your horse out every day—not to lunge them or chase them around a pen, but simply to allow them to move. Freely. Naturally. Like a normal animal going for a walk.

If true turnout or pasture time is available—great. If not, get creative. Every bit of movement matters.

Ensure they have access to 24/7 forage. Use small-hole hay nets if you’re managing weight, but don’t let them go hours without food. Long gaps between feedings create stress, and stress leads to dysfunction.

Offer enrichment. Provide novelty. Give them something to interact with—something that mimics natural exploration and problem-solving.

And if you can modify the paddock, even just a little? Do it. Move the water to the opposite side. Add visual barriers or structures to encourage more movement. Small changes add up.

But if none of this is possible—if the environment truly can’t meet your horse’s basic needs—then it’s time to re-evaluate. It may be inconvenient to move. But their welfare has to come first.

And finally: please don’t get another horse if you can’t meet these fundamental needs. This isn’t just about ownership, it is about ethical stewardship of a sentient being.

Yes, even if they’re a show horse.