Strong Spirit Stables LLC

04/25/2025

❤️

𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬.

I was working a young horse recently who’d been struggling with the same maneuver for days. I caught myself thinking, “𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘸.”

But then I looked at that horse and I thought…
Maybe he’s not behind―𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘐’𝘮 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘺.

So, I slowed down. Gave him space to think. And wouldn’t you know it—he got it. Not because I pushed, but 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥.

Sometimes the best thing we can offer our horses is the gift of time—time to think, time to trust, time to try again.

04/24/2025

04/22/2025

“You’re seeing me…”

I’ll never forget those words. When they were said, how they were said. What it felt like. They were said to me by someone very close to me. Someone I wanted to see, and to let them see me.

But many times we put up walls.

We shut-in, and we shut-out.

I remember a time when I was with a walled-off, shut-in horse in groundwork. At one point they finally looked into my eyes and something changed and a feeling came over me and in that moment I saw them, felt them, knew them. The real them.

“There you are,” I said.

Everything changes after that moment. The walls have been dropped and you’ve been let in.

This is the most sacred space.

Seems we’re made of the same clothe in ways, humans and horses. We’re all great hiders. All it takes is a little bit of lived life and some scary times and those walls go up.

This is understandable. It’s our innocent self-preservation instinct doing its job. But the big deep real work during all of that innocent self-preservation is this: it’s in keeping an open heart.

Don’t judge and dismiss the moment because you have already created a story about it based on your past.

Horses teach us this. No matter our past they do a pretty good job of treating us as who we are right now. They will help us to let go. And you know what? We can do the same for them. Because they need help in letting go of the past too.

And it begins with not just looking at their body and seeing them for what they are doing for us. It truly begins with looking into their eyes and seeing them for who they are. Where they are. What they are feeling. And what they are saying.

To do this, it begins with us. To deeply know another we must also deeply know ourselves.

When a horse lets you see them, the most sacred of honors has been given to you.

And so what will you do with it?

😊🐴🙏

Photo by Paige Taylor

04/21/2025

When horse trainers talk about your 'energy', are you confused? If so, I'll explain - because it’s more important than you might realise!

Your body speaks louder than you know. And your horse is listening all the time. You might think you’re showing up calm, clear, “in charge” - but your horse hears what your nervous system is ACTUALLY saying.👀

You see, we are always broadcasting information that we are not even conscious of. Through our breath. Our posture. Our muscle tension. Inner thoughts and mindset, hormones. The lot! And the kicker is that horses are biologically hard-wired to read it. They’re prey animals and their survival depends on their ability to detect even the tiniest shift in the environment and atmosphere. So when trainers talk about our 'energy' it really IS important.

So...what DO horses need from us?

✨They need embodied, intentional presence. ✨

That means:

• Being grounded in your body.
• Aware of your breath and emotions.
• Congruent in your internal and external signals.
• Being in a confident, kind, clear and POSITIVE emotional and mental state.

Because horses don’t just respond to what you do - they respond to who you are in that moment. You can’t posture your way into trust, and you can't fake it. You have to cultivate it, truly and wholly, from the inside out.

That’s why real horsemanship starts with SELF-WORK.
Because horses don't react to just your technique. They react to your nervous system. Your emotional congruence. Your clarity. Your authenticity. So ALL of that must be applied to your training methods.

So before every session, ask:

1) What is my body saying right now?
2) What emotional state am I bringing in with me from outside the arena/yard?
3) Am I grounded, present, and open - or tense, distracted, uncertain, or elsewhere?

Because horses don’t speak your language. They speak ENERGETICALLY. And when you learn to master what you radiate, you unlock true partnership.

04/19/2025

🙌

04/16/2025

Brewing up a batch of Ulcer tea for one of the horses!

Prior to initiating saddled work, I performed a pain assessment on a horse yesterday and observed some reactive behaviors. (This will be the new standard here.)

Stress triggers, which increase acid production are:
Changes in herd hierarchy/social interactions
Changes in stabling location or routines
Confinement lifestyles with little turnout
Traveling
Beginning training or changes in daily exercise routine
Injury and confinement
Competition
Chronic or severe pain

HOW CAN I DIAGNOSE ULCERS IN MY HORSE?
There are three ways to further investigate the likelihood that your horse has ulcers. A great first step is to perform a focused acupressure point test to determine if there is sensitivity. Another option is to perform a therapeutic trial with drug therapy and/or digestive support supplementation. The most costly procedure is to have your veterinarian perform an endoscopy.

A simple, non-invasive indicator of possible digestive tract ulceration involves palpating acupuncture points near the horse’s girth area. These points are closely associated with the digestive tract, and start just behind the withers, run down along the horse’s barrel (behind the elbow) and cross the sternum. If the horse reacts with pain or sensitivity, it is very likely that your horse has an ulcer. You may also notice a defensive or reactive response when saddling or brushing this area. Severe acidosis and un-diagnosed ulcers cause often very sensitive withers or chronic sore backs.

A therapeutic trial consists of basing your diagnosis on the results of treatment with a proper drug or effective supplement. For example, if you feed your horse a digestive health supplement for one to two weeks and see improvement in symptoms, you have correctly identified the problem. Natural digestive support supplements are a fantastic way to perform a therapeutic trial, as there are no negative side effects.

04/16/2025

I think sometimes I might come off a bit mechanical…

But make no mistake, when a horse realizes that not only will we NOTICE when they’re struggling with something physical, but we’ll LISTEN, that is one of the ultimate experiences of ‘Being seen, being heard, feeling felt, and getting gotten.’

Horses are incredibly physical creatures.
They live fully in their bodies, they don’t separate their mind and their emotions from their bodies.

So if we want to truly connect with them, we have to be willing to learn about the negative and positive effects we can have on their physical bodies, as well as how we can help them with their individual natural asymmetries and imbalance.

We owe them nothing less.

04/16/2025

I was talking to my students that every horse and rider are unique, but the one thing that is consistent throughout every lesson is that learning cannot occur without relaxation. Without relaxation, there is no point in attempting to train. Horses are prey animals and are programmed to be concerned about their own safety. A tense horse is worried they are not safe. We have to understand this. The horse may be afraid of his surroundings, or separation from their herd, or maybe they are in pain and it isn’t obvious to their rider yet. Anything that makes the horse uncomfortable will make them concerned about their safety, and no learning can pe*****te that fear. A relaxed mind can learn. A tense one cannot.
In my book "Dressage in Harmony", on page 12, I write that muscles are found in extensor-flexor pairs. A tense horse tends to contract both extensor and flexor muscles at the same time, thereby tightening and stiffening the joints through the action of the opposing forces. A truly relaxed horse will have every muscle relaxed from the poll to the tail, moving in regular rhythm and responding easily to all the aids, and the hoofprints are light. The rider can take up the reins or give the reins, and the horse will maintain his rhythm without running away. This must be true of all three gaits. A relaxed horse is not stiff, nor tight or frightened. Only when relaxed will the horse show brilliance in the movement.
If a horse is tense, you may have to dedicate the entire ride to achieve a relaxation. Some horses are more prone to tension than others. If your horse has an extremely high sense of self preservation, it takes enormous patience by the rider. Horses are programmed to be concerned about their own safety, and are hoping you will show them the way to a more secure state of mind. With repetition, the horse begins to believe in their rider. They begin to learn there is a better feeling out there that the rider will help them get to. The time it takes to get to a relaxed state becomes shorter over time.
When the horse is spooking, do not get too close to the scary thing and "give" to help unwind the tension. This can take great courage on the rider's part, but holding a tense horse tight creates even more tension. The "give" helps the horse's neck to soften and lengthen, and relaxation eventually start to migrate through the horse’s body. The horse recognizes the rider will not "trap" him and will not force scary things upon him. That builds trust, and trust creates relaxation.

04/15/2025

When your partner is struggling, do you look to assign blame, free yourself of responsibility, shut down your partners feelings, avoid the situation, panic over your own feelings - or
Do you seek to find a solution? To guide? To find togetherness again?

When our horses are struggling, we often think about ourselves- our comfort, our goals, our safety - what we wanted to happen and how it isn’t happening - and we abandon the horse.

When the horse is spooking, tuned out, calling out for friends, rushing, stumbling, bracing, whatever the case may be - too often we think of ourselves. Much of our descriptions of their behavior makes us out to be the victim of the horse’s behavior -

But a good partner sees a need and seeks to connect. We brought the horse into our lives, and so we are responsible for their wellbeing.

It doesn’t matter whose fault it is. It doesn’t matter what we wanted originally- when the horse is struggling, what are you going to do about it? How will you help?

The only way to have a partnership is to be a partner. This means you need to be a source of reliable guidance and comfort for the horse - and that is an act of constant awareness, guidance and calm.

04/15/2025

I won’t break them, but I will try to help them put all the pieces together. I want them left fully intact♥️

Someone asked me recently how long it would take me to get a horse "dead broke."

I took a breath, centered myself, and responded honestly:
There is no amount of time I could spend with a horse that would make that happen.
Because dead broke should not be a thing.

Blind obedience in the face of human hands is not partnership—it’s submission. And it comes at the cost of the horse’s voice, their agency, and sometimes, their soul. That isn’t training. That’s trauma.

You could send a horse to me for two years of full training, and when they leave this program, they will still have opinions. They will still communicate. They will still say no.
But they will say it in a way that is safe, regulated, and respectful—because that's what true partnership looks like.

They won’t be “broke.”
They’ll be whole.

But here’s the catch: you have to do the work, too.
You have to check your ego at the door.
You have to learn how to listen as much as you ask.
You have to soften when your horse braces, to be patient when they’re unsure, and to meet resistance with curiosity instead of control.

This isn’t the kind of program where you show up after six months of training expecting your horse to tick off the boxes.

This is the kind of program where you learn to ask better questions—of your horse and of yourself.

Because at the end of the day, you won’t be handed a robotic horse who performs on command.
You’ll be walking beside a sentient, sensitive being—one who knows how to regulate, how to set boundaries, how to trust, and how to dance through life with you – not for you.

And that?
That’s worth more than any timeline, any checklist, or any illusion of control.

That’s what real partnership feels like.
And it’s the only kind of “broke” I’ll ever believe in. 🐴💛

04/15/2025

𝙇𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝘼𝙨 𝙋𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚, 𝙁𝙞𝙧𝙢 𝘼𝙨 𝙉𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙧𝙮

Out riding the other evening, I found myself thinking about the balance between lightness and firmness—and how so much of horsemanship comes down to that dance.

We want to be as light as possible in our cues, in our energy, and in our conversations with our horses. But sometimes, being firm is part of being fair. It’s not about being harsh, it’s about being clear.

Light doesn’t mean weak. And firmness doesn’t mean forceful.

The best horsemen I know communicate with softness, but they’re not afraid to say, “Hey, I mean it,” when the situation calls for it. The goal is always to offer the horse the lightest version first, then adjust if needed.

Your horse will appreciate clarity over perfection every time.