Trinity Equine

09/21/2025

Pony update! I’ve been house ridden with a stomach bug for a couple days so having Pony come back to work and follow me around willingly was a BIG surprise. He lives a lot of his life in fear and reverse, this is the first time he really seemed to *want* to go with me ❤️

09/14/2025

Is the problem truly the problem or is there something deeper? In my experience, most “problems” come from too little understanding and too much anxiety when faced with pressure. Are we creating a negative association with pressure? Are we going through the motions and just “getting it done” without regard for the mental state of the horse?

Maggie is no problem to bridle and we could 100% tack her up and go on with our day… but leaving the anxiety, although tolerant, and not addressing it here doesn’t prepare her to handle the next “scary” thing. Leaving the avoidance and not working towards softness to the halter, my hands, and then the bridle, doesn’t serve us going forward. So we take the time it takes. If we’ll do this with the little things, the big things won’t arise.

We won’t be able to work with the bridle again for a week or two because of a mouth wound she incurred in the pasture. However, being soft to my hands is 3/4s of the equation and I’m looking forward to seeing how she will take the bit after we spend more time on this!

09/11/2025

The second method I may use when handling feet is to let the horse be off line. I’ll add a disclaimer to this, in that I do a lot of prep work before I ever reach for a horse’s leg with my hand. More on that later, but the same idea applies whether you’re using a rope, a flag, a glove on a stick… With a horse that might be more on the reactive side, it can be helpful to not be confined. They need to learn to be okay with being put in a bind and not panic - while I’m holding a hoof isn’t necessarily the time to learn that for certain horses. MOST of the time, a horse will choose flight over fight. Here, Maggie knows she can leave, and that’s okay. She also know that if she leaves or takes her foot away, we’ll likely spend time trotting around. Having me handle her feet starts to sound like a better option pretty quickly. I’ll also use this approach to create “magnet” to the hoof stand and encourage rest and relaxation during hoof care. Notice the tension that occurs at 1:20 and the letting go of that tension at 1:50, she chose to stay and regulate her nervous system. I expect that tense spot will get shorter and shorter until it’s not present at all. It’s certainly not a method that works for every horse but for some, it’s proven more effective at creating the mindset I want around this activity than capturing the foot until the fight is gone.

09/06/2025

09/03/2025

It has been a season of feet! Shadow is a highly suspicious individual, one might say “snorty”. Here’s one way that working with hooves might look. Of course, there are prerequisites to this: basic groundwork, desensitizing to the rope and training flag, softness in the halter, leading by a foot… But the key here, I believe, is to not make a big deal out of it. I “safety up” by keeping his nose towards me and controlling the toe but at the end of the day, I’m not going to try to fight him for the foot. I won’t win. He takes his hoof away, we go to work - in this case yielding the hind quarters. Horses are smart, they soon realize it’s easier to work with me than against me and that trying to be brave can be very rewarding. This encourages a mindset of braveness and thought rather than panic. I’m also cognizant of the fact that Shadow has been uncomfortable in the shoulders and hips, which is where I think a lot of his bad habits about his feet began, so I need him to know that I’m going to be considerate and help him stretch. It should be a positive experience and they’re not in trouble for telling me something hurts. The only time I would deviate from this is one other method, which I’ll share on this page next, or if a horse has already learned that lashing out gets their way.

09/03/2025

I have very little experience training for Liberty but Maggie, on the other hand, is pretty well-versed! Sometimes it’s the horse’s turn to teach us new things 📚 👩‍🎓

08/31/2025

Rainy day shenanigans. Maggie the mustang had no quarrels with the tarp - my horse, however, was a bit skeptical but warmed up to the idea. We can still take time to work on bravery, even during stall rest 🙂 Remember, every interaction is either training or un-training your horse: be observant, be intentional, be present.

08/28/2025

✨ New lesson availability ✨

With cooler temps, we are now offering a limited number of Saturday afternoon lessons in Krum, TX for beginner through intermediate western riders.

Beginner to advanced western and beginner English lessons in Alvord, TX will resume in early September 🤞 Big thank you to everyone that has stuck with me through my bay horse’s injuries this year!

Lessons can include a variety of disciplines: ranch versatility, reining, trail, western and ranch pleasure, stock horse, barrel racing, playday type events, intro to English riding on the flat, low level jumping, and more!

Lessons will ALWAYS include:
Horsemanship, safety in horsemanship, care, health and nutrition basics, tack knowledge, training philosophy, groundwork, riding, and understanding what makes these horses tick.

08/24/2025

You don’t want to miss out on this one - please reach out if you have any questions! All of her under saddle training has been with me and I’m pretty proud of her 🥹 In a different season of life, she’d probably be staying with me to show in stock horse events.

08/23/2025

Introducing: “pony” 🐴 He remains unnamed but is making great strides! I am guilty of not making time to work with my own horses but I do try to always do something with them, even if it’s just working on approach and pets during pen-mucking time. This little guy has big feelings about humans so petting him with two hands is progress!

08/16/2025

Caution! 🚧 Wild horses present! Ok, maybe not so wild 😉

08/15/2025

Sometimes you just need a nap