Equine Freedom Solutions

10/20/2026

Well spoken!

The Personality You Bring to Your Horse🤓

We spend an extraordinary amount of time trying to understand our horses. We analyse their personalities, anxieties, past experiences and every peculiar behaviour they display. Some people have even developed elaborate theories about what their horse is thinking, feeling and trying to communicate.

Meanwhile, the personality of the creature holding the lead rope receives remarkably little scrutiny.😜

Before I continue, a disclaimer. Personality research is controversial, and some personality theories deserve to be filed alongside astrology and other entertaining attempts to explain human behaviour. The Big Five model has considerably stronger scientific foundations, although there are legitimate questions about how accurately personality traits predict what people actually do.😎

Nevertheless, I thought it would be amusing to consider how our personalities traits might influence the interactions with our horses.🕵️‍♀️

The Big Five traits are remembered using the acronym OCEAN: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism.

1️⃣OPENNESS describes our willingness to consider new ideas. Highly open people are curious, which is marvellous until they spend thousands investigating whether their horse's problems are caused by emotional blockages or ancestral trauma.😆 People lower in openness can remain committed to familiar practices long after the horse has demonstrated their limitations.😬

2️⃣CONSCIENTIOUSNESS involves organisation, discipline and consistency. Highly conscientious people are often excellent at following training plans, although their commitment can become problematic when completing the exercise becomes more important than observing the horse.✅ Less conscientious people might be wonderfully adaptable but struggle to maintain the consistency that learning requires.😆

3️⃣EXTRAVERSION is associated with sociability, enthusiasm and assertiveness. Interestingly, I am naturally more introverted, but my career as a university academic required me to develop a rather convincing extraverted persona. Years of lecturing, presenting and engaging audiences made being animated and expressive habitual. Horses taught me that I was often much more effective when I stopped performing and returned to the quieter, more measured version of myself that I was naturally comfortable with. Of course, introverted people can also struggle when they need to become more assertive. The skill lies in recognising what the situation requires rather than allowing our habits to dictate our behaviour.🙃

4️⃣AGREEABLENESS reflects our tendency towards cooperation, compassion and maintaining harmony. Highly agreeable people can become so concerned about upsetting their horse that they struggle to provide clear direction.😕 Less agreeable people may have no difficulty establishing expectations but can become dismissive of the horse's difficulties.😣 Both can convince themselves they're doing the right thing while the horse deals with the consequences.

Finally, there's 5️⃣NEUROTICISM, which describes our tendency towards anxiety, worry and sensitivity to potential threats.

I score spectacularly well on this one.😱

In my younger years, combining my anxious tendencies with a reactive horse produced some impressive demonstrations of how two nervous animals can convince each other that something terrible is about to happen.🫣

However, my tendency to anticipate problems also motivated me to become exceptionally interested in understanding horses and developing the skills to influence them. What initially contributed to my difficulties eventually became one of my greatest assets.🤓

And that's what I find interesting about personality. Our natural tendencies can be helpful or problematic depending on how well we understand and manage them. 😎

Which brings me to today's collectable advice.

Your personality isn't necessarily the problem. Your lack of awareness of how it influences your behaviour might be.❤

We cannot simply blame our personality for our horsemanship shortcomings, nor should we assume our natural tendencies determine our abilities.

The wonderful thing about developing expertise is that we can learn to recognise our tendencies, manage their less helpful expressions and make the most of their strengths.

You also might discover that the most interesting animal in the paddock is the one holding the lead rope.😜

Collectable Advice 320/365. Consider SHARING this, especially if you know someone who is far too agreeable for their own good, enthusiastically disappears down the most ridiculous rabbit holes, has the conscientiousness to investigate every last one of them to its bitter end, and absolutely cannot stand suspenseful movies because not knowing what might happen next is a form of psychological torture!😅

09/10/2026

"Horses don't experience our good intentions. They experience what actually happens to them."

The story below is a story myself and other knowledgeable, experienced, equine professionals I know are all too familiar with

When “I Just Want to Ride” Becomes the Problem🔥

A trainer friend of mine recently lost it with a client. This bothered her enormously because she is normally incredibly patient. She is also kind, experienced and genuinely goes out of her way to help people.

The client was lovely too, and that matters. This isn't a story about a horrible person mistreating a horse. It's about a perfectly nice person who loved her horse, wanted to ride her horse and was struggling to see that some of the things standing between her and that goal weren't going to disappear simply because she really wanted to ride.

For a couple of months, my friend had been helping her with an anxious, spooky mare. Quite quickly, she noticed several things. The mare appeared mildly footsore. Boots were purchased, but my friend suspected more investigation was needed, including looking at diet and hoof care. The saddle had also never been properly fitted.

Then there was the riding. When the mare became anxious and rushed, the rider would shortened the reins and pulled harder on her mouth. On the ground, her handling of the lead rope was inadvertently creating confusion. Nothing malicious was happening. She simply didn't yet have the capability or insight to recognise how these interactions might feel from the horse's end of the rope.

So my friend went back to groundwork. Not because groundwork is some sacred spiritual practice, but because the woman needed to learn how to communicate with her horse. The mare was already showing some anxiety on the ground, and my friend wanted to help the owner develop the skills to guide and support her there before adding the complexity of riding. The groundwork wasn't really about groundwork. It was about helping the human become clearer, more reliable and more capable of guiding the horse when things became difficult.

Each lesson, my friend explained what they were doing and why. She demonstrated, coached and gave the woman things to practise. Unfortunately, very little was practised, so they kept returning to much the same place. This wasn't a case of a trainer endlessly insisting on groundwork while refusing to let someone progress. The things preventing that progression weren't changing. The mare was still showing some anxiety on the ground, the owner's handling wasn't improving because she wasn't practising, the feet remained questionable and the saddle remained unchecked. They couldn't progress simply because time had passed when the problems they were trying to resolve were still sitting there waiting for someone to resolve them.

Then one day the client announced that she was sick of groundwork. She wanted to ride.🤨

Somewhere inside my friend's normally well-regulated nervous system, a small fuse finally reached the explosives.💥

Because the groundwork wasn't preventing her from riding. A collection of unresolved problems affecting the horse was.

The horse's feet were uncomfortable. The saddle hadn't been assessed. The owner still struggled to guide the mare clearly, and when the mare became worried under saddle, the response was to restrict her further. Getting on and riding wasn't going to magically make any of that disappear.😑

In fact, it potentially bundled all the problems together and added a human.

This is the part of the story worth committing to your memory banks.

When we describe a horse as anxious, spooky, reluctant, resistant or lacking confidence, we are describing what the situation looks like from our side. We still need to ask what the situation might look and feel like from theirs.

Perhaps the horse isn't simply anxious about the world. Perhaps she is anxious about experiencing the world while her feet hurt. Perhaps she is reluctant because the saddle is uncomfortable. Perhaps every time she becomes worried, the human shortens the reins and increases the pressure. Perhaps she doesn't feel particularly secure with the person handling her because that person is still learning how to communicate clearly.

Then we climb aboard and wonder why the horse isn't confident.😑

Determination is a wonderful human quality, but it has limitations. You cannot out-determination sore feet. You cannot positive-think a poorly fitting saddle into fitting. You cannot repeatedly confuse a horse and overcome the consequences by deciding that today you are definitely going for a ride.😑

My friend eventually lost her temper. She wishes she hadn't, but I understand why she did. Perhaps a boundary could have been established earlier, but hindsight is wonderfully articulate. She had spent weeks trying to help someone understand what she believed the horse was experiencing, and eventually her frustration got the better of her.😕

There is a useful warning here for all of us. Horses don't experience our good intentions. They experience what actually happens to them.

You can adore your horse and still accidentally make their life difficult. That doesn't make you a bad horse owner. It gives you something to investigate, learn or change.

The problem begins when the horse keeps providing information and we decide we don't want to hear it because it interferes with what WE want to do.

So perhaps the uncomfortable question is this: do I want to solve the problem my horse is experiencing, or do I just want my horse to stop having a problem with what I want to do⁉️

Because there comes a point where saddling up and getting on is no longer perseverance. If the horse is uncomfortable, the equipment is questionable, the communication is unclear and the horse keeps struggling, but we choose to ride anyway because riding is what WE want to do, perhaps we need to stop calling that determination.

At some point, refusing to listen to the horse in front of us becomes disregard for their experience.

And surely, if WE genuinely care about horses, that should matter more than whether we get to ride today.❤

Collectable Advice 289/365

Please SHARE this one, especially with the coaches and equine professionals who have found themselves in this exact situation. I suspect many of you will read this story and think, “Yep. I’ve lived this moment too.” Sometimes the hardest part of helping the horse is helping the human see what the horse has been trying to tell them.🥹

PS. I am looking forward to Project Reboot ❤

09/01/2026

This!

I can no longer remember how many times I have had the conversation with horse owners that their horse shouldn't be ridden right now, or their horse isn't physically able to do the things they are asking it to do, etc... Most owners don't like what I have to say and will complain. Some will complain but follow through with suspending riding or changing what they can do with their horse at that time, but the majority won't and will blow me off and I never see them and their horse again. It's a rare horse owner who will understand and be eager to follow through with the necessary changes in order to get the horse where it can be ridden again without causing issues.

It’s shocking how often we show up for a saddle fitting appointment only to meet a horse who is in no condition to be ridden at all. Even scarier is how many riders simply do not realize that their horse currently lacks the foundational strength required to carry weight safely.

To be clear, this is never about pointing fingers or assigning blame. The owners who book these evaluations are doing so out of love and responsibility, eager to do right by their partner and ensure their tack is as comfortable as possible. But having to break the news that riding needs to pause is always a delicate and tough conversation.

More than anything, it highlights a critical gap in our industry, recognizing whether a horse can or cannot be ridden in their current physical state, ought to be a foundational skill within every owner’s toolkit, rather than a surprising revelation delivered by a saddle fitting professional.

We need to recognize that a horse’s back was never naturally “designed” to carry weight and that riding isn’t what builds a horse’s topline.

Asking an unconditioned horse to build postural strength while carrying the weight of a saddle and rider is the human equivalent of getting off the couch after months of inactivity, walking straight into a gym, and attempting heavy barbell squats.

You won't build healthy muscle, you will compensate, strain your body, and inevitably hurt yourself. Expecting a horse to "ride into fitness" creates that exact same cycle of strain and physical breakdown.

You have to build the bridge before you drive over it.

A horse’s inability to carry a rider comfortably is rarely a simple fix, because a weak topline is usually a symptom of a larger, systemic picture:

👉Posture and Pain: If a horse is experiencing underlying discomfort, whether from joint soreness, dental issues, or soft tissue tightness, they will hollow their back and brace to protect themselves, making healthy muscle development impossible without manual bodywork.

👉Hoof Balance: Improper hoof angles disrupt the entire kinetic chain, altering how the horse places their feet, affecting posture and movement.

👉Nutrition and Metabolism: Without the proper balance of amino acids, minerals, and digestible energy, the body physically cannot synthesize muscle tissue, no matter how much work you do.

👉Environment and Movement: Extended stall confinement drastically limits natural movement. Horses need regular turnout and low-impact motion to maintain basic core tone and joint mobility.

Developing a horse that is genuinely fit to carry weight requires time, patience, and structured preparation from the ground. Long-lining, in-hand work, and targeted core exercises teach the horse how to lift their thoracic sling, engage their abdominals, and lift their back before we add extra load.

Even when a horse is fully fit, riding alone is never enough to maintain that strength. Groundwork and cross-training must remain permanent pillars of your weekly routine to protect their long-term soundness.

Ensuring your saddle fits is a vital part of horsemanship, but being a responsible owner also means stepping back, looking honestly at the horse in front of you, and asking the most important question first: Is my horse physically ready to carry me today?

Giving them the time, foundation, and conditioning they need from the ground first, is the greatest investment in their longevity you will ever make.

08/30/2026

Not to mention, a horse pulling back in a thin halter can also catch the occipital crest and pull the skull out of alignment

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19RvyJU2x4/

08/10/2026

So glad people are starting to wake up and speak out about this. As an equine practitioner, I find round penning hard on horses joints and it does nothing to help a horse develop physically or mentally in a balanced, healthy way.

Round-pen training and "join-up" are often sold as a gentle way to build trust. But what does science say about it?

The chief appeal of round penning lies in the notion that it is possible to manage unhandled horses without coercion by mimicking behaviours from the equid social ethogram.

The merits of this type of hands-off training are purported to be that it is humane and carries with it little risk of learned helplessness.

But round-pen training does involve coercion.

For unhandled horses, being approached and touched by humans seems to lie on the same continuum of aversive interactions as being whipped — they are all interactions worth avoiding.

Round-pen training is often ineffective insofar as achieving anything useful in human–horse interactions. Indeed, it has been proposed that horses might simply learn to avoid being chased.

And in some circumstances with fearful horses, for example, round-pen training can also be inhumane, as it can precipitate chronic stress if horses are conditioned into constant states of hyper-reactivity.

💡 Equitation Science, 2nd edition, by Andrew McLean, Paul McGreevy, Janne Winther Christensen & Uta König von Borstel.

🛒 This book is available for purchase on our website!

06/16/2026

https://www.animalsaroundtheglobe.com/16-horse-breeds-vets-secretly-wish-first-time-owners-would-stop-choosing-1-392432/?utm_source=m.instagram&utm_medium=referral&utm_id=120246491879350739&utm_content=120246491879360739&utm_term=120246491879330739&utm_campaign=120246491879350739&fbclid=IwY2xjawSeVNlleHRuA2FlbQEwAGFkaWQBqzOMj9ByM3NydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR7nI6ON9ZvQeTTaI4hRkIcksT1P44vYzck_S1BszGpkF8oJy0XCDm3VB_ZMDQ_aem_YWdncwAIVj_xYdxRZ9lZp0UX_uoV&brid=YWdncwEIVj_xYdxRZ9lZp0UX_uoV

Animals Around The Globe is a travel platform focused on wildlife and unique destinations, where you can discover all your favourite animal encounters.

10/09/2025

This is currently my oldest client. Meet Joey, a 35 years young QH gelding living his best life out in Sandy Mush with his buddies Bill and Murphy!

07/09/2025

Join us for Catherine’s talk at Dreamwinds Equine Assisted Learning Centre on July 15th at 11 am. Head over to Dreamwinds.com/calendar to get registered before Saturday!

07/08/2025

04/23/2025

So glad there are other people out there who see that real horsemanship is on the decline and is being replaced by this type of BS. A confused horse is either a flat-out dangerous horse or a numbed-out horse that will be dangerous when it snaps out of it.

Fantasy Horsemanship: Where ‘Doing Nothing’ is Marketed as Mastery 💸

“A safe space for humans. A weird time for horses.”

Once upon a time in a paddock not-so-far away, a horse dragged its owner across the arena to a hay bag.
And lo, the guru said:
“Did you see that? He’s finally feeling safe enough… to express his autonomy.”

And the crowd nodded.
For they were moved.
And the horse, dear reader, was not. 🙄

Welcome to Fantasy Horsemanship — where dragging, balking, spooking, and shutting down are framed as spiritual breakthroughs.
Where confusion is revered, clarity is oppressive, and stillness is sold as “deep integration.”
Where your horse is not trained — but interpreted. 🎭

Let’s take a closer look…

1. The Guru Speaks (And You Stop Thinking)
In this world, the guru is your translator.
You don’t learn to read your horse — you learn to believe his reading of your horse.

A tail swish becomes trauma. A head toss? “Reclaiming boundaries.”
And a shut-down horse staring into space?
That’s “sacred integration through parasympathetic recalibration.” ✨

It’s not horsemanship.
It’s interpretive spirituality with a rope halter. 🧘‍♀️🐴

Sprinkle in some polyvagal jargon, somatic buzzwords, and vaguely-academic pseudoscience, and suddenly everything makes sense… except your horse.

2. Feeling > Function
“I feel more connected.”
“My horse gave me a soft eye.”
“We just stood together and cried.” 😭

Lovely.

But did your horse stop spooking at the mounting block?
Can he walk forward when asked?
Did you learn anything… practical?

Of course not.
Because in Fantasy Horsemanship, progress is an emotional experience, not a behavioural outcome.

If you cried, it counted.
Even if your horse is still stuck, shut down, or silently screaming for guidance. 🐎💤

3. No Tools, No Plan, No Problem
“I could use a tool… but that would betray the trust.”
Translation:
I don’t know what to do, and I’ve built a philosophy around that.

No leadership? Enlightened.
No aids? Ethical restraint.
No plan? A bold rejection of the patriarchy. ✊

Doing nothing is rebranded as depth.
The guru has no method, no map, and no measurable outcomes — and that’s exactly how he likes it.

Where there’s no criteria, there’s no failure.
Only more feelings. 😌

4. The Guru Believes His Own Bull$h!t
And here’s the real kicker:
The guru isn’t running a con — he’s running a one-man theatre production he believes in deeply. 🎤🎭

You’ll see a horse lurching, lame, shut down, clearly miserable —
and he’ll whisper, misty-eyed:

“Wow. That was amazing.” 😍
He’s not evaluating the horse.
He’s performing a show.

And he’s too high on his own narrative to notice the horse is tragically unsound and about to file for emotional leave. 📋

5. Your Horse Is Not Your Life Coach
“I’m forever changed.”
“He unlocked something in me.”
“We breathed together under the stars.” 🌌

Lovely.
But your horse still won’t load on the float.

He’s not your therapist.
He’s not your mirror.
He’s not your trauma doula.

He’s just a horse — trying to survive a training session that’s turned into a TED Talk narrated by someone who’s read one too many somatic healing blogs. 💻🐴

He doesn’t want to co-regulate.
He wants clarity.
And maybe a carrot that doesn’t come with a full emotional disclosure. 🥕

6. Bonus Truth: When Fantasy Replaces Vet Checks
Here’s what Fantasy Horsemanship won’t tell you:

The only time horses aren’t easy… is when they’re unsound. 🚫🏇

Pain changes behaviour.
Discomfort makes horses emotional, evasive, or disengaged.

But instead of checking for pain, lameness, or imbalance, the fantasy reframes it all as “emotional blocks.”

And for women — especially those not feeling strong in their own bodies — this becomes a trap.
When movement feels hard, stillness feels safe.
When strength feels distant, softness becomes the story. 🧘‍♀️🕯️

And suddenly, both human and horse are stuck.
One in pain.
One in fear.
Both being told they’re “healing” — when really, they’re just avoiding.

7. And Still, the Horse Pays the Price
Behind the hashtags and healing mantras is a horse who didn’t ask for this.

He doesn’t get trained.
He doesn’t get listened to.
He gets filmed mid-meltdown while someone whispers,

“This… is integration.” 🎥😬
He’s confused.
He’s burdened.
He’s trying.

But nobody notices.
Because everyone’s too busy being deep.

8. Epilogue: The W**d That’s Spreading
This isn’t just one guru.
Fantasy Horsemanship is everywhere. 🌱🔥

It spreads through spiritual marketing, emotional manipulation, and the promise of transformation without accountability.

It appeals to those who want connection but fear discomfort.
It flatters women conditioned to be agreeable, self-doubting, and endlessly apologetic —
those trying to people-please their horse into loving them,
dreaming of a ba****ck beach ride with wind-blown hair and 100% safety. 🐎🌊💨

But your horse isn’t looking for magic.
He’s looking for someone who knows what they’re doing.
Not someone side-tracked down a rabbit hole to nowhere.

Final Thought
Horses are beautifully simple.
They don’t need make-believe — they need meaning.
They don’t want therapy — they want to be understood as horses, not projected humans.
They don’t care about your journey — they care if you can help them feel safe. 🧠❤️🐴

They are easy to train.
Easy to make feel secure.
Unless they’re unsound — or the human is untethered.

So if the fantasy is fading… if your horse is still wary, still stuck, still waiting…

That’s not failure.
That’s reality knocking. 🚪

Answer it.

Find someone who teaches real horse training and treats you with respect.
Learn to understand horses — and build the skills to influence them.

Because when the fog lifts and the narrative dies…

It won’t be the guru standing with you.

It’ll be your horse.
Still confused.
Still waiting.
Still hoping you’ve finally shown up —
not with a story…
but with a plan. 🐴✔️

If you’ve climbed out of the fantasy rabbit hole — or realised your horse biting you wasn’t over zealous engagement but frustration — you’re not alone. Tell your story. Let’s talk about it.❤

If this said what you’ve been thinking — share it. If it said what you wish you wrote, still… share it. With credit. You’re welcome. 🐴😉