Eli

09/02/2026

So cool... Katherine looked up the meaning of my hip #, 903, (that's the number that was on the tag that was on my hip when I was at auction.) Simpler to say hip # 😂 This is what it means;

"Angel number 903 is a message from your spiritual guides to finish old phases, embrace fresh starts, and trust your creative growth.

Core Breakdown of #903

Number 9: Stands for the end of a life cycle, wisdom, and spiritual growth.

Number 0: Amplifies energy and represents eternity, wholeness, and spiritual starting points.

Number 3: Brings optimism, joy, communication, and self-expression.

Key Meanings

Keep Progressing: Move forward with confidence even if you face hard times.

Trust Divine Timing: Let go of worry and believe that good things are coming.

Open Your Heart: Stay ready for new love, personal goals, and positive changes."

08/12/2026

Did Your Horse Make a Bad Decision, Or Did You?😬

There is a particular bit of horse training wisdom that says sometimes you just have to let a horse make a bad decision.

Let it pull back. Let it fight the rope. Let it discover that throwing itself around doesn't work. If it flips itself over in the process, well, apparently that's the horse learning about consequences.

Except I have a question.

*Whose bad decision was it?*😎

Because one of you understands ropes, leverage, physics, horse behaviour, and the possibility of a sizeable vet bill.

The other one is a horse.🐴

This is where I think we sometimes forget the best thing humans bring to horse training.

We can assess situations for risk and think ahead.🤓

We're certainly not bringing speed to the partnership. Or strength. Our hearing is fairly ordinary, our sense of smell is pathetic, and most of us couldn't jump a small log without warming up first.🫣

But we can look at something unfolding and think, *Hmm. This has all the ingredients of an impending sh!tshow.*

And then, here's the clever bit, we can change what we're doing.😅

I don't think good horsemanship is about protecting horses from every uncomfortable experience. Horses need to learn to cope with pressure, frustration, restraint, uncertainty and things they would rather not do. That's life with humans.

But there is a difference between letting a horse get something wrong and standing there whilst an unnecessary catastrophe unfolds.😱

A horse doesn't need to flip over to learn about halter pressure.

It doesn't need to fall off the ramp of the float after it has hit its head on the roof to learn to load.

It doesn't need to completely lose its mind before we decide perhaps we should have prepared it better or just made an adjustment to our approach.🤨

And yet there is something strangely seductive about the big wreck.

Someone standing calmly while a horse is exploding can look terribly impressive.💥

You know what doesn't look impressive?

Not having the explosion.

Nobody gathers around to watch someone notice that the horse is getting worried, make a small adjustment and quietly carry on.

No drama. No heroic battle. No inspirational Facebook post about how the horse learned that its bad choices have consequences.🙄

Just competent horse training.💪

Rather boring, really.

Expertise often looks boring because the expert prevented the unnecessary dramatic thing from happening.

And this is why I find the argument that "the real world won't wait" slightly odd.

Of course it won't.

The vet might need to treat your horse immediately. The farrier needs to pick up its feet. You may need to load during an emergency.

That's not an argument for letting horses battle their way through training.

It's an excellent argument for training them properly before you desperately need the behaviour.🙌

Teach the horse about pressure. Teach it to yield. Teach it to stand. Teach it to load. Teach it to have its ears and feet handled. Give it useful answers while everyone has the luxury of time.✅

Use your brain.

Because that's the bit of equipment we have that the horse doesn't.

And play the long game.

A ten-minute battle that leaves you with a frightened horse, a sore neck and six months of remedial training isn't a win because you remained calm while it happened.

It's just a very expensive way of learning something you could have predicted beforehand.

So yes, let horses make mistakes. Let them experiment. Let them experience manageable difficulty where they are set up to find the answer. That's how learning happens.

But if things are heading towards catastrophe, remember which member of this partnership is supposed to be capable of imagining what happens next.🙋‍♀️

Your greatest advantage over a horse isn't strength - It's foresight.

It would be a shame not to use it.❤

Collectable Advice 269/365. I would be grateful if you could share if this resonates with you :)

IMAGE📸: Maryanne and her 5 year old stock horse Harvey at my clinic in Grafton on the weekend. Harvey has been beautifully and meticulously trained and prepared. This was his first time in an indoor arena and you would never have guessed.❤

08/12/2026

People sometimes wonder how I could have wound up at an auction, and although I can't explain my specific circumstances this post does a great job at explaining the process.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1HqcMFxvmh/

Rescue, Post Sixteen

How Horses End Up at Auction

Before we wind up our auction series, there are a couple more questions and comments we would like to address, and we hope it helps folks have a better understanding.

Many of you have asked just how horses end up at auction in the first place. The short answer is, they come from everywhere.

Every sale looks different, but they happen regularly all over the country. The one we just attended was heavy with Amish and Mennonite road and field horses, standardbreds, drafts, and mules, the working horses of those communities.

Another sale a few hours away might look completely different, filled with backyard horses, lesson horses who can't keep up with the work, forgotten broodmares, "retired" bucking horses, camp horses deemed not worth holding over for another season, or high-level show horses that have gradually stepped down through the levels, from 3'6", to 3', to 2'9", to 2'6", eventually being donated to a college program and later sold to a dealer.

What you see depends greatly on the region and the sale, but every discipline, every level, and every kind of owner is represented somewhere in this pipeline. And of course, horses continue to be bred every year across disciplines, adding new lives to an already crowded system.

You'll also find horses that folks placed for free to good homes, often on sites like Craigslist and social media, believing they had found them a safe landing, only for the horse to change hands again.

Some horses are dropped off at auction directly by their owners. Others have already changed hands, often more than once, moving through private sales, dealers, traders, and multiple other auctions before they ever stand at a sale where we may meet them. The auction itself may be only one stop in their journey.

Sometimes nothing has changed about the horse at all. Their person's circumstances changed, finances changed, a farm or program closed, or someone simply decided they no longer wanted them.

For many owners, auction is simply the fastest, easiest way to be rid of a horse. No need to screen a buyer, answer questions, or wait weeks for the right home. Drop them off, get paid the same day, and never have to know where they end up.

But, auction can also become an alternative for someone unwilling to make and pay for an end-of-life decision. Rather than paying for veterinary care and euthanasia, they can drop the horse at sale and leave with a few dollars instead or even, a new horse.

The circumstances may be different, but underneath so many of these stories is the same reality: once a horse is no longer wanted, auction offers a quick and easy way to move them on.

It's important to note that not every horse is old and broken. Yes, the two we came home with were, and our gelding was one of the neediest at the sale. But there are young and old, sound and lame, grade horses (those without registration papers) and registered horses with papers and show records, as well as unhandled horses and incredibly well-trained ones.

No horse is excluded from the wheeler-dealer pipeline, a place where horses change hands again and again, often moving further from the people who once knew them, their histories, and any protection they may have had.

They were someone's horses first and they come from good and not so good homes. It there, at the sale their future depends on who attends the auction that day and just who raises their hand.

The truth is, without plans and protections in place, any horse can become vulnerable, and it can happen fast. A horse can go from being someone's daily partner, groomed and worked and loved, to standing at auction in a matter of weeks, sometimes days. Sometimes it happens because of death, finances, or other life circumstances that leave them without someone to advocate for their future. Other times, they are simply no longer considered useful or convenient.

While we like to think every horse had a loving owner, the truth is, some horses are simply viewed as a means to an end, a piece of machinery to be used until they cannot be used anymore.

The truth is, horses cannot choose their owners. They are all depending on us.

This is exactly why we raised our hand for our gelding and mare and exactly why we created a pre-planning guide for owners and guardians earlier this year. We have some updates to add to it but if you are thinking about planning for your horses future, perhaps our guide will give you a place to start. We put the link in the comments below.

As for our two new additions,they didn't choose to end up at that sale, and they couldn't have found their way out of it without you.

We have more informational post planned for this series and then it is time to vote for names and give another update before returning to our regularly scheduled programming. Thank you for taking this journey with us, we hope everyone was able to take something from our posts and the efforts to share it with you have made a difference.

06/17/2026

I am not sure how I got that label; I am very social. I just like some quiet time to restore my energy. Please note that I did not trip up the hill this time! 😉

06/14/2026

Smart woman, Dr Shelley Appleton Calm Willing Confident Horses 💚💚💚

Horses Don't Measure Sacrifice 😒

One of the hardest things about horse ownership is accepting that your horse doesn't know how much you care.

They don't know how many hours you work to afford them.

They don't know how much money you've spent trying to help them.

They don't know about the holidays you've skipped, the sacrifices you've made, the sleepless nights you've spent worrying, or the countless hours you've devoted to researching, learning, and trying to do the very best by them.

And that's hard.😕

Because those sacrifices are real.

Most horse owners don't simply own horses. They build their lives around them.

So when a horse is anxious, difficult, reactive, unwilling, or struggling despite all that effort, it's easy to find yourself thinking:

*"Surely they should know I'm trying."*

But horses don't measure sacrifice.

They don't evaluate effort.

They don't judge intention.

They respond to how they feel.

As herd dynamic expert Kerry Thomas says:

> "A horse wants harmony with their environment and contentment with their peers."

So when a horse isn't coping, the question isn't whether they know how much you care.

The question is whether they feel secure in their environment (that includes both their internal and external environments) and content in their relationships, including the one they have with you.

My friend and collaborator Isabelle Chandler and I often talk about another confronting idea.

We don't spend much time wondering whether horses love us.

The truth is, we don't know what love means to a horse.

What we do know is that horses can learn to trust us.

And trust leaves evidence.

You see it in a horse that approaches willingly. A horse that tries when things are difficult. A horse that looks to you when they're uncertain. A horse that finds confidence and security in your presence.

To us - that is the best. ❤

They may never know how much you've sacrificed for them.

But they can learn to trust you.

And perhaps that's enough.

Because the meaning we find in horses was never really about being loved back in the way humans love. It comes from sharing our lives with them. From learning, growing, caring, trying, and becoming better because they are in our world.

Horses connect us to something bigger than ourselves. To nature. To the seasons. To the earth beneath our feet. To responsibility, humility, and wonder.

For me, horses make me feel alive.

And if, through all our efforts, we can help a horse feel safe enough to trust us, then perhaps that is one of the most meaningful relationships we can hope to build.

Collectable Advice 231/365. Hit SHARE or SAVE. Please no copy and pasting.🙏

06/14/2026

Hello. Hope you’re ok wherever you are. I’ve had some very moving messages about this drawing so I thought I’d post it. I hope you have a good weekend. It’s finally stopped raining here..

06/03/2026

Happy birthday to me! 🎂🎈

I know this year will be a bit different than last year.

And I know I am loved and celebrated 💗

06/03/2026

Just me and my buds having fun
😊

02/22/2026

Be a Good Load to Carry

Nature did not design a horse to carry you.

It designed them to flee predators, travel kilometres, graze for hours, and remain exquisitely sensitive to balance. It did not design them to transport a slightly asymmetrical human around a sandpit while said human critiques the horse’s straightness.🙄

And yet here we are.

If you choose to ride, the least you can do is not be a structural liability.

Yes, your saddle needs to fit. Yes, your girth matters. They are not fashion accessories. They are mechanical interfaces strapped to a ribcage.

But the real issue?

You.🫣

A balanced load does not hang off the reins like it is water skiing. It does not collapse into one hip and call it “my horse is crooked.” It does not tip forward, tip back, clamp with the thighs, brace through the spine, and then complain that the horse feels tense.

I weight my left seat bone more than my right. I did not know. I had to have it pointed out. If I do not consciously correct it, that is where I default. My horse compensates. Because horses always compensate.

We analyse their posture. Their engagement. Their willingness. Meanwhile we are riding at a 12-degree angle wondering why they will not track up.🫠

Nothing makes an equine feel more vulnerable than instability. And nothing creates instability faster than a rider who is balancing on the mouth, gripping for dear life, looking down, and interfering with rhythm because they themselves feel insecure.

When a horse feels rushy, lazy, spooky, resistant, sometimes it is training. Sometimes it is pain. And sometimes it is you.😎

Unstable. Asymmetrical. Unaware.

The mother ship of riding is this: how your horse feels carrying you.

So this week is Be a Good Load to Carry Week.🙌

Lift something heavy. Do Pilates. Fix your position. Rise to trot if you cannot sit it without bracing. Walk your horse in hand if that is where you are at.❤

For a few uncomfortable minutes, stop diagnosing your horse and audit yourself.🫶

If you were your horse, would you feel safe carrying you?

That is the variable you control.✊

Start there.

Collectable Advice 164/365. Hit Save or Share. No Copying & Pasting.