Ibalansi Horse Center-pty ltd.

06/07/2025

Young horses-
We do not use nor like the word 'producing youngsters' or 'breaking' a young horse in.
Each young horse is a complete individual.
The most important part is to make sure, that this horse is mentally, emotionally and physically ready and willing to carry a rider.

Remember, that you not only physically put weight onto a horse's back, but you also put your emotional load onto it when you mount.
Only a calm, self confident and balanced horse, who trusts his human and gives permission to mount will be truly safe to ride for the first time.

Many trainers quickly establish 'dominance' through various techniques, then pull the horse's head around to its side, so that it cannot run, buck or rear when they get on for the first time.

That is 'r**e' of the horse in our eyes.
We spend time creating mental, emotional and physical liberty. The young horse learns to carry itself with pride and finds its 'sweet spot', in which back muscle can build.

We then continue with 'in hand riding': the horse learns all ridden aids from the ground, we create straightness and the horse starts allowing us more and more into its personal bubble.

Only then will we start to 'talk' about riding- we spend a few days at the mounting block, only leaning over the horse, rubbing its shoulders and tummy with our legs and listen to its responses.

Finally we can mount in trust and with the truth.

03/07/2025

My judge is the horses.
If my horse didn’t have a good time with me on its back, then I didn’t have a good ride either.
I am only enjoying it, if the horse is.
Why look for validation in judges and placements, if your horse is the one you should ask about the quality of your skills..
it’s absolutely phenomenal if your horse enjoys your riding and judges also see that. But if the two don’t align- there’s no point

02/07/2025

Little baby Lori back in the day. We still love working in the herds 💕

26/06/2025

‘Go back to grazing’
This is the most significant teaching of our horses- feel emotions, respond to them, adjust whatever needs adjustments and then go back to grazing.
Cats and dogs don’t go back to grazing, but they have a similar zen state- sleeping 💤
Grazing is a peaceful now- flow state. Horses communicate with each other and the universe while in this state. They can feel the tension of a predator in the hunt and spread that instant awareness to everyone else. Action is taken to ensure safety and then everyone goes back to zen.
We often go through difficult life situations and forget to get back to grazing afterwards. Our bodies stay on a fight/flight/freeze/flirt response unconsciously. This suppresses proper immune system responses and hinders healthy gut functioning too. We slowly get more or less physically or mentally ‘ill’ until we listen to our body and ask the unconscious emotions what actions need to be taken.
We often project these unconscious emotions into our animals. Our horses or dogs are subjected to them and act them out in reality for you to see. See what feedback your animals are giving you! And then fix yourself before attempting to ‘fix’ your horses or dogs behaviour.
Behaviours are only symptoms, only the tip of the iceberg- before a behaviour happens, there’s been lots of processes that happened on an invisible energy level beforehand.
Get to communicate at energy level. Tune in with the zen of grazing mode and you will hear the horses alarming you of a dangerous situation or your dogs sending you images of suspicious people walking past the property before they even bark.

24/06/2025

Eight years ago when I started Shakas Spanish walk under the saddle 🥰it is such a great exercise to help open up the shoulder, improving the range of motion in the front limbs and practising balance as the other three legs need to hold

16/06/2025

I Start to think why..

why do we humans put horses through all this emotional and physical abuse .. for our pleasure? Cause a horse needs to work?

I have never met a horse that is just difficult.. there’s always, ALWAYS, either emotional or physical wounds.

They are simply in pain.

They need help to heal- mentally and physically.

They don’t need special behaviourists or training methods. They need someone that finds the source of their suffering.

And you know what?
The horse wasn’t born with those wounds.

We did this to them.

Humans hurt horses daily.

Sometimes you may not realise you are hurting your horse, because it can happen slow and steady over a long time.

Riding in an ill fitted saddle, riding on a horse with insufficient balance and strength, riding a horse when your own hands are not independent and you are inflicting little short moments of pain in their mouth over and over.

Certain industries are literally producing broken horses- over 90percent of thoroughbreds off the track have kissing spines. Set up for a life of pain. (If undetected and untreated)

Let’s not even mention the all too common ulcer problems. Extremely painful and seen in happy hackers just as much as in competition horses..

these horses suffer.. why?

Because we want something from them.

We admire their beauty and cadence and while we are seeking exactly that- we are destroying it.

Because we don’t listen to the horses.

We want them to listen to us.

And there goes the opportunity to learn and find that beauty.

Re-thinking the way we humans can be with horses.

Peacefully.
Without inflicting emotional or physical pain.

Talk to your horse and follow them. You might find more than that pleasure you were once seeking.

14/06/2025

Our clients beautiful horse Tulsi- so stunning in the morning sunlight. Like a lot of Frisians and Frisian mix horses she used to struggle finding a canter transition and keeping her balance in a canter. Lots and lots of practice later she is getting better and better 💕

13/06/2025

Once the horses find physical and emotional balance, we prepare them with exercises that help mobilise their backs for healthy ridden work.
Lateral exercises help activating the shoulders, sacroiliac, everything in between, as well as having a relaxing mental aspect (figuring out where each leg goes, body awareness, you can’t be on flight mode when your legs are crossed).
In the ridden picture I rode a trot to halt transition which this ex race horse did nicely with his hindquarters engaged and coming under.

08/06/2025

A horse (pony) that trusts and is trustworthy and a rider that trusts and is trustworthy is all that matters! Everything else is just dangerous

07/06/2025

If you ride your horse and the steering feels like driving a boat, then your horse is struggling with balance and is literally catching himself from falling over the entire time.

This will lead to the horse either speeding up as it’s scary to be off balance or to slow down into a freeze state of mind.
Either way, the horse will feel stiff and tense.

The fix is not to use a stronger bit or put on spurs - the fix is to first help the horse strengthen and find balance in itself through straightening ground work (different lateral exercises etc) and then guiding the horse into a balance state while you sit on top.

It requires a saddle that fits you and your horse, it requires a rider that is light and in balance themselves and it requires a rider that can feel in what way the horse is not straight and knows how to kindly show the horse into straightness.

31/05/2025

Why are people so scared of an empowered horse?
Probably the same reason why people are scared of empowered people.

When working at liberty I create space for 2 way communication. I am happy when the horses use this space to let out any stored up frustrations/emotions or when they do their own chiro/physio work this way. I smile and wait.

Have you ever watched horses play together?
there is a lot of bucking, kicking, rearing and farting going on! All of this happens with a positive vibe.
So I feel honored when the horses play with me and are themselves.

It is when people get scared, that they want to fiercely control every move. The horse never has the chance to speak. Frustration builds up, gets stored in the body and will explode later (or get lame, colic, internalize differently.)

Here is Off the track Thoroughbred mare 'Ruletta' doing some chiro work on herself to enable proper canter transitions. What a beautiful process and so effective! Did I comment on it? No. Did I chase her? No. I simply held my energy for a calm trot until she found her 'sweet spot' again, stretching and lifting her back.

30/05/2025