Reaching Strides Equestrian Centre

03/08/2025

Edited to show the third human toe is the equilivant to the horse foot. Also the horse splint bones are thought to be the equivalent of toes 2 and 4 in the human.

What a clever way to illustrate the foot of man and lower leg of the horse.

Drawing taken from “The horse its treatment in health and disease, 1909”.

They have similarities in the bone structure however the biomechanical are quite different.

I love it when I hear folks compare horses feet to human feet and I untangle in my head, what they describe, to see if what they are saying is actually correct. Flipper feet (long toes), stones in shoes (protruding bars) etc.

My journey of biomechanics is in its infancy but it’s a truly amazing topic. I had a great 2 hour conversation with a farrier from the US today, Jeremy V. He explained such a lot to me and helped me understand more about the biomechanics.

When you consider the fetlock on the horse and the cannon bone as one of the directions of force (perpendicular) then there is the pastern line of force at at angle, it’s quite complicated. At stance it’s ok. Start the limb moving then woah……🤯🤯🤯🤯.

03/08/2025

To the horse who’s lived through every version of me

“You stood by me before I knew who I was.
Before I had the timing, the feel, the understanding. Before I knew how to speak to you in a way that made sense to you, and long before I knew how to listen.

You felt every phase of me.
The eager beginner.
The perfectionist.
The one who tried too hard,
and the one who didn’t try hard enough.

You learned to interpret what I meant when I didn’t say it clearly. You held space for my missteps, and gave me the chance to rewrite the story each time I came back with more clarity, more kindness and more understanding.

You didn’t walk away when I was still learning how to show up.
You didn’t shut down or told me off
when I was still figuring out how to open up and find better ways. You offered grace when I hadn’t earned it.

You met me in the mess.
And you grew with me, anyway.

I softened and listened deeper, because of you. You taught me that softness isn’t a flaw. That a real reciprocal partnership doesn’t come from control, but from trust, built slowly, in the quiet moments when neither of us had anything to prove. And all the other lessons you tucked gently into the spaces between heartbeats, the ones I’m still uncovering, even now.

Some of these lessons didn’t finish teaching when the moment ended, they unfold over time, revealing more each time I return to them with new eyes.

You shaped the best parts of me and I will carry that gift for the rest of my life.

To the horse who walked beside me through every version of who I was, thank you. You didn’t just change my horsemanship skills,

You changed me”

-Julia Williamson, The Horse Center, 2025

03/08/2025

That’s our girl and our handsome boy.

2’ Hunter Division Champion 🏆
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01/08/2025

❤️ Rocky. There’s always a chance.

Now for a more complete Rocky update ❤️

Rocky will be 5 months old next week. I asked Dr Longoria to check his testicles yesterday as I was pretty certain both have descended and they have. We will wait until it’s cooler, probably another month or so, and then he will be gelded and his little umbilical hernia will be repaired at the same time. The fact that this is now something we have planned for Rocky is amazing to me and I’m just very grateful to the entire team of people who have loved him and helped ensure he lives a great life. This baby, so full of life and so happy, for 5 whole months 😭❤️. This village has given him that and it is a gift, to him and to everyone he has inspired.

His brace should be here next week. Arkortho has been amazing. Dr L will be back next Thursday and our plan is to wait until she is here to try everyone’s new orthotic equipment.

Rocky is doing great. Dr L and I do have serious talks about him and where we are at every week. The end result is always, he’s happy, not in pain, and living the life he was given. He does what all the other babies do every day. We talked yesterday about hospice, and what that looks like for animals vs humans as I think some people get confused. With humans, you have defined guidelines and that’s due to payment sources such as insurance etc. Typically, at 6 months if there is no decline and the patient is actually thriving or improving, the human patient can or will come off hospice and their medical care reverts back to forward goals. Most people assumee hospice means “dying and just being kept comfortable” and it’s so much more than that. I could go on for days about this but I wont. To me, defining an animal as a hospice case is a really broad and subjective place to put them. Each case is individual. I considered Carolina a hospice case from day one. She lived here for 5 years and she was still a hospice case the day she was euthanized. She was considered a hospice case due to a right carpal fracture with dependent limb founder on the left. This was the diagnosis that placed her in a hospice category, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything for that diagnosis to help improve their quality of life while they are able. Carolina received the care, both medical and farrier, needed to remain comfortable as long as she was able. When a diagnosis of cancer coupled with her already existing issues became too much to ask her to carry, Carolina was lovingly laid to rest. All I want is to be able to provide that for any animal that comes to us. Hospice in animals is blurry, there aren’t enforced guidelines and I feel it’s heart and medically led. I said all that to say, Rocky was deemed a hospice case the day we decided to bring him home and allow him to live for a couple of weeks. Nothing about that says: you can’t do anything to help him. A brace, gelding, fixing a hernia, those are really basic care needs. A brace isn’t life saving medical surgery. It’s not going to give him the leg he is missing. But it could, help him thrive and maintain his soundness and comfort level as he grows. He know we are not “done” and Rocky will continue to be assessed multiple times a day for any issues. Dr L said today, we still have so much growing to get through to be able to say “sure he’s fine for the rest of his life”. No one is more aware than me that t
he could change any day. I go to the barn every morning praying that he’s still the same as he was the night before, that this day will be good for him. Just days. They turned into weeks, and now 5 months have passed and I can’t imagine not getting to see Rocky grow up, but if I cannot, I know in my heart Rocky has been given every chance and he’s been loved and cared for to the best of our ability every single day of his life. He’s so smart, extremely kind to his friends, so curious and involved in everything, and while yes his life looks very different, it’s very simple really. Friends, food, playing, that’s all he cares about, and he loves his little life just as much as we love him.

Goodness, this is a novel now lol. Anyway, have a great day yall and live your best life while you can ❤️.

30/07/2025

Miss Adele had a fantastic session today. So much more relaxed. Gettting less reactive, although still has her moments. Our Joey of course doing an incredible job staying still and quiet to help the greeny understand what we are asking for. A successful step forward today.

30/07/2025

Ari came to visit us from Alberta and got a lesson in this morning on hobo to prepare for her upcoming riding camp out west. She did awesome.

30/07/2025

Warm ups for group two this morning. Three loop serpentines.

30/07/2025

First crew of cuties in.

30/07/2025

Horse – The Soul Companion of the Earth
You are not a beast.
You are wind, made flesh — the ancient heartbeat of the Earth.
When the Creator exhaled the first breath of life,
You galloped across the meadows of light,
And the sky bowed as your hooves kissed the newborn land.

You came with no reins,
Carrying a strength that does not roar —
But stands firm like mountains,
And flows gentle like mist.

The fire in your eyes is not rage —
It is memory,
The sacred flame born from the stars before names were spoken.
Each step you take is a sacred word,
A spell of life whispered into soil and soul alike.

You do not serve —
You walk beside.
No one owns you,
For you are freedom incarnate,
The song of wild forests,
The breath of untamed plains.

You do not carry people forward —
You carry their spirits home.

When the warrior is lost in the smoke of the world,
It is you — with a heart of thunder and hooves of wind —
Who leads them back
To where fear cannot follow,
To where truth rises like morning mist on sacred ground.

The People did not ride you —
They listened to you.
In your whinny lives the fire of ancestors,
In your stride flows the blood of the Earth, singing.

You are the Guardian of Freedom,
The Bearer of Balance,
The Spirit of Destiny.
You have never been merely "a horse" —
You are the Twilight Deity in motion,
The Companion of every sacred journey.

🙏🙏 You can get the purchase link in the comments under each image. Or just send me a message with the picture you like, and I’ll send you the direct product link!

29/07/2025

Adult crew in. A bit of weather heading our way, but luckily our ponies are saints.

29/07/2025

Barn rats in argument of who Cali’s boyfriend is. Lol this went on for a good five minutes. They kill me. lol