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Free Spirit Equestrian Helping “fringe” equestrians recapture the magic of horses that truly WANT to be with YOU though R+

Would you believe me if I said my horses are getting the absolute ‘treated like royalty’ welfare experience if I backed ...
09/05/2026

Would you believe me if I said my horses are getting the absolute ‘treated like royalty’ welfare experience if I backed that statement up by showing photos and videos of my horses in darkened stalls, displaying stereotypical behaviours and constant conflict while ‘training’ them?

Probably not.

Most horses are not having their basic needs met. And as science and ethology of the horse develops there are now five recognized freedoms.

The freedom from disease of injury

The freedom from discomfort

The freedom from hunger and thirst

The freedom to express normal behaviours

The freedom from fear and distress

The first two freedoms are often met and considered ’good enough’ even though there’s usually room for improvements.

The freedom from illness, disease and treatment/management of ongoing medical conditions is the need most often being met by the average horse owner. Nobody wants their horse to be in obvious pain or discomfort.

The second is access to shelter and an appropriate environment. though I’d like to make the argument that most horses are not getting enough access to species appropriate management. Often horses being used for sport experience a subpar quality environment that does not meet their need for near constant movement and grazing.

Horses are evolved to be eating and foraging for around 18 hours a day. While I’m not advocating for chucking your horse in a lush field until they founder - it’s relevant to begin looking at the setups most commonly seen at equine facilities. A great deal of horses do not have access to adequate daily forage and instead end up going hours between meals leading to ulceration of the stomach and gut.

How often do horses spend time in an environment that reflects their natural habitat? And how different would an equine facility look if a horse first approach was taken to equine management?

Being able to distinguish an environment set up for the human will help you choose one that’s a blend of both worlds.

Humans like horses being immediately available for whatever thing we want to do. It’s easier to collect a horse from a stall or small paddock than a large field or even a track system. But building a golden cage doesn’t change the fact it’s still a cage.

Most modern horses lack freedom to move. Especially in the world of performance horses. It is not uncommon to see horses being restricted from the freedom to move and choose where they spend time throughout the day. Frequently this falls under the guise of preventing injury even when the science now backs horses that experience more turnout are less prone to injury, illness and death.

When I changed my management style to that of a track system I began to notice entirely new patterns of behaviour in my horses. They chose the ‘hangout’ areas, the walking paths and the best spots to eat. I learned to build my facilities accordingly. I placed my feeders and shelters near where they liked to hang out and sleep, I adjusted my fence lines to follow their desire paths around the track system. I began to place enrichment items near where they chose to play and explore most often.

Doing these things didn’t mean my horses suddenly reverted to a semi feral lifestyle. Rather the thing that struck me the most was the fact that I didn’t need to halter my horse for nearly four months. My ideas of when it was time to eat, get water or play became far more readily accepted and desired. The scarcity of choice had finally vanished after nearly 8 months of adjustment.

My horses are never alone. The safety and security of a (small) herd is something sorely missed by horses that do not have access to regular, reliable or consistent friends. They are able to participate in things like mutual grooming, rest, play and companionship as desired.

It is time to approach welfare from the ground up, starting with the frame work that’s already being laid out and following through to changes in management of the horse and land they live on.

“CLICKER TRAINING TAKES TOOO MUCH TIME!”So does undoing years of poor training. Recently I’ve taken a dive down the equi...
17/03/2026

“CLICKER TRAINING TAKES TOOO MUCH TIME!”

So does undoing years of poor training.

Recently I’ve taken a dive down the equine neurobiology rabbit hole and it’s given me a lot to think about when it comes to ethical training of horses.

Quality learning doesn’t look fast, exciting or instantly recognizable. The way horses experience the world looks vastly different from the only way you’ve ever experienced the world.

The way horses perceive with their eyes is different from us. Horses don’t have the same sharp vision that we do. They see exceptionally well in low light, they see motion much better than we do. If the shape of that motion is unfamiliar horses will generally flee before they even have a chance to get a good look at whatever it is that happened to move the wrong way.

Even this small insight has more deeply modified the way I approach working with my students in the future.

There is no replacement for time.

In training and learning you are quite literally reshaping the horses brain. The side effect is reshaping your own brain.

You get good at what you get practice at.

A horse that has experienced ‘traditional’ training with excessive use of force, pressure or punishment has had all that time to practice stress responses, conflict behaviours and built brain pathways to respond appropriately.

And that makes for exciting training. We have been socially conditioned to love stories of ‘overcoming’ something. Though with horses rarely are trainers or riders taught to do so with softness, empathy and compassion for the horse. The narrative becomes “If I don’t punish the horse for (insert stress behaviour here) then the horse will become…” (dangerous, unmanageable, bad etc.)

These are all human conditions and ideology being applied to horses. They have nothing to do with why the horse is doing XYZ and everything to do with how we perceive XYZ to affect us.

I used to use this exact same justification when a horse did something I didn’t like. I applied punishment because it gave me an instant reaction, without the need for me to change how I was approaching the horse.

It’s not abuse if it’s for the good of the horse? Right?

⬇️⬇️⬇️

In contrast, a horse that has the ability to practice living in an equine friendly environment, receiving training that stays below the fear threshold, and forming positive associations with training - is a horse that on a neurobiological level will have much more resilience, better regulation, and greater learning retention than the chronically stressed horse.

It doesn't matter what quadrant training happens to fall within; good training is still about as exciting as watching paint dry.
One of the greatest generalizations I can make about most clicker trainers is that on some level they are far more likely to be aware of HOW training works. This isn't to say that clicker training is the best and only way to work with horses and everyone else is an idiot. But in my experience it is far more likely that ethical trainers have taken the path less traveled into the science of behaviour and why horses do what they do before trying to 'fix' or change equine behaviour with immediate results.

The magic of positive reinforcement lies in the ability to form clear, consistent and effective language while laying the brains pathways to curiosity, fun and safety. Most of the time my students spend quite a while building a solid foundation, but then almost out of the blue they are suddenly able to begin doing the most amazing things with horses.

A mind that practices safety, clear communication, and awareness of the nervous system within is a mind that can stay curious about the world.

I talk a lot about horses, welfare and ethical training on my pages. I don’t often talk about the human side of horseman...
12/03/2026

I talk a lot about horses, welfare and ethical training on my pages.

I don’t often talk about the human side of horsemanship.

Lately there’s been a push to recognize that equine nervous system regulation creates safer horses. Horses that are allowed to self regulate are easier to train, ride and handle. Horses with access to their most fundamental needs experience better welfare, but what about humans?

Today as I drove to work I noticed the local gas station was charging 1.90$ for a liter of gasoline. Filling up my car has become an increasingly difficult bill to pay. The cost of weekly groceries has become increasingly out of reach. The cost of rent is quite literally an entire paycheck or more for most of us.

Meanwhile we are more educated, working harder, and producing more than ever before. All the while companies collectively rob us when times are hard to pad their own profits.

The reason I bring this up is more ethical practices in horse training and welfare standards are a stark contrast to the way we as human beings are expected to go through life.

Very few of us are experiencing ’good welfare’ in our own lives. Especially in a system designed to protect and ensure everyone below the 1% is closer to homelessness and desperation than safety and security.

The state of welfare for horses is a direct reflection of the welfare of humans.
Years ago, before I had the opportunity to understand and heal my own traumas, I felt this constant sensation that everything was going to fall apart at any moment. The constant stress, anxiety and rage I felt manifested in my life as hyper vigilance, self injurious behaviours, ocd, panic attacks, and dissociation.

My nervous system had learned to recognize ‘safety’ (read familiarity) in situations that created the same types of stressors I had grown up with. The coping mechanisms I had developed to deal with constant anxiety and fear did not apply to the path forward. Once I left the places that my nervous system had learned to recognize as home everything outside of that felt unsafe and unstable.

One of the most noticeable differences to my own emotional state was having my basic needs met with more security than my early life. While my life hasn’t magically become easy or even met the baseline standards for good human welfare, my ability to manage the world has improved significantly.

The need for me to preform what could be called stereotypic behaviours diminished dramatically when I became more able to create a life where my needs were better met.

Ironically despite scientific evidence that humans are more productive, more social, and less likely to commit violent crimes when their most fundamental needs are met, we do not live in a society where food, water, shelter, education, and medical care are universally accessible.

We do not live in an ethical or welfare focused society.

Why? Because it’s not profitable. People who have their needs met are less likely to act out of desperation, less likely to accept poor treatment from employers, and harder to control through the threat of violence, homelessness, or poverty.

Now think about horses. It sounds silly that the standard for horse welfare should be better than the welfare we experience as humans. Because you’ve been conditioned to believe that one day you too could become wealthy, and therefore better than and exempt from poverty, homelessness, addiction, illness, and even the law.

This conditioning runs deep within our society and culture. We are taught that violence, cruelty and abuse are rewarded. The world is being run by a child s*x trafficking ring, the most wealthy and powerful individuals are very clearly exactly the same as villains portrayed in movies, comic books and stories.

This social conditioning is what shapes our lives and the very way we cope with stress and trauma. The experiences we have as children shape your nervous system as an adult. The more stressful, violent, or unstable your life is; the more likely your sympathetic nervous system becomes constantly active. This constant state of high stress and anxiety deeply affects your behaviour almost without you noticing.

The act of learning to manage your own emotions is not something a great deal of us are taught how to do. If you expect your horse to control his behaviour and regulate himself despite a world riddled with conflict and stress then you will struggle to empathize with yourself.

We are living not only in a horse unfriendly world, but a human unfriendly world that is being actively destroyed through the actions of our world ‘leaders.’

Leadership has never looked like the horse that is meanest of them all and it shouldn’t look like the person that is the most evil of them all.

One of the most devastating things being said about horse behaviour isn’t phrases like:“Smack him”“Don’t let him get awa...
08/03/2026

One of the most devastating things being said about horse behaviour isn’t phrases like:

“Smack him”

“Don’t let him get away with that!”

“He’s just testing you!”

“Kick him!”

It’s the prepackaged language of dominance.

From a young age you have very likely been spoon fed the idea that horses NEED a leader and that leadership looks like the horse that is the meanest of them all. The reality could not be further from the truth.

The need for aggression is greatly increased in human environments due to the lack of horse centered barns and basic understanding of equine behaviour. Dominance theory and ideas do not hold up to scientific scrutiny. And yet children are taught the only way to get what they want from their pony is through punishment.

We are taught to suppress unwanted behaviour such as kicking, biting, pawing, or even fear based behaviour such as avoidance, evasion, and spooking through punishment.

Punishment is not prevention.

Punishment happens after the unwanted behaviour to suppress that reaction.

A horse that pins its ears and turns its backside to you is a horse that is communicating. You just don’t like the message.

It’s easier to use punishment than it is to overhaul the horses’ environment, management or training system. It doesn’t require investigation into WHY the horse is behaving ’badly’. It doesn’t require you to change how you interact with horses. And it the behaviour being modelled by equine professionals everywhere so why change?

Because it doesn’t WORK. Sure, punishment may work to temporarily reduce an unwanted behaviour, but it doesn’t address WHY that behaviour is happening in the first place. Eventually the horse will reach a point where they can no longer cope with whatever is causing them to ‘misbehave’ and the original behaviour will resurface (possibly even worse than before)

So what should you do?

In a world where we have been systematically conditioned to look for quick, simple and easy solutions the very idea that you don’t need to punish horses to change behaviour looks pretty radical.

And the truth is you need to put in the work. The real change comes from understanding equine behaviour…

Behaviour doesn’t happen in a vacuum, it is communication and it’s the only form of communication available to horses when it comes to getting our attention.

Bucking, biting, pawing, bolting, spooking, rearing etc. have largely been normalized to the equestrian population. It's easy to label something without investigating when it's so NORMAL to see in horses across disciplines, online, in training examples, at clinics, during lessons, on trail rides etc etc.

Horse friendly environments, LIMA focused training methods, and learning to unlearn the 'norm' for equine behaviours ironically makes a lot of the unwanted and 'dangerous' behaviours vanish altogether.

Horses are only a reflection of the environment and training they receive. When they have no voice they have to shout the loudest to be heard.

Have you ever felt like you NEEDED to enforce stricter management, use harsher tools, or restrict access to turnout beca...
26/02/2026

Have you ever felt like you NEEDED to enforce stricter management, use harsher tools, or restrict access to turnout because of a behavioural issue?

In my professional career I’ve felt this way a lot. Been pressured by owners, barn managers and even other staff to intervene the moment a horse does something undesirable.

But very few times have I been asked to figure out and address the root cause of an issue. And that’s because oftentimes people don’t want to hear me when I say an issue is caused by something a horse should ‘just accept’ too bad so sad.

It’s a hard thing to hear you need to make a ‘radical’ change to your horses environment, equipment or management style. Especially when you’ve been told over and over:

- “He’s just like that.”

- “Yeah sometimes he bucks and rears under saddle but he’s just excited!”

- “But my horse is different!”

- “I just can’t do anything differently because XYZ.”

There’s a difference between acknowledging that a situation or setup is less then ideal and justifying that the only possible path is the one currently being traveled.

The definition of insanity is to do the same things repeatedly expecting a different outcome.

When it comes to changing how we approach horses, either in training or management, you cannot blind yourself by clinging to the old narrative of what horses should ‘just accept’ because it is normalized.

And that can be incredibly jarring to start seeing stress behaviours, avoidance, fear, frustration everywhere, knowing something needs to change but not knowing what to DO. True freedom lies within letting go, the process of seeing, hearing and doing differently can still cause grief for the path you wanted to travel.

I have found over the years the more I panic over my horse behaving in a way I don’t like the more I try to restrict his ability to express himself.

Silence does not equal acceptance.

There was a path I thought I needed to take to become a ‘successful horse trainer’ but I no longer measure my success solely based on my ability to ride and train horses. Now that pathway looks a lot more like having horses that WANT to be with me and CHOOSE to do the work I ask of them.

If this speaks to you comment ‘💙’ and I’ll send you a personal invitation to join me on the path forward from knowing something needs to change to BECOMING that change for your horse.

Domestic horses do not have a lot of choice in their lives. Have you ever heard the phrase: “take away the tack and you’...
21/02/2026

Domestic horses do not have a lot of choice in their lives.

Have you ever heard the phrase: “take away the tack and you’ll be left with the truth.”
I used to think of this phrase as the measuring basis for liberty training but now…

The measurement I use to guide my training is choice.

Does my horse CHOOSE to leave his friends to work with me?

Does my horse CHOOSE to leave his (current) food for the same food I might be offering him?

Does my horse CHOOSE me or does he choose me because there’s nothing better for him to do?

When the reality for most horses is put into perspective it’s difficult to think that horses most often do not get a choice.

They cannot choose what friends they have/don’t have.

They cannot choose how much or where they move about during the day.

They cannot choose what to eat, when to play or even when to sleep.

Humans have largely taken away the ability to express autonomy and choice.

And I think it’s because WE WANT to be chosen.

It’s easy to be chosen by a horse that has had their basic needs neglected in favor of human control and convenience. We don’t like to think that when a horse greets you at the gate it might be because there’s an underlying issue within their day to day lives.

But when you set up their environment to MAKE the only one choice available - is it really a choice?

I encourage my students to allow their horses to say ‘No.’ I want my own horses to say ‘no’ whenever they need to.

‘NO.’ Is often not forever and the answer to ‘NO.’ Is always ‘Why?’

Rarely are we taught to seek out the WHY before punishing the horse for ‘NO’

That conversation can only begin when the human can see ‘no.’ Accept, and then think on why without a bruised ego.

More projects still to come on the farm! With the cold weather comes freezing buckets so it was time for a heated bucket...
21/02/2026

More projects still to come on the farm! With the cold weather comes freezing buckets so it was time for a heated bucket station for the horses. Built out of a couple of pallets and 2x4s for a whopping 30$

Calling All R+ Curious or Beginners! I’m developing a program for your specific needs. I’m looking for 10 newcomers to R...
21/02/2026

Calling All R+ Curious or Beginners!

I’m developing a program for your specific needs. I’m looking for 10 newcomers to R+ who want MORE: a happy horse who *loves them back*, a strong connection, fun tricks & liberty work–alongside receiving support with inner work that this transition brings up.

But are struggling to find a mentor they can *trust* to guide them through the foundations of this work in an accepting, open, non-judgemental way–using a program that’s tailored to fit their needs.

I’d love to get on a phone call with you to ask some questions about your life, mindset, and current struggles. My goal is to understand you–so I can help people just like you (I am *not* selling you anything, just research!).

In exchange for your time, I’m excited to offer a FREE SNEAK PEAK at my upcoming signature offer: FORCE FREE FOUNDATIONS

You’ll get access to module 3; the Any Behaviour Template that shows you how to teach your horse almost anything through a step by step formula designed to bring clarity to the process of clicker training.

I have been successfully rehabilitating & training feral horses using R+ for the past 9 years; and have prioritized emotional regulation, healing, and relational safety throughout the process. After spending the last year teaching students in person I want to help more people I may not be able to physically travel to develop a deep understanding and connection with horses.

And I want to use my expertise to help beginners transition into using food rewards in a way that’s FUN, supportively structured, and feels like the *missing piece* that they didn’t know they needed.

**Please comment ‘ME’ below if you want to get in on this, and I’ll send you a message!**

Ps. I am located in Langley! Now offering very limited spots for in person coaching, training and support for you and your horse! ❤️

You’ve been conditioned to accept quick fixes over lasting solutions. In a world where everything is created to be tempo...
11/02/2026

You’ve been conditioned to accept quick fixes over lasting solutions.

In a world where everything is created to be temporary the majority of folks have had to learn to live with diminishing quality in almost every aspect of life. Clothes are not made to last years but rather seasons. Homes are painted grey to be ready for the next tenant rather than the person living there. Not that it’s even reasonable to purchase a home for the overwhelming majority of young people. Renting is temporary.

This feeling of impermanence can be overwhelming. I feel it. My friends feel it and I’m sure you feel it too. The sense that putting roots down isn’t worth the effort.

This conditioning extends to how we treat horses. The average horse goes through seven homes in their lifetime. Two, three and four year olds are pushed into ridden work beyond what their bodies can handle to eventually break down by middle age.

We have been taught that results mean more about a persons skill then the path they took to get there. Because someone who can ride well must obviously know a lot about horses right?

Your acceptance of temporary is what drives the quick fix solution market.

And what’s the most common solution to undesirable behavioural problems?

Punishment.

Punishment is the quick fix for unwanted behaviour. It’s faster and easier then figuring out the root cause and addressing a systemic problem.

Are you starting to see parallels here?

People having to steal food is not fixed by punishing them for not having an alternative. It’s fixed by making food available for everyone.

Poor management such as over stalling, no access to forage or friends and overly adverse training is a symptom of impermanence.

It’s the priority of results rather than the hardships of systemic change. It’s easier to justify, defend, or argue against good welfare than it is to be accountable, ready to change and choose a deeper path forward.

It’s easier to mask unwanted behaviour than actually fix it.

I don’t offer quick fixes in my training program.

I only work with people who are ready to learn.

I want to help people let go of temporary thinking and learn how to build something real.

If this sounds like you…

comment ‘lasting change’ and I’ll send you an invitation to my exclusive online course Force Free Foundation launching in March.

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