Mistie H Equestrian

09/11/2023

A very informative evening - thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you.

02/08/2023

I love her enthusiasm and confidence; however, throwing a lot of language at her about safety and how to approach the horses is not quite going in 🧠

I'm hoping some visual cues from the ‘How to say hello to a horse’ poster from Twinkl Resources will help convey the message. 🤞

01/08/2023

Feeling good after his session this morning 🫶🏻

Thank you .. Cheshire Equine Therapy - physical therapy, rehab, coaching, & training

01/08/2023

Something that I don’t think is discussed often enough in the horse community is the idea of harm reduction.

So much of the horse world seems to view all opinions in a very black and white light, assuming that someone either has to be completely for something or completely against it. And, unfortunately, a lot of horse people DO contribute to this belief by publicizing their very black and white views.

A lack of nuance can contribute to more harm than some flexibility, or at minimum, understanding of where other equestrians may at in their journey of knowledge acquisition and horsemanship improvement.

I do think as an industry there needs to be a certain openness to people who are moving towards reducing harm in their horses, even if they are not fully there yet. Trying to do better is something that does deserve appreciation.

I think that this is an important discussion when we are referencing the rewards based community versus people who are still using predominantly, or entirely, aversive methods. It’s a hard transition for people to make especially with how closed off much of the community still is to rewards based training, it can be hard to find trainers and mentors to help make that transition and adequately learn how to use R+ or even just learn WHY it’s beneficial.

It is not reasonable to expect someone to go from using entirely traditional methods, with no rewards, to being purely rewards base with no aversives. This is the equivalent to expecting a horse to do a complete 180 in training and start doing the opposite of everything that they have learned prior in just a matter of hours or days, which isn’t something that good trainers would reasonably expect because we know re-learning and unlearning things takes time. There is an adjustment period and shaping typically has to be a slower approach of many little steps.

And so, it’s important to consider that operating with a shame based mentality and taking such a rigid stance that you cannot appreciate the growth of an equestrian until they have completely committed to a purely rewarded based approach is counterproductive. It is a mistake to label people who are actively trying to learn how to do better as terrible or abusive people simply because they haven’t fully committed to the entire process and are in the beginning stages of undoing previous mistakes. All this ends up doing is creating barriers that make people less likely to want to reduce harm due to feeling that nothing they do will ever be good enough.

The desire and attempt to start doing better is how one begins the journey of developing more ethical practices. No one starts this journey by fully committing to a 100% change in practices because it’s hard to do with a lack of support and resources, which let’s be real, science based horse training is currently under resourced due to how few available trainers there are with equine sciences backgrounds when compared to traditional trainers.

It’s imperative that we realize that the shift in the horse world won’t be immediate. We can hold space for our personal views while still recognizing when someone is engaging in harm reduction and choosing our battles wisely.

For example, you can believe that bitless riding is the most ethical way of riding. You can believe that there is no need for a bit and that they are always going to be uncomfortable and unfair to the horse.

BUT— you can do so while recognizing the fact that encouraging people to ride in a smooth mouth piece snaffle or rubber snaffle, is preferable to someone using an abrasive mouthpiece, such as twisted wire, or a gag bit. Doing so is probably more likely to result in a softening of methodology than demanding someone go bitless when they have grown used to using harsh equipment. They’re more likely to meet in the middle and choose a softer bit than they are to go from harsh bit to entirely bitless, especially when we remember the aforementioned lack of resources for qualified trainers to help them along this journey.

It may still fall outside of the realm of your ethical beliefs, but for the horse, the improvement from going from a harsher bit to a softer one is something that will still undoubtedly improve welfare, even if it is not the perfect situation.

And, for the horse, that welfare improvement is substantial enough to at minimum make their day to day more pain free and tolerable.

Read the full blog here: https://milestoneequestrian.ca/blog/2023/7/1/qdevafmniom20ic93w36zwa29ypew0

27/07/2023

Aww we love you too Casp 🤍

19/07/2023

In the last couple of weeks, there have been lots of new stimuli for little Casper to process, which he has done beautifully. So here he is, enjoying an aroma rub-down for some well deserved R&R ✨

(Lavender oil - patch test + diluted ✔️)

13/03/2022

Red rosette for Otti today in the combined training ♥️

78.40% in the dressage followed by a lovely clear round 💫

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12/02/2022

There was such a rewarding moment during my coaching session yesterday 💡

A young child that I’m helping is facing some adversity with their riding. In our previous session, we went through some techniques to help. Breathing in and pretending to blow out the candles and a ‘running through the senses’ exercise.

Last night during our session, just as we were about to go off into trot, the child asked if we could run through the breathing exercise and started to tell me what they could see, smell, hear and feel 💖

They trotted a lot further around the arena than last time 🥳

It’s nice to think that now they are aware of those simple but effective techniques (in my opinion), they can pull them out the brain bank as a toolkit when facing adversity in every day life scenarios.

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12/02/2022

Lately in videos, I have noticed my hands are not quite as level as I would like them to be and could do with a little tweaking.

There was a lady on facebook using a chopstick to help keep the hands together... It’s harder than it looked tbh 🤯 but it did the job 🥳

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12/02/2022

China Doll 💖.. home produced

03/02/2022

Dressage practice in the sunshine 🥰

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01/02/2022

Children of all ages can benefit from mindfulness. It can help parents and caregivers, too. Here are tips for children and adults of all ages for how to be more present.

30/01/2022

Billy Elliot scored 70.45% (with a couple of spooks so really chuffed) in his prelim and then rode the sweetest clear round in the combined training this morning. 💖

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30/01/2022

Ezra had his first trot the other day 🥳 which is something he has been reluctant to do. I don’t like to push him because he is only 4! All his motor skills & muscles are still developing and he has many, many years to learn to ride if this is something he would like to do. So no rush.

When we first started to trot he felt nervous and changed his mind, which is fine.
We came back to walk and for a bit of reassurance we had a chat about the characters in his ‘Brave’ and ‘Mindful’ story and what they do when they feel worried. Just like the dog in his Brave story.. he took a couple of big breaths in, blew away the butterfly’s 🦋 and off he trotted 🥳

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23/01/2022

Agility exercises today. Get those little muscles working 🏋🏻

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13/01/2022

13/01/2022

Otti has had a glow up 💫

9 months ago Otti was brought back into work after having a very long time off. Now, he’s looking gorgeous and feeling very pleased with him self for riding two lovely tests in the BD prelim and novice yesterday.

He got some nice comments and good scores 💖

I feel like i’ve finally found my feet juggling the horses with two young children - It felt good to be back out

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30/12/2021

I took my children’s pony jumping practice today because he is just a breath of fresh air and a joy to be around 💖

I can take him out by my self with no stress which during this mega busy time 🎄 was just what I needed.

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20/12/2021

Alfie has been in the Hughes family for 18 years! It’s so special that my children now have the pleasure of looking after him

06/12/2021

27/11/2021

Austin hasn’t been worked for a while.. to prevent muscle fatigue and injury for both him and me I will ease him back gently with some long reining and lunging before getting back on 🏋🏻🏋🏼‍♀️

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19/11/2021

A lovely morning to be out working on the yard ☀️

Followed by a fab ride on the gorgeous George 💫

18/11/2021

It is Good Employment Week and we are passionate about ensuring that all of the brilliant employers are recognised for their part in making our industry a fabulous place to work.

We love this quote from Carl Hester, "The team around me are an integral part of what I do and the success we achieve. Good and correct employment is paramount; not just for my yard but for the retention of the workforce and the future of the equestrian industry.”

We are here to support employers every step of the way. Find out more here: https://equestrianemployers.org.uk/


British Equestrian British Dressage

17/11/2021

For my degree course we have to look into a bit of the neuroscience behind children’s cognitive development, which I personally find quite fascinating, especially the teenage brain!

Esme came to the stables with very high energy levels which the ponies don’t respond well too. They are prey/flight animals who live through their senses and in the moment. Every time she would go near them they would pull a face and go to the back of the stable. Before her lesson, to make friends with the ponies, we focussed on Esme being mindful of her breathing, bringing her energy levels down and then the ponies would allow her to stroke them.

Ottis behaviour mirrored Esme’s emotions. Otti and the ‘mindful’ breathing techniques taught Esme the skill to self regulate her emotions, for them to go on to have an enjoyable riding experience together 💫

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