Un-Natural Horsemanship

08/31/2025

Sand Wash Basin HMA, Aug 2020

08/31/2025

08/26/2025

“You don’t need to be an athlete to ride horses but you do need to be athletic”
~ Buck Brannaman

I could not agree more! To be very clear, I do not believe this to be about rider age, size, weight, shape, etc. This is about riders knowing our bodies.

It’s about knowing and trusting that our bodies can balance, integrate, rotate, release, engage, align, receive, communicate, stabilize, all while in motion influenced by forces other than our own, often against gravity. It’s about knowing that we have the strength, stamina, proprioception, coordination and awareness to organize our bodies and move through space in harmony with another, much bigger and more powerful body. It’s about knowing that we can move another and be moved by them. It’s about knowing that when we fall, we can receive the external forces and minimize risk of serious injury. It’s about being able to feel not just what is moving in us and our horses but how there is movement and where that movement is going.

When I was a competitive performance rider, I was a helluvan athlete. From age 13 I was in peak physical condition and for the better part of 25 years, I trained daily on horseback, in the pool, at the gym, on my bike, on the yoga mat. I ran up mountains, danced like crazy, ski’d snowboarded and skateboarded, climbed, paddled, etc. During competition, I could run all four eventing endurance phases just as I expected my horse to. This was required during course walks by our coaches and I appreciate them for it even though it sucked. Riding is a sport and we (horse and rider) must each work within our means. For example, high performance requires that we are indeed, Athletes.

Heading through my 40s like a boss and while I’m no longer the athlete I once was, I work hard to keep my body athletically primed and ready to ride. This includes working through chronic pain, mental health and spiritual well being. Here are some lessons I have learned, “pro tips” if you will…

My body is happiest when she is supple!
Supple is defined by the Oxford dictionary as “bending and moving easily and gracefully; flexible.” To help stay supple I practice- yoga, breath work, meditation, dance and stretching. Lots of stretching. All the time. Especially right before I get on a horse!

My body is happiest when she is strong. Strong is defined by the Oxford dictionary as “having the power to move heavy weights or perform other physically demanding tasks.” To help stay strong I practice- owning horses! But really- mucking, throwing hay and bags of grain, etc. Even though I don’t do the farm chores every day, I make sure that I’m strong enough that I can. Having “toys in my hamster cage” (as per the lovely Katherine Lowery) helps on a daily basis- chin up bar, exercise balls, isometrics on the mat, etc.

My body is happiest when she moves. Movement is defined by the Oxford dictionary as “the act or process of moving. especially : change of place or position or posture”. I may not trail run like I used to but there are so, so many opportunities in a day to skip, jump, run, climb, jog, bounce, roll around on the floor with the dogs, etc. My work days average 17k steps. Days off can look like more than this or like no steps at all because I’ve also learned to take “couch days” and rest.

My body is happiest when she is nurtured. Nurture is defined by the Oxford dictionary as to “care for and encourage the growth or development of”. To me, this is encompassed in all spheres, physical emotional and spiritual. I may eat too much but I’ll be damned if it ain’t homemade soul food. I may struggle with my inner critic but I’ll be damned if I’m not here to help her heal too. I may not stay on top of my journaling or meditate daily but there are so many opportunities in a day to practice gratitude and engage in the little rituals that show myself how cared for I am.

My body is happiest when she knows she is able to withstand rotational forces. Rotational forces aka Torque is defined by the Oxford dictionary as “a twisting force that tends to cause rotation.” Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of ways to easily practice this and if we only ever practice on horseback well, we better be riding a lot of horses in a day! For many, this isn’t possible however there are activities we can engage in where we will experience this out of the saddle. Dance is wonderful though I do feel that in order for it to physically and mentally translate to horseback, it needs to be partners dancing. Board sports are the best way I know of- skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing, roller skating, ice skating. Not everyone lives near a beach or can afford to hit the slopes but it doesn’t take much to strap on some rollerblades and cruise around the neighborhood.

My body is happiest when she knows the animal. My prerequisites for getting on a horse used to be that the horse must be at least 3 years old and must not be visibly (head bobbing) lame. Things have changed. The list of prerequisites is significantly longer and I’m no longer in such a damn hurry to prove myself. I love riding horses but taking the time to get to know them on the ground has not only saved my skin but allowed for much better ridden experiences for me and them.

These are things that work for me and my body. While I absolutely go through peaks and valleys with my mental health and this affects me physically (ie ability to sleep, digest and absorb nutrients, energy, etc), in general, I’ve come to know what I’ve got when I have it and what’s missing when I don’t. As a horsemanship coach/equitation instructor, rider fitness plays a significant role in my students’ abilities to progress and to move through fear. I would like to dispel the myth that horseback riding is an “off the couch” activity because it simply isn’t. Riding is a sport, even when it’s not performance riding. I encourage riders of all ages and abilities to be curious about their bodies and to take their out-of-the-saddle training seriously.

If you find yourself struggling with lack of fitness and/or fear in the saddle, hit us up with a PM! I’m here to offer support as a coach as well as offer resources (ie personal trainers and programs) geared toward equestrians 💫

~ Chiara

08/14/2025

08/13/2025

It’s hard to be a horse 😆

08/11/2025

Thank You Everyone who came to our Demo Day! We adored opening our home and hearts to you all and appreciate the thoughtful, curious and open energy you brought, horses included!

The idea for hosting an event to showcase our work came about (and this seems to be a growing theme among many horsemen in my life!) because when asked what it is that we do, no one (ourselves included) can give a straight answer. Like, we’re “Horse Trainers” sure, but that’s a pretty broad definition and not terribly marketable. Marketing myself used to be very straightforward- I was An Eventer for 25 years and since all I did was teach and train for Eventing, people had a pretty good idea of what to expect coming into a lesson or clinic. When I began Insight Equine in 2016, it kicked off deep exploration into other areas of Equestrianism- Dressage, Vaquero Bridle Horse Progression, Rider Biomechanics, Equine Physiology and Psychology, Equine Facilitated Human Development, Saddle Fitting, Balance Through Movement Method and Lazaris Nerve Release Technique, Animal Communication and Energy Work and a few other things I’ve barely just dipped my toes into like Stockmanship and Working Equitation.

What a wild ride! And not terribly marketable lol Like Heather Kornemann said, how the heck do I put this on a business card!!!

And thus! The Demo Day.

It was challenging to nail down topics. I chose to work at liberty with a Round Pen demonstration (thank you SO MUCH Zoe, Carol and Leigh for trusting us with your ponies!) because that’s where I ideally like to begin with any horse on “the first date”. Zak chose Trailer Loading because he loves it and his unique and provocative approach has a lot to offer.

While nerve wracking, it was an empowering experience for me. When we rebranded as UnNatural Horsemanship this year, we decided to make some formal changes to our clinic and in-house training format. For years, I taught lessons and clinics that were program centred ie a Cavaletti Clinic, Horsemanship Clinic, Jumping Clinic, etc. I would show up in the morning, set up the day’s exercise and then teach back to back groups with the exercises adjusted to the appropriate level. This is a fantastic modality and highly beneficial. I will continue to participate in clinics/lessons like this myself. It’s just not what I’m doing now. Both Zak and I have changed gears from Program Centric to Partnership Lead. So when you come into the arena with us, instead of being told/instructed on what we do in our time together, we ask- “With what can we help you today?”.

Emboldened by the horsemen around me demonstrating it, I began playing with this somewhat “unschooled” approach with my own students several years ago. Of course, it’s still “my” work that I’m offering but it’s lead by the horse + human relationship instead of through a predetermined and rigidly structured program. It has worked absolutely brilliantly for some people and not at all for others. While work with my ongoing clientele may be subject to change in lesson plan on any given day, it absolutely evolves and is shaped by, goals, progression, etc. This is fairly straightforward to navigate. But! It was super frightening for me to walk into an arena as a clinician and have absolutely no idea what was going to happen or what we were going to do. After several months of practice, it’s beginning to feel much more natural and even preferable. I’ve really begun to enjoy it! Aaaaaaand it’s not terribly marketable…

Thinking of a clinic over the winter where I had 5 x 2 hour sessions each day with individual partnerships, we covered a lot of ground. In just one day-

Session One: Behavioural Consult (nervous system regulation- reading body language, boundaries and consent)

Session Two: Dressage For The Horse (in-hand and under saddle work through targeted movement- relationship to contact, finding rhythm and balance, timing of the aids, rider mindset)

Session Three: Saddle Fit Evaluation and Jumping (young horse introduction to gymnastic jumping through a simple grid- straightness, equitation, rhythm)

Session Four: Young Horse Development (In- hand evaluating mental, physical and emotional preparation for first ride)

Session Five: Dressage For The Horse (under saddle- what the movements can do for the horse ie lengthening and shortening the stride/transitions within gaits, lateral work finding balance and activation for hind end first flying changes)

So cool, right? But if anyone was asked, “So what was the clinic about”, I don’t know who might have the answer! This is important because, without definition, folks tend to fill in the blanks with what they “want” us to be doing. I’ve heard some doozy’s through the grapevine-

“Chiara is a bodyworker. She’ll do bodywork on your horse”. Untrue. While LNRT is in my repertoire, I am not a bodyworker. I am a trainer who uses anatomy and physiology as a lens through which to cultivate healthy posture and functional movement.

“Chiara and Zak are positive reinforcement trainers”. We are not. While we have no issue with R+ Training, it’s not what we do.

“Zak trains western and Chiara trains English”. Untrue. We each ride and train in both. Fun side note- Zak is one of the best Dressage trainers I’ve ever worked with!

“Zak and Chiara know about horsemanship but not classical riding”. Untrue. Just ask our horses 😉

We have joked that it would be easier to tell folks what we don’t do instead of trying to list what we do do!*

So we demo’d. I pour my heart and soul into my work and it felt… vulnerable and raw to showcase for a group, especially since I wasn’t trying to achieve anything in particular. The goal was to get to know the horse and ask them how they felt about the confinement of the pen, the pressure of my human body, their acceptance of aids, their desire to move forward and their interest in connecting and moving together. For Zak, trailer loading isn’t about getting the horse in the trailer, it’s about asking the horse how they feel about the trailer and every step that goes into smooth loading and unloading. It’s about attunement- reading the horse and not just accepting but engaging with their answers.

Overall, the experience was a total success and we plan on hosting annual Demo Days for as long as folks are interested in coming. As for marketing well, I don’t have an answer for this. I guess we’ll just keep doing what we do, sharing our work through social media and maintaining an environment that feels safe for folks to be curious about us ♥️

~ Chiara

*if reading “do do” made you chuckle, we’re friends now 😆

📸 Maeve Bandt 💗💫

08/11/2025

For amateurs and professionals alike, this is one of our favourite online resources 💫

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08/07/2025

Rachot Update!

This handsome fella has been here for some R&R (rehab + restart) with Auntie C and Uncle Z. He is ready to begin sessions geared more toward conditioning and so we will be introducing work on the lunge. Yesterday, he graduated to the cavesson, my preferred equipment for lungeing.

I went through a wackadoo in-hand classical dressage phase (not saying Classical Dressage is whack, just my experience with it was), where I was briefly obsessed with the cavesson and dressage whips and poll elevation. Over the last decade, I’ve preferred doing the majority of my ground/in-hand work on the rope halter with the cavesson reserved for work at a distance, though I have been inspired (thank you Celeste!) to make a bigger point of bringing in the cavesson not necessarily sooner, but more.

A few weeks ago I demonstrated “Rolling the Poll” with two of my personal horses both in hand (from the halter and bridle) and under saddle (leg without rein and rein without leg). To me, it is imperative that the horse is able to roll their poll before graduating from the halter to the cavesson as the signal, when misunderstood or offered to an ill prepared horse, can cause torque on the AO joint and hyper-flexion through the cervical spine. The cues for slow and stop must come from my body and I (the human) must be able to push the horse into a turn or halt rather than try to pull them, as I have found that pulling on the cavesson (much like pulling on the inside rein) will cause the horse to compress into lateral hyper flexion, fall onto their inside shoulder and destabilize/disengage their hindquarters. Pulling on the halter rope typically does the opposite- causing counter flexion of the cervical spine, brace in the poll and neck base and compression/lean onto the inside forelimb. There’s much more to it than I can jam into a post but this is the general gist- when possible, avoid pulling altogether and when we must pull, we know how to pull productively!

The horse first learns to roll their poll at liberty through targeted movement and drawing the eye. Then when they’re ready, through gentle contact on the bridge of their nose. Once this is comfortably consistent, we will begin rolling the poll through signals on the halter and, when ready, then through the rope. Once this is comfortably consistent, we can graduate to the snaffle bit, hackamore (bosal) or cavesson. In a way, I feel like the cavesson is to the snaffle bit as the rope halter is to the hackamore and what I have learned is that while understanding how equipment interfaces with the horse is very important, the gear doesn’t matter nearly as much as the Feel behind it.

I thought it could be cool to demonstrate the intro session with Rachot as we work through a sticky poll brace- residual tension coming to the surface through new-to-him equipment. I’ll not be sending him out to a distance until the rolling becomes smoother (like butter!) and he is able to turn loose to the cavesson the way he is able to turn loose to the halter.

I’m so, so proud of this boy for how hard he is trying and for how much he is learning to trust in us, that we have his best interest at the forefront in everything we do together. He is not here to serve us with his talent but to show up as he is and step back into partnership with humans. Thank you, Jenny, for trusting us with Rachot, we are absolutely smitten💞

08/06/2025

This is how our horses (and the horses we have in training!) hold their feet for us. To me, this is an important expression of Self Carriage and the covenant we keep-

I will not lean on you and you will not lean on me. We will balance together, two equal parts of a whole system.

The same Feel is used to connect through the reins. The contact is not weightless nor is heavy. It is a representation of the balance between our bodies and the reflection of how we relate to one another, so much more than just a tool for communication. Two beings holding hands and moving through space in calm, confident comfort.

L to R- Foxy, Takoda, Éowyn, Juno, Rachot.

08/06/2025

Be safe out there ♥️