Narelle + horses

05/09/2026

For anyone who wants to have a say about cracker night laws being loosened (more fireworks, more times to be set off) there is a community consultation open now until the 7th

Have your say on community consultations, influence government decisions and provide feedback on Government projects, initiatives and services

05/09/2026

“The great thing about breath is that it has a direct impact on our nervous systems. It can wake you up on a sleepy, early day; it can help you fall asleep; and it can help bring focus when you need it. Some people can do this easily. For other people, when they’re still, their brains and nervous systems tend to go crazy."

“The great thing about breath is that it has a direct impact on our nervous systems. It can wake you up on a sleepy, early day; it can help you fall asleep; and it can help bring focus when you need it. Some people can do this easily. For other people, when they’re still, their brains and nervous systems tend to go crazy."
~ Biz Magarity, Boyd Martin's longtime yoga instructor

Bright and early on the final day of Boyd and Silva Martin’s 2026 Windurra Camp, Practical Horseman got the chance to participate in the camp’s yoga class with Biz, while Boyd demonstrated along with periodic assistance from the Martin family’s dog Sugar.

In Part 2 of this two-part series, we highlight a few of the movements that Biz coached participants—and this amateur yogi—through to improve our flexibility, body awareness and focus in the saddle.

Click on the link in the Comments below for poses and flows to help you ride better!

📸 Incanto Sports

20/08/2026

Related to co-regulation! You can be the leader that your horse needs in very real ways 🫶🏻

🐴 Can company make stressful situations easier for horses?

Horses are highly social animals, but can having a familiar horse or human nearby actually change how they respond to something potentially frightening?

At the ISES 2026 Conference, Debora Cinganelli and colleagues investigated social facilitation in horses approaching a novel stressor.

Twenty seven horses were divided into three groups. Horses encountered a colourful inflatable object with moving ribbons either alone, with a familiar human, or with a known horse that had previously been familiarised with the object.

Researchers assessed behaviour, distance from the object, facial expressions, heart rate and salivary cortisol to build a broader picture of each horse's response.

Horses facing the stressor alone showed the greatest physiological stress response. Their heart rates were significantly higher than those of horses accompanied by either a human or another horse. Cortisol also significantly increased after the test in horses facing the object alone, while neither accompanied group showed a significant increase.

Behaviour reflected these differences too. Horses tested alone were found furthest from the object more frequently and showed more lip pressing than horses with company.

Interestingly, horses accompanied by a familiar human and those accompanied by another horse did not significantly differ in heart rate or cortisol response. This suggests that, in this situation, a familiar person may also provide meaningful social support.

The findings have potential applications beyond novel object tests, including veterinary procedures, transport, training and introducing horses to unfamiliar environments.

The key message? Social support matters. When faced with something potentially stressful, having either a familiar human or equine companion present may help reduce a horse's acute stress response and provide a simple way to support welfare.

20/08/2026

I was talking about comfort and learning zones on the weekend. Here is a lovely representation of that

18/08/2026

For anyone who watched it here's the horse and riders view

12/08/2026

Why the yellow triangle?

Lymph is a colourless fluid, derived from the blood, that helps your horse fight infection. It has no pump of its own — it relies on muscle movement to circulate around the body, regulating, redistributing and adjusting fluid balance as it goes.

That's part of why the yellow triangle (below) is the most common site for intramuscular injections — medicine given here is filtered into the bloodstream via the lymph.

12/08/2026

"The words we use can shape the decisions we make"

🐴 “Naughty.” “Stubborn.” “Rude.” They might seem like harmless words, but could they actually change how we treat horses?

At the ISES 2026 Conference, Susie Catherall Ostler presented “Words matter: The prevalence and impact of negative emotive language in the equine industry.”

In a survey of 355 participants, every participant had heard negative emotive language used to describe horse behaviour, and 97% admitted using it themselves.

But the most striking finding was what happened when researchers changed only the language used to describe a horse’s behaviour. Participants shown descriptions using negative emotive language were significantly more likely to suggest sedation and, in some scenarios, positive punishment, despite seeing the exact same video of the horse.

People who reported using this type of language more frequently were also less likely to suggest giving the horse time, considering their emotional state or physical discomfort, or using desensitisation.

The takeaway is simple but powerful: the words we use can shape the decisions we make.

Instead of labelling a horse as naughty, stubborn or rude, asking why they are behaving that way could lead us towards more horse centred responses.

07/08/2026

Book review!
I've just finished A Horse's Life by Dr Stephen Peters, Mark Rashid and Crissi McDonald.

It's a great approach to talking about the neuroscience of how horses process the world and what that means to horse training and welfare. So many aha moments!

It's a very readable and approachable book. It has the format of Mark and Crissi giving an example of a horse training problem being worked through and then Dr Peters describing the science behind what happened. But all three authors do this in a very engaging way.

Really recommend!

06/08/2026

Your horse can sense your fear… but what if we thought about it differently?

We’ve all heard the idea that “a horse can sense your fear”, usually with the implication that your fear will make the horse panic, become dangerous, or react.

But perhaps there’s a more useful and empowering way to think about what happens between you and your horse.

Instead of thinking about your horse simply reacting to your emotions, let’s think about co-regulation.

Emotional regulation is our ability to notice, manage and respond to an emotional experience in a healthy and adaptive way. It isn’t about suppressing feelings or pretending we aren’t nervous. It’s about recognising what is happening within us and developing the ability to choose our response rather than being swept along by the emotion.

Co-regulation takes this one step further.

It is a shared process where two nervous systems influence each other through connection. When one is more settled, it can provide stability for the other when it is stressed or activated.

And this happens between humans and horses too.

It may help explain why some people seem almost magical at calming a worried horse. It also helps us understand why connection with horses can be such a powerful part of some equine-assisted therapy programs.

There is emerging research showing measurable changes within human-horse partnerships when co-regulation occurs, including correlations between human and horse heart rates!

So what does this mean for us as riders?

It means that your nervous system is part of the partnership.

You can learn to recognise what is happening inside your own body and develop skills to help yourself regulate.

Deep breathing.
Mindfulness.
Movement.
Noticing tension in your body.
Recognising your early signs of stress.
Practising these skills when you’re *not* riding.

All of this is preparation for the moments when things don't go according to plan.

Because the work we do away from our horses can become part of what we bring into the partnership.

And when you can carry more calm inside yourself, you may have more calm available to share with your horse.

Perhaps this is a much more compassionate way of thinking about nervousness around horses and working with horses.

As Crissi McDonald writes in In A Horse's Life: The Neuroscience of Equine Welfare by Dr Stephen Peters, Mark Rashid and Crissi McDonald:

“...so much more is possible when we learn how to carry the calm inside of ourselves.”

References in comments