Mustang Creek

04/09/2025

If there’s one thing I wish more people understood about horses, it’s this: They’re not being difficult. Most of what they're doing is reflective of YOU.

This is Indy. She does NOT like the trailer. To her, it's a big scary box that may take her away from her safe space, so she rears up (first pic) and pulls away. After building her confidence, she'd stand nicely, showing interest in the trailer (second pic).

Being a gentle hand and building trust within a horse is key to being successful.

04/08/2025

04/07/2025

Can't see Willow. She's head deep in the hay 😅

04/05/2025

I've seen so many horses come here and completely change their demeanor. A gentle and calming soul who knows how to naturally calm a horse down, can make a world of difference with horses who have anxiety and/or horses who have bad manners.

04/03/2025

Your mind is powerful. Fill it with dreams, aspirations, and goals.

04/02/2025

Wilson, aka Big Willie Style, keeping me company while I clean his water trough ☺️

03/21/2025

This past weekend, I declined a request to take a 3yo on my farm to start under saddle this summer.

The owner of the horse was kind, understanding and appreciative of my reasoning why, and I'm grateful for that. It gives me hope that the tides are changing.

But I also recognize that this person isn't the norm. In most cases, the youngster would get started one way or another, by whomever was willing to take it in the timeline the owner wanted.

I have personally owned more than my fair share of broken horses, and with decent regularity I work with horses owned by others that I suspect have some significant physical issue contributing to the reason I was called out in the first place. A focus on the foundational aspects of horsemanship tends to highlight problems a horse has, and my personal ethics dictate that I not move past, gloss over or otherwise ignore something I see as problematic. I used to do this all the time because when you train for the public, the pressure to do so is enormous.

The reality is that we KNOW that horses do not skeletally mature until the age of six, at the earliest. And yet horses "on the payroll" well before that is still common and accepted.

We KNOW study after study is showing that kissing spine, pelvic fractures, boney degeneration and arthritis is occuring earlier and more often in working horses. And yet the industry continues to push the idea that stressing young, growing joints early on is a positive, beneficial thing.

I think a lot of us still struggle with that space between what has been so acceptable for so long, and all the new understanding we have, and the wide availability of this information. I certainly do. I am grateful I don't train full time, because I'd probably be disappointing a lot of people.

But from my standpoint, seeing what I see, most people would benefit from spending more time on the ground with their young horses, getting a lot of things working a lot better, in preparation for when the horse is ready to start being ridden. There are so. many. things that happen in the saddle that can be well-prepared from the ground. There are so. many. accidents that happen while sitting on a horse that could be avoided with better preparation that doesn't require being astride. There are so. many. injuries that occur that could be avoided by taking the time to develop the animal properly before adding weight to their back.

I'm willing to die on this hill. We don't see enough strong, solid, sound twenty-something year old horses, still fit and being ridden and ridden well. It seems that there has never been a point in history for the horse where living has been so easy, and yet it also seems like living does not equal truly thriving.

03/11/2025

03/04/2025

Super guilty; all of the outside chores will be done before my house chores 🤷‍♀️😆

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