Empathy Horsemanship

09/03/2025

If anyone's after a nice bitless bridle, I love the Amalia Dempsey bridle from Natural Horse World! I think Bells looks so pretty in it 😍

09/02/2025

Its okay to walk your horse! When I started riding I was told "never get off the horse!" Why? Because then they've won! Won what? Not sending me to hospital or having the opportunity for a bit of extra ground support to get them through whatever they're struggling with? That sounds awful!

But sarcasm aside 😅 there are a long list of benefits to walking your horses. Exposure, confidence building for you both, exercise for you both, relationship building, enrichment... having a great time!!!

Yesterday my friends and I went out for a walk. My body didn't feel right for riding after recent body work and Bell's back has been a bit tight the past few days... So we aired on the side of caution and walked! We both still had a great time! I enjoyed the exercise and I'm sure she appreciated not having the strain on her back!

Id argue most of us have horses because we love spending time with them. Don't let the narrative of "you must ride your horse" get in the way of you and your horse enjoying yourselves!

03/02/2025

02/02/2025

My "weight loss" journey and how its change my horse journey.

29/01/2025

Love this! Our animals have a lot to say if we listen! This morning my dog told me the cat was outside waiting to be let in 😅 I opened the door thinking he wanted to go out. He waited for the cat to come in then walked away! I think it's definitely worth a pause and listen. Listen to understand, not to reply as they say!

In the morning, Quora came in from her pasture and had asked to go into a stall. She was in there munching hay when I went to get her to tack her up and ride.
Although I normally bring her out into the aisle at liberty, she had already been groomed so I went into the stall with the halter, as that’s what I ride her in.

I opened the door and entered the stall, she picked her head up, looked at me, made a kind of ‘blech’ face then turned away from me. The back door of the stall was open to a paddock and she slowly walked out.

There were so many ways to think about or ‘address’ that scenario. Was she being disrespectful? Was she telling me that she hated riding, or hated me? Did she need to be ‘corrected or did I need to walk away? Should I have ‘done’ something?

Should I feel like a failure that my young horse doesn’t like me? Or should I feel like a failure because I hadn’t trained her to give me her full attention when I enter her space? for so many people those would be the only 2 options for how to feel about this.

I decided to do nothing and just observe. I decided to be curious.

She walked out into the paddock and got a drink from the waterer. Yes, there was water in her stall, but I had already observed that she prefers the outside waterer, perhaps because it’s less noisy.

After getting a drink she walked back into the stall and into the aisle and stuck her head in the halter that I was still holding. I guess I’m not such a failure after all.

I thought about the day before when Dana and I were going somewhere, he was already outside and came in the kitchen to let me know we needed to go. I held up my finger to say: ‘just 1 minute’ and turned to get a drink of water. I thought about how absolutely normal that scenario was. There was no pressure or disobedience. Dana didn’t feel like a failure or that I had disrespected him. It was just 2 people in a relationship moving through life together.

How else could Quora have possibly have told me that she was thirsty? I love that my horses feel free to do things like that. It means she ‘got’ what is happening and she simply wanted to have a drink before doing it. No, I don’t know exactly what she was thinking, but sometimes things simply are as they seem.

I was glad I didn’t ‘correct’ her or feel bad about myself. Keeping me feeling good about myself isn’t my horse’s responsibility anyway… but that’s a different story.

I know probably some people are going to make arguments that she should look at me when I enter the stall, she shouldn’t turn away, blah, blah blah.

I wonder if that would be the same people who also would say that when my husband walks in the room I need to give him full attention and I don’t dare hesitate when he says it’s time to leave... even if I'm thirsty.

We are each allowed to have the relationship we want with our horses. Just make sure it’s working for you and your horse.

29/01/2025

I've recently been observing more discussions on training and how best to keep horses relaxed and enjoying themselves while learning and training. Add that to recent discussions with a friend who is going through a challenging time at the moment, and it's got my mind ticking over as usual.

It's easy to get into a mindset and forget that not everyone thinks like you do. So I appreciate these moments to think deeper about where I am and why I got here.

Anyway, to the point... Leave space for your humanity.

Well, duh, Sarah 😅 but no, really. We're very good at leaving space for joy, happiness, relaxation... all the feel-good stuff. Then we spend the majority of our time trying to suppress, avoid, or fix any of the less desirable feelings. All this creates is adults who don't actually know how to be okay with being human and, in turn, don't allow the same space for a horse to be a horse.

Feeling things is just a part of life—it happens. If we want to go spiritual, it's a term and condition we agreed to when we signed up for life. Having a preference for things is normal too! The only time it becomes a problem is when we get stuck with these feelings, and they become blinding, lingering emotions that cause us to no longer live in the present moment.

You'll observe horses go through a range of feelings, expressions, and communication with each other—without judgment. We, on the other hand, absolutely suck at that 😅. We create stories and meaning wherever we can and, with good intentions, strive to completely eradicate the less desirable feelings in ourselves and our horses. Sounds futile and exhausting when I put it like that, huh?

If you're still with me, just for a moment, I want you to think and consider what it would feel like to be totally okay with feeling all of your feelings. How much time and effort do you spend trying to distract yourself, explain away, or fix your less desirable feelings? How often do you feel you get stuck in the pursuit of trying to avoid feeling them in the first place? The weight of letting all of that go isn't insignificant for a lot of us! What then would become available to you, energetically, in the absence of that weight and pressure? That's where the cool stuff happens!!

The resistance we can end up creating can cause more problems than it solves. Whilst I'm totally on board with the pursuit of better, this is where I see people get stuck, blocked, and limited from having a truly free and fulfilling relationship with themselves and their horses!

I'm not saying nothing matters, so don't worry about it. I'm saying that these things will happen regardless of how hard you try, and our love, acceptance, and compassion for them—in ourselves and our horses—will only serve to evolve our relationships and create more of the harmony and fulfillment we're ultimately seeking.

I guess my challenge to people is this: Can you allow yourself and your horse to feel things and have that expression and experience happen without judgment—letting it flow naturally through our bodies and out again? It's a lot harder than it sounds!

It's amazing how much more you'll get from letting go. ❤️

21/01/2025

Well.. this is a hard post to write! It seems it's time for a new chapter in my life. Unfortunately that means an end to the chapter that is this business. I have had the most rewarding and growth inspiring years of my life doing this. The journeys it's led me on and the people I've met, many of which I now call family, has been nothing short of incredible! It truly is something I love and I can't thank those of you who have supported me enough! It's been an absolute privilege.

As most of you would be aware, I've been blessed with the joy of raising another little soul recently! Due to our family circumstances here in Adelaide I'm unable to do both, teaching and being a mum, without sacrificing the quality of my attention and performance to one. I've had a few amazing months of having my cake and eating it too but it seems the universe is telling me that time has come to an end.

You will always have my support, if you feel stuck please don't hesitate to message and I can help find resources that might be of help! I'd still love to help where I can!

Thank you to all of my amazing clients, friends and family who have made this journey such a dream come true. I have no doubt it will be something I will come back to in the future when the time is right!

With love and gratitude,
Sarah ❤️

20/01/2025

"They're not giving you a hard time, they're having a hard time. "

I love this saying so much. It's incredible how quickly it helps me refocus my energy and intention!

19/01/2025

In a healthy relationship it's not you vs them. It's you and them vs the problem ❤️

05/01/2025

May your 2025 be filled with many joyful moments ❤️ But make sure your in the present so you notice them tho!

And if you have to let a little bit of your weird out... You go ahead and do that too 😅

19/12/2024

Enjoy the process and make sure your horse is enjoying the process too!