RE+ Arena & Horsemanship

11/19/2025

FYI ...

As many of you may be aware, a positive case of Equine Herpes Virus 1 (EHV1) Equine Herpes Myeloencephalopathy (EHM) has been identified in Red Deer, Alberta as well as in the southern USA. It is important to note that the virus has not been reported in Saskatchewan and the positive case in Alberta has been quarantined.

EHV-1 is a common equine virus that typically causes respiratory signs in horses through nose to nose contact and sharing halters, brushes, buckets, etc.
We typically recommend vaccinating horses for EHV1 at least annually, often boostering it a second time for horses at higher risk (busy boarding barns, training, showing). The neurological form of the disease does occur every few years and the effects can be devastating.
There is not currently a vaccine against the neurological form (EHM) and treatment for the viral infection consists of supportive care and medical management until the horse’s immune system is able to clear the virus. Sadly, this virus can be fatal in some cases or result in long lasting neurological deficits. It is a highly contagious virus and is easily transmitted between horses.
Vaccinating for EHV1 may decrease viral shedding risk and symptoms if the horse were to contract EHM.

Biosecurity is of utmost importance in these times in order to prevent your horse from coming into contact with carrier or infected horses. Horses travelling to affected areas, or anywhere for that matter, should be carefully monitored and isolated upon returning to their home property.

Important biosecurity protocols to implement:
✔️Limit horse-to-horse contact when travelling or attending events.
✔️Wash hands, boots, and equipment before and after handling different horses.
✔️Don’t share buckets, grooming tools, or tack between horses.
✔️ Isolate new or returning horses for at least 21 days before introducing them to the herd.
✔️ Monitor temperatures and watch for symptoms so you can spot abnormalities early.
✔️ Clean and disinfect trailers after every trip.

Please be weary of the information sources available, and consult reliable resources. The links below contain useful information:
https://equinediseasecc.org/Content/ContentDocs/DiseaseFactsheet-EHM.pdf
https://www.equinediseasecc.org/
https://aaep.org/resource/ehm-and-ehv-faq/
https://aaep.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/EHV1-4-guidelines-2021.pdf
https://aaep.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/EHM_EHV_FAQ_Final.pdf

Please do not hesitate to contact the clinic with specific inquiries or to purchase vaccines. 💉

11/19/2025

❤️‍🩹💝

Horses will meet you exactly where you are—whether you know where that is or not.

One of the hardest truths in horsemanship is that you cannot separate the rider from the human being riding. You can learn theory, techniques, and timing—but if you don’t know what drives you at a deeper level, your horse will feel that gap long before you do.

Most of us move through the world with old narratives still running without our awareness in the background. Maybe you were taught, directly or indirectly, that you were small, inconvenient, or unimportant. Maybe you learned to keep your head down, not make waves, not ask for much. Or maybe you learned to overcompensate: to become hyper independent, to feel important.

Those early experiences don’t stay in childhood; they become the lens you see yourself through, and the filter you misinterpret the world through.

And the horse—sensitive, perceptive, honest—becomes a mirror for every part of that story.

A horse refusing or resisting becomes “rejection.”
A moment of hesitation becomes “I’m not good enough.”
A correction feels like conflict, and conflict feels dangerous.
Or, the opposite—you search for conflict because you expect it, and it feels safer to control it than wait for it.

None of this comes from malice. It comes from the unexamined places inside us, mirrored in the world around us.

But a horse isn’t rejecting you. A horse isn’t judging your worth. A horse isn’t reenacting the dynamics of your childhood. They are responding to the energy you bring, the clarity you offer, and the steadiness—or lack of it—behind your choices.

When we don’t know what drives us, we keep repeating the same emotional choreography over and over, in the barn and everywhere else. We avoid setting boundaries because we fear being “too much.” We micromanage because we fear losing control. We rush because we fear being behind. We freeze because we fear doing something wrong.

The real work is not really about the horse. It’s about getting curious about ourselves. Identifying the motives that subconsciously steer our hands, our timing, our expectations, our reactions. Asking, Where did this pattern come from? Who taught me this? And is it actually true?

Because once you see your own story clearly, the horse stops being a mirror of your inadequacy and becomes a partner in your growth.

Horses don’t need us to be perfect. They just need us to be honest—especially with ourselves.

And when we learn to operate from clarity instead of old wounds, our work with them becomes lighter, cleaner, more present… and our whole life tends to follow.

11/17/2025

Mistakes (Miss-takes) are the best teacher!! It's like missing the bull's eye on a target! You just keep practicing till you hit the mark!!

YOU ARE NOT THE MISTAKE!

Learning from them keeps you advancing! Trying to prevent them from happening, gets you nowhere!

Overcoming our mistakes = DISCIPLINE = TRAINING = Improvement in skills.

Mistakes are a normal part of the process, don't fear them, don't let them define you, just try again!

Mistakes aren’t setbacks—they’re signals. 💡
Celebrate them, study them, and let every lesson push you forward stronger than before. 💪

11/15/2025

There's an old saying "No foot, no horse"
Ross Smith explains it very well!

Please contact Madison to register.

306 - 552 - 4094

11/06/2025

Put yourself in their "shoes" 🧲🧲! Thinking like a horse, changes everything! It's not to make excuses for their behavior, its to understand them better, so you can help them!

11/04/2025

Great little pep talks!! ♥️

10/03/2025

Yes!!

Teaching Horses Emotional Control

In horse training, it’s not our job to protect a horse from ever feeling pressure, stress, or emotion, it’s our job to help them learn how to handle it.

A horse, just like us, is going to experience moments where emotions rise. They’ll feel uncertain, frustrated, worried, or even scared. If we never expose them to pressure and never give them the tools to work through it, then when life inevitably presents those moments, they won’t know what to do.

Our role as trainers is to guide them through emotion, not erase it. That means:
- Teaching them ways to dissipate their energy in a safe and productive way.
- Helping them learn to regulate when pressure shows up.
- Allowing them to feel, but showing them how to respond instead of react.

Avoiding pressure doesn’t build resilience, it builds fragility. Purposefully introducing challenges, and then helping a horse find release and peace on the other side, creates confidence.

The same is true for people: growth doesn’t come from avoiding what makes us uncomfortable. It comes from learning how to breathe, focus, and find balance when life gets loud.

09/29/2025

What if this is the case for horses too?! What if their brains work the same way? 🤔

09/29/2025

Yes!

Weakness isn’t failure – it’s fuel 🔥

09/27/2025

Good question!

🤝 Trust is the glue that holds a team together.

When people know they can rely on each other, challenges become opportunities and setbacks turn into comebacks.
Skills matter, but trust is what carries a team through the toughest seasons. 🌟

👉 What’s one way you build trust with your team or colleagues?