Contemporary Equitation

27/09/2026

Cobs absolutely CAN 😎 Gorgeous Flossy delivering allll the enthusiasm with Robyn yesterday in their lesson.

Spanish walk and fancy bits are great for all horses and while it's a fun trick, it's a brilliant tool for helping support shoulder mobility & lift, improving flexibility and even helping to teach passage in some cases!

28/08/2026

I'd really recommend clients in the area to go to this if they are able - Giorgia Kolias is a fabulous horsewoman and it will be a really fab evening! 🦄 ❤️

✨ NEW EVENTS WITH GIORGIA KOLIAS — LIBERTY WORK ✨

Have you ever watched a horse and person dancing freely together and wondered how that level of connection is possible?

Liberty work isn’t really about the tricks or performances — that’s just the icing on the cake. Beneath it lies a foundation of communication, mutual respect, trust and understanding that can benefit every aspect of horse handling and training, across all disciplines.

🐴 LIBERTY DEMONSTRATION
📍 Reaseheath College
📅 Sunday 4 October
⏰ 4pm–6pm

Join Giorgia Kolias for a two-hour demonstration with her own horses as she shares what liberty really means to her — not as a showpiece, but as a way of building a deeper, more honest relationship between horse and human.

Giorgia will explore:
✨ The foundations of liberty and why they matter
✨ How to begin developing trust and communication
✨ Simple exercises that make liberty accessible to everyone
✨ How these principles can improve your everyday partnership
✨ What becomes possible once that connection is established — including working with horses in pairs and groups and exploring more advanced movements

Whether you’re completely new to liberty or already have experience, this session is about developing a partnership based on trust, softness and genuine communication.

Come and see how liberty work can quietly transform the way you see and feel your relationship with your horse. ❤️

And if you want to put what you’ve seen into practice…

🐴 LIBERTY CLINIC WITH GIORGIA KOLIAS
📍 South Staffs College
📅 Sunday 8 November

Giorgia will continue the learning with practical group sessions, with a maximum of 3 participants per group. Each one-hour session gives you the opportunity to learn new skills, practise them and receive Giorgia’s guidance and input.

🎟️ Book your place on Horse Monkey

Come and discover what’s possible when communication becomes the foundation of your partnership. 🐎✨

06/08/2026

One thing that seems to have come up with quite a few clients recently is confidence / self belief.

None of these clients have had a big accident, usually, it's been something relatively small - a spook, a loss of balance, or even just a moment that caught them off guard that has snowballed into a larger issue. Every one of them has then followed it with something along the lines of, "I know it's silly," or "It wasn't even a big deal," or "I don't know why it's affected me so much."
..The thing here is, our brains don't really care whether we think something was significant enough to justify a loss of confidence. They just recognise something felt unsafe, file it away and try to protect us from it happening again. The common pattern of where people seem to get stuck is what happens next, instead of acknowledging that they're finding something difficult, they beat themselves up for finding it difficult...They tell themselves they should be able to do it, can't ride, can't hack, or can't canter anymore.

This is exactly why I'm forever pulling clients up on the word can't. Not because I'm trying to be positive for the sake of it, but because words REALLY matter, especially when we're trying to break a feedback loop (like helping our horse past something they've found difficult to deal with!).. Subtle changes in how we talk to ourselves ("I'm finding this difficult at the moment") leaves room for our brain to stop the loop.

If you keep telling yourself you can't, your brain starts looking for evidence that you're right. If you accept that something feels hard right now, you give yourself permission to navigate to the other side🙏💪

Confidence isn't something you either have or you don't, it changes and fluctuates (especially for women, who make up the majority of my client base, remember hormones can play a huge part in this, so being kinder to yourself when you can preempt not feeling your most positive is super important!). Remember confidence can also be rebuilt. A bit like how most of us give out horses regularly physio, bodywork etc but never allow ourselves a massage, treat your brain with the kindness you treat your horses' with 💖🦄🙏

31/07/2026

Hello everyone!

As ever, thank you for keeping me wonderfully busy with your lovely unicorns! 🦄

I’m very aware that my usual posting on here has been a little limited recently thanks to our house move… and a bit of baby brain creeping in too!
All being well, we are expecting a new (human!) addition in December/January. I have already spoken to my regular clients individually, but I just wanted to share a little update regarding my input and new horses.

As my bump grows, my ability to support with groundwork and demonstrate will naturally become a little more limited. I will also be avoiding anything hands-on with new horses where there are any concerns involving legs, teeth, or unpredictable quirks, keeping both myself and baby safe is the priority!

I’m not currently riding clients’ horses, but I hope to return to this in the new year when my body is ready. I will also be taking horses in for training next year at our beautiful new home in the Welsh forest. We have some very exciting plans for a bring your horse on holiday set-up too, complete with a sauna for you, Reiki & aromatherapy for them, and miles of gorgeous hacking for you both once we are properly established! (See below!).

I currently have a waiting list for schooling next year, so please do get in touch in advance if this is something you’re looking for.

I also want to reassure everyone that I won’t be taking an extended break from teaching....especially for those of you who have suggested having baby join us for the odd lesson! 🥰

The timing feels perfect... winter is muddy and gross, the horses are often ready for a slower pace, and we can all pretend we’re hibernating anyway! 😂🦄☔

Thank you all for your continued support, I absolutely thrive on teaching you lovely lot and your wonderful horses!

15/06/2026

Quick message to all clients!

We are currently in the process of moving house, hopefully very soon! I have had a big flurry of messages in the last week or so and lots of new enquiries which is fabulous, thank you for keeping me so busy!

Please bear with me for dates over the next few weeks as we are still waiting for the last few jigsaw pieces but we not only have to coordinate two houses' of stuff but also 4 horses so we've got lots to organise! Until we have certain dates I don't want to commit too many lesson times over the next few weeks so I'm not having to cancel last minute.

If I haven't got back to you please do prod me and thank you for your patience 🥰

As an aside, I will have a small amount of space for new clients in the Chester / Wrexham/ North Wales border area hopefully very soon!

07/05/2026

I get asked about this loads because people are super conscious about getting it 'wrong'. The truth is, every horse is so incredibly different so it's important to approach them as such.

Using treats:

This is always a contentious one amoung many many circles...you have the traditionalists that hate using food and think it promotes biting, you see the purists who think it's not 'real' if you use treats, then you see people who DO create biting behaviour because there wasn't a correct boundary or the people who may have missed cues and timing and inadvertently rewarded the 'wrong' behaviour.

My view is that positive reinforcement, whether that from a treat, a scratch (not a pat please, research shows horses don't actually find this pleasant!) or body language, should be integral to all equine training. Treats really come into their own when we are trying to teach something complicated or that the horse may lack motivation for...they can help clarify the exact moment they get it right and lead to quicker and more enthusiastic learning. HOWEVER, if treats are given for behaviour when we don't ask for it then this can create a huge lack of clarity and the horse to pull out a whole host of 'how about this?' to obtain a food reward. A lot of more alternative trainers really used to hate treats...but there is a change in direction more recently and as our understanding of equine behaviour evolves then we too should evolve our approach. I find it wild that it is completely accepted that we train dogs using a food reward but when it comes to horses people can be completely up in arms on both sides of the fence!

It is important, however, to emphasise that we should aim to train in a way where the horse is motivated to be with us (whether that is ridden, liberty, trick or groundwork) and sees us as a safe space rather than a pressure release. This should not rely on treats but a much deeper understanding of what our horse is trying to communicate and how we can best show our understanding of that in how we train 🦄✨

23/04/2026

This video illustrates perfectly why I'm always talking about pressure stacking and release behaviours, ft Emirates 🤣

When horses are repeatedly pushed through situations while showing subtle signs of tension, confusion or concern, that pressure often builds up. Eventually, something small can tip them over the edge into having what appears to be a random or uncharacteristic 'over the top' response.

If we prioritise steady and slow learning to begin with and learn to recognise when our horses need processing time, they trust that we won't put them in dangerous situations. In turn, this helps them learn to manage their own bodies and emotions to problem solve instead of panic...even if the biggest passenger plane in the world is next to them ✈️✈️

07/04/2026

Big well done to this pair on a huge amount of progress over the past 6 months and MJ really improving position, strength and use of the right muscles 💪🐎