Empress Equine

04/11/2025

Here is what you are supposed to do, if you are to succeed on social media: be relentlessly, ruthlessly on brand. (I still only have a hazy idea of what that means.)


Down in the magic field, the red mare blinks and gives me her right ear for some very particular scratching. I sniff the precise spot on her muzzle where the very essence of her scent lives and think, for the thousandth time, that it is the sweetest smell in all the world.


Here’s what they tell you, the people who know how to build your business on the internet: you must identify a problem that people have, and endlessly talk about how you are going to solve that problem. Really every post should talk about that problem.


I wheel the slightly dented wheelbarrow to the dung and back to the muck-heap. Tern follows me, helpfully. I feel her sweet shadow at my back. Every so often I stop and give her a stroke and a murmur of thanks.


Yesterday, I heard a man say that absolutely everything has to be about messaging. You’ve got to be messaging, all the time. And you’ve got to post three times a day, with your messaging.


In the gloaming, I see Clova come back from a ride with the great-nieces and their mum and their dog. It’s like something from a fairy tale: the little white pony appearing out of the falling dusk, the smiling children, the beaming mamma, the gambolling lurcher. I feel an explosion of love go off in my chest.


For your online business, you have to build funnels and generate leads. Probably every day. (I have read this a lot. I still don’t know what a funnel or a lead is.)


I spend quite a lot of time in the afternoon congratulating Florence on having grown easily the thickest and softest and most velvet winter coat in the whole field. ‘Feel it,’ she says. ‘It’s very nice. You can give it a jolly good rub, just here.’ I give it a jolly good rub. I am a little bit weepy with love, because this is the horse who once used to leap away when I tried to touch her.


I think: don’t be snotty about all those business people with their incomprehensible business talk. Just because they know what they are doing and I don’t. I do want my fledgling business to be sturdy and resilient and real. I want it to see me into my old age. I’m proud I made it, from scratch, even if I’m not always messaging and building the brand and generating leads.


I did things with the mares which are not seen as the traditional, conventional way. The village is used to seeing me wandering about the woods with a dreamy thoroughbred, as if I’m walking a great big Labrador. They once gave me looks, but now they are familiar with the sight. I sing to the horses too, a lot of the time. People seem to have got used to that, too.


I think: maybe I can do the business in my own way too. I don’t think I’m ever going to be on brand, or on message. I mean, I’m not a total hayseed; I know there are things you must do. But some of them make my soul shrivel in me. So I expect I won’t be doing those.


We can choose. All of us. You and me and Bobby McGee. We don’t have to do things in the way that everyone says we have to do things. We can wear our rue with a difference. (Which is what Shakespeare said. And he, somehow, miraculously, seemed to know everything about the human condition.)


Yes, I really think we can.

20/10/2025

This one is for anyone who has the audacity to hang off their horse's head and call it "training".

You know the ones - plus or minus a rope halter, flailing the end of the longline - the horse is spinning circles around them.

"Disrespectful"

"Dangerous"

Frantic.

Terrified.

Waiting for the moment a human is going to haul on the rope, dragging them to a stop.

Only to send them in the other direction.

"Asserting their dominance"

"Moving their feet"

Abuse under the guise of "horsemanship"

Rinse and repeat until the horse complies.

To "teach them a lesson"

"Be the boss"

You're not actually doing the thing you think you are doing.

(Not that you would have the insight to recognise this.)

Want to know what you are achieving, though?

Pain. Think like whiplash -

Generalised deep muscle ache around their neck, back and hindquarters. Which is magnified every time you hang on the rope. Provoked with the centrifugal force of the circle and the increasing cranial pressure.

A chronic headache. Referred TMJ pain.

That beautiful region where the fascial system meets the central nervous system, the myodural bridge, rich with mechanoreceptors and proprioceptors, ragged around like a tuggy toy. Lit on fire.

Hurting the horse.

Traumatising the horse.

Teaching the horse that humans are not safe.

Defending your actions with the horse is "dangerous"

Thinly veiled abuse justified as "If I don't fix them, they'll be put down."

Here is your invitation to do better.

https://www.yasminstuartequinephysio.com/the-horse-posture-blueprint

31/05/2025

Yes. Absolutely all of this. There is so much joy in the slow road - please give it a go 🙏🏼

"In order for the body to heal, we have to take it out of the environment it became sick in"

I spend a lot of time telling people to stop riding their horses. And I really get that this can be down right inconvenient.

But I'm an optimiser.

And when I'm looking at helping a horse's posture to neutralise, quite frankly it can be quicker, easier and far more ethical to teach a horse to find postural neutral without a rider and then teach the rider to maintain that, than it is to teach a rider to fix the posture under saddle.

Particularly when the horses crappy posture developed because of unsympathetic riding, a saddle that wasn't designed to fit any horse, let alone that one, or an instructor who has no understanding that to safeguard a horse's performance, they might need to know how their bodies truly work rather than have committed to FEI rulebook to heart.

I'm totally not saying there aren't people skilled enough to rehabilitate horses whilst riding them, but I would really like to invite you to consider that just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Because though you might enjoy it, doesn't mean your horse does.

And "it'll be good for you in the long run" doesn't mean it's fair on your horse in the moment.

So if we can do it more simply, in a way that sees the horse for more than just what we can do to their bodies and what they can do for us...

Why don't we?

-

"Should I be riding my horse right now?"

Join Integrative Equine Podiatrist, Beccy Smith, and I as we discuss this topic through a variety of lenses: combining evidence-informed practice and research to give you practical skills to assess your own horse's wellbeing so you can answer the question for yourself.

30.06.2025 19:00 BST

Recording available if you can't make the live ❤️✨️

📸 Olivia Rose Photography .graphy

23/11/2024

A moment with Ally 🫧

I've been thinking alot about the concept of "training".

And the word itself has given me increasing pause.

Because, really, our value to horses is in our ability to facilitate their health and safety within our world.

We facilitate contexts in which they are able to be themselves, and explore their unbelievable power.

We are not "training" them to have power and prowess, we are facilitating situations in which they feel safe enough to REMEMBER and explore their innate capabilities.

This is why I love bodywork at liberty. It is on us to be attuned, regulated and congruent to a point at which they feel safe enough to allow us the vulnerability necessary for healing.

And without tack, the horse has the agency to go at its own pace and let us know where and how we can help.

We don't need to be "training" our horses to allow this work. We need to be examining how we can facilitate a context (both material and energetic) in which the horse feels safe enough to allow us in.

20/11/2024

Afternoons with Magic 🔮💜 my peaceful escape from the social media world, which I've had to limit due to anxiety - sorry for the radio silence.

The deeper I delve into my work, the more apparent it is that self-care does not involve comparison (which is a huge challengefor me on social media).

But I can't share the joy the work brings me without putting myself out there.

So now is the time for love and exploration without comparison, and growth without competition.

This work is more than an approach to horse-humanship. It provides an avenue into our exploring our perceptions. Our perceptions of horses, ourselves, and how we fit into the world.

This work has provided me with more safety, love and understanding than I could have imagined.

If you're looking to understand your horse, yourself and the relationship between you on a deeper level, please don't hesitate to get in touch 🍃✨️

28/01/2024

THIS! The hypocrisy in our industry is astounding. It is unbelievable how prevalent it is in our industry to teach young children to use punitive force (to put it mildly) to facilitate immediate obedience in the face of clear misunderstanding and pain. This is almost always done under the reason of "saftey". What are we teaching our children?! As soon as dominance and punishment based solutions are presented under the guise of satey, they betray a significant lack of knowledge on behalf of the trainer or coach. Learning theory has progressed, equine ethology has been widely studied, and the impact of learned helplessness is clear. And yet, so many people proliferate knowledge that is not only incredibly out of date, but also significantly abusive and unhelpful in the long run. Sure, you may scare the horse into submission and get to that event - but at what cost to the animal you are supposed to be protecting. The kids we teach are the next generation of equine caretakers - we have a responsibility to both them and the horses to create better outcomes than those we have grown up with. Our horses owe us nothing - but it is 100% our responsibility as equine caretakers to seek out SPECIES-APPROPRIATE knowledge and professionals who advocate for the horses themselves and not their commodification. The information is out there. We know better now. Now we need to do better.

Imagine a world where we said to children, we’re not going to force your beautiful pony with kicks and crops like those other people!! We are going to train them in a way that you BOTH have fun, by using Positive Reinforcement training, with clicker training, by training with food and scratches!

Imagine if we said to children, you’ll have more fun on the ground and get to know your pony better that way and build a friendship. You’ll build a real relationship, where your pony will truly love you back.

Imagine if we taught them how to have fun and laugh with their pony and the pony was laughing and having fun too.

Imagine children who learnt empathy for all creatures, not just how to use them and make them do what the child and adults want.

Imagine a generation of children growing into adults, who could ‘talk’ to their animals, by understanding how all creatures learn and that they feel emotions too.

Imagine children who didn’t have to cry in frustration or in pain, from falling off or being bucked off unwilling or scared ponies. Imagine a miserable and scared child, not having fun and not wanting to do things with their pony and being told to push through the fear and pain?

Instead, imagine children learning via Positive Reinforcement (clicker) training, how to build important life skills as humans, such as empathy, observation, problem solving, analysis, hand eye coordination, thinking on their feet, emotional regulation, developing reciprocal relationships and positive interactions with others.

With all that learning, we could set them up for life with amazing skills that build their confidence, self esteem and physical and mental wellbeing and their emotional maturity and regulation. As well as learning how to interact with others in a positive way, where both parties can ‘win’.

Imagine us being the adult heaping Positive Reinforcement on our children! Saying “well done!”, “you were awesome!”, “you worked that out so well!”, “you’ve made your pony so happy and well trained!” and “I’m so proud of you!”. WE adults enjoy the benefits as well, because it makes us feel good too!

Where do we get so lost, that we insist children hit and kick their pony for their own pleasure, who then grow into adults who do the same?

Worse, the child turned adult, who has doubts, fear and doesn’t enjoy what they are doing with their horse, who feels mounting pressures from the equestrian world and discontent with what they’re doing. Therefore they force the horse more and more to get results.

What hypocrisy are we teaching children?!

05/10/2023

This is Bear.

Once Bear understood that his opinion was going to be heard, Bear said *no* to touch.

He was only touched when medically necessary or he had invited that particular interaction (which didn’t happen for many months).

Now, Bear actively shows me where he would like to be scratched, and for how long.

I don’t get to pat or hug him if he’s not up for it. AND THAT IS AWESOME.

He feels safe enough to say no, and I get to honour him by hearing his opinion. AND THAT IS AWESOME.

Patting horses may be enjoyable for us – but if we really choose to hear our horses, the vast majority of them aren’t actually up for a lot of touch. Please ask them first, and be willing to hear no. This incredibly simple act of honour can have unbelievable benefits to both you and your horse.


Hear no with honour and celebrate your horse’s willingness to be honest.

06/09/2023

What do we owe ourselves when we are working with our horses?


What we owe to our horses is, most often, the notion at the forefront of my mind. However, what we owe to ourselves, the values and ethics we uphold, is an immutable half of our relationship with our horses.

What we owe to ourselves, first and foremost, is accountability with grace, and responsibility without guilt or shame.

All too often we get entrenched in what we did *wrong*, or how we created *confusion* during session.

There is value in assessing where we can do better, without a doubt. But when these thoughts become intertwined with how *good* or *successful* we are, we can very quickly become mired in doubt and self-deprecation.

Suddenly, we feel as though we can’t move forward, and we’ve *let down* ourselves and our horses. The optimism is gone, the joy dissipated. Neither the horses nor we are capable of learning under these conditions.

What we owe to ourselves then, is forgiveness. Letting go of our expectations and the need to be *perfect*.

We strive constantly to give horses the space and time to understand our requests, but all too often we miss the mark in doing this for ourselves.

If we can cultivate a situation in which we can provide the same grace to ourselves that we look to provide for our horses, we can be accountable by taking responsibility for our part while also letting ourselves *off the hook* while we search for better ways forward.

From here, we can begin to view an unintended outcome as merely information, neither good nor bad, room is left for genuine analysis and the potential for a far deeper understanding.

Acknowledging a miss-step without shame, releasing that energy without absorbing it, and without reproofs, will create a learning environment filled with joy and exploration for both our horses and ourselves.

And isn’t that the whole point?

01/04/2023

"What are you willing to do to become the person your horse needs you to be?" 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Someone posted a photo of a horse jumping through fire, and the thread blew up. Most people were complimentary about seeing a horse do this with a rider on it’s back. Amazing! So cool! Confidence building!

Well, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

What are we trying to prove?

Should we ever be out to prove anything WITH our horses?

Focus more on proving TO our horses that we are safe, that we have their best interest in mind and everything else comes after that. If competition, trying new things, jumping through fire, going for any kind of ride or any interaction can be achieved while truthfully saying that is the case at all times, that’s connection, that’s trust, that’s actual horsemanship.

I don’t know what the process was for training that horse to jump through fire. Maybe it was done in such a way that the horse felt safe at all times. I’d like to think that is possible. I do know that, given how some of the horses I work with move, what their bodies and facial expressions look like, that is not the case far too often.

What would you need to do to become safer for your horse (instead of only thinking about things the other way around)? How would you need to change your attitude, energy, training, riding, outlook, belief system, goals?

What are you willing to do to become the person your horse needs you to be?