AJ Equine- Ethical Horsemanship

17/07/2025

Raymond Eade, from Eaden Equine and Wellness Centre, and Apryl Swan from Ethical Horsemanship, are teaming up to present a two day clinic at a luxurious Peats Ridge venue on all things Hooves and Horsemanship. Both professionals share a genuine love of horses and place huge emphasis on 'Horse First'...

13/07/2025

Brilliant Ian Leighton Horsemanship👏🏼🙏🏼

Thought for the day:
I still get asked regularly if I can take a young or green horse to further it’s training.
Often as not the request includes a story about how everything was going ok but then one day outside pressures caused it to act up.
The request is generally to enhance it’s knowledge or change their mindset so that they can handle all types of scenarios and be calmer and better behaved.
Often these requests are never attached to an aside like “can you teach me how I should handle and ride a green or inexperienced horse?”.
The onus is all on the horse to be able to carry (no pun intended) the rider through any situation that may arise and keep them safe.
That is too much responsibility for a young or green horse.
Your horse needs some support and help while it gains experience.
Regardless of your knowledge of horses or riding or a particular discipline you may find a green horse a challenge if you are inexperienced with them.
Many older horses can be much more forgiving of mistakes and have more experience of the world.
It takes more than a stint at a trainers to make an experienced horse.
Often there is a way through but it takes the help of people with the experience. Hands on help.
It also takes a little fortitude and the ability to not make your horse feel trapped with your hands or legs no matter what occurs.
Most of what is called acting up would not have occurred at all if the rider had acted the way the horse needed them to.
The first thing that it takes is the recognition that to ride young or green horses you may need to have yourself trained.

12/07/2025

A gorgeous sunny morning spent with a lovely bunch of humans and horses !
Reflection, relaxation, revision and refinement👏🏼
Thank you Donna for again hosting and organising, and to all who attended for trying out a few new things🥰

If anyone would like to host a social and affordable morning group session once a month, and have a suitable venue, get in touch!
Areas include port stephens, hunter and mid coast.

10/07/2025

First session with a 4 year old mare who had never been haltered.
Luckily for me, she had been touched and patted and was relatively comfortable with people.
But teaching an older horse the first basic lesson I teach foals about pressure/ release makes me really think about the way I do it.
I had to convince this mare I could be trusted, and then I had to gently show her what the human version of pressure and release was.

This video clip was taken about 15 minutes into the session, after a couple of initial explosions, where I was very quick to release the pressure and let her park herself into the corner of the yard facing me…. I simply re approached her, gently picked up the rope and started again.
The wrong thing would have been to hold onto the pressure through her explosion, as if trying to dominate her…. She is not going to learn in that frame of mind.

Fast forward a few weeks and a handful of sessions later and she is out leading beautifully around the paddock, learning some basic groundwork, having her legs handled and feet trimmed finally!

Important to note- I do not use a slip not, ever!!
I like to hard tie a big loop (easy to slip over head) and then to prevent it slipping off I just put a few twists into the rope😊

07/07/2025

Eighteen months later!
Checking in with myself, and I can say I have grown in confidence since this post!
Join one of my clinics and be the judge yourself😜

I will openly admit that conducting group learning (aka clinics) makes me anxious…. and it’s something I am determined to work hard at this year to change!
The anxiety, it seems, has always been present in my life where I’ve never liked to keep people waiting. I seem to feel the need to make sure any or all people around me are entertained at all times.
I have a strong urge to ensure everyone (human and animal) feel as comfortable as they can be while they are with me.
It is likely the reason I can work so well with nervous or anxious humans and horses, but it’s also the reason I struggle with groups!
How can I be looking after those people and their horses over there when I’m focused on making sure the person and horse in front of me are ok?
Something for me to really work at this year, while helping my fellow horse friends work on their own horse related goals🥰🙌🏼

03/07/2025

Only a few spots left, be quick!

Do you want to know more about how trimming can make or break a horses overall soundness?
Do you want to know how to help your horse feel positive about hoof handling and trimming?
Join myself and Raymond Eade from Eaden Equine Wellness Centre as we present this clinic from a holistic perspective to ensure the horse’s physical and emotional wellbeing is promoted by caring horse owners into the future.

Book now!⬇️

Raymond Eade, from Eaden Equine and Wellness Centre, and Apryl Swan from Ethical Horsemanship, are teaming up to present a two day clinic at a luxurious Peats Ridge venue on all things Hooves and Horsemanship. Both professionals share a genuine love of horses and place huge emphasis on 'Horse First'...

02/07/2025

I don’t say NO very much at all.

Only if I feel a boundary was crossed.
Which rarely seems to happen.

I’m not concerned if they get answers wrong, as long as there is try.
I’d rather them feel comfortable with questions being asked than worried about how to get answers right.

01/07/2025

It has nothing to do with the equipment, and everything to do with the hands of the user.
I will be running another ba****ck and bitless clinic this year- keep an eye on the page for details to come soon🦄

28/06/2025

My fingernails were made for this world I live in😆

Ain’t that the truth😂🤣😂

28/06/2025

When horses are sent to me for ‘training’ it is often for different reasons than most might expect. It can be a lot about resolving issues, which requires a thoughtful and holistic approach.

Sometimes, horses and their owners just need a bit of a helping hand with cementing their confidence together….It could be a new horse, or a horse that has began to experience some issues, or riders coming back from a fall.

And usually, all it takes is an assessment and treatment of behaviour, comfort and soundness, and then handling or riding the horse in as many scenarios as I can that will closely align with what the owner will be doing.
Then, having the owner come out a few times in the final week of training and do this, with me close by for support.

Kind of simple, and very effective😊