Aimee Harman Horsemanship

20/05/2026

Cheers to the first border collie I’ve ever had, and I’d have ten more if they were like him. Big love Buddy.

30/04/2026

Who was your heart horse?

We all have that one horse that lives in our hearts so securely and so fiercely that no matter how much you love the other horses in your life, this horse will always stand out.

Del was that horse for me. I was 12 years old when my parents bought him for me. He was just turned 16 years old and had spent years as a show jumper before coming to me. He was my first ‘big horse’ after riding ponies in my earlier riding years. He challenged me in ways I was capable of handling, and looked after me in all the ways that mattered.

I have had the pleasure of riding and owning various horses since, and I have loved them all very much. But I’ve never had another Del.

Who was that horse for you?

20/04/2026

There, I said it. While I’m particularly thinking of young horses here, I think this applies at least to some degree as education progresses.

07/04/2026

When you’re leading and walking with your horse does it sometimes feel like you’re being walked all over? 🫠

Is your horse trying to climb into your lap or just steamrolling over the top of you?

This is a really common issue that I see amongst my clients and their horses. The reasons why a horse might want to crowd you are varied. They might feel insecure. They might be very keen for you to give them the treat you have in your pocket. They might be feeling poorly about coming along with you and are using their body to intimidate. And although you as the handler might need to tweak your response somewhat depending on the motivation, the overarching approach to helping your horse to come along with you without crowding is by and large the same.

A common mistake handlers make is that they take the horse shorter by the lead rope, and physically pull the horse away from them, usually with their hand drawing away from themselves under the horse’s neck. They might also try to push the horse from the neck or shoulder closest to them.

I see a few problems with this approach.

1. You can only get the horse as far away from you as you can reach underneath their neck.
2. You will never win a push/pull match with an animal that is probably at a minimum 5 or 6 times your weight.
3. For every time you pull the horse away from you, they will almost always immediately drift back in to you. You haven’t solved the problem.

The last and biggest problem with this approach is that every time you are imposing the physical action on the horse. It never becomes his own idea. And if it’s not his idea, there is going to be a dissonance between what is happening with his feet and what is going on in his mind. Dissonance always creates discomfort and conflict within the horse. Likewise, if it isn’t his idea to give you space, as above, he will just drift right back into you.

What you need to do is to help the horse come up with the idea that he should give you some space. And you should be really clear about what your boundaries are, and be consistent in enforcing them. You need to show him where he needs to be without dragging him there, and if he doesn’t think it’s a great idea or if he just plain doesn’t have his head inside the classroom you need to find a way to motivate him to try. I did start to type out some tips to do this, but there are so many nuances and variables that it started to turn into a novel. I will leave you with a few thoughts, however.

Make sure your lead rope is long enough that he can actually give you the space you require. Direct him (but don’t pull him!) with first your lead rope, and then if necessary use some driving energy between you and him to encourage him to give you space. Always start with the most polite request, even if you don’t think it’s going to be enough. And make sure that pressure goes away when he makes a try.

Watch your horse. Learn to understand the difference between when the horse is not moving away from you because they have opted out of the conversation and when they are not moving away because they are trying to work out what you are asking. It’s important. If the horse has opted out, you may need to do more, but if the horse is processing and trying, it’s better to keep your ask small but consistent, and wait.

Lastly, make sure you are always checking in with your horse to remind him you’re still friends. It’s never about punishment. It’s always about recognising a place of conflict within the horse and helping him find his way through it to a place of understanding.

In the photo, Jeanette is helping to direct 18 month old Housti to a more comfortable distance. He is not yet clear about what she is asking, but she did a great job making a start on the conversation in this session.

05/04/2026

Happy Easter everyone!

I hope your day was filled with as many hot cross buns and Easter eggs as your heart desired.

I spent the morning teaching the littlies at Pakenham Pony Club and we had a blast. The kids in my group range from 3 to 7 years old, and they and their parents are the best bunch of folks. Everyone is there to have a fun time, and I love seeing the kids kick off their riding journey, building skills like turning, stopping, rising trot, all with a focus to make sure the ponies are looked after while looking after their little people.

29/03/2026

How was Rome built?

Brick by brick. When showing your horse something new it’s important to break the process down into smaller, easier to follow steps. Children learn the alphabet before they learn to read, and then they learn the sound the letters make on their own, before learning how to connect those sounds in short words. Eventually they can read longer and more complex words, and write and spell and so on. But you don’t try to have them read and spell a word like ‘anthropomorphism’ on the first lesson, do you?

In today’s session with Mel and her young mare Maggie, we worked on learning to line up to the mounting block. Maggie was a bit bothered about this new experience. She didn’t tell us ‘no’, but she was unsure about standing close to the mounting block, and wanted to rush past when Mel would ask her to walk alongside. So we broke it down into stages. First, can we position Maggie so she is standing on an angle that sets her up for success? Next, can we ask her forward one step at a time, with short rest breaks? If she tried to rush forward, we blocked the forward and asked her to search for another answer. When she made a try in the right direction, we gave her breaks and scratches in her favourite itchy spots.

Most importantly, we didn’t ask for perfection. We asked for the best try that it was fair to ask from Maggie for today. She ended up standing pretty nicely with her shoulders next to the mounting block a time or two. We helped her feel a little better about it, and didn’t drill it.

In another session or two, Maggie will build confidence, and pretty soon she’ll line up with her saddle area in line with the mounting block like she was born doing it.

Small manageable steps. Xoxo

20/02/2026

Someone suggested that dressage classes should be categorised by horse 'quality' so that those not riding purpose bred sport horses feel like they have a chance at placing.

Here are my thoughts on that suggestion. What do you think?

In this video I respond to some comments posted by the page 'Friends of Bill Noble', which explores some potential reasons why the number of entries...

29/01/2026

I see some questionable things on TikTok, but this is one of the ones that has gotten me the most riled up lately, and I’ve seen multiple people doing it. It’s an absolutely abhorrent ‘training’ practice, if you can call it that.
I understand that everyone approaches training horses differently, and I’m not going to agree with everything I see, but this is something I can’t ’agree to disagree’ on. I just don’t think it should be done. Ever.

16/01/2026

Two becomes three…

We’re thrilled to announce incoming Baby Kerrigan. Due July 2026.

(We’ve decided not to find out the gender, which is both fun and unfun, considering we have at home an envelope that contains the answer, if we can keep our mitts off until July.) 🐣🤰🎸

06/01/2026

Can horses experience positive tension / excitement? Is it environmentally dependent? By this I mean, if we assume that they can feel excitement and positive energy, under what conditions would we be likely to see it? Many of us have observed a foal doing zoomies, or a couple of young horses playing together in the paddock. But those are both situations under which the horse has full autonomy. Can a horse feel truly playful and excited when working with a human?

I know many people will say yes. But harkening back to my last post about feeling keen versus feeling worried, I wonder if many of those same people might possibly be misinterpreting anxiety and worry for excitement.

Another coach and trainer the other day was musing about why a lot of people online will have a problem with a horse who is feeling fresh and exuberant, and exhibiting those feelings via some more animated than usual behaviours. She implied that it is normal for a horse to feel this way from time to time, and bemoaned the keyboard warriors that take up arms whenever a horse in this state is shown online.

I personally think it’s reasonable that some days a horse might feel more energised than others, and might express that. Horses aren’t robots, and they have feelings and moods that can change day to day, if not minute to minute. There have definitely been days where I have been feeling good and energised and ready to dive into some activities. I can’t see why it wouldn’t be the same for horses, to some extent. I think where the difficulty lies is that the horse has no way of telling us that he is jumping around because he feels great, or if he is jumping around because his cup of anxiety is overflowing. Does he feel good, or does he feel terrible? The two feelings might exhibit themselves in similar ways.

I do think the best way we can be sure that the horse is in a good state of mind is if the horse is in a state of true relaxation. By true relaxation I mean that we have to be careful we don’t mistake a shut down, non reactive horse as relaxed and feeling ok. There are ways to tell the difference. I have posted about this before, so I won’t go off on a tangent now. Scroll back to the “Ginger” animated series I posted a few years back if you want some thoughts on that.

If the horse is relaxed, it logically follows that the horse feels pretty ok. If the horse is showing some signs of tension, it’s much more of a grey area as to whether they are exhibiting negative tension (anxiety), or positive tension (excitement). It’s very open to interpretation.

I don’t know if a horse can experience positive tension when working with a human. If they can, I’m not convinced I’ve seen it. What do you all think?