Twin Hearts Horsemanship

05/05/2025

"The Spirit of the Painted Horse"

In the days when mountains whispered and the skies sang softly to the earth, there lived a horse unlike any other. His name was Tokala, known among the tribes as "The Spirit That Runs Between Worlds."

Tokala’s coat was not plain like others. It was woven with sacred symbols, painted by the winds, and marked by the stories of those who came before. Each pattern told tales of warriors, of peace, of dreams yet to bloom. The feathers that trailed him carried prayers of the people, while his hooves struck the ground with the rhythm of ancient drums.

The mountains knew Tokala well, for he would race their edges every dawn, his mane flowing like rivers of night and day combined. Above him, the birds flew, guardians of the skies, always following but never passing him. Together, they carried the message of freedom and unity across the vast lands.

One winter, when a heavy sorrow fell upon the earth and hope seemed to vanish beneath the cold silence, Tokala did not hide. Instead, he ran harder, faster, and wilder than ever before — his hooves cracking frozen rivers, his breath turning night into morning.

The Elders watched and whispered,
"What drives him when all else sleeps?"

And the wind answered through the rustle of the pines,
"He runs not for himself, but to remind the world — even when the path is cold and lonely, the spirit must keep moving."

In time, as Tokala’s steps echoed across valleys and peaks, the snow began to melt, the rivers sang once more, and life returned to the sleeping earth.

To this day, when the winds howl and the birds dance across the sunset skies, the tribes say:
"Tokala still runs, not as a horse of flesh, but as a spirit — carrying courage, freedom, and the eternal reminder that no storm can break the heart that keeps running."

23/04/2025

Hey friends and followers!

A coordinator from the STS Exchnage Student Foundation has reached out to Twin Hearts recently asking if we knew of any families in the horse world who would be interested in hosting a fellow horse girl from the Netherlands!
Her name is Maria, and from what it sounds like she’s a natural talent with horses, and people too! She will attend your local public high school while visiting, and will be traveling with her own money as well as insurance.. I’m holding back anymore details about her for her safety, but you may message me or Jaime, the coordinator (who is also tagged) for more information.
If you or someone you know and trust may be interested, please reach out and I can put you in touch with Jaime- she’ll be able to help you out with the deeper details more than I can.
I know I have a lot of amazing people and friends who follow our page, so I’m sure we can find Maria an amazing family to stay with and join up with somewhere.. Let’s help give this girl an epic American equestrian experience she won’t ever forget! 🩵

Link to STS’ website:

High School Exchange Students are eager to share their culture and experience life with a typical American family. Cultural exchange is at the core of your hosting experience.

29/03/2025

Enjoyed the day working with this goofball again. Hard to believe sweet Promise is going to be 3!
Good ole girl never missed a beat even after the winter “off”- she hopped in that trailer on the first send, remembered how to work a circle both directions, backed on voice command and has come such a long way with having her ears and top of her head touched…she hardly pulls away now!
She still has that same fiery s***k and of course had to be a grasshopper on a rope for a few minutes, but she settled into herself pretty quickly…and that sass is definitely part of what makes her so much fun anyway! She’s such a good filly with such a good brain, and I’m so happy the foundation Rachel and I gave her over the summer last year stuck with her!
Thank you Rachel for trusting me, and continuing to trust me, to help you bring her along the best way we can! She’s your match made in Horse Heaven! 💜

12/03/2025

22/12/2024

✨ TRUST the Process ✨

Trust: “firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.”

To gain the partnership of an equine, you must prove to them you are worthy of their trust.
Just like with any other living being, if you’re not trustworthy you won’t have much luck forming any type of relationship.
Proving to a prey animal you can be trustworthy is a little different than doing so with any other being, but that’s what makes it that much more special and eye-opening!
Here’s a few ideas to consider when working to build that trust with your horse…tips on how to TRUST the process, if you will. 😉

T- Take the time to show you care. Horses crave connection, and connection doesn’t come from always “doing”. Undemanding time spent with your horse is just as important, if not more so, than training or tasks. Sitting in the pasture, grooming time, giving scratches and cookies and loving on them, then leaving it at that is a great way to establish a connection with a horse. Don’t make them feel like anytime you’re around there’s work to be done- they’re not our machines, they’re our partners, our friends. Treat them as such, and let them know your time together can be, and is, enjoyable.

R- Realize horses are a prey animal, an animal that flees rather than fights. Give some grace when they balk at the barking dog that randomly comes running across the trail at them. It’s a horse’s biological nature to spook and want to run from things that they view as a danger. We can train, desensitize and prepare them all we want to, and we should as it helps them grow in their confidence in themselves and us which keeps us all safer, but the instinct is still there and could show itself at anytime. Even the most “bombproof” horse could have a moment- don’t fault them for that. It’s their natural instinct to protect themselves.

U- Understand how your horse thinks, how they “tick”. Using force and extra mechanisms to create a relationship based off fear and intimidation is not the way to handle a horse, though it undoubtedly happens often. Take the time to understand your horse and their natural ways of learning…body language, energy, pressure and release…they are not an animal that responds well fo forceful techniques. Horses require a fair hand that will be firm as needed yes, but there is a difference in firm but fair and forceful. Understanding the right way to handle your horse through fairness builds trust, and allowing our human egos and lack of patience to get in the way through force breaks trust.

S- Stay focused and positive- not every day will be a great day, some will be good days and some will be just plan bad. That’s part of life in general, but especially in life with horses. Being as attuned to emotion, energy, intention and nonverbal language as they are, a horse will pick up on what you don’t say very quick. Keeping yourself in the mindset of everything is fun, and nothing NEEDS to happen in that very moment will help keep you and your horse both in the right mindset and cause less chaos and miscommunications. Training isn’t a linear thing, there’s ups and downs and curves and twists. It’s a roller coaster, the best thing to do is keep yourself calm and collected, stay patient and enjoy the ride!

T- Timing *is* important, but it *isn’t* everything. Things will happen when it’s meant to happen, and everything will click when it’s meant to. Never give up practicing and working towards your end-goals with your horsemanship, but also know it’s ok to not have Rome built in a single day. Remember you and your horse are both living beings with your own sets of emotions, baggage’s and things to work through- keep that in perspective, and don’t be hard on yourself or your horse. The goals will happen, the basics will click, the advanced tasks will follow and your relationship will flourish as you go together. When it does happen, you celebrate as much as you possibly can as hard as you can and be proud of how far you and your horse have come!

TRUST yourself, TRUST your horse, TRUST the process. TRUST in your own individual, unique journey. We’ve all been there, even the most advanced of horsemen started somewhere, so have some faith in yourself too! You got this. 🩵

04/11/2024

✨Life Lessons from the Herd✨

“Horses teaches us a lot…but very little of it actually has to do with horses.” -Anthony Lothian

This is one quote that I have always carried with me through the 15+ years of my horse training journey.
It opened my eyes to the ideas of how horses and life can truly go hand and hand- how horsemanship can be practiced in ways that don’t require force, and how equine therapy is, in my opinion, the biggest key secret in helping to heal the wounds life can create on the human heart.
Horses being prey animals and herd animals, they require a bit of a different mindset to work with than other animals like dogs and cats and such do..
The horse is a highly-attuned animal when it comes to the “higher vibe” aspects of communication such as energy, intention and body language.
Not only does their social life require it with being in a herd setting, but their survival depends on it too.
Their ability to read the land around them, to sense a cougar stalking on the mountainside, to communicate with the entire herd with a simple flick of an ear- an equine’s main means of communication is body language, energy and the intentions that are set behind the two. It’s this set of skills that we as the horse’s humans need to be aware of as well when we’re around them.
I truly believe it’s a second-nature instinct to mankind to be able to communicate based off these skills too…and we actually do so every day, whether it’s realized or not. That’s the thing- most don’t realize it.
And it’s also become just that- a second.
Many people have built up an “immunity” in a sense to those other means of communication that aren’t strictly verbal.
I myself believe part of the problem is how humans allow egos and the wants for simplicity and easiness in life to get in the way, so the more energy-based skills are not as sharp. There’s no need for them, or so we think. We don’t really have to rely on those energetically-based skills anymore, and in my opinion technology has put a massive damper on this, too. We lose track of reading the small signals and the attunement to each other, as communication doesn’t have to be done in person as often.
Understanding how our energy truly affect others is becoming a lost art…it causes miscommunications and often puts a damper on relationships, the ones with our horses included!
I could go on and on about this but I’ll wrap it up- my point is, not only should you be aware of your horse, but you should be aware of yourself.
I’ve had many people come to me over the years and say their horse is a jerk, they’re aggressive or they have a bad attitude.
They run from them when approached in the pasture. They want nothing to do with them. But why is that? They vet-check just fine, there’s no past trauma from the horse’s life so they just have to be a bad horse with a bad attitude, right? Wrong.
Take a step back and note your own vibe before being around your horse- they know how you feel long before you’re around them, and they will react as such.
Everything means something to them, and every reaction is caused by something. If someone comes up to you yelling and screaming, would you want to be around them? I doubt it. The horse is the same way, only to them you don’t have to verbally be yelling. You can be silent as a mouse and they will know. They sense it in your energy, in your body. They feel your intention without you saying a word. They can hear your heart rate and feel your physical state based off your emotional state.
Horses know, and they will do whatever necessary to protect their peace. If that means running away from you in the pasture, then so be it.
Take note of those reactions, and switch it around in yourself to find the WHY they run from you, the WHY they chose to bite or kick or pin their ears at you.
It’s not always a horse’s fault, there’s a reason an equine does everything they do.
Note your energy, your body language, how you’re holding yourself around them…note your breathing, your emotions.
Then note how your horse responds to you.
Use this as your guideline to better understand yourself. Allow your horse to help you dive deeper into understanding yourself, and let them help you heal, fix or handle better whatever it is you need to- they will tell you, so listen to them and take their advice. They are not only our greatest teachers, they’re also our greatest therapists.
Horses teach us a lot….very little of it actually has to do with a horse. 🩵

Though Twin Hearts may be taking a break from live training and lessons, we aren’t going anywhere!
The plan is to pick back up and be less dormant on our page, and continue to post with info, inspiration and ideas as we used to..
As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions or problems you may be having and we’ll do our best to help you in the ways we currently can! We’re still here for you and your equine partners..
We’ve missed all the interactions with the Twin Hearts family, and are so excited to hear from y’all again! Thank you for sticking with us…and to those who are new to our page, welcome to the family and thank you for joining us! 🩵

28/09/2024

My people and my people’s people who are/have been affected by the hurricane, flooding, winds etc. no matter where you may be- if you need anything at all, please please reach out! Whatever I can do to help you no matter how small just let me know!
Unfortunately I’m limited on being able to shelter horses here, but any help with moving, cleaning up, repairs etc. I got you..
This has been one crazy storm…Prayers for all