Cameron Adams Horsemanship

13/04/2025

There’s a dangerous trend growing in the horsemanship world. The idea that you have to and should “build a relationship” before you start building skill.

That mindset is holding people back. And much worse it’s creating confused and dangerous horses.

Here’s the truth:
You don’t pick between relationship and skill. You build both. At the same time.

If you’re only focused on “bonding,” but you’re not setting clear expectations, clear boundaries, clear understanding your horse has no idea where the boundaries are. This creates uncertainty, inconsistency, and eventually frustrating problems that can get dangerous quickly and could be avoided all together.

And if you’re just drilling skills with no feel, no connection, no trust, no regard for the horse’s needs, good luck getting any try or longevity from your horse.

Horsemanship is about leadership. Leadership is the ability to influence.

And true leadership means showing up consistently with vision, clarity, direction, fairness and serving others.

When you combine partnership and purpose, the results speak for themselves. Horses become more focused, more relaxed, and more willing because they understand what’s being asked and they trust the person asking.

This approach is what I’ve called building a Working Partnership with our horse. In fact it’s how I work with my wife, my kids and everyone else too.

What we do develops the skills.
How we do it develops the partnership.

We develop a Working Partnership by having deep Purpose in what we do, developing our Partnership through how we work with the horse and ultimately bringing out the best Performance (potential) in every horse by intentionally bringing together Purpose & Partnership in our work with our horse.

If you want a better partnership with your horse… Develop better timing. Better communication. Clearer boundaries.
Stop separating the emotional connection from the technical work—they’re not in conflict. They complement each other.

These dangerous trends are built on what makes the human feel good but disregard the true needs of the horse.

True leaders focus on serving others.

To have a deep partnership and reliable skills with our horse- we must focus on serving the horse’s needs on a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual level.

Together We Rise.

-Colton Woods

And if this post resonated with you, I wrote a free ebook called Be A Leader Worth Following that you’d definitely enjoy. If you’d like a copy for free just comment YES and I’ll send it your way.

Here’s to truly serving the horse and being able to look towards what really matters.

09/04/2025

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.

They are giving you a RESPONSE. Not out of defiance. Not out of malice. But because they are wired - biologically, psychologically, instinctively - to respond to the world around them for survival.

So when you step into their space frustrated, disconnected, anxious, or unclear - they feel that. And they respond accordingly.

I see two things all the time…

• A spooky horse is blamed for being naughty, but the rider is nervous, stiff, and barely breathing.
• A horse is labeled stubborn because he doesn’t respond to a cue - but the cue was unclear, poorly communicated - and then the horse is punished for being lazy and unresponsive.

In both cases, the horse isn’t the problem. The human involved, however, is.

There’s a lot of incompetence in the horse world - but instead of accountability, we blame the horse.
We slap on harsher bits, louder aids, more aggressive corrections.We label them bad, lazy, rude, or stubborn… when really, they’re just confused, frightened, or overwhelmed.

Horses cannot be 'bad', they are just horses. People are either bad handlers, riders, or trainers. This seems to be a truth rarely spoken or acknowledged.

Horses literally can't manipulate. They, very simply, reflect what we bring to the conversation.

And that’s the truth people don’t like to talk about:
If your horse isn’t responding well, it might not be about them - it's actually in most cases about you.

So when something feels off in a session, pause and ask yourself:

Am I breathing deeply and feeling compassionate and optimistic?
Am I calm and grounded in my body?
Am I present - or is my mind somewhere else?
Am I feeling scared, under pressure, or frustrated?

✨ Self-awareness is the MOST underrated skill in horsemanship. The more honest we become about what we bring into the space, the more compassionate and connected we become as partners. ✨

Because it’s never about control. It’s about connection.
And that connection? It always starts with you.

16/03/2025

This! 🙌

If you have a horse you are called to be horseman. Yet many make excuses for not stepping up…

Everyone wants the companionship, the partnership, the abilities, the feeling, the freedom... that comes with being a horseman.

But horsemanship isn’t a feeling. It’s a responsibility.

A responsibility to put the horse’s needs first. To show up, every day, with the discipline to improve yourself so you can be better for your horse. To lead with clarity. To do what’s right and needed, not just what feels good.

Most people ‘just’ want to have fun with their horse doing what they enjoy. Most don’t want that kind of responsibility. Yet when you have horses, it is your responsibility regardless if you want to or not.

And I do believe horses are here for us to enjoy, yet the fact is, with horses and in life the way we get to enjoy things we want and desire is by first serving others.

Those who actually step up and take responsibility for the role they have taken on… Those are the real horsemen.

As a horseman…
1. The needs of the horse comes first. Always.

Not your wants, desires, goals, or timeline. Not what makes you feel comfortable or cozy. The horse’s needs dictate what needs to be done. You serve the horse first, and when you do the results, your goals, your dreams are able to follow in abundance and quality.

2. You fix yourself before you try to fix the horse.

The horse is NOT a mirror to your soul. Your horse responds to who you are- physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. If there’s a problem, the first place you look is within yourself and then to your horse.

3. You don’t avoid challenges—you welcome them.

Growth and comfort dont live in the same arena or barn. Growth only happens when there’s pressure, challenges, and sometimes even struggle. That doesn’t mean we go out creating more trouble- absolutely not- yet when it arises in the learning process a real horseman does not shy away those challenges with their horse. Instead, they guide them through it building deeper partnerships and skills.

4. Your emotions don’t run the show.

Your horse doesn’t need your frustration. They don’t need your fear, your self-doubt, or your ego. They need leadership. They need presence, clarity, vision, patience, consistency. You stay present on your horses needs and you feel whatever you need to feel after the session.

5. Pressure is not the enemy. Confusion is.

Pressure is part of learning. Nothing creates a more frustrated horse than a human driven by emotion with a lack of decisiveness, consistency and awareness of the horse. A horseman knows it’s not the amount of pressure but rather the timing and significance of the release that makes the biggest difference.

6. Boundaries create confidence.

A horse that knows the boundaries are consistent and supportive feels safe and can fully submit. Leadership means serving them, giving them structure, clarity, and trust.

7. You let the horse think.

Micromanaging creates robotic, neurotic and anxious horses. You present the question, give them the time and ability to make their own decision, let them figure it out then guide and support them as necessary.

8. You learn from every horse.

A true horseman never stops being a student. Every horse has something to teach you—if you’re humble enough to listen. When the student is ready, the teacher appears.

9. The goal is not short term gratification. The goal is setting that horse up for a lifetime of success.

What we do with our horse develops their skills. How we do it develops the partnership. A horse that is forced to perform is not the same as a horse that chooses to.

10. You reflect, you refine, you return.

After every ride, you analyze what worked, what didn’t, and how to improve. You don’t just do more, you do better.

11. You lead by example.

You don’t demand respect, you earn it. You don’t just teach the horse discipline, you live it. Your horse is always responding to who you are. The question is: are you someone worth following?

We are all called to be horsemen but many will never step up because they are too focused on themselves. For those who choose this path to do what is best for the horse, there is no deeper reward.

The world needs more real horsemen.

The world needs more real leaders.

“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”

The same goes for our horses.

-Colton Woods

06/03/2025

The Dance of Connection

One of the most powerful and vital abilities which horses can help people develop, is the ability to be simultaneously self and other-aware.

When we connect and particularly when we move with a loose horse, we need to be able to focus simultaneously on our inner state of being – physical, mental and emotional, as well as staying aware of and flexibly connected to the horse.

Both of these can be challenging in different ways for different people, as we’re all oriented and more able in different ways.

This is a subtle yet essential ability. Horses in particular require us to develop this, so that they can trust us in each moment to be fully present and able to regulate our own fluctuating internal states.

To be able to bring both of these types of awareness and focus together in a kind of dance, is really a beautiful thing to achieve. Even if it only lasts a few minutes, it’s still a powerful and often moving experience where a true sense of inter-connectedness and even oneness can arise. And the more we can dip into and can stay in this state with our equine friends, the easier it gets overtime to master this skill elsewhere in our lives.

This then enhances all of our relationships, including with people, as it means we can stay focused on our inner world and state moment-by-moment, while also paying attention to the others’ words, body language and other non-verbal cues.

We can hone our attention to self and other, which then deepens our connections as we’re then naturally much more present and flexible to the ever-shifting states we all move through, including the horses. And the ability to be fully present, what I term “Embodied Presence”, is a powerful, key relational skill, particularly with horses.

Angela Dunning
The Horse’s Truth
www.thehorsestruth.co.uk

Image by Sandra Cammann, via Pixabay.

06/03/2025

So many accidents and injuries in the horse world could be avoided if riders were handling horses from a more behaviour informed lens.

There is this narrative that’s being pushed that is self disabling, where people claim that dangerous situations cannot be avoided because horses are simply “unpredictable.”

Meanwhile, these same people reject the concept of trigger stacking and argue with anyone who points out the stressors that can lead up to explosive reactions in horses.

If we don’t want to think deeper about how we can avoid dangerous situations and reduce reactivity in horses, then what are we doing?

People justify use of harsh training methods like hitting horses for punishment, using aggressive bits and training gadgets under the guise of “safety.”

But, in the same vein, they mock anyone who brings up behaviour informed concepts like trigger stacking, species appropriate care and avoiding use of behavioural suppressants like punishment.

Harsh bits, training gadgets and hitting horses to “correct” unwanted behaviour are not proven to increase safety.

Punishment is actually linked to an increase in reactivity and aggression across numerous species, including horses.

Harsh bits and coercive training methods are linked to higher instances of stress.

Stress is linked to more explosive and unpredictable behaviour in horses.

Avoiding trigger stacking and being mindful of what triggers our horses is an informed approach that works to reduce stress threshold and thereby avoid pushing horses so over threshold that they react dangerously.

It is proven to work.

On the flip side, the majority of what our mainstream horse industry claims is for “safety” is based off of anecdotes that are easily disproven just by watching what’s going on.

If bits were single-handedly keeping people safer, we wouldn’t be seeing so many accidents at all riding levels.

If hitting horses as the primary form of correction was the most successful means of reducing dangerous behavior, that would be shown in studies.

It would also be shown in practice, but it’s not.

A lot of the trainers who most loudly promote physical punishment as a form of correction are also the very same trainers who are posting the most evidence of horses reacting dangerously in their program.

The horse industry has a way of gaslighting people into believing that methods that actually are resulting in a lack of safety are the ones that are protecting safety.

And in doing so, we create a self perpetuating cycle that will never stop until we address the factors that are causing safety issues.

Stressed horses are dangerous horses.

But, instead of having a big discussion about what is promoting stress in horses, the most, and how we can start to fix it and model competition in a more horse-friendly way, our industry continues to promote attitudes that keep us stuck.

If we address the stress that we see in the average horse, whether they are a pleasure horse or a competition, it is a means of harm reduction for the horse and also ensuring further safety for the human.

Everything that makes horses dangerous is related to their flight response.

When they are frightened, they act unpredictably and they are large animals so naturally, this will be dangerous.

When they are chronically anxious and stressed, it does not take very much to set them off because they are so triggered stacked.

And then this leads to a chain of events that can make for a horse who has a very explosive “personality,” or, at least what people interpret as a personality when really it is the inevitable result of unmet needs.

Simply just by providing species-appropriate care and learning how to read Horse behaviour from an unbiased, fact-based perspective, we can improve the safety of both horses and humans astronomically.

21/10/2024

This is one of the best things I’ve seen!!

From AB Equine Therapy:

The horse gets louder when you don’t listen

That behavior you ignored when it was mild… well now it’s a lot more aggressive.

The solution to ‘problem’ behavior is not:

‘They’re just grumpy’
‘They just need more rides, more work, they have too much energy’
‘They’re testing you, ride them through it..’

The horse is actually saying:

‘Ouch I’m hurting’
‘Hey this is too much for me’
‘I’m confused’
‘We’re going too fast’
‘This is scary’

👆This is what that behavior you’re so inclined to ignore is telling you.

We need to stop making justifications for things that are actually plain as day.

The horse DOES TALK we just need to listen.

16/01/2024

The smartest thing I've heard in a very, very long time was said by Martin Black the other day... He said, "It takes pressure for the release to mean something, and release for the pressure to mean something."

That is brilliant... full stop.

That is a saying that will stand the test of time like...
"...do less sooner instead of more later"
Or
"...reward the smallest change or slightest try" Or
"....see how LITTLE it takes..."
Or
"...be as gentle as possible but as firm as necessary"

The most important thing when training, is making sure the horse's mind WORKS right... and that can be messed up so easily by the human by being:

Too harsh
Too lenient
Too fast
Too slow
Too demanding
Too unclear
(... and I'm sure there's more😉)

Sometimes I spend a considerable amount of time getting the horse to think correctly, and when I say think correctly, I mean their ability to feel pressure (and not get scared or mad) and the release of that pressure... both mentally and physically. The mental pressure part comes in when trying to figure something out, trying to figure out the answer to a puzzle or a question or a situation... And when that answer is found, the horse REALIZING the answer has been found LOL, (the pressure goes away)😉. I think Physical pressure is pretty "easy" to understand; it's the signal, followed by phases of reinforcement.

There's an ebb and flow to learning, and some people are good at teaching their horses to traverse this, and become good learners that can process new information well, aaaaand some people are not. And many times it's those horse's that get locked up mentally; they're either dulled out and disinterested, or over reactive with their throttle stuck on high.... or both!

Take care of your horse's mind first and the rest will follow with ease.

✌️
Kalley