Strong Spirit Stables LLC

10/07/2025

The Cost of Entry

The cost of entry into becoming a good horseman, is discomfort.

Learning is not supposed to feel easy. When someone is teaching you, especially in horsemanship, it’s going to challenge you. You’ll feel awkward. Unsure. Maybe even frustrated. That’s part of the process.

Because horse training isn’t something you can memorize or “figure out” through words alone. You can’t study enough in a book to master technique.
It takes feel, and feel can only be developed through time, mistakes, and experience.

Every great hand you admire once sat right where you are: fumbling through timing, missing moments, questioning themselves. But they kept showing up. They stayed open. They let the horse and the work shape them. And most of us are still reaching, still pressing to learn more, do better, and putting ourselves in the awkward learning stage.

If you want to be a good horseman, you have to be willing to pay the price, and that price is being uncomfortable learning but still showing up anyways.

10/06/2025

This!!

10/06/2025

The path back from freeze

Horses are emotional sponges. If they can’t flee or fight (their natural coping strategies), the stress turns inward.

This is what I feel is happening in those moments of freeze.

What cannot be expressed, must be absorbed.

Horses, as prey animals, are deeply tuned to flight. It’s their natural form of processing overwhelm — movement is medicine for their nervous systems.

But in domestic life, this natural discharge is often blocked:

Fences replace open fields.

Halters and ropes limit choice.

Social dynamics may be fixed.

Humans may not recognize subtle signs of stress.

So the horse can’t flee, and often can’t fight (they’d be reprimanded). What’s left?

Freeze.

The third survival strategy, often misread as calm or obedience, is actually a state of nervous system shutdown — a silent scream.

The Freeze Response as a Philosophical State

Freeze is not just a nervous system condition — it’s a spiritual and existential posture.

It is:

A dimming of agency.

A withholding of essence.

A state of holding life at bay — not fully here, but not fully gone.

In this state, the horse is not being in the present. They're surviving it.

What is lost?

Vitality. Curiosity. Authentic expression. The very soulful aliveness that makes horses who they are.

Freeze is a kind of suspension of self, a quiet grief of not being able to be what you are: fluid, alert, and responsive.

Horses don’t just feel their own bodies — they feel ours. They read:

The invisible language of our posture and breath.

The underlying emotional current, even beneath the words.

The unspoken becomes, for them, a felt truth.

When a horse lives in chronic stress (whether their own or ours) and can't move it out, it doesn’t disappear — it moves inward:

Into the gut (ulcers, colic).

Into the fascia (tension patterns).

Into the behavior (aggression, withdrawal).

Into the soul (a loss of sparkle, curiosity, connection).

We say they are “sponges” not because they are passive absorbers, but because they are relational beings — deeply attuned to the field around them, designed to keep the herd (and now, us) safe through feeling everything.

The Path Back from Freeze

Coming out of freeze is not dramatic. It’s quiet.

A lick.

A sigh.

A blink.

A moment of curiosity.

The body begins to trust the present again.

Philosophically, this is a return to aliveness.

Not just survival, but existence with agency.

And that’s a sacred gift that we can give to our horses by becoming the guardian they need in these moments.

10/04/2025

10/02/2025

Take the time to find the stillness within♥️ it’ll change your life!

It’s Wednesday Wisdom.

Over the years I have watched many of my students purchase new horses, and with their patience and horsemanship ability, return these horses, not just to a physical, functional balance, but to an emotional and soul level balance. It amazes me how many horses operate from fear, from being told what to do how to do it and with such a high level of increased activity of their nervous system, just because they are in constant stress.

When you take these horses to the arena, so often they are dancing around, overreacting, trying to sort out what you want them to do before you even ask because they have not witnessed being part of a conversation. They have only been pushed, told what to do, how to do it and learned to operate like little robots.
Their mind is fried, their body is fried, and they are constantly in a heightened state of arousal.

I am so proud of all my students, some of whom are trainers within themselves, that have learned how to offer these horses a different launchpad for the way life can be. The students know how to take the time, find the stillness within, and allow the Horse the space to do nothing yet leave nothing undone. In this timeless space trust is re- developed, and a bond is built between Owner and Horse. As these horses unfold like petals opening on a warm summer day, their blossoming shows the true nature of their giving, willing Heart. It shows their true expression, their kindness, the gentleness and their willingness to be part of a relationship where they are now participating in the conversation.

This transformation brings joy to my heart, but sadness within to think of how many horses are in these opposite situations. Bullying, demanding, increasing strength and gadgets, and making a horse do something that he either doesn’t understand or is physically or emotionally not able to do is not teaching !

This little mare in the picture was a lovely horse in training with me,but had no trust when she arrived, and was quite frankly a bully because that’s how she defended herself. Within a few weeks, she was literally the softest, kindest little mare who melted into my hand, (and my heart). Each day, I feel so grateful that I get to work with and learn from these gentle Giants🩷

10/02/2025

Forward motion is essential to a horse's wellbeing.

It's very human to be more comfortable with stillness. Often when I teach people and I introduce one extra task, they freeze to process - they can no longer move and hear input, enacting them in motion. Many people experience fear of moving with horses, and convince themselves that going slow or being stationary is safer on a horse. It is easy to understand why it feels that way -

So you can imagine why it is difficult for a human to understand a horse's need to move -

Horses, from birth, are pushed biologically: mentally and physically for movement. Movement is safety, movement is regulation. People love to look at the horse from their OWN perceptions of safety, especially now, often using pseudo science or popularized therapy jargon in an anthropomoprhic way to look at the horse.

But if we look at the horse in its true nature - free of our assumptions and learned methods and principles and so on - filters we've learned to see the horse through - movement is natural and necessary for the horse.

When I have a nervous horse, one of the first things I like to do to help them is find rhythmic movement. Not just disjointed chaotic movement - and this here is key.

Rhythmic movement helps horses learn to breathe deeply, processing the world around them while simultaneously learning to focus in on one simple task. It doesn't say DON'T look at things, it doesn't force the horse forward - rhythmic movement gathers chaotic energy and funnels it into productive, aware, calm, and focused movement. This is where horses can feel safest -

Not only does it allow for deep and regular breathing, but creating a pattern of predictability helps horses learn and recieve aids and inputs far better. A "soft" hand that comes out of nowhere with no predictable pattern is much more jarring than a hand that comes WITHIN the rhythm. A horse who can feel the swing of a rider and get within the circuit of aids can be responsive and supple because of a pattern of predictability - the aid comes not outside the center of the rider but within.

Probably everyone has experienced a horse who is "perfectly calm" standing still with some stimulus (let's say a young horse saddled, seeming just fine) and have that same horse come completely unglued once moving with that same stimulus (the saddled horse moves off and begins bucking). There is a huge difference here between accepting stimulus in a standstill (which so easily turns to freezing or tuning out) to feeling, understanding and completely accepting it in motion -

Motion is so important to horses wellbeing, mentally and physically. Good, organized forward motion makes horses sound. It calms them. It teaches them, soothes them, and so much more.

It's humans who do not like the horse's forward motion, and find all sorts of ways to frame their blocking of forward energy to make it sound ethical in all kinds of mental gymnastics.

If you love a horse, you need to learn to love forward motion. Not crazy out of control forward motion - organized, rhythmic and balanced motion. But, you have to develop a seat and some trust in movement to create that - it's a lot easier to find ways out that make you sound nice, than practice and study and toil over your seat for years, which is what that takes.

Photo by Jessie Cardew - explaining to a student how to allow forward motion to come through in fine motor control movements where it is quite easy to accidentally block or shut it down.

10/02/2025

This. Always THIS. 🙌🐴🥰 Love the horse first.

10/01/2025

What would we hear from our horses if we slowed down a little bit more and zoomed out on the picture a little bit?

What might change in what we’re hearing from our horses? What we’re feeling? What we’re connecting?

They do say, no
I don’t understand
I can’t
I’m scared
I hurt
That’s hard

They also will say yes,
I trust you,
I’ll try,
I’m scared but you’re here,
It’s hard
but I will do, or at least try, it
For ✨you✨

When they feel as though they’re part of the team
With a voice
Honoring their brain and brilliance
They’ll show up even stronger
Than coerced through,
Shutdown, dissociated ones

They’ll question, thoughtfully
Instead of panic
And trust your guidance,
Instead of saving themself blindly.

When we honor their voice,
when we are willing to listen
not just speak,
The partnerships we’re developing are that much stronger. ❤️‍🔥

09/30/2025

09/30/2025

Too often in the horse world, people feel pressured to get on a young or green horse before that horse is truly ready. The truth is, some of the most important lessons a horse will ever learn can (and should) be taught from the ground.

Groundwork is the safest and most effective way to build a horse’s education. When done correctly, it’s not just “teaching manners” or leading quietly—it’s riding from the ground. Every concept the horse will need under saddle—balance, softness, responsiveness, confidence, and understanding of pressure and release—can be developed far more clearly and consistently from a place where both horse and human are safe.

A skittish, green, or unsure horse doesn’t need someone rushing to climb on their back. What they need is time, patience, and communication that makes sense to them. Groundwork provides that foundation. It allows us to establish trust, clarity, and respect without putting either horse or rider in unnecessary danger.

If we take the time to put in this work on the ground, riding becomes the natural next step—not a gamble. In fact, the horses that come up through solid groundwork programs often transition to the saddle quietly and willingly, because the work has already been done.

Good groundwork isn’t “less than” riding—it’s the heart of horsemanship.

09/29/2025

“I’ve been doing it this way for years!”

When folks justify their skills by saying they’ve been doing it for years, decades, their whole life, etc., I grieve the lost years of potential progress.

I don’t train horses the same way I did 10 years ago. I don’t even train the same way I did 2 years ago. My path is littered with abandoned methods, tools, and paradigms. And though I have a rather successful track record helping horses rehabilitate and develop, I am constantly searching for ways to do it better.

I also find that the horses I encounter today as a whole seem softer, smarter, and more balanced than the horses of my past. For that I thank my own dedication to growth as a horsewoman… not some mystical force that has graced me with better horses.

It excites me to imagine the level of horsemanship we may all find 10 years from now if we commit ourselves to a path forward instead of a stagnant satisfaction with current methods that have been “working fine for years”.