Equine Connection Freelance Training

13/07/2025

Shannon, Dr. Torre, DVM, and I are so excited our next clinic together at Sage Knoll Farm the first weekend in August! We are catering our Collaborative Biomechanics Clinic to equines with soundness issues! We are combining nervous system regulation with in hand work, bodywork, and biomechanically informed veterinary medicine for your rehab cases and elderly horses.

A bit about Dr. Alexis Torre, DVM: Alexis Torre grew up riding and competing in show jumping. Her beloved mare, Olga, helped her start to see a better way with the horses and inspired her to go to veterinary school. After graduation, Alexis did her internship at a referral hospital in Texas then went to work for Steele and Associates, a sports medicine practice taking care of world class show jumping, dressage, eventing, and hunter horses. Alexis then worked as a primarily sports medicine veterinarian until neck surgery required her to take a break from equine. She is feeling good and resuming seeing horses again. Through Olga’s son, Funkmaster Flex, she has continued to learn a more holistic approach to horse care and training. Alexis met Annemieke and Shannon at the biomechanics clinic last year, which sparked a renewed energy for helping horses in a holistic way. Alexis enjoys working with a team to help horses through traditional veterinary care combined with non traditional therapies, thinking outside of the box, and working with trainers and body workers such as Annemieke and Shannon.

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09/07/2025

Excellent article. This is something I’ve been struggling with lately as a teacher. I feel the insecurity, self doubt, anxiety, embarrassment, and even sometimes shame of students whose horses are struggling to do seemingly basic things with them, but can do those things fine with me. I want those students to know how important getting those basics right is, and that horseman of all levels come back and refine them again and again.

It really does hurt to realize you’re limiting your horse’s ability to do as you want in those moments, but it’s also incredibly empowering to know that we have the ability to change our horses by changing ourselves. Mainly it comes down to the energy with which we approach them. Are we in an energy of defensiveness and protection, or are we open and trusting? Are we truly accepting of whatever the horse has to show us, or is something we’ve learned before telling us we have to “keep it together” in some way? Or perform? Usually we aren’t even conscious of this energy we are bringing to the horse that gets in our way— often times is our nervous systems interpreting sensory information through a lens of danger, which then produces a whole host of neurophysiological changes within us that the horse then responds to. In fact, this same kind of unconscious nervous system behavior is what’s responsible for chronic pain. So sometimes the basics are really just learning to feel what’s happening in our body so we can shift the lens through which we take in information, and see our horses.

I hope all my students know that I see the courage it takes to go back to these basics. I’m having to do it all the time myself. Re-learn how to lead your horse. How to breathe. How to stand quietly in mind and body. And the wild thing is, when we get these things really solid, from the space within us, the hard stuff becomes so easy.

When people feel that the work I’m teaching is too easy, too simple, or even boring because they want to be working on more advanced dressage, I remind them that the piaffe can be trained by simply alternating trotting and backing up. Just trotting and backing up. The walk to back up is how my boy found the empowerment to show me his mini levade the other day after all.

From issue No.111 There’s this thing about working with horses… it’s one of those things that is responsible for making working with horses difficult, soul-shattering hard work. And I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer here, but it’s one of those kind of hard-to-swallow universal truths abou...

05/07/2025

We still have open spots for participants next Saturday, July 12! Come join us to learn how classical in-hand work can improve your relationship with your horse through the development of connection, balance, suppleness, strength, and understanding. From leading in alignment to High School maneuvers, in-hand work is my go-to method to ensure the horse prepared in mind, body, and spirit to progress under saddle.

03/07/2025

Excellent description! It may seem really hard at first to master the internal rotation of the thigh and the draped leg, but once you’ve got it and your neural pathways adjust, EVERYTHING is so much easier! The horses instantly move better under us when our body allows them space to move and distributes our weight over the strongest parts of them.

19/06/2025

Another great clinic is on the horizon, less than a month away! This program has been a favorite over the years. A participant in last year's summer session said it was the first time the biomechanics and the purpose of dressage movements had ever been explained to her in a way she could understand. The horses always find so much clarity in being guided to better posture and movement patterns on the ground, and their humans begin to understand what they're feeling under saddle and why. Hope to see you there!

Register here: https://forms.gle/BHvqAUFquUuRRG8u5

10/06/2025

Here’s a use for clicker training that applies to everyone with equines! Tigger and I used his time soaking his hoof to work on accepting oral medications at liberty. 15 mins of practice every once in a while and you won’t need to use any muscle to make sure they get their meds and dewormers 😉

Learn how to successfully apply clicker training with equines at my next clinic!

09/06/2025

What do I use clicker training for?
-Standing still
-Leading in alignment
-Hoof handling
-Trailer loading
-Postural rehabilitation
-Refining gymnastic exercises in hand and under saddle
-Self-haltering/bridling/grazing-muzzling
-Curiosity around potentially scary objects (like bows and arrows!)

Do do I use it all the time with all horses? No. Learn the why and how at my next clinic.

The possibilities are endless, but your success will only go so far as your ability to understand your horse, time your marking, and set clear boundaries out of love (not fear). I can help you and your horse with all of this!

We still have room for a few more participants in our Intro to Positive Reinforcement Clinic in less than 2 weeks!

05/06/2025

In May, I had the opportunity to watch Nahshon Cook train a herd of horses in Wisconsin. Nahshon is one of my most influential teachers, guiding me to change my horsehumanship, as he calls it, for the better each time I see him. Watching this group of 9 horses and conversing with Nahshon about them prompted deep ruminations about rehabilitation, classical dressage, and the processing of pain and fear in the brain and body. These horses defied all odds and expectations of previous professionals who were called in to assess and help them, not only in their ability to heal from deep physical and emotional traumas, but also surpassed the level and quality of dressage training that I have ever seen with my own eyes in person. These horses were joyful, sound, athletic, and so very wise.

I’m currently gathering a group to go see them and Nahshon again in 2026. Since I've been home, applying my new outlook and techniques, all the horses I work with have benefitted. I shared a simple technique with a bodyworker I regularly partner with, and she's having pretty miraculous results. I'm so grateful to these horses, their owner, and to Nahshon for being willing to share this work with me and others. Next year, many more will have this beautiful opportunity.

Read about my percolations in this blog post:

In May, I had the opportunity to watch Nahshon Cook train a herd of horses in Wisconsin. Nahshon is one of my greatest teachers, guiding me to change my life and my horsehumanship, as he calls it, for the better each time I see him. Watching this group of 9 horses and talking to Nahshon about them p

04/06/2025

Last weekend we hosted Elizabeth Gonzalez Tinnan at Sage Knoll Farm for a mounted archery clinic! It was truly the most joyful, fun clinic I have ever been a part of. Many of the participants were new to mounted archery, horses, or ground archery, and 3 of the horses (the ones who live with me) had virtually no experience with archery at all. We'd just shown some broken arrows to those 3 and Kuhl was kind enough to come give Manchego an introduction to MA before the clinic to help me decide if I would participate with him or one of Elizabeth's horses. He was all in!

I'm so grateful for the openness of the mounted archery communities I've met so far in Tennessee, California, and now Kentucky. People from all different backgrounds and disciplines are coming together to have fun and provide their horses with pleasant, stimulating, and fear-free experiences. Everyone is willing to share knowledge and even gear and horses to help one another. It's a beautiful communion we don't see often enough in other corners of the horse world.

I deeply admire Elizabeth's horsemanship, teaching, and horsehumanship, if I may borrow a Nahshon word. She didn't know it until I told her, but everything about how she cares for and teaches her horse and human students is truly classical, despite no formal classical training. She knows how to listen to the horses with her whole heart and feel for what works and what doesn't. She's brave enough to be creative and curious in the work and is unclouded by horsemanship dogma. It was amazing to me how much of what she taught about how to ride for mounted archery is congruent with what I teach in my classical dressage centered rider biomechanics clinics.

I was drawn to mounted archery in the first place because I felt it took the dressage back to its roots-- training horses to be so relaxed, balanced, and understanding of their rider that they could be ridden into battle. It's training your horse to have excellent emotional, mental, and physical posture so that you can do hard things on their back and continue to build your relationship and athleticism as a team.

I wasn't sure if my personal horse, Manchego would like it at first. I was concerned that he would be bothered that so much of what I'd be doing on his back did not need to mean anything to him. Less than a year ago, he would be irritated if I would even call my hound back while riding him. But what I found was that he loved the archery with me. First, because my mind is clear when I'm shooting. I'm not thinking about how to improve or fix anything about him or me-- I'm able to radically accept where we are in the present moment and do something with it, and then thank him profusely for trusting me so much. Second, he's an Andalusian, and Iberians find weight aids to be so very clear and useful. It's how they're wired as war horses and bullfighting horses. When you're shooting, your weight is pretty much all you've got as far as physical aids. Finally, he feeds off of my joy and excitement in a positive way. I was clicking and treating him, but I was also clicking myself for hitting targets and staying on a straight line without my normal postural aids. We were encouraging one another in true partnership.

I plan to host Elizabeth annually for clinics, and I strongly encourage anyone to join. If you're not sure about bringing your own horse, I can assure you that Elizabeth takes the time each horse needs to be relaxed and curious about archery through attunement. She also travels with her own magnificent horses.

Thank you Elizabeth Gonzalez Tinnan for teaching us. Thank you Alexandra Taylor for photographing the event and participating with Corvin. Thank you to all the horses for being brave and open. Thank you to all the participants and auditors for being willing to share what you had to offer and truly commune together. I learned from everyone who came and I cannot wait to continue building these connections and having fun!

18/02/2025

https://www.equineconnectionfreelancetraining.com/blog/the-half-halt

Check out my new blog post about the Half Halt! I discuss what it is, how it works, and how to train it from the ground to the saddle. I also respond to the wide variety of responses I got to my question of what a half halt means to you!

If you're interested in learning more about this, I highly recommend signing up for my 2025 Webinar Series with Annemieke Buis, which is all about postural training from the ground up! If you missed the first one, you can still receive lifetime access to the recording simply by signing up and submitting payment!

In my early equine education, I remember being told to half halt my horses all the time and only vaguely knowing what it meant. Some trainers seemed to want me to pull back on the reins, some squeeze the horse down with my seat, and one even told me to bear down, as if to p**p on the horse. These ar

15/02/2025

A week from today at 6pm Eastern Time, we have our 2nd Webinar of the 2025 Webinar Series with Annemieke Buis: Emotional Posturing! If you can't be there live, you can watch the recording.

Last week we talked about how the mammalian nervous system connects visceral feelings of safety to physical posture, and the biomechanical patterns associated with a variety of nervous system states. If you missed it, it's not too late to sign up and receive lifetime access to the recording.

In the next webinar, we will go into depth of how feelings of safety, connection, and attunement are the foundation for all postural work with horses. Participants will learn how to help their horse achieve and maintain an emotional state where they are available for learning and using their bodies in a healthy way. We will discuss relaxation, Polyvagal theory, relationship to contact, and so much more!

Sign up here: https://forms.gle/ErKbFdQayfwHi6H89