I can’t believe she’s 10 😭 It’s wild to think it’s been almost 10 years since that little brave filly walked off the trailer. Almost 10 years since she approached me in a wide open field full of curiosity, despite being mostly feral (as was her whole herd). So much has happened since then. Let’s just say … she has changed my life forever. ❤️ For her birthday we did all her favorite things stretched out over two days. Day one she spent time grazing on the oh so delicious and forbidden spring grass while I just admired her. 😍. Next came her pedicure 💅 (which she actually enjoys, just munches on her hay/alfalfa mix while I make sure her hooves look like they belong in a magazine). Then a full body grooming with the grooming gloves she can’t get enough of. 🧤And finally she spent some time on her surefoot pads while she got a full bodywork session.. totally soaking it up 💆‍♀️. Day two was more adventurous. We settled the rest of the herd with some enrichment and we took off on foot to the creek. 🌊Splashing and swimming through the creek is her absolute favorite all time activity, well… next to getting to foraging on new and interesting plants. Which is exactly what we ended with. 🌱 She got to roam around the creek bed area and experiment with all of the unique grasses and other plants that really only grow down there. It was fun to watch her pick and choose what she wanted. Then we went back to the herd and she ended the adventure with a nice long nap in the shelter with her buddies. 😴 And that was the two days of River’s birthday celebration! Pampered, quiet, no expectations, and lots of one on one attention. Her ideal day 🥰 (mind too actually haha). (In other news, the other horses were definitely giving me lots of “you should feel guilty” energy. So I promised them they will get some more attention tomorrow 😆 there’s only so much of me to go around.)

Over 10 years ago I switched all my horses over to a forage based diet. And let me tell you… I waited too long. When I think back to all of the issues I had with previous horses and how likely those issues were diet related… agh! Could have saved both them and me a whole lot of time, money, and stress. Even performance horses can and should be on a forage based diet, as should growing horses and seniors. But it takes some time and education to get it right. Forage based doesn’t = throw out any old hay and feed nothing else. 🙅‍♀️ It means starting with a base of forage, that is good quality and appropriate for your horse, and then building on that to provide your horse with what they need. Take for example this video, you’re watching me refill one week of supplements for one of my horses. (Takes me 4 minutes per horse to fill one week’s worth, I’ve timed it 😉). She gets these things, in soaked Timothy pellets, once a day… that’s it. The rest of her day is spent slow feeding from our local hay source that has been tested for its protein, minerals, sugar content etc. The ones listed are my “core” supplements, and then I have the (individual) labeled ones that are specific to her. I don’t feed those to every horse, just as they have a few that are specific to them (like a good joint supplement or support for allergies). But the idea here is that I know exactly what she’s getting, where it’s sourced from, and how much she’s getting. Outside of my own feeding program, I work with a lot of people who are having challenges with their horses. I usually get called as the last ditch effort, and one of the first things I talk new clients about is their horse’s diet. So often I see significant gaps, or I see they are feeding something that is likely heavily contributing to the behavior problems their horse is demonstrating. Change the diet, and the behaviors sometimes just disappear. Most of the time though it’s not quite *that* easy, but we do see a tremendous difference in the horse’s ability to cope, learn, and exist peacefully. This became a key building block for success going forward in repairing the relationship and improving behavior. For more resources on this check out @equineenergymedicine, Eleanor M. Kellon, VMD, and Dr. Juliet M. Getty

Falling off a horse is often treated like a rite of passage in the horse world. Almost like if you have not fallen off, you are not a real horse person yet. But when you really stop and think about it, the fact that falling off is so common and so normalized should probably make us ask some bigger questions. Accidents do happen. Horses are large animals and they can spook, trip, lose balance, or react to something we did not see coming. But they also aren’t the ticking time bombs they are made out to be. We need to be really looking at how we are training, preparing our horses for what we are asking, and how we are supporting both horse and rider. The goal is not to create a world where nothing ever goes wrong, because that is unrealistic. The goal is to develop horses who recover quickly, riders who feel supported and safe, and systems where big problems are uncommon and easily resolved. The goal is also to reimagine what post fall recovery should look like. Rather than pressuring riders back into the saddle, and normalizing that as the “cure all”, we slow down and reconnect horse and rider. The moments after something goes wrong are often the moments that define the relationship and the future of training. Those are the moments where trust is either built or lost, where confidence is either rebuilt or shaken, and where we either listen to what our horse and our own body are telling us or we ignore it and push forward anyway. Slowing down, reconnecting, and making a thoughtful plan forward is good horsemanship. And in the long run, it is what keeps both horses and humans safer, more confident, and more willing to keep learning together.

Tag along as my daughter and I head out on the trail with our two R+ (positive reinforcement) and bitless trained horses. My daughter (8) has only ever known R+ training for horses and is quite skilled! Shes still building her confidence and skill set out on the trail, so we take turns in the saddle and on the ground. I didn’t get any vide of her riding as I was leading both horses, but she did ride for half the 1.3 miles. Shorter ride today as we’ve had a long break (horses and people) and we are getting back into it. For tacking up, as mentioned, a lot of times we have a different set up where my horses station at a target (at liberty) and have specific start buttons for their tack. However, both of these horses I know are completely comfortable with tack, and I was tacking up both on my own today, so I just set up some hay for them to munch on while I got them both tacked up. Usually my daughter helps tack up too, but she was still chipping away at her homework so I got a head start so that we could ride as soon as she was done. Team work 😉 Not sponsored but just in case you’re interested ⬇️ Saddles: bob marshall sport saddle Saddle pads: skito saddle pads Grooming gloves: hands on gloves Hoof boots: @CavalloHR88 & @ScootBootsdownunder Bridles: Two Horse Tack & Milestone Equestrian

Exercises like this are so beneficial for your horse, and also for improving other areas of training! Besides the physical benefits (limb awareness, strengthening, balance) this exercise also helps really dial in your leading cues. Here I’m practicing fine tuning the default neutral, walk on, back up, the marker cue, and reinforcement receiving behaviors… all while doing some PT with miss Raven! I love multi tasking training sessions 🥰 The trickiest part is reminding myself to be precise with my leading cues! (Face forward: walk on, reverse facing: back up, facing horse: default neutral). 😉 all can be done with a target stick too!

When people first begin exploring positive reinforcement with their horses, one of the concerns I hear most often is that it will make training feel mechanical. That the subtle feel, connection, and intuition they value in their horsemanship will somehow disappear once food or markers enter the picture. What I often see instead is the opposite. As both horse and human become familiar with the system, the interaction begins to soften and flow. You start noticing smaller shifts in attention, effort, curiosity, and relaxation. Reinforcement becomes part of the conversation, helping the horse understand the language you are building together. Over time the communication tends to become lighter, more responsive, and more collaborative, and many people find that their sense of feel actually becomes sharper as they learn to recognize and respond to those subtle moments. I talk more about this in today’s video. I’d love to hear your experience as well. If you train with positive reinforcement, has it changed the way connection or feel shows up in your work with your horse? And if you would like to explore these ideas more deeply, inside The Willing Equine Academy we spend a lot of time learning to combine the practical side of this work with flow and feel. From timing and mechanics to building communication and partnership with your horse, the Academy is a place where these conversations continue and where you can learn alongside a supportive community. thewillingequine.com/academy