It’s so important for horses to get opportunities to engage in species-typical behaviors of their own accord. When we prevent or block horses from being able to engage in these types of behaviors we can inadvertently be causing a much more serious problem later on (that may not even seem related). Sometimes we do this because of fear, convenience, time constraints, financial constraints, or even just the incorrect belief that we shouldn’t allow them to happen. An easy example of this is not providing 24/7 forage access. There’s a wide range of reasons someone might not provide this so that their horses can engage in species-typical foraging behaviors. But at the end of the day, regardless of all of those reasons, preventing our horses from being able to act on such a fundamental part of who they are is going to do tremendous harm to them in the long run. Rolling in water is maybe not as critical as foraging, but is still a normal behavior for horses. Playing in a creek is not as critical as foraging, but it’s still normal. Yes, even for those *very* expensive show horses. They too deserve to be a horse. So before you are quick to stop your horse from running, playing, rolling, play fighting, eating… whatever. Think about who you have at the other end of your lead rope. That’s a horse, who needs to do HORSE things. The more we try and bubble wrap them and stop them from existing as a horse, the worse off they are. And honestly …. probably eventually us too.

Is relaxation the gold standard of horse training? What does it really mean to train for relaxation, and who gets to decide what “relaxed” looks like? This is a longer conversation, because I don’t think this topic deserves a simplified answer. In this video, I talk about why making “relaxation” the end goal of training can be a slippery slope, share a few case examples, and explore why true relaxation often doesn’t begin inside a training session at all. This topic naturally overlaps with nervous system regulation, social dynamics between horses, and the role of guidance or leadership in our relationships with them. Each of those deserves care and nuance, so I touch on them briefly here as context, knowing they’re conversations we can keep unfolding. A few points I reference in the video: • Nervous system regulation does not mean calm all the time. A healthy nervous system moves through a wide range of states. Terms like “regulated” or “dysregulated” are often used as stand-ins for calm, obedient, or bombproof, which can oversimplify or even be misleading for what’s actually happening for the horse. Remember, a healthy nervous system regulated horse is not the same as a blindly obedient and always "calm" horse. • Humans do play an important role in supporting horses in a human-made world. We have a responsibility to be our horse's guides and advocates. I tend to avoid the word “leader” because it means very different things to different people, and it has been heavily misused in our industry. I prefer to talk about guidance, responsibility, and context instead. If this brings up thoughts or questions for you, you’re welcome to join the conversation here. Respectful discussion and differing perspectives are always welcome. Just keep it kind. If you’re navigating these questions in your own horsemanship, you’re not alone. Inside the Academy, we focus on translating these ideas into practical, ethical choices with our horses. www.thewillingequine.com/academy

If your horse becomes distracted or tense when food is on your body, one change worth exploring is stationary reinforcement. There are two main reasons I often recommend using stationary reinforcement. First, it helps clarify what the click means. When the food is not on your body, the click becomes a clear cue to pause and stay where you are, and the food comes to the horse at their station. Many horses settle more easily when they do not feel the need to track hands, pockets, or movement. Second, it supports consistency and predictability for both horse and human. Keeping reinforcement in one location reduces accidental changes in timing, posture, and delivery that can happen when food lives on the handler. This is especially helpful for horses who feel food anxious and for handlers who are still building smooth, repeatable mechanics. Nothing about the behavior changes. The task stays the same. Only where the reinforcement lives shifts, and that change often makes the whole session feel clearer and calmer.

Stationary reinforcement helps clarify what the horse is being reinforced for. In this setup, the focus stays on a specific behavior that gives the horse clear direction about what to do with their body. Staying at the station is the behavior that predicts access to food. This approach supports learning by reinforcing: •Remaining at the station while the environment stays active •Waiting calmly after the click while the food is retrieved •Keeping the body organized and predictable during care tasks As these pieces are practiced and reinforced, the behavior becomes more resilient, even when something reinforcing is nearby. The station works as an anchor because it has been built through repetition and support. This structure is especially helpful for horses who feel food anxious or easily overwhelmed, and for everyday handling where clarity and steadiness matter. It also supports cleaner timing and more consistent mechanics for the handler.

When a horse is struggling with something that feels a little aversive in a training session, they often communicate it in small, subtle ways. A slight head movement. A brief change in facial expression. A moment of tension before they settle again. Those expressions are information, not misbehavior. It can be tempting to worry that reinforcing during these moments means we are rewarding an unwanted expression or emotion, but that is not how learning works, because emotions themselves are not behaviors that can be reinforced in isolation. What we can do instead is influence how the horse feels about an experience over time through counter-conditioning, where a potentially uncomfortable moment is consistently paired with calm, predictable, and positive outcomes. As long as the horse is not over threshold and their expressions are mild or brief, reinforcing in these moments does not teach the horse to be tense or grumpy, but rather helps the experience itself begin to feel safer, more familiar, and more manageable. The real work happens in the details of the training, in how the environment is set up, how clear and fair the criteria are, how quickly we respond to signs of uncertainty, and how willing we are to adjust when something feels harder for the horse than we expected. If you want more support learning how to read these moments, adjust your setup, and build training that prioritizes emotional safety and clarity, The Willing Equine Academy offers step-by-step courses, ongoing education, and a supportive community designed to help you and your horse build trust, confidence, and cooperation together.

Have you ever had a session where the first few reps felt great, and then everything quietly unraveled? Let's say you're working on walking over ground poles. A horse can step over a pole nicely three times and then suddenly go around it on the fourth. That does not automatically mean they are being resistant or lazy. It can mean the movement is getting harder, something is fatiguing, coordination is slipping, or they are protecting a body part that is working close to its limit. This is where a lot of well-meaning training unintentionally goes sideways. We keep asking because the first reps looked great. We raise the rate of reinforcement. We encourage. We sweeten the deal. But if the horse is saying “that was all I had,” more motivation is not the answer. What progress usually looks like is stopping before they say no, and building the ability to do one more repetition comfortably over time, not squeezing out one more today. Try this the next time poles (or any other behavior) gets inconsistent: Track the number of reps your horse offers with ease before they hesitate Stop one rep before that point and end on comfort, not struggle Practice once or twice a week, not every day, so the body can recover and adapt Increase only one variable at a time, either more reps or more poles, not both Collaborate with your vet or bodywork team if the pattern is consistent or worsening A horse opting out is feedback. When we treat feedback like valuable information, rather than something to override, we protect soundness, confidence, and long-term willingness all at once. If you want more support like this, including how to troubleshoot training struggles without ignoring or correcting your horse, come join us inside The Willing Equine Academy.

In this video, I walk through how and why I sometimes leave reinforcement in a fixed location instead of carrying it on my body, and how that choice can change both the mechanics and the emotional tone of a training session. We explore stationary reinforcement, where the click marks the behavior and cues what comes next… the reinforcement receiving behaviors for the horse, and the reinforcement delivery behaviors for the trainer. You’ll see how this setup can support • cleaner timing and body mechanics • reduced food anxiety and anticipation • improved distance and stationary behaviors • increased safety during hoof handling and cooperative care • calmer starts, ends, and resets within a session If you’d like more support with food placement, loop clarity, and building calm into training, you can learn alongside us inside The Willing Equine Academy. ❤️ thewillingequine.com/academy

Gentle parenting and gentle horsemanship, have they gone astray? (Do we need different terminology? Probably.) And what does passive horsemanship have in common with authoritarian/dominance based horsemanship? Listen to the end to hear some hard truths 🫣 If you want to better understand how to balance your horse’s input with clear, reliable training, make sure you’re following here. This is the kind of work that makes everything safer and more enjoyable for both of you.

One small habit that can shape your entire training session is which hand you use to feed. If you always feed from the same hand, it can feel smooth and consistent on one side, but then everything suddenly feels harder or messier when you switch sides, and it can be confusing to figure out why the horse seems less clear or less settled. What is often happening is not a behavior problem, but a positioning problem. When we always feed from one hand, our body naturally adjusts around that choice. We reach across our chest differently, we open or close our shoulders without realizing it, and we change where and how the food is delivered. All of that becomes part of the picture the horse is learning from. On one side, the picture may be very clean and predictable. On the other side, the same behavior can suddenly feel different to the horse because our cues, posture, and reinforcement delivery are no longer matching what they learned before. That is why practicing feeding from both hands matters so much. It helps keep your positioning more symmetrical, your cues more consistent, and your reinforcement clearer no matter which side you are working on. It also gives your horse a much better chance to generalize the behavior instead of learning it as something that only works under very specific conditions. These details may seem small, but they are often the difference between training that feels easy and training that feels frustrating or fragile. Paying attention to your own mechanics, including something as simple as which hand you feed from, is one of the most powerful ways to support clarity, confidence, and calmness in your horse.