Sarah Rhodes I A New Equestrian Mindset

10/19/2026

Friday: caviar. 🥂
Saturday: rescuing a bird from a water trough. 🐦
Sunday: working in the Jetski shop. 🛥️
Monday: building online course content. 💻

Just your average horse trainer and coach, right? 😂

Sometimes I look at my life and laugh at how many different hats I wear. One minute I’m doing something that feels a little fancy, the next I’m fishing a bird out of a water trough, and then I’m switching gears to work on my business.

But isn’t that life?

We’re all juggling different roles. We’re the professional, the caretaker, the problem solver, the friend, the person trying to get 47 things done before dinner.

And sometimes, just when you think you’ve got your rhythm figured out, life throws you a bit of caviar for the first time. 😂

Here’s something I’ve learned through horses: being able to shift gears without losing yourself is a skill.
You don’t have to show up the same way in every situation. You just have to learn how to meet what’s in front of you without getting so caught up in what you think should be happening.

That’s something I work on with horses, and it’s something I keep learning in my own life, because we keep moving in some way.

Now I’m curious... what’s the most unexpected combination of things you’ve found yourself doing in a single weekend? Tell me below. I have a feeling some of you can give me a run for my money! 😂💜

09/25/2026

Has your horse ever given you a look like this? What do you think it means? 😳

I thought she was going to murder me if I give her a carrot 🥕

09/05/2026

Big shout out to the people who keep me motivated to keep going!

Becky Johnston

08/27/2026

A client asked me this week why her mare gets so exuberant into the canter depart to the right. Every bloody time.

I love that question. Not because I had a clean answer ready, but because asking it puts you in exactly the right mindset.

She didn’t ask me how do I make it stop but what is my horse actually telling me.

So I started listing possibilities out loud. Discomfort somewhere in the body. A learned pattern from something that happened a long time ago. Lack of clarity in how the depart is being asked for. Rider imbalance or unintended tension. Tack that does not fit quite right on that side.

I told her this list is not even the whole list. Horses are individuals with histories and bodies and nervous systems that are entirely their own. But those five areas are where I start almost every time something does not make sense yet.

Ponder on this for a moment...

Your horse is not being bad. Your horse is saying something. Every behavior, every exuberance, every refusal, every moment of confusion makes complete sense from where the horse is standing. Your job is to get curious enough to figure out what they are trying to say.

When you shift from frustration to curiosity, that is where everything changes.

I am sending out a two part email series this week going deeper into horse psychology and all five of those reasons. If you are not on my list yet and want to read it, send me a message and I will make sure you get it.

08/20/2026

I ran my first veteran trial session on Tuesday this week. We didn’t ride, just did groundwork with a horse and had a conversation about leadership.

Four-time combat veteran and a leader of soldiers, Brandon, told me it gave him “a different perspective on leadership with how to guide soldiers on the right path… And how to take care of them.” he said the same principles carry over to his kids and everyone in his life.

He also said something that made an impact on me: talking and being with a horse took his mind off his own struggles for a while and left him feeling better.

It was only one session and an honest reaction, but that’s proof enough for me to keep building this.

Do you know a veteran who would want an hour like this? If so, send them my way. 🐴💜

08/14/2026

Things seen out riding. Some are “normal” some are “scary” and some you just don’t ask questions… 😳💀

Show me some pictures of things you’ve found out riding and if you don’t have any go for a ride 💜🐎

08/06/2026

The hardest stretch in any trust-rebuilding process is the messy middle.

You have already decided to do the work and are showing up differently. Your attitude has changed, your consistency has improved, your intentions are genuinely good. All of the things to make it happen!

And nothing has shifted yet. 🫠

The horse is still cautious. The relationship is still careful. The results are still lagging behind the effort. A voice that starts asking whether it is worth continuing when the evidence is not there yet.

This is where belief does its most important work.

Not belief that everything will be easy or that the outcome is guaranteed. Belief that what you are doing matters, that the direction is right, and that the next consistent day is worth showing up for even when this one did not give you anything to feel good about.

Horses teach this lesson with remarkable clarity because they do not speed up the timeline to spare your feelings. They take exactly as long as they take. And the people who earn their trust are the ones who kept going through the middle part.

You are probably in the middle of something right now. Are you wondering if it is worth it to keep going? I’m here to encourage you to keep going. Tell me about it because your journey is worth talking about. DM me or drop it in the comments. 🐴

08/03/2026

So excited for this opportunity 💜

Good News for Equestrians in and around Waxhaw NC!

Contact Sarah Rhodes for your all natural equine needs and get great products straight to your barn!

704-771-0387

07/29/2026

There is this moment I get to watch happen more times than I can count now.

A horse who has been careful, measured, keeping his distance while he watches and decides.

And then one day he walks up to a young his own. Without being asked.

People often describe this as the horse finally trusting them. And that is true, but I want to offer a different version of this.

The horse is not giving you something. He is reflecting back what you gave him. Hundreds of small moments where your attitude was steady. Where your trust and belief in the process held even when nothing confirmed it. You showed up the same way whether things went well or not.

He noticed all of it. He just needed enough of it to make a decision.

This is exactly how trust and belief works with people too. The team that finally starts to bring you real
problems instead of polished updates. The person in your life who stops being careful around you and starts being honest. The relationship that moves from guarded to genuinely open.

Nobody hands you that. You build it. One consistent day at a time.

have you ever had this feeling? Leave a comment or send a DM. I want to hear your story 🐴

07/22/2026

Nobody sets out to erode trust. That is the part that makes it so uncomfortable to look at.

The moments that do the damage are almost never the big ones. They are the small inconsistencies. The times your attitude did not match your intentions. The moments where you were technically present but not actually there. A pattern forms of saying one thing and
doing another in ways that seemed minor at the time.

With horses, these things show up quickly because horses don’t have the capacity to rationalize them away.

They just feel them and respond accordingly. There is something clarifying about that, even when it is humbling. With people the feedback loop is slower. But the accumulation is the same.

The good news is that what erodes trust in small ways can also rebuild it in small ways. You do not need a grand gesture or a perfect plan. You need enough consistency, repeated often enough, so that the pattern changes.

One honest interaction at a time. One day of showing up the way you said you would. One moment where your attitude matches your belief in the relationship.
That is where trust gets rebuilt. From the ground up, the same way it was lost.

Have you ever lost your horse’s trust or are you currently building it back? 👋🐴