Breezing Hill Farm

03/16/2025

A little bit of canter

03/16/2025

Cooper looking super cute!

03/14/2025

So this didn't quite go as planned. Abby loves to chase the ball so I thought if I could hit it around, she could chase it with me on her. But the broom handle wasn't strong enough to move the weighted ball. Abby tried to help!

03/13/2025

Cooper has had a couple of months off due to weather and probably hasn't jumped in 6 months. Just getting back into work and he was perfect to the little cross-rail. I am looking to find him a new home as he would like his own person to bond with and not be a lesson horse. I'll get flat video posted and list him but thought I would post to my page first.

02/09/2025

When a horse is forced into some shape, whether by strong hands, strong bits, leverage devices like draw reins and bitting rigs, side reins, anything too powerful for the horse to respond in any way but to submit, the head and neck position is only part of what is affected by the coercion.

The head and neck are attached to all the rest of the horse, and so every part of the horse moves in a more restricted way. But worse than the physical response to force is what happens mentally and emotionally to the horse, fear of pain, fear of restriction, the long lasting post traumatic stress disorder of anticipating pain even if the horse isn’t still being ridden incorrectly.

This is why it can be so hard to gain a horse’s trust after it has been lost. That anxiety lasts a long time, even with more kind and gentle handling.

The point here? Don’t use force. As in be a better trainer. It is not a hard concept to understand.

01/01/2025

This is great!

🐎🐎🐎https://www.brentgraef.com/schedule/

12/31/2024

Wonderful post

When working with a horse that tends to brace, remember that brace is often a protective mechanism. Your horse may be bracing to guard against real or anticipated pressure. Here are some tips to help your bracey horse:

Build trust and safety
Make it your first goal to have a happy horse who feels open to your suggestions. Be trustworthy - a relaxed, stretched topline is a vulnerable posture for your horse. Be aware of defensive behaviors and eliminate their source. A relaxed body and mind go hand in hand, so focus on creating both mental and physical comfort.

Use light, clear communication
Practice taking up contact in a way that doesn't cause your horse to brace. When you feel resistance, breathe towards your horse instead of adding tension. This allows your horse to find their own independent balance as you maintain yours. Remember, any pressure you feel through the reins is magnified in your horse's mouth.

Start with groundwork
Begin working with your horse in lightness on the ground. Establish the basics of connection, posture, and balance before introducing a rider

Choose equipment wisely
When introducing a bit, find the one your horse is most comfortable with. Let them practice carrying it without reins attached until they move the same as without it. Only start establishing rein connection on good days when brace is less likely.

Address the root cause
Any problem in the horse or human will show up in the reins. Heaviness in the reins can have many causes beyond just mouth sensitivity - lack of balance, stiffness, crookedness, uncomfortable equipment, or miscommunication about speed or direction. Identify and address these underlying issues.

Create positive associations
Motivate and inspire your horse by being a brilliant communicator and rewarding them well. Make sure they're happy to see you when you show up. This positive relationship will help your horse feel more open and less defensive.

Allow freedom within boundaries
Show your horse they can find total freedom within their body, so they don't feel the need to escape. Create "open doors" in their body through exercises that eliminate brace, opposition, and stiffness.

Be patient and consistent
Re-establishing trust takes time, especially if your horse has learned to brace as a protective mechanism. Stay consistent in your approach and celebrate small improvements along the way.

Remember, your goal is to have your horse willingly participate with a body free of brace. Listen to your horse - they'll tell you when they feel balanced and trusting. A relaxed, happy horse who feels good in their body is the foundation for healthy movement and a strong partnership.

12/14/2024

Abby learning "panther walk." I've never seen her more her shoulders that much! A little bit of pawing as she figures it out.

12/04/2024

Another great post!

Unconscious movements muddy the waters.

Lately, I have found myself teaching something consistently, across levels, across countries, in lessons with my clients. I have been assisting my community in finding a base line in their body that they can rely on. And their horse too.

Imagine talking to somebody, and as you talk to them, they don't look you in the eye properly, they fidget, shift from foot to foot, scratch themselves, fling their sweater haphazardly, and change weight rapidly without meaning, and posture themselves in 13 micropositions, all without meaning.

Well, the meaning is there. The meaning is= meaningless movement.

This is nothing to feel ashamed about around horses. We all do it. We all find ourselves stuck in patterns that became unconscious and out of our control. We all do it. I remember where I was when I learned that the movement of a lead rope laid up in my hands, and its pendulum swing as I walked quietly was enough to perturb a very sensitive horse. All I had to do, was keep the rope well in hand and well controlled and I could make my communication through to the horse, more clean.

Because that's what I am talking about. Clean communication.

The same way I strive to say my mind plainly nowadays, even to a fault I'll admit, is the same skill I bring to horses and teach to my community.

Be aware. Then, be aware of your awareness. Then be aware of your awareness and its own awareness.

It is amazing really how congruent a horse is. Present to me a fidgeting horse, that "gets bored" easily, or struggles to stand still or dislikes quiet, and I will show you their handler/owner nearby who is exactly the same.

If we present ourselves with background noise, you won't have a quiet horse.

And the quiet horse is the keystone, the backbone, of really beautiful and sucessfull training and riding.

A horse who is base line quiet now has the mental and emotional capacity to put energy into discerningly exciting activities with people- if they want to.

And that starts with us, cleaning up our movement.

If you struggle with this, I do have a whole online course designed for human movement for equestrians. But if you don't have time for that, I challenge you to find your quiet, still position, one that cannot and won't be moved. Start there, and end there. Find your position and start and end all techniques you train with there.

Just like my Vaganova Classical Ballet training taught me to start in fifth position, and end in fifth position- even if nobody is watching. It is a discipline that brings organisation and clarity to what can sometimes be very muddy waters.

And I am determined to be here, cleaning this industry up. One loving horse person at a time.

12/04/2024

Great reminder. When they are stressed, I feel like their brains are running so fast they can't hear what I am saying. The horse feeling safe so it can relax is the starting point

Comparative neurobiology of horse and human.

Horses and humans are both mammals.
Our brains may not be the same size, but they are almost identical in their structure and function.

Why can our brains look so similar but our behaviours and sensitivity to the world look so different?

The area in the picture highlighted is the prefrontal cortex or the (PFC). Its job in humans, horses, dogs, dolphins, elephants, cats, mice, rats, all mammals, and even birds is to carry out "higher executive functions" such as:

🧠 problem solving
🧠 decision making
🧠 reasoning
🧠 risk assessment
🧠 forward planning
🧠 impulse control
🧠 intention

Obviously, these executive functions are more advanced in humans than in other species of mammals, but this part of the brain plays a pivotal role in higher levels of learning beyond primal behaviours and learning survival skills.

So why aren't we seeing these higher executive functioning skills and behaviours in horses as much as what we see them in dogs, dolphins, elephants and even birds?

Ultimately it comes down to safety!

The latest neuroscience research suggests that when the brain feels unsafe it causes the body to produce stress response hormones and these stress response hormones cause the PFC to go "offline".
This means that subcortical regions of the brain (deeper parts of the brain) such as the primal brain (AKA limbic system, survival brain, flight/fight brain) completely take over to increase the chances of survival.

Feeling unsafe causes the feeling of fear and it is fear that gets this party started.

So behaviours come from two areas:

1. The PFC, carrying out problem solving skills, reasoning, impulse control, forward planning etc. that may be interpreted as "obedience" and "partnership".

2. The primal brain, carrying out reactive survival behaviours. This brain does NOT carry out impulse control, forward planning, problem solving, etc. It just reacts to the world. This brain heavily relies on patterns and consistency. This brain will cause freeze/flight/fight behaviours such as shutting down, bolting, biting, rearing, bucking, kicking, barging, etc.

Which brain is the domesticated horse spending most of it's time in?
It's primal brain!

This is why we don't get to see their full intellectual and cognitive potential because most of the time, domesticated horses are perceiving their world in a fearful way to some degree.

We can help our horses with this!

Feeling fearful is the OPPOSITE to feeling calm.
If we want to help our horses access their PFC then we MUST do whatever it takes to help them feel calm.

☝️ ONLY when a brain feels calm can it slow down enough to develop TRUE confidence. Only when the brain feels confident will it access TRUE cognition (PFC).

☝️ We first need to understand that when we get "bad behaviour" from our horses, it's not intentional or naughty or rude. What you are seeing is either a horse that is just reacting to the fear they feel or they are carrying out their "coping mechanism" in response to their anticipation of feeling fear.

☝️ Try to remove expectations that your horse should "know better".
"Knowing better" implies that all behaviours are coming from the PFC and there should be some impulse control and reasoning. Unless your horse feels calm, they can't access the PFC to "know better".

THIS STARTS WITH YOU!!!

You need to be consciously aware if YOU feel calm first. If you feel calm, your horse will have a better chance at feeling calm. Expecting them to feel calm when you don't is unfair.

The best way to create calmness is to intentionally be SLOW!!!
SLOW EVERYTHING you do down.
SLOW your movement down.
SLOW your talking down.
SLOW your walking down.
SLOW your breathing down.
SLOW your horse down.
If you feel too slow, then you're going slow enough.

Calmness is slow, not fast.

This will help you and your horse to connect and feel safe together.
When the brain feels stressed, the stress response hormones cause the body to speed up.

Stress = speed

We can reverse engineer this process and create a calm mind through slow intentional movement and a relaxed posture.

The by-product of a calm brain is confidence and cognition (PFC access).

Happy brain training 🧠
Charlotte 😊

Photo: Credit: Adult horse (equine) brain, sagittal section. Michael Frank, Royal Veterinary College. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

12/02/2024

Abby trotting over her poles. Hatha Equus

12/02/2024

Another clip of Abby. This time trotting over her ground poles. Hatha Equus

12/02/2024

Abby is having fun with her new games. She is very enthusiastic! Hatha Equus

11/21/2024

Cletus, the donkey, trying to get Hank to play with him.