Enlightened Horsemanship

01/11/2025

What if
We gave our horses the benefit of the doubt?

What if we trusted
That given the proper environment
and preparation
And consideration for their experience
And autonomy in their own body

Our horse just might
Accept
Even agree to
The hard things we think can only be done against their will?

Imagine if
Our horses knew in their body
In their heart
As proven through countless interactions
That we could be trusted
Even when we asked them to do the seemingly hard thing?

Maybe it wouldn’t be so hard after all?

30/10/2025

“There is no honor in chasing a flight animal trapped in a pen. The more delicate skill is creating a safe environment to allow for curiosity to emerge, to allow a space for connection to happen. This is where the magic is, and this produces true reward; A horse that wants to be near you. There is no greater compliment.”

For a horse, it’s “when in doubt, run”. There is no honor in chasing a flight animal trapped in a pen. The more delicate skill is creating a safe environment to allow for curiosity to emerge, to allow a space for connection to happen. This is where the magic is, and this produces true reward; A horse that wants to be near you. There is no greater compliment.

29/10/2025

What’s the most exciting thing you’ve found in a jacket pocket?

25/10/2025

Well. That was a doozy. People/pets/ponies/property (mostly) unscathed, but this turned into a weekend of massive clean up and fence repair. 🤞🏼 tonight’s line of storms are less ferocious and power is back on soon.

21/10/2025

This right here ⬇️⬇️⬇️

“Let us not forget, that at the root of all training needs to live a horse who trusts you, likes you, and likes what is being done with them enough, that they co-sign whatever task it is that you chose on their behalf.”

You cannot train the horse that won't let you train them.

You cannot teach the horse that won't let you teach them.

You cannot administer body work to the horse who won't let you treat them.

You cannot vet a horse that won't let vetting happen to them.

You cannot care for a horse who won't let you care for them.

This is obvious, what is less obvious about this, is that compliance has nothing to do with it.

The great Tina Turner once sang, "What's love got to do with it?". I say "What's obedience got to do with it?" I have often seen leveraged obedience mask deep resentment, and quiet discontent in horses handled skilfully enough to BEHAVE like a happy horse, but not skilfully enough to BE a happy horse.

Just because a horse is DOING it, or allowing it to happen, does not mean they are receptive, or allowing it into their body.

Body Work treatment forced upon a horse is dead in the water in helping them be sounder. Training leveraged onto a horse, no matter how elegant and light it may look, can hide the deep misgivings the horse has about what is being done to them and with what tools. You can shove a medicine down a non-compliant horses throat but that horse will not be easier to handle next time just because you did it.

Which is why I continue to push back against the rhetoric shift in the horse world this year. Influencers whom 12 months ago promoted patience, connection and ethics, suddenly in 2025 came out stridently against the "Horse First" world, but this time using the "Horse First" vocabulary against the community they once spotlighted. The word for that is betrayal.

Let us not forget, that at the root of all training needs to live a horse who trusts you, likes you, and likes what is being done with them enough, that they co-sign whatever task it is that you chose on their behalf.

Without it, it is not Horsemanship.

It's -Manship.

19/10/2025

I see you.
I hear you.
I believe you.
I won’t ask too much of you.

Read these simple statements slowly.
Once, twice, maybe a third time.

What do you notice, in your body, as you do?

What do you think our horses would feel, in their bodies, if they knew these things to be true, from us?

Can we hold up our interactions with our horses to these statements, and still feel we are honoring them? Doing right by them?

So much of what is done to, and with, and ostensibly for horses, bypasses the very horse itself.

It doesn’t have to.

In fact, the more I see, and hear, and believe, and not ask too much of the horses in my life,

The more alive they become.
The more they invite me into, with them.
The more we delightfully share together.

Almost like exactly that which all of us horse-loving kids have hoped and dreamed of since we first gave our hearts to horses.

06/10/2025

Lunch n learn, equine pro style

06/10/2025

Their peace is my peace. Their contentment, my joy.