10/28/2026
There’s an assumption in the greater horse world, that horses trained ethically and with kind methods are your quintessential “snowflakes.” That the only way to respect your horse’s insecurities and offer consent, is by preventing them from ever experiencing any discomfort.
And to me that’s just silly and a sign of how small minded horse people can be.
Because I’ve experienced quite the opposite.
Recently I took two horses, that I’ve have significant if not SOLE training supervision over, to a clinic at a large facility. The horses had to haul over an hour, longest (domesticated) haul for both horses, and perform under saddle within 2 hours of arriving onsite. They had a short but appropriate warmup before our lesson began. And they both were… well they were fine.
I’ve made a very intentional effort to check my work when it comes to emotional regulation training. I want to make sure that my methods and techniques are properly preparing horses for a plethora of uncertain experiences.
So I ask them to do weird things.
🧐 I change tack.
🧐 I ride inside and outside the arena.
🧐 I ride and lead them in the road.
🧐 I haul them off property.
I practice what I preach. creating kind and confident horses not just within the confines of their comfort zone, BUT ALSO, in the big scary world outside.
