TradiE-Questrian

TradiE-Questrian E-Q Emotional Quotient.

Balance isn’t found in straightness — it’s found in understanding asymmetry.Let’s drop the myth: No horse is perfectly s...
07/07/2025

Balance isn’t found in straightness — it’s found in understanding asymmetry.

Let’s drop the myth: No horse is perfectly symmetrical. Not in how they stand, move, or even how they chew. And forcing them into straightness can actually do more harm than good.

🦷 Uneven teeth can affect balance.
🐾 A negative plantar angle behind can load the forelimbs.
🌀 Every part of the horse talks to another because nothing moves in isolation.

This isn’t just about structure, it’s about compensation, habitual movement, and how the nervous system responds to stress, restriction, and relief.

When we work with a horse’s natural asymmetry, something powerful happens:
✅ Posture improves
✅ Movement softens
✅ Tension patterns unwind
✅ True balance begins to emerge

Balance isn’t about forcing a horse into our idea of “even.” It’s about helping them move freely and functionally within the body they have.

💡 Watch your horse graze. See how they turn, load a leg, rest one hip. That’s the movement map.
With fascia-driven work, liberty training, thoughtful terrain, and attention to teeth, feet, and the head-pelvis connection, we can see their natural movement, support that map and gently expand it.

Because balance isn’t straight. It’s adaptive.
And when we honour that, we build stronger, sounder, and more emotionally available horses while giving them quality physical longevity of their bodies.

Your Horse Still Needs a Health Routine- Even If They’re Not in WorkJust because your horse is having a paddock holiday ...
03/07/2025

Your Horse Still Needs a Health Routine- Even If They’re Not in Work

Just because your horse is having a paddock holiday doesn’t mean their body is! Hooves still grow, teeth still shift, and bodies still get tight, whether they’re in work or not.

🔧 Hoof care: Overgrown or unbalanced hooves can cause soreness and compensation. Schedule regular trims, even for the paddock ornaments.

🦷 Teeth: Horses are masters at hiding dental issues. Just because they’re eating doesn’t mean their teeth are okay. Annual dental checks are a must.

💆 Bodywork: Horses develop tension even when they're not ridden. Grazing posture, paddock slips, and general life can lead to restriction. Bodywork helps keep them feeling good and moving well.

🏇 In work? Then your horse needs more care, not less. You're adding gear, weight, and strain. A good care routine helps prevent injury and boosts performance.

Bottom line? Regular care isn’t a luxury, it’s the basics. Book the farrier. Call the dentist. Get that massage. Your horse will thank you… in fewer vet bills.

02/07/2025

Our listening ears are at about 70%. I need 110% for the road!

Social media, especially Tiktok is a breeding ground for bullies. Whether you gave an opinion on an expensive brush or h...
01/07/2025

Social media, especially Tiktok is a breeding ground for bullies. Whether you gave an opinion on an expensive brush or how the value of a horse usually determines it's future, it's not just the content about an individual, its the pack mentality.

Pack mentality is gold if you let it be.

When someone puts you on blast, you just let them. Whether you deserved it or its a lack of maturity or professionalism, they've set a stage with their emotions and put the spotlight on you. This is your time to reflect and learn. There is little growth in humiliating another person but sometimes people will hold on so tightly to the worst version of you and you won't change that.
So you let them.
Because that stage they set is for THEIR audience. This is where they do you a favour and where the gold is. In that audience are a mix of people, but mostly those who got excited enough by the show to pull up a seat and stay. In this audience are people who will up and leave, there are those who will support you, some who sit in the back and watch and those who are so fixated on the narrative they're given.
What everyone does, is show you their morals and values. People who seek the entire truth and those who feed the plot they were given. You find people who tell you what you NEED to hear and those who tell you what you WANT to hear. The people who tell you what you need to hear are the ones to value because they want the best for you. It won't always be what you want to hear, but its growth material.
It will be disappointing to see people who you thought were friends support humiliation and bullying by joining in with the bulk of the audience and you probably will feel like you're missing something but remember that people will set a stage for a particular audience. You can choose to ask friends why they support it (could possibly be something you might need to hear) or you can decide that you don't share the same values.

Remember,
-What you need to hear comes from people who want the best for you and you won't always like it. These are the people to value because they're often not bias and invest in fairness,
-Those who only say what you want to hear are emotionally driven, looking for validation or a place to fit in,
-The bulk of the audience is already bias, they're not interested in your story. What's to value?
-Most of the people with negative opinions probably haven't achieved a fraction of your successes or walked a mile in your shoes, why should they have a fraction of your feelings?

26/06/2025

How the horse goes in determines how the horse travels.
Driving pressure encourages the horse to move away from pressure into something. This is ok when there’s a continuous forward momentum happening because they have space infront of them to look at and go to. When you drive particular horses into a float, they're blocked up and they'll either rush back out or plant their feet nervously. Using a belly rope takes away getting away from something and thinking through a problem.
It's the long way to a short cut!

Horse Won't Stand For the Farrier?The shifting weight, the fidgeting, the leaning, or even flat-out refusal to pick up a...
24/06/2025

Horse Won't Stand For the Farrier?

The shifting weight, the fidgeting, the leaning, or even flat-out refusal to pick up a hoof. It's frustrating, especially for your farrier. But before we label a horse as "naughty" or "difficult," let's look at why.

When a horse resists holding up a leg, it’s rarely about defiance. Instead, it might be dealing with:

Hoof pain – It’s easy to overlook how much discomfort can come from bruising, abscesses, or poor balance in the feet.

Cranial thoracic restrictions – Tightness or restriction through the base of the neck and shoulders can make weight-shifting feel impossible.

Lumbosacral issues – This junction of the spine plays a major role in weight-bearing and movement.

Iliopsoas dysfunction – The deep muscles of the pelvis and core, including the iliopsoas, are vital for postural support. Dysfunction here can make holding a limb up a real challenge.

Weak core strength – Just like us, horses need a strong core to maintain balance on three legs.

More often, they simply can’t. Their body is trying to communicate discomfort the only way it knows how: through movement, resistance, or even shut-down.

If we still want to blame behaviour-

Past experience
-farrier hit the horse with a rasp.

Environment
- Flies, nervous owner, poor surface, busy area, etc.
Flies buzzing around

Posture Starts at the Cellular Level

Postural stability isn’t just about bones and muscles, it’s influenced all the way down to the cellular level. The nervous system, fascia, hydration, nutrition, and even past trauma all play a role in how a horse holds themselves up.

So when your horse is “acting up”, they could be trying their best to stay upright, but physically can't.

Farriers work incredibly hard and often have to manage both the feet and the horse’s full-body tension. Let’s support them by supporting our horses by investigating the why instead of assuming it’s all about behaviour.

The Brain Dictates Everything, So Tinker with What You Have 🧠🐴When it comes to your horse’s movement, it’s easy to get f...
19/06/2025

The Brain Dictates Everything, So Tinker with What You Have 🧠🐴

When it comes to your horse’s movement, it’s easy to get fixated on crooked legs or a tilted pelvis—but here’s the truth: the brain is calling the shots.

Your horse’s brain is hardwired to keep itself upright and functioning, no matter what. Enter the vestibular system, a quiet powerhouse in the inner ear with a network of canals filled with fluid, responsible for balance and spatial orientation. It sends signals to the somatosenory cortex which is in the parietal part of the brain. The motor neurons sends information back out to the body asking it to orientate itself to keep the brain balanced. That’s when crookedness creeps in. Not because of laziness or bad training, but because the brain is doing its best with the sensory input it’s getting.

And that’s where the somatosensory system joins the conversation. This is how the horse feels their body, from hoof to poll. Whether there's imbalance in the feet or asymmetry in the face or poll, the brain adapts. Muscles overwork in one area to compensate in another. You might see uneven strides, a consistently hollow side, or resistance in one rein. That’s not disobedience, it’s a survival strategy to keep the brain upright.

But here’s the good news: asymmetry doesn’t mean unsound. Horses can still be willing, capable athletes with quirks. Just like a saddle needs customised fitting, so do their movements. Tailored exercises, regular bodywork and a good eye for change can help your horse stay balanced, adaptable, and performing for the long haul.

So we don't work on correcting the horses conformation or symmetry, we work on balancing what we have to maximise performance and prevent break downs of the horse.

Thanks for listening to my Ted talk inspired by the rabbit holes of Tami Elkayam and Kerry Thomas and still not finding an essay topic 😅

When it's too wet to work, horses are too wet to touch but the dog is a perfect size to practice and remember the massag...
18/06/2025

When it's too wet to work, horses are too wet to touch but the dog is a perfect size to practice and remember the massage and stretch sequence 🐕

In light of Olympians being suspended and called out, I've noticed more and more people are being open about their exper...
17/06/2025

In light of Olympians being suspended and called out, I've noticed more and more people are being open about their experiences and their stories are really empowering!

So,
What Made You Change? Opening Our Eyes to How Horses Really Feel

There comes a moment, sometimes quiet, sometimes gut-wrenching, when we see our horse not just as a performer, but as a partner who’s been tolerating more than we realised.

For many of us, our horsemanship was built on what we were taught, what we saw around us, and what got results. The worst part, it worked. The horse loaded, the jump was cleared, the circles got rounder but we never stopped to ask, how did that feel for the horse?

Often, it takes something significant to shake us out of old habits. A shattered confidence, an injury, being called out by someone braver, or witnessing a softer approach succeed where we’ve struggled. These moments can sting, not just our pride, but our heart because they force us to question not only our technique, but our mindset.

And yet, that discomfort is where real change begins.

It’s understandable why people stick with what works, especially when livelihoods depend on it. In high-pressure environments, kindness can feel like a luxury or even a risk. But if we can start being honest about where we came from, the tools we used, and the turning points that changed us, we open a door for others to do the same. We normalise growth, not guilt.

The horses don’t hold grudges. They live in the moment. If we show up differently today, they meet us there. That’s the beauty of it.

So let’s keep talking, not to shame others, but to share the path. The more open we are about what made us change, the more we help others find the courage to change too.

And in doing so, we help the horses, not just perform, but truly feel safe, heard, and willing.

For my fellow ADHD equestrians:🧘‍♀️Ignorance is bliss, but I'm kinder to horses 🧘‍♀️Equestricare Equine Sports Therapy s...
14/06/2025

For my fellow ADHD equestrians:
🧘‍♀️Ignorance is bliss, but I'm kinder to horses 🧘‍♀️

Equestricare Equine Sports Therapy should be an essential course for all equestrians. It covers so much and really helps you understand your horse on a deeper level. It's such an encouraging, knowledgeable and fun environment and really effective in helping people learn.

I've just finished my practical and ready to do my case studies and essays. Anyone with ADHD knows how hard it is to pick a topic and when you do find one, you end up down rabbit holes. I had decided to write about the hind quarters, more specifically the lumbar. And guess what, the rabbit hole took me to the teeth 🤦‍♀️ now I can't research more on the lumbar until I deep dive on the effects the teeth and symmetry of the face has on the spine 🙃

It's so bloody frustrating to be learning about one thing just to be taken somewhere completely different because in a roundabout way, it's all connected and it changes what you knew or gives you a new perspective.

Repeat after me 🧘‍♀️

Ignorance is bliss, but I'm kinder to horses.

11/06/2025

One of the best things I heard the other day, I think it was on a podcast, is the idea of us trying to establish ‘moral dominance.’

That describes so well what I ran into in parts of the clicker training community, as well as parts of the overlapping consent-focused/non-escalating communities…

This isn’t even necessarily something that is extrinsically taught or overtly modeled, as much as it is something that intrinsically pops up, rooted mostly in the projection cast from our own guilt and shame.

So it can exist within an individual who isn’t even connected to any particular community.

What’s fascinating, is we can use behavioral science to understand why people get stuck in certain behavioral science subsets.

In some of these communities, the main motivator and reinforcer can become the back-and-forth validation between people, rather than any objective observation of positive change for the horse.

The back-and-forth validation of moral superiority within a group, or within ourselves, becomes addictive, because the dopamine we receive from that gives a respite from the negative emotions we feel about training outside of that scope, whether that’s extrinsically or intrinsically rooted.

Maybe someone made us feel shame, or we’ve made ourselves feel shame, and we don’t want to face that.

I’ve seen so many people get stuck in their own past trauma around boundaries and communication, project that onto their horse, and keep themselves stuck in a loop of having their avoidance around those issues validated.

Within a community, it can be that much more difficult to get out of that loop.

Things can get so emotionally charged when any of that gets challenged, and I choose not to engage with anyone actively struggling with that, because they need to do their own internal work, separately from their horsemanship.

I know that, because I’ve been there.

It’s difficult to have a conversation with someone who’s stuck there, because if people aren’t doing things their way, it’s always chalked up to moral inferiority, not being enlightened enough or evolved enough yet.

Coming out the other side of strict clicker training, consent-focused, and non-escalating modalities, I can say that it is absolutely possible to be able to understand those things really well, be able to implement those things really well, and still choose to work outside of them when it’s what’s best for the horse.

Not because it’s a shortcut, not because of some moral or ethical failure, but because we’re able to discern when it serves the horse, and when it doesn’t.

Again, and again, horses ask us to transcend our human baggage and meet them where they are.

That is why horsemanship is the journey of a lifetime.

When talking to a fellow horse person, how often are you able to pick up on methods and even narrow it down to a particu...
09/06/2025

When talking to a fellow horse person, how often are you able to pick up on methods and even narrow it down to a particular trainer?
In the first 2 minutes of meeting a potential buyer, the lady asked if I knew of a particular trainer based off my language. I said I went to one of his clinics, a master-class and listen to his podcast religiously every Monday 😂
You can bet I dug real deep into my take away from Leil Lowndes How To Talk To Anyone to get her this home but Faith can sell herself to those who meet her as she is.

2 weeks she leaves and I'll continue to work her in the meantime. While I strongly believe in the concept with this trainer, I apply the method and bit differently encouraged by my mentor. So the next two weeks I'll be doing a lot of halter work in the saddle to put down another lot of ridden foundations 🦄

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