Sunny Side Horsemanship

Sunny Side Horsemanship Horsemanship trainer and coach. Helping others create connection & build confidence with compassion.

When preparation becomes a form of procrastination, you have to change something. You must create motion and take action...
10/10/2025

When preparation becomes a form of procrastination, you have to change something. You must create motion and take action.

You can plan and prepare, drill, meditate, learn, relearn, learn why you feel the way you do, etc, etc; but until you commit to that leap and take action, your energy expenditure just becomes another excuse for why you’re not doing what you say you want.

Sure it’s scary, but often our fears are an inch deep and a mile wide. Just commit and start taking actionable steps. Learn to do it scared and you’ll find you can face anything no matter how you feel in the moment.

Make the changes you want to see happen in your life even while others try to discourage you or those changes are scary and life altering.

Don’t take advice from people who you wouldn’t want to emulate and quit waiting on others to fix your problems. This is your life; stand up and live it.

10/09/2025

Every single horse, at some point in their life, has to be taught how to be caught. What they are taught is acceptable or correct sets the tone for everything that follows.

Every year I have a bunch of horses come in that are being ridden and handled regularly, but are terrible about being caught and then their ground manners are far from what I would call good but I am told they are good. (Rocky is starting from scratch with a rough past though.)

This is a great example of what I start looking for when catching. I want the horse to put their attention on me, be willing to move in my direction without coming on top of me, balance up in their body and stand quietly for haltering. This sets the horse up to be focused on me and calm before I ever touch them and helps the flow of our session to follow suit.

I’ve had a bunch of sessions just to get Rocky to this point, but he’s really starting to get it now and is this 🤏 close to getting to take his breakaway halter off in the field. When he came it was challenging to just be able to clip a lead on the halter with snacks in hand.

He still has that initial instinct to pull away from me that I’d like to see settle, and we’ll practice taking the halter off, catching and putting it back on in the round pen before trying it in the field.

10/08/2025

Working towards getting Rocky ready for a trim. This boy has some serious (and understandable with his background) trust issues with people, but is coming along so nicely for me.

One of his go to’s when he isn’t ok with something is to back pedal and pull back on the lead. My goal for this session was for him to lift both his front feet in a relaxed manner standing square and not backing out of it. The video only shows part of our session. I was mixing up working on both sides and the video starts awhile into our session.

Prior to this, we’ve done tons of in hand work to get him following the feel of the line better, moving forward and bending into our turns, and just allowing me to touch and pet him all over and groom. Each new thing currently is met with a very defensive response, but each day has become a bit better with coming out of the defensiveness faster.

10/07/2025

Enjoying the best working weather there is.

There are so many problems that disappear not by using another gadget, another drill, another supplement, another form ...
10/03/2025

There are so many problems that disappear not by using another gadget, another drill, another supplement, another form of body work; but by being able to take a deep and steady breath and stand quietly without tension. Then by taking that relaxation into forward, smooth, steady, and balanced motion.

You can’t connect with others if you’re the one doing all the talking. I get it, we all love to share our passions and s...
10/02/2025

You can’t connect with others if you’re the one doing all the talking.

I get it, we all love to share our passions and stories and be heard and seen, but connection actually comes from listening not through talking.

Think about it, you meet someone new and you think it might be someone you’d love to know so you’re actively trying to make a connection with them. You try to share a little about yourself through the process, but every time you start to share they jump in and tell you all about their things that relate with barely an acknowledgment to anything you said. Without a doubt, you’re going to walk away from that engagement feeling drained, like you definitely did NOT connect, and quite honestly like you’d rather not try again.

To connect you must actively listen to the other. You must put your thoughts on pause for a moment, listen and respond to what the other is trying to communicate and then interject with your thoughts and things that you want to share about yourself. True connection takes both parties being willing to be quiet for a bit and actively listen and acknowledge each other.

If one side is carrying all the load, the other party may feel like there is a connection, but the one carrying the load will feel like the relationship is superficial and oftentimes, simply burdensome.

The sting of failure can be real. Depending on how you were raised, the bite of failure comes harder to some than others...
09/29/2025

The sting of failure can be real. Depending on how you were raised, the bite of failure comes harder to some than others. The incessant push to create perfection without making any of the mistakes along the way can crush one’s ingenuity and desire to try.

You can’t create perfection. Nothing will be good or easy from the beginning. It will always be difficult and messy first. Your life will be a mess when you’re learning a new life lesson. Your brain will be scrambled and discombobulated when you’re trying to learn new ideas, movements, and tasks. Let it!

When you quit allowing yourself to be human and make those mistakes is when you actually set yourself for failure. It’s when you quit being comfortable trying something new because it’s more scary to get it wrong at first.

Become comfortable with learning messy. Just keep showing up and trying. You learn from trying something new, analyzing what happened and what you liked vs. didn’t like, come up with the changes you want to make, and then try again and again until you get to your end goal making the needed adjustments along the way.

My definition of success is no longer the absence of mistakes, but the willingness to keep trying and adapting my tries until I reach the desired outcome. Likewise, my definition for failure is now unwillingness to try for fear of doing it wrong.

09/27/2025

A snippet of a talk about developing feel in the bridle without developing brace in the horse or rider.

I just want you to know that you are good enough for your horse. You are good enough to be working through the challenge...
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.

In the midst of struggle is where we find our true nature. Our weaknesses and our strengths. We discover how committed w...
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…

In the midst of struggle is where we find our true nature. Our weaknesses and our strengths. We discover how committed w...
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.

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

Address

66 Lula Lane
Farmville, VA
23901

Telephone

+15406340040

Website

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