Long Drove Holistic Horse Training

Long Drove Holistic Horse Training A holistic training approach for horse and human. We consider all aspects of training, management,

Following on from the questions and comments the other day, I wanted to make the next step a bit clearer.Because I think...
10/06/2026

Following on from the questions and comments the other day, I wanted to make the next step a bit clearer.

Because I think this is often where people get stuck.

They know something isn’t quite right, or they feel they would like more support, but they aren’t always sure which route is the best place to begin.

So here is the simplest way to look at it.

If you want to understand more about your horse’s body before you start changing the work, then the best starting point is either Train Your Eye or a Posture and Movement Assessment.

Train Your Eye is there to help you learn what you are looking at. It teaches you how to assess posture, balance, loading patterns and compensation, so you can start to see what the body is telling you.

A Posture and Movement Assessment is more specific and detailed. This is where I assess your horse’s posture and movement, explain what I am seeing, and help you understand what may be influencing the way they are moving, loading and using their body.

Both of these options are a good starting point if you feel you need more clarity before you move forward.

If you already feel ready to get started with training and ongoing support, then you can go straight into lessons.

These can be done online or in person, and they are tailored to your horse, your situation and what is actually happening in front of us.

You can book individual sessions if you just need help with something specific, or you can now book a package from one month to three months if you want more consistent support and guidance to keep you on track.

This is often the better option if you know you need accountability, a clearer plan, and regular feedback rather than trying to work everything out by yourself between sessions.

So the pathway is simple:

If you want to understand what you are seeing first, start with Train Your Eye or a Posture and Movement Assessment.

If you are ready to start making practical changes, book a lesson or choose a support package.

The aim is not to make this complicated.

It is to help you find the right starting point, so you can stop guessing and start moving forward with a clearer plan for your horse.





10/06/2026

Walking along side a pole will allow you to test how straight you horses can be.





09/06/2026

That's a compensation
when a horse is unable to access a particular part of the body to do something then it will solve the issue by choosing another option.





Pole work has become one of those generic prescriptions that gets thrown at almost every horse.Weak back? Do pole work.N...
09/06/2026

Pole work has become one of those generic prescriptions that gets thrown at almost every horse.

Weak back? Do pole work.
Needs more core? Do pole work.
Needs to lift the legs? Do pole work.
Rehabilitation? Add poles.

And I’m going to say the thing that probably needs saying.

Pole work is not a cure-all.

Putting poles on the ground does not automatically create back strength, core engagement, thoracic sling lift, better posture, or correct connection from the hind leg.

It can.

But only if the horse has the functional ability to use the exercise correctly.

If a horse is already weak, crooked, disconnected, braced, falling through the shoulder, hollowing the back, or compensating through the neck and limbs, then adding poles may not improve the movement pattern at all.

It may simply make the compensation more obvious.

You may see the legs lift higher.
You may see more action.
You may see the horse “try harder.”

But limb lift is not the same as thoracic lift.

Stepping over a pole is not the same as lifting through the body.

A horse can pick the feet up over poles while still dropping through the chest, bracing through the back, loading the forehand, disconnecting the hind leg, and using tension to get the job done.

And this is where we have to be careful, especially in rehabilitation.

Because adding difficulty does not automatically create better function.

If the horse does not yet have the balance, alignment, strength, coordination, or postural control to navigate poles well, then pole work can become another layer of strain. Another task the horse has to survive. Another exercise where the body finds a way around the weakness rather than resolving it.

That does not mean pole work is bad.

It means pole work needs to be appropriate.

It needs to be chosen for that horse, in that body, at that stage, with a clear understanding of what you are trying to improve and what the horse is actually doing while they perform the exercise.

Are they lifting through the thoracic sling?

Is the back connecting?

Is the neck able to lengthen without collapsing?

Is the hind leg stepping through under the body, or is it just pushing the horse forward?

Is the horse becoming more balanced, more organised, more comfortable?

Or are they just getting over the poles?

Because those are not the same thing.

In rehabilitation, the goal is not to make the exercise look more impressive.

The goal is to improve the way the horse uses their body.

Sometimes that means poles are useful. Sometimes it means one pole is enough. Sometimes it means the horse needs better posture, better balance, better straightness, and better nervous system regulation before poles are even helpful.

More difficulty is not always more therapeutic.

Sometimes it is just more compensation.

And if we are going to use pole work to help horses, we need to stop treating it like a magic solution and start treating it like any other training tool.

Useful when it is understood.

Potentially harmful when it is prescribed without thought.

The question should never be, “Should I do pole work?”

The question should be, “Can my horse use this exercise in a way that improves their body, their balance, their comfort, and their soundness?”

Because that is where the value is.

Not in the poles.

In how the horse moves through them.





Following on from yesterday’s post, where I asked what would help you take the next step with your horse, I wanted to co...
08/06/2026

Following on from yesterday’s post, where I asked what would help you take the next step with your horse, I wanted to come back to something that really stood out in the replies.

What came through very clearly was that people do want to move forward. They do want to help their horses. They do want to improve posture, balance, movement, comfort and soundness. But for many people, the difficult part is not the willingness to do the work. It is knowing where to start, knowing what applies to their own horse, and feeling confident that they are not going to get it wrong.

And I think that is a very understandable place to be.

When you care deeply about your horse, you don’t want to just try random exercises and hope for the best. You don’t want to make things worse, miss something important, or keep repeating the same exercise because you can see there is a problem but you don’t know what the next step should be. That is where so many owners get stuck. Not because they don’t care enough, but because there is a gap between recognising that something needs to change and knowing how to begin changing it.

This is exactly why my work starts with understanding the horse in front of us.

Before we decide what exercise to use, we need to understand what the body is already showing us. How is the horse standing? How are they loading? Where are they compensating? What are they avoiding? What are they finding difficult? What needs support before we ask for more?

Because an exercise is only useful if it is the right exercise for that horse, at that stage, for that reason. The same exercise can be helpful for one horse and completely unhelpful for another if we haven’t understood what is actually happening underneath.

So yes, I completely understand why people feel unsure. I also think this is why structured support matters so much. It isn’t about giving you more and more information and then leaving you to work it all out alone. It is about helping you understand what your horse is showing you, what matters most, and what the next step needs to be.

That is really the point of the assessments, the online lessons, the in-person lessons, Train Your Eye, and the follow-up support. They are all different ways of helping owners move from “I can see something isn’t quite right” to “I understand where we need to start.”

Because once you have a clear starting point, the whole process feels very different. You are no longer guessing. You are no longer just collecting exercises. You are working from the horse in front of you, with a clearer reason behind what you are doing and a better understanding of how to move forward.





I’m curious about something, and I’d genuinely love your thoughts on this.When it comes to improving your horse’s postur...
07/06/2026

I’m curious about something, and I’d genuinely love your thoughts on this.

When it comes to improving your horse’s posture, balance, movement, strength, comfort or soundness, what do you feel you need most?

Is it more information so you can understand what might be going on?

Clearer visual examples so you can start to see what you’re looking at?

More videos and demonstrations so you can watch the process?

Feedback on your own horse so you know what actually applies to them?

Or more support and accountability so you don’t feel like you’re trying to work it all out on your own?

I ask because I think there is often a big gap between knowing something needs to change and feeling confident enough to actually take action.

Most horse owners care deeply. They want to do the right thing. But it can feel overwhelming when you are trying to understand posture, movement, compensation, loading patterns, soundness, training, pain, behaviour and everything in between.

Sometimes it’s that you don’t know where to start.

Sometimes it’s that you’re frightened of getting it wrong.

Sometimes it’s that you can see something isn’t quite right, but you can’t yet make sense of what you’re seeing.

And sometimes it’s that you’ve gathered so much information that it becomes harder, not easier, to take the next step.

So I’d really love to know:

What would help you most where you are right now?

More education?

More practical demonstrations?

More structure?

More feedback?

More support?

Or something completely different?





Happy 13th birthday, Demi.You are the wisest, most beautiful soul, and you have transformed not only how I work with hor...
06/06/2026

Happy 13th birthday, Demi.

You are the wisest, most beautiful soul, and you have transformed not only how I work with horses, but how I understand horses, their bodies, their minds, and everything they are capable of teaching us when we truly listen.

You arrived in my life as a three-year-old, at a time when I already knew something needed to change. I knew I needed to find a different way, but I don’t think I fully understood what that meant until you came along.

And in many ways, you became the instigator of that change.

You have guided me through so much of what I needed to learn. You have challenged me, questioned me, raised the standard, and made it very clear when something was not good enough, not clear enough, not soft enough, not fair enough, or not truly understood.

You are an educator through and through.

By teaching me, you helped me develop a way of working that now helps so many other horses and their people. You guided me into a deeper understanding of communication, choice, connection, movement, function, and the equine body. You didn’t just change my training. You changed the whole direction of my work.

When you arrived, I had no idea what path we were going to take together. We have been down all sorts of rabbit holes, explored so many ideas, learned from the mistakes, refined the process, and come out the other side with something I am deeply proud of.

And now, the level of refinement, connection, and communication in our relationship is something I have never experienced before.

I am so thankful for your high standards. For your opinions. For your choices. For the way you have never allowed me to settle for less than true understanding.

You have been in my life for ten years now, and it has been a journey in every sense of the word. But every time I think we have reached the peak, you show me there is more. More depth. More softness. More connection. More possibility.

I know there is still so much more to come, and I am grateful that I get to continue learning with you.

Thank you, Demi.

Happy birthday, beautiful girl. x

Before RehabilitationBefore you start going down the road of rehabilitation, you have to understand two things.Where you...
05/06/2026

Before Rehabilitation

Before you start going down the road of rehabilitation, you have to understand two things.

Where you are.

And where you are trying to go.

Because I meet so many people who have been “rehabbing” their horse for months, sometimes years, and they still haven’t made the progress they hoped for.

Most of the time, they have tried everything they were told to do.

More walking. More straight lines. More polework. More gadgets. More strengthening. More time.

And still, their horse is not where they hoped they would be.

That is a very lonely place to be, because all most owners want is for their horse to be okay. They are not asking for miracles. They are not necessarily asking for grand performance or dramatic transformation. Sometimes they just want to see one small sign that things are getting better. One moment where the horse looks more comfortable. One day where they feel like they are finally moving forwards instead of going round in the same exhausting loop.

But the problem is that rehabilitation cannot just be a set of generic instructions.

It has to belong to the horse in front of you.

The first thing I want to understand is the story. What has actually happened? What has the vet found? What has been diagnosed? What has been treated? What information do we already have, and how was that information gathered? That matters.

But I also want to go further back than that, because often the diagnosis is not the whole story. I want to know what the horse was doing before things started to go wrong. How they were moving. What work they were doing. What patterns were already there. What changed. What was missed. What the body may have been quietly compensating for long before the obvious problem appeared.

Because a diagnosis tells us something important. But it does not always tell us how that particular horse got there. It does not always tell us how that particular horse is organising their body now.

That is where the real work begins.

Once I have the history, I want to look at the horse without judgement and without forcing them into a pre-written plan. I want to see what is actually in front of me.

How are they muscled? How are they standing? Where are they loading? How do they feel about moving? Do they move freely, or do they protect themselves? Where is the range of motion? Where is the restriction? What is working? What is struggling? What has the horse learned to do in order to cope?

Because every horse finds a way to manage. Some brace. Some avoid. Some lean. Some rush. Some shut down. Some become crooked. Some lose confidence in their own body.

And if we do not understand that, we are not really rehabilitating the horse. We are just adding exercises on top of the same compensation pattern.

That is why the starting point matters so much. Before I think about what exercise a horse “should” be doing, I want to know what needs to change first.

Where is the biggest problem in this horse right now?

What is the one thing that, if we improve it, will give the body a better chance to reorganise?

Very often, that starting point is balance and weight distribution. If the horse is constantly loading unevenly, falling through one shoulder, holding tension through the neck, dropping through the thoracic region, or protecting one part of the body, then asking for more work will not necessarily make them stronger. It may simply make the compensation stronger.

And that is where so many rehabilitation plans fall apart. Not because the owner is not trying. Not because the horse is hopeless. But because the plan does not quite fit the horse.

Rehabilitation is not just about doing more. It is about doing the right thing, at the right time, for the body that is actually in front of you.

Sometimes the horse who looks like they are failing is not failing at all.

They are just still waiting for someone to understand the pattern they are stuck in.

They are waiting for someone to stop asking them to strengthen dysfunction and instead help them find a way back to balance, comfort, confidence, and function.

That is where rehabilitation has to begin.

Not with a generic plan.

Not with a gadget.

Not with more pressure to make progress.

But with understanding.

Because once you truly understand where the horse is, you can begin to find the way forward.





Train Your Eye Cohort 2 starts this Friday.If you’ve booked your place, please check your emails today. I’ve sent out th...
03/06/2026

Train Your Eye Cohort 2 starts this Friday.

If you’ve booked your place, please check your emails today. I’ve sent out the details explaining how the challenge will work, what you need to do before we begin, and how to access the Facebook group.

This is your reminder to start getting organised.

You’ll need to gather your photos, read through the information, and make sure you’re ready to begin on Friday.

At the moment, only a few people have joined the group, so if you haven’t done that yet, please do it as soon as possible. You’ll need to use the same email address you booked with so I can approve you.

If you can’t find the email, check your junk or spam folder first. If it still isn’t there, send me a message and I’ll help you find it.

I’m looking forward to starting this second cohort and helping you develop a clearer eye for your horse’s posture, balance, and alignment.





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