Engaged Equines

26/05/2026

26/05/2026

No one learns well when they’re stressed or fatigued.

During the slow work is where problem solving, processing and confidence building happen.

As each tiny piece of training becomes consolidated we can begin to combine them, build resilience and expand comfort zones.

25/05/2026

This weekend was a special one…

I ran an exclusive 2-day immersive clinic for my Engaged Equines Brand Ambassadors. And I have to say, my cup is well and truly full!

Not one of these horses or humans is the same as those of the start of the year, when I say they’re dedicated I mean they are putting in the hours, hard yards and maximum effort… and it shows.

More to come on what we worked on and what they discovered! 🤗 for now enjoy watching their pretty ponies prance 🐎

29/04/2026

Check out two of my newly started ladies doing a great job in the previous reel!! 🤗🦄

23/04/2026

𝐈 𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐁𝐔𝐓…

You’re probably working too hard.

That might look like,

You stop riding, your horse stops going
You let reins out, your horse runs forward
Your horse drops in, if you don’t hold the shoulders up

A horse who is balanced, strong and able to travel in self carriage is easy to ride.

Instead of driving, pushing, pulling and holding, your job becomes simply to set up, allow and encourage - AND enjoy!!

By actually teaching your horse how to carry themselves and how to regulate both body and mind it allows you to concentrate on yourself rather than constantly fixing, blocking and off balancing them.

If you want to work smarter not harder get to work on:

☑️ Self regulation, for calm confidence
☑️Modifying movement patterns, for symmetry and body awareness
☑️ A healthy balance of mobility and stability
☑️ Our balance and strength on and off the horse

Stay tuned and let me know if you’d like to get on the waitlist for one of my upcoming clinics by dropping a 🦄 in the comments, winter/spring schedule on the way!

09/04/2026

𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽! 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗴!!

We’re constantly told that allowing a horse to stop encourages bad behaviour, in my 20+ years of experience I’ve found just the opposite.

Allowing the horse time to coordinate their bodies and reset their brains always benefits the end result.

To find longer periods of trot and much more fluidity, using super light aids took me all of 10 minutes total during this work out.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐝𝐨:

✅ 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞
✅ 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐢𝐝𝐬 ✅ 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥
✅ 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐨:

🚫 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 🚫 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐢𝐝𝐬
🚫 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥
🚫 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩

Whether your horse stops frequently or you want to work towards lighter aids give it a go, you might be surprised!

23/03/2026

“The rider should be so sensitive, to feel the back of the horse and should know if the horse has slept in a bad position in his stable. The tactful rider feels if part of the horse is tired and knows how to engage this part without force.

The horse is not a machine, it is a living being. Of course one rides him and he never forgets the movements he has learnt, but what is necessary to know is to always ask the commands correctly, without bad consequences to the body of the horse.

When, at each session, one begins to work his horse, it is necessary to feel how he is that day and to know how to adapt the intensity of his aids from the assessment of the horse on that day and to know the combination of work which is suitable for that day.

It is always necessary to complete a session of work thinking about the horse being in his best form the next day.” ~(Nuno Oliveira, 1983)

07/03/2026

Muscle tone & movement can be improved in EVERY. SINGLE. HORSE!!

Some of the benefits:
✔️ Comfort
✔️ Willingness
✔️ Soundness
✔️ Balance
✔️ Calmness

…the list goes on BUT mobility & stability are essential for your horse’s health & happiness.

And it starts with YOU! Being able to assess your horse’s muscle tone, posture and movement allow you to keep track of your training and whether it’s helping or hindering!

I’m currently working really hard on getting these teachings online…stay tuned for their release and let me know if you’re as excited as me in the comments!!

02/03/2026

When a horse appears to be ‘disobedient’ or ‘disrespectful’, it’s really easy to put up your own defences and mirror that energy back.

What’s difficult, is to maintain your composure and what might be even more difficult, is showing empathy and compassion.
It’s then up to us to first figure out the ‘why’.

Boundaries are important but it isn’t necessary to implement them using aggression.
Setting expectations with clarity and consistency is key, which takes self discipline and self control.

I used to think the difficult horses needed more firmness turns out they mostly needed more understanding.

27/02/2026

Be the bigger person, or just…

The person.

I’ve met a lot of cranky horses, aggressive horses, horses that push and bite or constantly have pinned ears and a sour face.

In the human world if someone enters a space with an intimidating or abrasive energy our defences are up instantly, we feel it and we either shrink or reflect back the same short, sharp energy.

It can be easy to do the same with our horses, they pin their ears and we want to snap back at them or ‘correct’ them, we call them disrespectful or rude.

Or we simply shrink back.

But the problem is that no one is actually diffusing the situation here - in fact sometimes you might even be adding fuel to the fire.

Your horse doesn’t have a voice, their main form of communication is body language.
These symptoms are all signs of discomfort or frustration and reprimanding often does little to nothing to help this.

The horse may stop the behaviour temporarily to avoid punishment but the feelings remain, and in these moments they learn that communication is futile. You may pay the price for this later with bad behaviours that appear ‘out of nowhere’.

The horse may escalate the behaviour in an effort to be heard, this often leads to greater consequences and then louder communication and so the cycle continues but is not resolved.

That doesn’t mean you don’t have any boundaries at all, and shrinking purely leaves the horse without support.

As the human, putting the horse into your world, you carry the onus to think logically and rectify the situation through reassurance, regulation, support, consistency and clear communication. Keep building these tools and skills always.

And I’m here to assure you that working out what YOU can do to help the situation become more productive won’t mean your horse ‘wins’ or ‘gets one over on you’, it will not reinforce bad behaviour for the future but what it will do is solidify your relationship and allow your horse to see the value in following your direction.

horsemanship