http://SunnySideHorsemanship.com/

Sunny Side Horsemanship, 66 Lula Lane, Farmville, VA (2025)

09/25/2025

I just want you to know that you are good enough for your horse. You are good enough to be working through the challenges that the two of you face together.

Will you need some sort of help? Yeah, probably. All of us need help at some point along the way. It doesn’t mean you’re incapable, you just haven’t learned those skills yet.

The most devastating thing for me to see is a person who has been convinced that they are powerless and helpless to their circumstances. That they are stuck and the only way to get out of it is turn over control to someone else.

I am convinced that being successful in life is about being so determined to succeed that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to learn and do the work necessary to reach your goals; no matter what comes.

My goal for every single person is for them to leave here feeling like they will be and are successful. That they don’t need me in order to have a good relationship with their horse, but the help is available if they so choose.

I never ever want someone to feel they are dependent on me for their success. You’re not. You can do it, but I’d be happy to show you a few things I’ve learned to help you out along the way. Then I want you to go be fabulous and prove what I already knew to be true; that you can achieve what you set your heart, mind and soul to.

09/24/2025

In the midst of struggle is where we find our true nature. Our weaknesses and our strengths. We discover how committed we our to reaching what we deem as our goal. We start to understand how we view life and what we believe should or shouldn’t be done for us. We discover how much faith we have in ourselves to overcome the difficulties and create that what we want for our lives.

Because of this, when someone works with me, you will be put in a position of discomfort. I firmly believe that comfort is the enemy of growth and my goal is to help people grow in who they are and in the faith of their ability. I will push you. I will not let you sit in the comfy seat and cruise. If that is what someone is looking for, I don’t think it’s wrong that they do that, I’m just not the trainer for you.

As a side note: I also believe in the balance of not making someone afraid for their safety. Your nervous system is there to tell you if you’re going to get hurt. If you feel like you’re going to get hurt, you probably are and need to hit pause. Even on a dysregulated system that doesn’t have good balance knowing true danger from perceived, we hit pause on continuing work with the horse and work on regulating the system first.

I believe in taking charge of your own growth through discomfort. Progress is directly related to someone’s ability and courage to move through discomfort and try. Try when you feel like everything you are doing doesn’t quite make sense. Get the instruction, but make sure you’re taking notes, make sure you’re following the instructions that are given, trying what is given to you. Paying attention and making sure you are not following instruction that is from different sources and in direct conflict. When you get stuck, go back to the main source of instruction not collaborating with 12, or even 2, different styles that confuse the heck out of you by telling you different things.
Continued in comments…

09/24/2025

In the midst of struggle is where we find our true nature. Our weaknesses and our strengths. We discover how committed we our to reaching what we deem as our goal. We start to understand how we view life and what we believe should or shouldn’t be done for us. We discover how much faith we have in ourselves to overcome the difficulties and create that what we want for our lives.

Because of this, when someone works with me, you will be put in a position of discomfort. I firmly believe that comfort is the enemy of growth and my goal is to help people grow in who they are and in the faith of their ability. I will push you. I will not let you sit in the comfy seat and cruise. If that is what someone is looking for, I don’t think it’s wrong that they do that, I’m just not the trainer for you.

As a side note: I also believe in the balance of not making someone afraid for their safety. Your nervous system is there to tell you if you’re going to get hurt. If you feel like you’re going to get hurt, you probably are and need to hit pause. Even on a dysregulated system that doesn’t have good balance knowing true danger from perceived, we hit pause on continuing work with the horse and work on regulating the system first.

I believe in taking charge of your own growth through discomfort. Progress is directly related to someone’s ability and courage to move through discomfort and try. Try when you feel like everything you are doing doesn’t quite make sense. Get the instruction, but make sure you’re taking notes, make sure you’re following the instructions that are given, trying what is given to you. Paying attention and making sure you are not following instruction that is from different sources and in direct conflict. When you get stuck, go back to the main source of instruction not collaborating with 12, or even 2, different styles that confuse the heck out of you by telling you different things.

I purposely schedule my lessons by having the person reach out to me and let me know when they are ready instead of on a set schedule. Why? Because it allows each individual to find where they need more support and where they need more time to work through their struggle. Confidence is gained through overcoming your struggles. Confidence in your own abilities will never be found in the presence of your trainer. Confidence in your ability comes from learning the tools, then putting them into practice and learning how those tools actually work. I strive to teach tools and it is your job to implement them and gain confidence in your own ability.

So those of us that are ready for growth, let’s all go out today and revel in the growth that our discomfort brings. Stop putting off the things you want for your life in fear of not good enough. We’re human. We will always find a way for it to not be good enough.

09/17/2025

Winston 15.2 hand 2017 sweet gelding with good ground manners. This boy is a registered appendix, has beautiful movement and would make a lovely hunter.

Winston is a sensitive horse and still green. He needs a good and consistent program to continue progressing and is available to a professional or experienced rider only.

He is currently here with me in Farmville, VA coming back into work after having a long period off. Price reflects where he is in training.

Contact me for more information.

09/12/2025

Working on creating a nice halt and back with Max. He has the tendency to get heavy in my hand and brace downwards and lock up through his hind end when asking for that step back.

Ideally as a finished product, I am looking for him to maintain balance all the way through the halt and into the back continuing to move his legs freely and in rhythm throughout the movements.

I slowed the video down so you can better see the movement, brace, my correction, and him working to rebalance through that step back.

He’s getting there but definitely still has a ways to go.

09/09/2025

If you’re waiting until you’re fear free, you’ll be waiting forever.

If you’re waiting until you have all the knowledge and answers, you’ll be waiting forever.

If you’re waiting until everything aligns just so, you’ll be waiting forever.

You cannot wait for things to change because you create the change that you want to see through your actions.

Things will align how they are supposed to when you have the courage to take that first step.

You will gain the knowledge and the answers you need as you walk down that road educating yourself and making mistakes that you can then fix and try again.

Your fear will always consume and control you until you decide you’re going to move through it anyway. That is when you will develop confidence and comfort. Through doing the very thing that has you crippled and chained where you no longer want to be held.

09/08/2025

To create a confident and responsive horse you must be willing to put them in and work them through uncomfortable situations; not coddling their insecurities but demanding growth with fair education

To create a life you love and continue making progress, you must become comfortable making choices that are difficult. You must be willing to sit in and move through uncomfortable conversations and situations that will teach you the lessons you need to become the person you want to be.

Have courage and don’t avoid those hard moments. They will bring confidence and a life you can be proud of living.

📸 Stephanie Morris

09/07/2025

Often when teaching our horses we become to picky about their response expecting near perfection and drilling until we get there.

We should be looking for a change in the direction that we want, try a few times then move on to something else. We can come back for a few more tries, but demanding greater results from the beginning shuts down creativity and try.

Learning is messy. Let it be messy. Learning is about doing something , processing what we want to change, then trying again and continuing this sequence until we get where we want.

09/05/2025

There are so many lessons to be learned on a trail that an arena can never teach.

09/04/2025

Sunny Side Horsemanship
Compassion, Connection, Confidence

Compassion for ourselves as we learn new and better ways to do things. Compassion for our horses; understanding why they do what they do and how we can help them.

Connection to the deepest parts of ourselves as we learn how to become more clear and connected to our horses and others in our lives.

Confidence in our abilities and decisions to do our best as we continue to grow and learn. Confidence in the relationships that we create with our horses and horsey friends.

09/02/2025

Part 1: Building confidence.

When I have a rider come to work with me, one of the biggest requests I have is for me to help them build their confidence with their horse.

Often times these people have been told they need to just hang on to their horse, ride with the perfect posture, calmly mentally and emotionally process the information, breathe through it and just deal with it. Cowboy up, so to speak, through bucking rearing bolting and spooking.

The problem with this mindset of trying to work through something by trying to mentally brace someone to make it through, is it also physically braces them. When a person is mentally and physically braced it creates jerky, bouncy movements in the hands, hips, and core as well as gripping and clinging with the legs.

Emotional bracing also increases anger and frustration in the human by initiating our survival instincts and ultimately transferring those reactions to the horse. The horse then begins reacting to our reactions that stem from our emotions which then creates more negative emotions in us and now you have an unending cycle of negative emotions and reactions between the horse and human. In case you haven’t read the memo, that’s the exact opposite of what you and your horse need and want.

So how should you go about riding and building confidence?

Well, the first step is addressing what your horse is doing. Are they physically calm and relaxed being able to stand quietly and emotionally process things calmly? If the answer is no, that’s where you start.

If your horse isn’t quiet and relaxed the likely hood of you being so is very small. You should not have the mindset of, “I need to be able to ride through a buck, rear, bolt or spook.” You should have the mindset of, “Why does my horse buck, rear, bolt or spook and what needs to happen for them not to feel the need to do that?”

If your horse is having a physical reaction, it is due to emotional stimuli. If a horse is emotional, most often, it is due to the basics of their training not being established throughly, calmly and correctly. Find out what is causing the emotions and you can work through the negative emotions and recreate the positive ones.

08/28/2025

Letting go. Some of us are better at it than others. Releasing your try to control what is happening around and to you and understanding that even when you try to make the best decisions, sometimes it just isn’t going to go how you hoped.

It is so much easier to release the things you are lightly attached to. What if those things that have become part of you? Those things that are an enormous part of your identity?

That is where the struggle truly lies. Are you able to release your fight to control the things that make you feel like you?

Do you have the ability to look at yourself, not know who you would be without that thing or person in your life and be willing to let it go. Willing to discover and create a new you if that is where this life takes you.

There is freedom in letting go and no longer trying to control the events and people around you. There is freedom in being able to discover a new you when all of those things change. First though, you must be willing to release your current identity and rediscover a new you.

Sunny Side Horsemanship

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