Starting Point Equestrian, Pittsboro NC

09/16/2025

09/12/2025

Training while holding a tea-light candle, otherwise known as:

Going against the grain.

I truly don’t think I would ever have started my own business if I didn’t live in the location that I do. Isolation, combined with a healthy appetite for learning, the willingness to figure things out and take consistent action, and never really entertaining the thought that, well, I couldn’t, played not only a formative role in the creation of my business, but is also an essential ingredient in progressing with my horses in a way that feels natural and humane to us both.

We all know about the benefits of community, and the obvious advantages that this has. I’m not suggesting that friends aren’t important (they absolutely are), or that you don’t need a teacher or a mentor (you do), or a second pair of eyes when you get stuck (please definitely seek this out); what I am saying is that this needs to be balanced with alone time where you are free to bumble on and make mistakes.

Where you can figure out how to hold your hands and coordinate this part your body with that without referring or deferring to someone else.

Where you can let yourself learn, free of the lurgies of comparison or not-so-great-wonderings that accompany us when we are individually doing our best to figure things out in the context of a lots-of-opinions environment.

When I was first invited to speak within summit setting, I was launched into a container filled with other professionals much more skilled, more well-known, and more accomplished than myself.

I looked around and thought, I’m so glad it’s taken me so many years to get here. The a-few-years-earlier me would not have been deeply rooted enough in her own understandings. She would have spoken words that were yet to live in her heart, shared knowledge that lacked a point of difference or uniqueness.

And that’s totally ok. The a-few-years-earlier me needed more space, more time, to figure some stuff out. She needed to dive in to learn, to gather knowledge, and to listen to other people’s thoughts and understandings. And then she needed to retreat. To play; to practice. To get oh so many things wrong so she could maybe get a couple of things right.

A similar, slightly different situation:

Once, when I was on a training week for some horse bodywork, I went to a stable that was home to at least a hundred horses and then counting. I looked around, at the comings and the goings. I thought how difficult it must be to learn here, if what you are playing with is different, new, or against the grain. How you are always witnessed, always under the gaze of another person’s eyes.

And so, I say: new learnings, new understandings are like holding a tea-light candle. The flame needs protection to get big. Once it has; once it’s licking the ceiling and not easily extinguished, you can carry it around in all manner of weather and situations and it’s unlikely to go out.

But until then, it needs protection. The protection not only of people who are looking to also nurture the flame, but alone time where you get to stare at it, marvel at it, figure out how to make it grow.

My personal challenge is not so much alone time to play with new ideas, or space with my horses to apply new understandings, to figure out what goes where and how this connects with that. My challenge is community; the second eyes, the people around and on hand to help me out.

But if you find yourself in the context of many, YOUR creative challenge might look quite different. Because going against the grain, new learning, and the chance to apply what you have been told to the point where it has practical benefit means you must have time to think things through- alone.

You must have time to figure out how to figure it out in a way that lives in your body, which requires you go through the process of letting yourself learn.

At the end of the day, the ultimate in any learning situation is a balance, between mentorship and independent learning. Between opinions and the space to figure things out. Sticking to something you recognize is right for you or your horse but goes against the ‘most practiced and familiar’ can be tough, even when we know that it’s the right thing for us to do.

Protect your tea light candle insides until they’re a strong and solid flame. At that point, alone or in a group, the flame is sure enough of its own heat to not go out.

Onwards.

❤️ Jane

09/08/2025

💫 Vibrissae—the horse’s whiskers—are unlike any other type of hair, serving a crucial sensory function.

They are the only hairs on a horse that are not moulted or shed, and are rich with nerves that signal directly to specific areas of the brain for interpretation.

These specialised hairs are the very first to develop in the horse embryo and, compared to regular coat hair, are embedded much deeper in the skin.

Each vibrissa is housed in a small blood capsule that amplifies pressure, so even the slightest movement is perceived by sensory receptors. This allows the horse to process detailed information about size, texture, shape, and location.

Classified as low-threshold (high sensitivity) receptors, vibrissae respond to the smallest of stimuli.

At present, there’s no scientific data on whether horses prioritise vision, hearing, touch, or smell, unlike research available in other species such as rats and pigeons.

Gaining this knowledge would be invaluable in understanding what signals are most effective in horse training, such as comparing the speed of uptake between voice, visual, or tactile cues.

📚An excerpt from Modern Horse Training: Equitation Science Principles & Practice, Volume 2 by Andrew McLean

🛍️ Available to purchase at our website: https://www.esi-education.com/

08/22/2025

Dr Temple Grandin is one of the best known animal scientists in the world. She grew up in America, and she is autistic, which means her brain works a little differently to most people’s. She often says she “thinks in pictures.” This helps her notice tiny details about animals that others might miss.

Most of her career has been spent improving how cattle are handled on farms, making systems calmer and safer. (Which is why many farms have safe handing pens for cattle on farms today)But her ideas are just as useful when we think about horses.

Temple reminds us that animals don’t see the world the same way humans do. A shiny puddle, a flapping jacket, or a garden chair in the wrong place might look like danger to a horse. Horses are prey animals, always on the lookout for threats. What seems silly to us can feel very real to them.

As she explains: “Horses have to see the same object from all angles. They don’t automatically transfer learning from one side of their brain to the other.” In other words, a horse that walks calmly past a wheelbarrow on the left rein may still shy at it on the right.

For coaches and riders, this matters. If a horse spooks or refuses, it isn’t “naughty”, it is reacting in the only way it knows. Our job is to slow down, let the horse look, and give it time to learn.

Temple also talks about how animals respond to pressure. A gentle aid, released at the right moment, helps the horse to understand. But rough hands, loud voices, or constant pushing only build fear. As coaches, that means showing riders how to be clear but kind, guiding, not forcing.

And this links horse welfare with rider welfare. A calm horse gives the rider confidence. A frightened horse makes the rider nervous. By putting the horse’s feelings first, we create safer, happier lessons for both.

Temple Grandin may have made her name with cattle, but her lessons about patience, clear signals for animals are pure gold for anyone who works with horses. When we see the world through the horse’s eyes, we become better kinder horsemen.

07/16/2025

❤️

05/31/2025

In our mind, we create word chains. They goes like this:

I feel a sensation.

I decide that it’s anxiety (for example).

“This is anxiety”, I tell myself.

Every thought I have is a message to the body to respond a certain way.

Anxiety is not just a label, it’s an instruction.

Be anxiety, I am telling my body. And my body dutifully responds.

*********

The other day I got tagged in a post on another page, a beautiful question.

I share with permission:

“If I sense that the horse near me is even slightly restless, anxious, cautious, in a mood to play, or anything like that, it stirs a deep distrust in me. My adrenaline rises, I can’t feel my body anymore, I am afraid of being overpowered by the horse, of being attacked, of losing control of the horse.”

As adults, our energetic conversation with the world often exists within a very narrow window. Over the span of 7 days, most of us can predict with a high degree of certainty, what our life will look like. We move in predictable ways. We do the same routine activities. Our energetic dial is not challenged beyond a fairly average range, both up and down.

What this means is that our relationship with sensation exists within a narrow window also. Sensation appears in response to novelty. If there’s not much novelty, there’s not much sensation.

But then a horse appears. They have energy, a mind, a life force. Our body senses into theirs. It changes, it sensates. We feel.

We feel, we feel, we feel.

If our only association with feeling is concern, our experiences are always going to be interpreted as dangerous or “bad”. Often swiftly. Often unconsciously.

We respond.

This is bad, this is bad, this is bad.

The feeling is not the problem. It’s our association with the feeling that is.

*********

The journey might progress to the development of skills, of relational conversations between horse and humans, but from my perspective, it begins in not so obvious place, with a discussion of vitality. And in the very practical ways we can learn to embody it.

In my work, the basis of our renegotiation with the language of sensation lives in movement. We move our body with sensory awareness, in novel ways, and we observe. We begin to have a more nuanced conversation.

We allow more, control less, interpret with discernment, take action and observe.

We re-teach ourselves to feel and stay present in the midst of it.

The capacity to hold bigger energetic frequencies within the edges of our skin is something that can be relearned. To interpret all sensation with alarm is a by-product of modern living. And one that our horses invite us to step out of.

xx Jane

04/09/2025

INAPPROPRIATE TOUCHING

I'm reading an amazing book called Amphibious Soul by Craig Foster, the Academy award winning documentary film maker of "My Octopus Teacher".

If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it, it is simply profound.

In the book he says "As a rule, I never touch an animal unless they touch me first".

In my work building relationship with horses, I do this too. Most times a horse will touch you with their nose/muzzle first, and matching that greeting (versus labelling the horse as a biter) is a game changer.

But there's a phenomenon I have noticed going on with people trying to build relationship with their horses that I have labelled "inappropriate touching", and it looks a bit like the photo below.

This picture was taken at a horse expo in Pennsylvania recently, where I worked with a demo horse who has a "biting issue". He would reaching out in a way that his owner was termed as nipping, whereas I interpreted as him saying hello, similar to reaching out to shake hands with someone.

When he reached out I would greet him with a flat hand that he is able to to nuzzle, lick or even scrape his teeth on. After doing this a while his snappy acting motions got less so, and he was no longer needing to say "hey, pay attention" , but was more "hey, how's it going". I was explaining to the audience that I was meeting him in the way that he was meeting me (with his muzzle) and that it's not an invitation to touch other parts (yet).

I then said that it's many people's default to reach up and rub a horse between the eyes, whether that's what they are offering or not, and that if you do, it's inappropriate touching and it gets in the way of connection. It doesn't meet their needs, and is all about yours.

With the horse in the picture, he'd been engaging me with his muzzle, and I said to the audience "watch what happens when I try to rub him between the eyes". As you can see in the photo, he has raised his head up and is clearly indicating "No, not there, on my muzzle".

We had a Connection And Attunement retreat here at the Journey On Ranch a week ago, and I used my wife Robyn to illustrate this point to the participants. I said "imagine I'm at a gathering and meeting Robyn for the first time". We walked up to each other in that way people do when they see someone new and they can tell an introduction is shaping up, Robyn reached out with her hand to say hello and instead of me reaching out to shake her hand, I gently reached up and lightly brushed a wisp of hair from her cheekbone and tucked it behind her ear.

The participants all gasped and the ick factor was high.

Even though it was caring, and gentle, it was inappropriate at that moment.

Now Im not saying you can't rub your horse on the forehead. I'm saying if your horse has a disregulated nervous system around humans because they don't feel seen (and safe), try to meet their needs first, before trying get get yours met.

I recently saw an instagram post from a University in the UK, and the professor was explaining that they were doing studies on horses to determine levels of stress. In the background a horse was standing with his head out over a Dutch door. While he was explaining their investigations on stress, a female student (or maybe another professor, I don't know which) walked up to the horse. The horse reached out with his muzzle to greet her.

She ignored this and reached up to rub the horse between the eyes.

He turned his head 90 degrees to the left to communicate that wasn't what he was offering.

Her hand followed him and kept rubbing.

he then turned his head 180 degrees to the right, saying "No, not like that".

Smiled, gave him another pet between the eyes, and walked of camera.

While the professor was saying that they are doing experiments determining the amounts of stress horses are under, someone in the background was actually creating stress, without either of them even knowing it.

Once you understand how sentient horses are, and how subtle their communication, you can't unsee it.

04/07/2025

I think this is one of the best informative 'horse training' lectures I have ever listened to. A few years ago I took Dr. Steve Peters' 2-day horse brain dissection seminar.

It doesn't matter what sport discipline you are interested in, it doesn't matter what breed of horse you have; the information in this talk is a valuable framework for anything you'd like to do with a horse.

I'll put the YouTube link in the comments below.

-Kaye