Acceptance of Contact

Join us in this video as we discuss the theory and application of the concept of acceptance of contact.

Want more support? Email us at Sarah@equestrianmovement.com to learn more about our holistic horse riding program

The Simple 3 Minute Exercise For Sound Riding

In this video I share with you a simple 3 minute exercise you can do on the ground with your horse before you ride to support your horses back.

If you are interested in more support, contact us on Sarah@equestrianmovement.com to learn about our holistic horse riding course

Are beginners and experienced riders so different?

The beginner riders and the experienced riders have the same problems.

We’re always going to be wondering why does my horse bite, why does it kick, why did it do XYZ, why doesn't it want to put it's halter on, why does it run away from me, why won't it stand still at the mounting block, why does it not pick it's leg up.

The amateur equestrian, intimidate rider or hobby horse owner has this problem too. The problem this rider has, however, is that you think it's going to stop being a problem when you figure some secret out. You'll discover this magical secret sauce that all the experienced riders have been holding out on you. You think you'll just figure this secret out and then everything will be easier and your horse will always be perfectly behaved.

But there is no secret solution.

We all still have these problems, we've just fallen in love with the process and the problems.

We have all these same issues come up and we've fallen in love with supporting our horses through these problems so that they can be resolved and they can still be happy to work.

And guess what. I'll let you in on my secret.

If they never get to the point where they're happy to work, we don't make them. We just stop working them until we can better understand why they don't want to work.

The best answer I have for you is learn about horse body language, because this is the way of communicating the horses internal biological state. Work with lots of different horses with lots of different tools and learn how to read those responses of what the body is communicating in response to those tools.

And if you don't want to spend heaps of time researching all the different ways to use all the different tools join our Holistic Horse Handling Program, where I have collated all the tools and share with you how the different horses respond to them, from the perspective of how the tool is affecting their body language.

What is connection Training?

Have you ever heard of connection training?

If not, you're missing out on a revolutionary approach to working with horses that is all about building a relationship based on trust, communication, and mutual respect.

At its core, connection training is all about empowering horses by giving them choices in everything they do during training, from where they stand to what exercises they do. By doing this, it creates a sense of trust between horse and human and leads to a deeper partnership. Unlike traditional training methods that use punishment or force, connection training emphasizes positive reinforcement, such as treats or praise, to promote relaxation and confidence in the horse.

Whether you are already a rider or an aspiring one, you will be intrigued by the benefits of connection training for both horses and humans. Being a coach means I get to see it from the outside but also experience it myself, watching the horses respond to the student’s cues and move their bodies in different ways.

And as a closing remark, Connection Training is like a great first date with a horse - it's all about building a strong, trusting relationship. Instead of trying to impress the horse with flashy moves or brute force, Connection Training uses positive reinforcement to show the horse that they're valued and respected. It's like saying "Hey, I'm interested in getting to know you on your terms, and I'm willing to work at it."

And just like a great first date, Connection Training can leave you feeling relaxed, happy, and eager for the next one!

Keen to start yourself? Grab access to the free Building Connection Training to provide insight and direction on your first steps here.

Chase the ball - Holistic Horse Handling Program Lesson Plan Preview

Trainability is a concept we discuss a lot at Equestrian Movement.

It refers to the learning capability of the horse, as well as that willingness to learn.

A way to increase that willingness is through variety, consent, confidence and leadership; which is why the concept of “Chase the ball” came up for a lesson plan.

“Chase the ball” expands on the Liberty training outlined in the Holistic Horse Handling Program, and makes our basic, day-to-day groundwork with our horses by including a moving target. Plus, it was just plain fun to teach!

This exercise plan is designed to create confidence in our horses, as we encourage them to investigate new things. It expands their training vocabulary, and helps our horses connect with us. It also removes all pressure in the learning phase, to help strengthen the bond and connection between horse and handler.

Simple Lunge Exercise For Improving Relaxation and Swing

To maintain our horses peak athleticism and soundness I like to cross train poles, grids and hacking out with their dressage. One important element we look for is relaxation, and a mind that can't relax cannot relax a body (if you have been following us for sometime, you would know this is the first pillar of the Holistic Horse Handling Method).

In this video I share a simple lunging exercise that incorporates multiple training elements to help the horse work with relaxation and swing and an elastic topline.

Lunging is a great opportunity when done well to allow the horse to open and move freely through their back because they don't have to balance us or weight bare out weight and that means that they can really reach, stretch and release over their back in a way that is a lot harder if they were having to carry us.

Creating dynamic movement by changing length of strides, frames, postures and sizes of circles can encourage our horses to between center their balance so that they can release their topline and get into more relaxation and swing. We are beginning to put this together into the next phase of the Holistic Horse Handling Program, which is the Holistic Horse RIDING Program.

Want more support? Email us at Sarah@equestrianmovement.com and enquire about our Holistic Horse Programs.

Follow my feet - a Holsitic Horse Handling Program Lesson Plan Preview

“Follow My Feet” is a great way to establish leadership and connection with your horse, and can be used to in a variety of different scenarios.

When a horse forces our feet to move, they are taking a role in leadership. When we move their feet, we take the leadership. Follow my feet allows you to expand on that leadership and turn it into a partnership.

This can be a good exercise for our pushy, bully type horses as we can be a bit more assertive when we have the halter on but is also a light, connective exercise for our more sensitive horse and when we get a break through with our bully type horses.

As with all Holistic Horse Handling Lesson Plans, it is groundwork, this time focusing on leadership and connection.

Why does my horse buck into canter?

One of our lovely subscribers has been kind enough to send in some video for us to use with her question regarding the horse bucking in canter.

In this video we go over why the horse bucked in this particular instance and what exercises we would work on with the horse to reduce bucking incidences in the future.

The Holistic Horse Riding Program takes the next step in the foundation groundwork skills outline in the Holistic Horse Handling Program, helping us work with our horses in a way that encourages confidence, relaxation and trust in the saddle.

If you are interested in learning more about the Holistic Horse Riding Program, shoot through an email to sarah@equestrianmovement.com

Is it science, or is it art?

We need to blend the science with the art when it comes to horsemanship and working with horses.

My current Farrier is a good Farrier. He has a lot of knowledge and experience and he's helped a lot of horses. He's an old school cowboy and he's a good man. One of the things that always had me sold on this Farrier was he was the only man my heart horse King would let catch. 

 In the early days of owning King, the Farrier I employed at the time HATED King. He refused to do work on him without me (a 14 year old girl) holding him. King always looked at him wide eyed, looking for an escape route. One wrong step would result in a wallop from the rasp. He was also an old school cowboy.

 My Farrier now took it as a badge of honor from King the day he let him catch him.

 Anybody that could catch King had my trust. It takes handling a broken horse to understand who to trust and, just as importantly, who not to trust.

 So he is old school and he’s getting on in age, but he's a good man. So much will be lost with him. He's memories, his experiences, his life lessons and horse lessons.

 A breaker he's working with at a racehorse stud told him it's not the breakers job to have the horse picking their feet up, it's the Farrier’s. A poorly handled thoroughbred landed on him. Put a dent in his head and gave him a concussion. He's starting to not remember things now. 

 This industry is hard to work. Experiences are tough and cut you to the quick. The life lessons are hard because they are life and death lessons. It makes them so much more real. So much experience will be lost with this man. And even though some of the things are "scientifically" inaccurate, a lot of science has come forward that confirms things he had already learnt through his work with the horses. Because all this time, he listened to the horse he had on the day!

 It's one thing to be a Farrier. It's something all together different to be a Farrier and a horseman.

 This mini rant is really about one thing. Blending the science and the art of connected horsemanship is difficult when you have lost your confidence, or just don’t know where to start because you are constantly told very different things by different people. It’s why we have put together the free Building Connection Training, so you can start understanding how and why to listen to your horse.

How to work safely with horses?

How to work safely with horses?

It's not about not being scared. Not being scared is being naive to the potential of our horses to injure us.

It's about not showing your horse that you are scared. Asking your horse to be confident and brave for you and while you are scared is expecting too much of them.

There are 4 pillars we run through inside the Holistic Horse Handling Method that focus on creating confidence and help us both feel safer:

1. Relaxation

2. Compassionate Leadership

3. Communication & Congruence

4. Emotional Agility

Watch this training as we discuss safe options for working with the horses flight response and how to address fear so that you can work confidently with your horse towards your goal.

Want to learn more? If you aren't ready to become a full-blown Holistic Horse Handler, you can take a sneak peak at our confidence through curiousity skills inside the Teaching Curiosity course by clicking the button below.

Connection Training isn't "SOFT"...

Urgh! Why oh why do people associate connection training with being soft on their horse?

Time and time again, I hear people trying to do right by their horse only to be told they are too soft. I've been there, I've heard it, and it used to make me doubt what I was doing.

Is this you too?

I know that connection training isn't soft now, because I'm actually brave enough to listen to what the horse is asking. My ego doesn't tell me that my horse is just a tool of my goals. My equestrian self-worth isn't defined by what my horse can DO, but what my horse feels.

And when I have a horse's trust because of connection, I'm far more likely to not be hurt than one I have trained through submission.

So to the nay-sayers that claim connection training is the reason horses getting treated soft, I say:

"GOOD!"

I'd rather be "soft" than a bully that forces submission or fear in an animal.

I hope you would rather be too.

If you want to learn more about connection based training and the Holistic Horse Handling Methodology, check out Equestrian Movement's free course Building Connection - just click the button below.

No more dominance theory!

The dominance theory training model and herd pecking order theory have been disproven!

So now what?

What has been helpful to me and my students when watching herd dynamics is that these "dominant", "aggressive", "bold" horses tend to be the herds primary protectors. They may be valued as a protector due to their size and ability to physically protect the herd and their status when new horses are introduced. They can be valued for their alertness and awareness of their environment and ability to alert the herd of potential threat. They may be valued for their boldness and curiosity to be the first to investigate the thing that is deemed a threat or to lead the way. They could and should be valued for all 3 of these traits.

Whichever value they represent, the primary protectors are more leader than follower, and they can be more challenging to negotiate terms of engagement with and to take direction. They really need to have trust and confidence in your ability to make good choices, otherwise they will see you as the threat and act accordingly – whether that be refusing to listen, refusing to move or retaliation against escalated pressure.

For these horses it is vital we encompass the Compassionate Leadership values of the Holistic Horse Handler.

With these horses more so than others we really need to prove our value to them to get their consent and willingness. If they aren't happy with how we are working with them, they are really comfortable showing it.

Is your horse showing these signs and you aren’t sure of your next best steps, take the default personality quiz for a more personalized result and next steps.

Groundwork for the Spooky Horse.

The more spooked our horse, the less confident we tend to be. The less confident we are, the less safe our horse feels. Cue the wheel of torment.

So how do we help our horses feel more confident in themselves, and how can we help them spook less?

One of our favourite training exercises inside the Holistic Horse Handling Program - designed to develop confident horses that know how to look after their riders - is our confidence through curiousity training.

In this video we are going to go in to a little bit of the body language of tension holding and tension releasing while going around our halloween edition of confidence through curiosity

Want to learn more? You can join the waitlist for the Holistic Horse Handling Program by clicking the button below.

But if you can't wait for the next round of enrolments, have a peak at this freebie instead: https://www.equestrianmovement.com/connection

Stop pushing your horse through it!

There is an inevitable issue with the traditional method of horse training, and even natural horsemanship. 

This element is "push the horse through it".

Whether we are bullying them into submission or pushing them into reactivity, we are still pushing the horse through it.

We are not showing up as compassionate leaders when we push a horse through it.

We can not develop a horses ability to regulate their emotional response if we just push our horse through it.

We cannot encourage the horse to willingly enjoy working with us if we always push our horse through it.

So if we can't offer compassionate leadership, or develop their emotional agility or willingness, how on earth can we ever expect them to have faith, trust and confidence in us, let alone enjoy their time with us or want to look after us.

If you are tired of pushing your horse through it and want to know how you can develop faith, trust and confidence within your horse towards you, check out our free, 11 lesson course called Building Connection.

Will I ever look like her?

We can't deny there's a dressage look. You can look at a tall, lean girl and say "oh, that's a dressage rider".

But that look doesn't represent a lot of us. I learned to stop looking at it years ago. I will never look like that.

So when asked by a student, will I ever look like that? I say no sorry. The angle of the leg that comes down around the body is a hip joint shape that you don't have. Your leg is going to draw forward because that's the natural angle of you body. So you are going to have to work hard with your body to get the leg to look like that naturally.

But it's doable, if you focus on functional movement and organising your balance first. Your balance will fall into its on natural lines and we will form a new beautiful riding posture that is your perfect balance and movement.

The privilege that we have as horse owners is that you get to exchange love for love.

The trouble being a horse trainer is that you don't have that luxury because you never know what's going to happen to them and your just trying to give them the best head start you can.

The trouble with being a horse trainer is that you feel the pressure to succeed. And you enviably put that pressure on your horse and they respond as such.

The question is not what can you make a horse do...

The question is how can this exercise or how can riding allow me to feel more love for this horse? How can this exercise or ride create an environment that creates more love for me from my horse

Not in a manipulative way but in a truly connected way.

The answer often is by loving ourselves more deeply first and our horses even deeper after that.

Does breaking your horse in mean bucking your horse out?

When backing horses I prefer not to initiate the bronco fit.

It is perfectly acceptable to not buck out your horse to back it and is my preference. Not only because what fires wires (aka I don't want them to know that bucking is an option in the first place when dealing with stress or pressure) but also because I don't want to try and stay on a horse until it stops bucking.

There are 3 main places where if you're horse doesn't have trust and confidence in you and you dont have solidly established release of tension and consent cues that the tension will tip over threshold into the broncing.

In this video I will share with you a couple of places that I go a little slower and are more careful with when backing an unbroken horse - exactly how I approach all horses when they have expressed worry at being ridden or they are unknown to me. I run through these skills with all our horses that undertake the Holistic Handling Program.

Interested in our holistic horse handling program? Check out the link and join the waitlist!

The big difference in the gallop.

Is galloping a confidence thing? 

The instructor in me said well there's not much difference. It's basically the same. It's just the canter is a 3 beat stride and the gallop a 4.

But the rider in me says "whoa friend" there is a huge difference between a canter and a gallop.

Anyone who's has ever opened up a well self regulated, steady canter into a gallop knows there's a whole extra gear and potentially other excitement in  in a horse that's given permission to go full tilt and not regulate themselves. 

The first memory i have of being at a gallop was an accident. The horse I was on spooked while on a trail with my mum and this horse was off like a frog in a sock with my mum's horse not far behind.

These horses are bolting but not only did they seem to be going as fast as they could but they also seemed to be racing each other, egging each other on. My mum turned to me and said can you stop? I looked at her and said no can you? Nope!  

Thankfully we found a clearing and were able to still circle to a halt. 

My second hoorah at galloping really was when I started eventing and you have to open the horse up between fences. I had a little stallion that, whenever you opened up, would slam on the front end brakes and lift his butt up. He'd get me off every time. 

So because I know how hard it is to run in sand, I used that in my training. When we found sand I would say off you go and the sand would keep him a bit slower. 

This was a good experience - he could go as fast as he wants and because he was a bit slower I could relax and allow him.

So what is the real difference between a canter and gallop? This one always plays on me. The horse wants to go along unchecked but we always say not too fast! They have spent a long time learning to regulate and slow down with us. Now you say go as fast as you want! That is no longer checked, that is the wind in your hair, bare back along the beach with black beauty kind of unchecked. 

And they are a very different experience. The canter is a lovely balanced regulated managed 3 beat stride.

And the gallop is a soul-freeing acceptance of death moment of pure elation as you let a horse go full horse.

Developing Teamwork with your horse

There is forever and always a power imbalance with your horse.

Whether you like it or not or whether or not it feels like it, everything in the equestrian world has stacked the power of the horse human relationship in favour of the horse.

By not allowing the horse autonomy, the ability to consent and have some say in what happens to them and then punishing them for reactive behaviours that are a result of what is happening to them is akin to gaslighting.

At Equestrian Movement we use holistic training tools that focus on congruence, reciprocity, willingness and engagement in the activity first and then shaping the behaviours for what we want to do with them. You can learn more via our free connection training

The scariest monster known to horses

If you want to know what horses are really scared of, check out this video. I bet you'll be surprised!! Comment below if you've tried this.

3 Programs I did in 2022 that shaped me as a rider in 2023

As we have finished the first quarter of the 2023, it made me reflect on the year 2022, I can't help but think of the three programs that completely transformed my horsemanship.

These programs allowed me to grow not only as a rider, but also as an individual. They opened my eyes to new perspectives and challenged me to think outside of the box. In this blog, I'll share my journey and how these programs changed me for the better.

The first program I participated in was a clinic with a well-respected trainer, Celeste-Leilani Lazaris. I was initially nervous to attend, as I didn't know what to expect. However, as soon as I arrived, I was greeted with warm smiles and positive energy. Throughout the clinic, the trainer emphasized the importance of rider position and how it directly affects the horse's movement. I was amazed at how much my horse's performance improved when I corrected my own position. It was a true "aha" moment, and I left the clinic feeling inspired and empowered.

The second program I took part in was a three-day intensive course on equine behavior with Sarah Schlote & Dr Steve Peters. This program was nothing short of fascinating. I learned about the horse's natural instincts and how they can affect their behavior under saddle. I was able to identify triggers that were causing anxiety and stress in my horse and adjust my training program to better suit their needs. This program challenged me to think outside of the box and view my horse as an individual with unique needs and preferences.

The third program I participated in was a mental coaching program - Buteyko Breathing under Mim Beim. This program focused on the mental side of riding and the impact it can have on performance. I learned about techniques for managing anxiety, staying focused, and visualizing success. This program was a game-changer for me. I've always struggled with competition nerves, but by working on my mental game, I was able to approach competition with a newfound sense of confidence and focus. It was an incredible feeling, and I'm forever grateful for this program.

Looking back on my journey, I can confidently say that these programs have transformed me both as a rider and as an individual. They've taught me to think outside of the box, view my horse as an individual, and approach riding with a newfound sense of purpose and confidence. I encourage everyone to take part in programs like these, as they have the power to change your life for the better. The journey of horsemanship is never-ending, and I can't wait to see where these programs will take me next.