Aligned Horsemanship

10/08/2026

10/08/2026

🦄 Looking for your next project with a whole lot of personality?

This approximately 15-year-old Thoroughbred gelding is looking for his person! Approximately 16 hands (not measured). Super sweet, personable, and an in-your-pocket kind of guy who loves attention. Sound, barefoot, and has great feet! Very hardy for a tb! Keeps weight on, no skin issues, lives outside.

He is tattooed and believed to be off the track, but has no papers and we haven’t been able to decipher his tattoo. His other history is unknown.

He acts like he has some education tucked away, but he’s been out of work and needs someone with the experience and patience to bring him back into a consistent program. He has offered a few crow hops at the beginning of lunging and ridden sessions before settling and continuing to work. Experienced home only, he is a project and is not suitable for beginners at this time but with the proper training I could absolutely see him becoming very beginner friendly. He’s not bothered by much and has a generally laid back personality.

His enthusiasm for being your best friend means he could also use groundwork to establish boundaries and personal space. There’s a sweet, engaging horse here for someone who enjoys the process and has the time and skills to put into him.

Limited lunging and riding videos are available upon request.

If you’d like to know his full story (or what we know about it). Please feel free to pm. I’ll do my best to answer any questions!

📍 Jamestown, TN
4 ,🥕🥕🥕OBO. Finding a good, experienced home is the priority.

09/23/2026

I’m excited to share more of my sessions with Cuata as we get to know each other! We’re still settling into the new farm, and with so much left to do, our sessions are short right now. That’s also giving her time to settle in without asking too much of her too soon. ❤️

One of the first things I noticed while handling her was that she tended to carry her head high and lean against halter pressure when being led. So, our first session focused on introducing a softer response to that pressure and helping her feel comfortable lowering her head.

This short clip is from the end of that session. I love how quickly she caught on and how she began to relax as we worked through it together. My goal is for her to feel comfortable enough to let go of tension and find softness with me.

For me, teaching a horse to lower their head is about more than making haltering and bridling easier (although that’s certainly a useful benefit! )
I’m looking for relaxation alongside the response, paying attention to the whole horse, not just where their head is.

Such a lovely start with sweet Cuata. I’m looking forward to sharing more of our journey! 🥰

09/23/2026

Y’all, I might be a mare person 🥰😆

09/21/2026

Meet the newest addition to the farm, Cuata! 🤍

Cuata is a KWPN Dutch Warmblood mare by Tjungske, out of Ruata by Iroko, with Carthago also in her pedigree. She brings an exciting gp and international show jumping history, including a 1.35m win with Kayleigh Watts in Oliva, Spain!

As she steps down from her jumping career, I’m excited to offer her a new chapter here. She also has a substantial dressage background, and I’m especially looking forward to being her student, developing my own dressage work and learning everything she has to teach me. Even as a trainer, there is always more to learn, and having an experienced partner like Cuata is something I’m grateful for.

Of course, I’ll also be introducing her to my specialties: liberty and bridleless work! I’ll continue sharing updates as we get to know each other and she starts learning something new.

And there may be a Cuata baby in our future…we’ll see! 👀🐴

Welcome home, Cuata. I’m so excited for our journey together! 🤍

08/04/2026

A few pics from our liberty jump class, and one headshot from right before we entered the arena for our ridden trail class 🤩

08/03/2026

I want to start by saying a huge thank you to ELO for putting on such a welcoming, encouraging, and beautifully run show, and to Luke Gingerich Horsemanship and Kaylee Gingerich and Ariana Sakaris Equestrian Development for your continued guidance, support, and mentorship. Your help along the way have played such an important role in getting Honey and me to where we are today, and I am so grateful.

Yesterday was our first bridleless competition. We competed in bridleless trail, jumping, egg and spoon, and barrel racing! (We have never barrel raced, we were in a jump saddle with no bridle and I royally screwed up the pattern but it was all in good fun😅). We also competed at liberty in trail, jumping and a liberty pattern class.

Over the past year, we have worked so hard to build Honey’s confidence in unfamiliar places. At one point, her anxiety was so intense that she would rear when tied to the trailer, couldn’t stand still, and stayed constantly on edge. Yesterday was the complete opposite of that horse. She was calm, relaxed, willing, and truly connected to me in every class.  Even when she drifted a bit, she left softly and came back softly and were able to finish our course. She showed no sign of the anxiety ridden horse she once was in these environments. Being able to compete bridleless and at liberty and feel that level of trust and softness was the biggest reward of all.

I am so thankful for the experience, the growth, and the incredible support system around us. It was a day I will never forget, and I am so excited for what comes next for us, whatever that may be❤️

06/03/2026

What an incredible event. This post is so well written and it is interesting that I came across it now in two ways. One, I just had my first experience jumping bridleless off property and was on cloud 9 from that but at the same time struggling with another question.

The question that has been on my mind is how we balance our horsemanship values with our goals for progression, competition, and high level performance. I know I’m not willing to accept a philosophy where the end justifies the means if those means create unnecessary stress, anxiety, or sourness in the horse. But does that mean we have to give up ambitious goals? Or is there a better, maybe slower, but ultimately more sustainable path forward?

I’ve caught myself a few times saying, “This works really well for my horse in this situation, but I can’t do that at a show.” What if we challenged that assumption? What if the competition environment itself is what needs to evolve?

Why is allowing a horse the time and space to process a new environment before being asked to perform at their best is viewed as “alternative” or less legitimate? Our horses adapt to so much of what we ask from them and although I am not anti-competition in any way we have to realize that it’s strictly for the human not the horse’s benefit.

I know that when I’m nervous or in a new environment, I don’t perform at my best either (and I have the reasoning ability to know that I’m not actually going to die.)

Maybe it’s time to ask ourselves whether horse competition could become a little more horse-friendly. Perhaps true horsemanship and high level performance don’t have to be opposing goals? I would love to hear others’ thoughts on this! ⬇️

06/02/2026

Another great clinic learning from Kaylee and Luke Gingerich alongside some amazing women 🌟

The clinic pushed us up against thresholds that I didn’t know were there and that part was hard at times but 100% necessary. Growth isn’t always pretty or comfortable but we also had some really amazing moments like some of the best liberty and collection work we’ve had and our first time jumping bridleless in a new environment!
It was inspiring to spend the week alongside hardworking horsewomen, each bringing their own goals, challenges, and determination. Watching the progress made by both horses and riders over just a few days was remarkable.

Honey and I are leaving with new skills, a fresh perspective, and plenty to work on at home. Looking forward to continuing the journey.

05/20/2026

Someone messaged me last night and said my horses seem happy. They wanted to know what I do for their physical, emotional, and mental health. Here was my response:

“Hey! I’d say in general I try to make their lives more difficult. Which can be a tricky thing when you’re still trying to create a good life for them. I think of it a bit like I’m their fitness and life coach. Sometimes their life is difficult purely through doing a hard (but rewarding) workout. Other times it’s difficult because we’re challenging their comfort zones.

The easier and more comfortable we make their life on a daily basis the smaller their comfort zone gets. Horses seek peace. It’s hard for them to find peace when they are always worried because of a small comfort zone.

I do the same thing for myself. I try to work myself pretty hard and also do things that make me uncomfortable at times. I find that this is something successful people do. They might do a 5am workout followed by an ice bath. Then when you see them in public they’re cleaned up and their life looks easy.

I would like that when I go out in public with my horse I want it easy for him. If it’s easy then it might also be fun or enjoyable.

Imagine how you might build a mentally resilient human…if you were in charge of a human and needed them to be mentally strong what would you do? You probably wouldn’t give them everything they want, as soon as they want it. Would they do a 5 mile run at 5am? Cookies and ice cream when ever they want it? Would you have them face their fears or allow them to run and hide any time they got uncomfortable?

Creating challenges that they can overcome to gain confidence is the tricky part. We don’t want them to be worse off after going through something difficult. But also if they never go through anything difficult they will get mentally and physically softer.

Another major piece to my program is controlling the feet. Becoming a good leader starts with the ability to lead. If I can’t control my horse’s feet at a high level then it’s hard to develop them and guide them in the ways necessary. It also allows me to keep them safe regardless of the circumstances happening around us.

Hope that helps!”

There is a lot more to this…of course good living conditions and quality feed (we feed Triple Crown Feeds because they’re the best! 🙌🏼) But honestly most people do that part well nowadays. And they generally maintain an aged broke horse well. But developing a green horse is where they often struggle. They cause their young horse to be entitled and self serving.

I wish keeping a horse comfortable all the time worked. Man wouldn’t that be easy! It just doesn’t work. 🤷🏻‍♂️ It’s a short sighted strategy. And at times it’s the best way to get a horse through a situation they aren’t prepared for. But then we need to go home and get them ready for that situation, just in case we encounter it again.

And truth be told. Everything I wrote above won’t have much meaning unless you watch how I do it. When horsemanship is talked about it sounds like poetry. But in practice it’s a lot more real. I learn a lot from watching other trainers. I learn very little from listening to them talk about their training.

Want to get better? Go ride with the people you want to be more like.