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Heartfelt Horsemanship

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Heartfelt Horsemanship

An empathetic approach to horsemanship focused on connection, relaxation, and communication.

Heartfelt Horsemanship offer an empathetic approach to building communication, relaxation and connection with horses. This approach helps address behavioral issues and makes for safer, happier horses. Instruction can be on Heartfelt Horsemanships horses, with your own horse. We also bring in horses for development and travel for clinics, lessons and trailer loading. Distance education is also available on www.patreon.com/heartfelthorsemanship

06/09/2025

Happy World Bitless Horse Day - September 6th 2025. !
If you have been a little overwhelmed by all the photos and videos of stressed horses in various disciplines, go check out the tagged page.

I really appreciate this initiative. It's not my initiative, but run by World Bitless Association .

We still have so many people believing only certain, really well behaved horses can be ridden without bits.
I haven't laid my hands on a set if reins connected to a bit in over a decade, and my job has been working with mostly troubled or young horses. I have yet to see a clients horse that isn't happier without a bit.
My horses aren't ridden bitless because they are relaxed, they are relaxed because the are ridden bitless

That's why this matters to me. If we are genuinely interested in our horses happiness, that has to be seen as valuable feedback.

I am not naive. I understand that building good communication is important no matter what you ride in. If a rider yanks a horse around in a bridle, then changes to a rope halter and still yanks on the halter, there won't be much improvement, but in my experience communication comes easier without a bit involved.
Even if you're not sold on the bitless thing, but like seeing happy, safe horses, in all sorts of activities..
Go follow the World Bitless Horse Day page... And if you ride bitless.. Post some photos and didn't the flood of positive, happy horses!

01/09/2025

I have a deep appreciation for rainy days.
Not just because it makes the grass grow and is crucial for the production of whiskey!
It makes me a better horseman.
Like any rider or horseman it is easy for me to get hung up on the fancy stuff.
I get pretty one track minded about proving a point sometimes.
Like the fact that addressing relaxation and relationship will make a better performance horse. I get so focussed on proving this point that I actually don't address relaxation and relationship nearly enough.
This is where rain comes in. At least for those of us without an indoor arena.
I can't work the fancy stuff in the mud. I can't even push for that first lope, or first jump with a young horse in the mud. Not safely.
I certainly can't stay in bed and wait for it to stop raining. We live in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. If I didn't work in the rain I would only work every third day, if I am lucky, during spring.
So, I get to work on all the things that I often neglect. Spend the time needed to get a horse truly connected to me. Really give them the time to find relaxation and keep it.
There are exercises for relaxation that I do with horses in every session, but the change I get when I am JUST working on those exercises, instead of just doing them between more mechanical tasks is astounding.
Don't complain about not being able to perfect your walk/ canter transitions or increasing your jump heights... Savour the forced focus on the important things.. every time I do, the fancy stuff becomes easier by the time I get around to it!

29/08/2025

How long do I do groundwork?

The first time I heard this question, I thought it was about how many minutes a day I work on groundwork. It turns out it was about how long II keep doing groundwork once I have a solid riding horse.
Dream Hunter, the horse in this photo, is 20 years old. He has multiple national riding championships, takes students on rides to build confidence, will carry any kid safely ...and I still do groundwork with him before I ride.
Most of that groundwork is just checking him out before I get on. He is incredibly reliable, relaxed and sound. In all the time I have had him, I have had one groundwork session that had me decide not to ride. It was the day after a wild hail storm, 3 or 4 years back, and he was not his usual focused, calm self. He was still better than 90% of the horses I deal with, but I didn't know him like that. I had no idea whether he would tip to more reactive during the ride.
For all I know he might have hurt himself in that storm and was just hiding his pain.
So I do groundwork for 11 years to save one bad ride?
Absolutely. That one ride could have ended with me in hospital. That one ride could have shifted a minor injury on him to a catastrophic injury.
Have I ever just got on him with no groundwork?
Yes. In an emergency, all my riding horses can be saddled and mounted straight away. An emergency that is more urgent than the risk of that once in 11 year risk.
I also know that if I just saddled and mounted every time I rode I would lose some of the reliability and relaxation my horses have.
Everyone comments on how lucky I ma to have such amazing riding horses, mindful, communicative groundwork has a lot to do with that luck.
Most times with Dream Hunter has my groundwork take me 5 minutes. If you feel you don't have the time to take an extra 5 minutes to have a conversation with your horse before getting on, that's fine, but I find it saves you a bunch of time fixing problems because you didn't.

For the record: groundwork, for me, isn't LUNGEING a horse to get rid of energy. It is a well thought out communication, checking all isolations and each gait calmly and safely. One day when I am rich, I'm starting an organisation called "the Anti-Lungeing federation" and making myself president! 😂😂😂
If you want to know more about the groundwork I do to orepare horses for riding, and to address relaxation, check out the about section for links to the website.

27/08/2025

This is a pretty cool feature of Facebook.. This means something to me.. I put a lot of thought into content that educates, pilots, bit most importantly has people ask the hard questions..
It's great to have that recognized

🎉 I've earned the fan favourite badge this week, recognising me for consistently having meaningful conversations with my fans while sharing unique, relatable content.

26/08/2025

Little Nelly being bolder by the day on her trail rides...
She isn't waiting around for Uncle Dreamy.. She is leading!!!

25/08/2025

I see more ' problem horses" that are the result of conventional " wisdom" than I ever see from abuse.

That's not to say that the conventional "wisdom" isn't sometimes abusive. It is just widely accepted in the industry that it is fair.
At the start of my career I mainly worked with troubled horses. The buckers, bolsters, spookers, and horses that wouldn't trailer load.
If people weren't sure of a horses history, they would often comment that the horse must have been abused, but when there was a known history, they were usually confused. In fact, they often didn't think their horse was displyaing these behaviors due to anxiety. They were only convinced once we worked on relaxation, and the behaviors no longer presented.

Abuse, or at least the overt form of abuse, with handlers beating horses, is actually rare. Most horse people genuinely love horses.
The trouble is our indistry wide understanding of fair practice.
The number of horses with aggressive and/or anxiety driven behaviors that are the direct results of isolation is staggering. Even with the push for education on species appropriate needs, it is still accepted practice to keep horses in isolation. I still have a social media feed full of adverts for livery with " individual turn out'.
When it gets to handling, people are taught to tightly restrain horses, whether just leading on a short lead, or to perform management tasks. Restraining a prey animal causes anxiety, and they fight to get away. We ignore their natural behavior, and cause undesirable behavior.

As for riding, I could fill a book with reasons conventional riding "wisdom" causes behavioral issues, but a simple example is that horses are started under saddle with contact, which from a physics point of view prevents forward motion, then they are driven forward from legs, spurs or crops. Very conflicting cues for a young horse, already worried about a predator climbing on their back.

Horses being lunged in draw-reins, or tied to patiance poles, or halter trained by being tied to donkeys... These are all things I come across that cause major behavioral issues, but the industry as a whole often deems perfectly normal practices.
Before you declare that your horse must have faced abuse, make sure your industry sanctioned training and management isn't to blame.

24/08/2025

It's a good day when you get to six horses at home...

23/08/2025

When affection isn't love

Everybody love affection, and everybody loves affection in the same way, right?

Of course not, we all have different preferences when it comes to affection. Just like some people like their hair played with and others might prefer hugs, horses have preferences. They will also be more comfortable with that affection from certain people.
There is a standard approach to horses from most horse people though. They walk head on and vigourously touch any horses face. I don't see many horse actually enjoy this, but those horse people genuinely think they are making the horse feel good.
I do know some horses who enjoy having gentle face rubs, but even with them, if you went straight for the face it would be a negative.
Surely if affection is the goal we should make sure they appreciate it?
Even if it's a management task, like treating an eye or and ear veterinary issue, if we treat it like an oil change, you are going to have a head shy horse very soon.
I pay close attention to what form of affection horses prefer, by waiting for them to ask for it. This photo shows two horses clearly asking for different forms of affection. The chestnut, likes neck and shoulder scratches, and the leopard loves soft cheek strokes.

21/08/2025

Sitting pretty...

I am not a great rider.

This isn't false humility. This is objectively true. You will often see my head down, even when riding " finesse". I have a number of other equitation flaws, many of which I am working on. Other "flaws" I am fine with. Like ' not enough contact"?
Some are habits that developed starting young horses more than developing higher level riding horses.
With this being the case, it may surprise people to learn that I have a number of national South African championships under my belt. It's not really a mystery to me. A relaxed horse is a massive advantage in the show ring. I beat a long list of better riders to get those championships, purely because my horses had a regulated nervous system.

This raises the question: what should cone first? Equitation or learning about horse behavior?
My personal feeling is that not enough riding lessons cover the basics of horse behavior and relationship building.

How to tell if your horse is stressed?
How to address it?
What motivates undesirable behavior?
How to balance a horses impulsion without having to beat them forward, or hang on reins?
How does the horses nervous system work?

How many competitors at this weekends shows will have a thought out answer to these questions?
This is not just a "nice to know" ... This directly affects rider safety and horse welfare.
Equitation and biomechanics are important, but I tend to think the behavior aspects is every bit as important, if not more so.

20/08/2025

🎉 I've earned the fan favourite badge this week, recognising me for consistently having meaningful conversations with my fans while sharing unique, relatable content.

Address

Alverstone Road
Umngeni

Opening Hours

Monday	09:00 - 17:00
Tuesday	08:00 - 17:00
Wednesday	08:00 - 17:00
Thursday	08:00 - 17:00
Friday	08:00 - 17:00
Saturday	08:00 - 17:00

Telephone

+27724703358

Website

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8cYkmyGWwbZ-ClCJMCpQbA, http://heartfelthorsemanship.org/, https://www.patreon.com/hea

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Heartfelt Horsemanship offer distance learning certificate courses in Natural Horse Management. They also offer Clinics and Lessons all over South Africa, and offer training of horses from start to competition.