Cessna Stables, LLC

09/06/2026

‘Iberian horse wanted, must have huge, flowing mane and forelock.’

I saw this advert yesterday and it made me think. First of all, as a reforming long mane enthusiast, this requires me to air my own dirty laundry; I do really understand the appeal. It’s a hard pill to swallow that in our desire for a horse to fulfil our romantic notions, we may have created a real stinker of a problem.

It’s clear we’re in trouble as an industry. As someone who comes into contact with a lot of horses, the biggest challenge most of them - and therefore us - face, are long term soundness issues. Whether that’s leg lameness or body lameness. Metabolic issues or digestive problems. We are awash with unwell horses. When people tell me I’ve been unlucky with mine, the truth is often they’re just not yet aware how crocked their own horse is.

There are challenges outside our immediate control. Chemicals on the land and in the air, in their food and grazing, are without doubt having an impact on the health of horses. You can do what you can regarding your current horses, but you’re going to have to look very hard to see how your new horse may have grown up at an environmental level.

And, but…What would the horse industry look like if the absolute main thing we prioritised was long term soundness?

If, when you went looking for a horse, you (the person with the ultimate power) insisted you wanted to see parents who are still sound and strong many years into healthy and happy ridden lives. If soundness and good health was the main thing you wanted to pay for, what might that do?

Because, right now we prioritise all the wrong things. Flashy movement. That’s a big one, and while it looks so fancy, it breaks many horses down. Horses are not meant to move like spiders.

Impressive size (I don’t know how many times I need to say it, but pretty much no-one needs these huge horses). The equine skeleton and associated structures are just not evolved to handle the immense height we’re breeding into horses. The breakdown rate of these big guys is really sad to see.

Colour. Now this is a hard one for me to admit to, as I love a colourful horse. But when the colour of the horse becomes more important than the soundness of the horse, we end up in a world of pain. When breeders are obsessed with colour because WE are obsessed with it, issues such as strong conformation, strength and soundness can easily fall by the way side.

I have asked a few of my esteemed colleagues why we’re seeing such a mess with all these broken young horses, and someone suggested this. Only a couple of decades ago the stallion available to you would have to be one in your local vicinity. Importing semen from around the world was not an option. Importing real life stallions from other countries was absolutely not a thing. You chose the proven stallion from down the road who was still sound and healthy and going strong. The one who had proven his viability as a working horse, not as a future possibility. Or a good looking horse standing in the box.

And, we better understood how very important the mare was. She wasn’t just a vessel that didn’t matter, the physically broken, unhappy, behaviourally compromised horse that is retired at 6 and put into foal. The mare is vital and needs to be actively chosen for soundness and longevity, not used because she needs a job; due to being unrideable. I mean, it’s not rocket science - and yet it’s incredibly common.

I am sharing this after years of seeing so many people and horses struggle when soundness and health have not been made the priority. As someone who loves a good looking horse, I know how very hard it is to not write ‘Must have flowing mane and big forelock’ at the top of my spec. But honestly, we’re doing to horses what we’ve done to dogs. The further we move away from functionality and focus instead on fashion, the more health problems we’re running in to.

I only wish I was a small adult, because if I was, I’d choose a pony.

Photo shows a herd of Lipizzan mares, living on hundreds of hectares of mountainside, chosen for strength and soundness. No one above 16hh…

08/23/2026

🔗: https://equimanagement.com/research-medical/research/cola-might-help-treat-gastric-impactions-in-horses/

Historically, gastric impaction in horses has a poor outcome. Researchers at Utrecht University retrospectively reviewed cases of gastric impaction to evaluate whether treatment with cola was associated with improved survival.

Of the 125 cases included, 57.6% were discharged from the hospital. Horses treated with cola had a greater likelihood of survival: 82.8% vs. 35.8%. Non-Friesian horses treated with cola had 90% survival.

08/14/2026

This. As an instructor who prioritizes the horse’s welfare, I spend a lot of time trying to help students to unlearn rigidity resulting from years of trying to find stability by jamming their heels down. Old patterns die hard but if we want our horse to be able to carry us in a way that is comfortable to them they must be able to lift their back. This is only possible if the rider is able to balance themselves over their seat - maintaining control over their own weight and not forcing it into the back of the saddle.

08/05/2026

5 things about confidence I wish I'd known sooner.

First, confidence isn't a trait. It's a belief you hold about yourself — and beliefs are tools, not truths. You can test them, swap them, and set them down when they stop being useful.

Second, waiting to feel confident before you act gets it backwards. The action comes first. The feeling follows. If you wait for the feeling to show up on its own, you'll wait forever.

Third, what most people call "low confidence" is actually discomfort they haven't learned to sit with. The anxiety before the hard conversation, the pitch, the post — that's not a signal to stop. It's the price of doing the thing.

Fourth, confidence isn't the absence of self-doubt. It's the willingness to move while the doubt is still there. The people who look confident to you aren't quieter inside. They just stopped treating the noise as instructions.

Fifth, the fastest way to build it is to keep small promises to yourself. Not big ones. Small ones. The identity forms in the follow-through, not the declaration.

Confidence isn't something you have. It's something you practice.

07/26/2026

When I was young, I was very preoccupied with the form of my seat, partially because it was the common focus of seat lessons back then. We tried to achieve a certain look, or a certain form, even at the expense of becoming rigid or forcing our bodies into this form.

I also worried whether my torso was vertical or whether I was leaning forward, and whether my pelvis was rotated properly in the right direction. In lessons with my teachers at the time I found out that my body awareness was not a reliable indicator. Sometimes I felt straight, but I was actually leaning forward, or I thought I was rotating my pelvis, but the horse wasn’t bending or turning properly. In other words my body was not doing what I thought it was doing, which is a common problem, I think. My proprioception was like a measuring instrument that wasn’t calibrated properly.

Then I realised that my horses would always give me feedback on everything I did. Every time I changed anything in my seat, they would change. They would either get better or worse. It didn’t take long to notice that the horses would not necessarily go correctly when I thought that I was sitting correctly (“by the book”). So I started to experiment with my pelvis and torso in all 3 dimensions. I tried to ignore what my body was telling me and only to observe the horse’s gait and posture. Was he going freely forward, or rushing, or sucking back? Was he bending through his entire body, or was he only bending his neck, or was he counterbending? Was he on the bit and through the back, or was he inverted or curled up? Was the rein contact even on both sides, or was it heavier/harder on one side than the other? What changed if I changed my seat? And vice versa: sometimes the horse changed on his own. Then I asked myself: what did I do to deserve this? What changed in my seat in the 3-5 strides before the horse changed?

Through these experiments I was able to develop my seat into an effective tool for communication. There were many surprises along the way. I learned that I had to rotate my pelvis much more than I had thought in order to obtain a good bend. I had been too focused on sitting still and on invisible aids that I wasn’t moving enough with the horse. I remember situations in which I felt oddly twisted like a pretzel, but my horse was happy, on the bit, through the back, and bending.

Obviously, my body awareness was lying to me. After a few days the odd feeling went away and I felt normal when the horse was happy. That’s when I decided not to worry so much about how my seat felt to me, but to go only by the horse’s feedback. My new mantra became: Nobody cares how the rider feels. The only thing that matters is whether the horse feels good.

It also occurred to me that perhaps being objectively vertical or “straight” might be counterproductive in some situations because the horse and I are both asymmetrical, and we need to become functionally straight and balanced together as a unit. This could mean that sometimes I have to be off center in order to compensate for my own crookedness or the horse’s crookedness, or both.

07/25/2026

Jonathan Haidt, a leading voice in the “no phone” movement, has proposed strategies to help distance kids from their screens, including school-wide phone policies and encouraging outdoor play, Piper Benjamin, LCSW writes. This got me thinking—how do horses and time at the barn influence mental health? As it turns out, the effects are profoundly positive.

Nature has long been recognized as a powerful regulator of human emotions. According to Kaplan and Kaplan’s book The Experience of Nature: A Psychological Perspective, humans are hardwired to respond positively to natural environments. They developed the Attention Restoration Theory (ART), which suggests that spending time in nature helps restore our ability to focus—especially after long periods of “directed attention” tasks like answering emails, taking notes in class, commuting, and of course, scrolling on our phones. These activities demand constant concentration and can leave us feeling mentally depleted.

In contrast, nature offers what Kaplan and Kaplan call “soft fascination”—an effortless kind of engagement that allows our brains to relax and recharge. ART outlines four key components of a restorative environment: Being Away, Extent, Fascination, and Compatibility.

The Four Elements of a Restorative Barn Environment

Being Away: A mental or physical escape from daily demands. The barn naturally provides this, whether it’s hacking your horse on a quiet afternoon or simply enjoying the slower pace of farm life. Many barns are also physically removed from the bustle of town, offering that much-needed geographical distance from the “real world.”

Extent: An immersive environment rich enough to engage the mind. Even routine barn activities, like brushing your horse, tacking up, or letting them graze, draw us into a world that feels vast and engaging without overwhelming us.

Fascination: The effortless pull of our attention. Horse lovers know this feeling well. We lose track of time while grazing horses, chatting with barn friends, or simply watching them roam in their paddocks. This gentle captivation allows our minds to wander and reset.

Compatibility: Alignment with our values and purpose. For equestrians, this comes naturally. A deep love for horses creates an environment that feels not just restorative, but essential.

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2025/07/22/why-psychologically-barn-time-is-better-for-kids-than-screen-time/
📸 © The Plaid Horse

07/12/2026

06/10/2026

Replicating the life of a wild horse has proven that, given the chance, most Thoroughbreds are more than hot-house flowers that must be continuously coddled with blankets, shoes, and leg wraps.

Check it out: https://tinyurl.com/3pnca6cn

06/09/2026

My lovely student Julia demonstrating the results of seat work without stirrups.

06/08/2026

It always amazes me how adults think they should be able to organize their bodies on a horse in a much shorter period of time than it actually takes. Maybe this will help explain why.