Coal Lake Stables

12/06/2025

Are You Accepting the Horse to Be a Horse?

There is a peculiar habit among humans who struggle with horses. They swear they are accepting the horse. They absolutely believe it. Yet what they are actually accepting is a fantasy creature that resembles a horse in the same way a wax fruit resembles a pear. Passable from a distance, completely wrong once you bite it.

They want a creature that floats serenely through the world, preferably carrying them, while politely ignoring the inconvenient fact that the world contains wind, unexpected noises, plastic bags, tree stumps, shadows, and gravity. They want a best friend who absorbs sadness, validates joy, and never raises their cortisol levels.

Some take it further. They want the horse to protect them. Physically, by being enormous. Mentally, by being interesting. Emotionally, by filling the void left by a lifetime of disappointing humans. They want a majestic embodiment of groundedness, a living reassurance that they are lovable, capable, and possibly even spiritually attuned.

There is only one catch. The horse cannot do any of that. Because they are, regrettably for some, a horse. An astonishing animal crafted by nature with a superior sensory system and a very clear priority list. Survival first. Everything else a distant second. They have a brilliant ability to learn, which is how we manage to ride them at all, but their core software has not been updated since the Ice Age.

That does not stop us from trying. A horse stands still while we drape ourselves over their neck and we decide it is a tender embrace. A nose brushes our cheek and we call it a kiss. We interpret behaviour with the confidence of someone reading their horoscope as scientific fact. Not because the meaning exists, but because we are very invested in finding it.

Eventually reality intervenes. The horse reacts. They move. Their back feels wobbly or their feet hurt or they simply remember that they are a horse. The fantasy shatters and people feel betrayed, as if the horse breached a contract they never signed.

The beauty, the real beauty, only appears once the fantasy dies a painless death. When we stop expecting the horse to validate our soul and start respecting the extraordinary animal actually standing in front of us. When we admire their nature instead of squeezing our own into their behaviour. When we want nothing back except the opportunity to guide them through a human world in a way that makes sense to a creature with a very different perception of the world and very fast legs.

Because accepting the horse as a horse, and earning their trust by making sense to them rather than projecting our needs onto them, is far more extraordinary than any fantasy we can dream up. And in the process something unexpected happens. You discover that nothing in you was ever missing. You were whole the entire time, simply waiting for a horse to show you that you are capable of remarkable things.

That is how a horse makes you feel free. That is when a horse teaches you about life. That is when you realise there is more available to you than you ever imagined. But first you must let go of the fantasy and allow the horse to be a horse.❤

QUESTION ➡️ Where do you think people go wrong in what they want from a horse❓

This is Collectable Advice Entry 94/365 to you to hit SAVE-SHARE and not copy and paste (as that is not cool).

12/06/2025

Excellent Read

Why I No Longer Take Horses For Training?

When my career began twenty years ago, everything was different. I enjoyed riding horses and soon found a way I could get paid to do it. Fast forward a bit and I was working a steady job to pay the bills as I was building my business, and in the meantime was learning a lot, about horses certainly, but as much about people.

Horses are the easy part, people are not. Quite frankly, people are hard to please and at the same time are often unreasonable. I have met some great people because of horses, many were clients, but people are still the hardest part.

Here is a situation that played out enough that I have it memorized by word.

Client-I have a horse I need started.

Me-how old is it?

C-5 or 6, I really wanted it to mature before it was started and now I dont have the time.

Me-what will be changing in your schedule so that you can keep riding the horse when it comes home?

C-oh I will find the time. I just can't afford to get hurt right now.

Me-I can't either

Me- here is what I charge...per month, and I require 90 days

C-oh I can't afford that! What can I get for 30 days?

Me-........

C-and I want to be there everyday so that I can watch you and learn what you do. Can you work it everyday on my schedule?

If life was only this simple. The truth is that training horses is a very tough business. I have recently had numerous aspiring trainers reach out to me, which is great. But everyone needs to realize that that the industry needs to fix some things. If we dont do some things soon, I fear no one will be training horses in a decade, especially starting colts. And that is where I want to focus on.

We have too many people that have trained one or two and think they know everything and want to throw stones at everyone else that might do things differently. Then, what realistically needs to be charged to make the finances work is much more than most will pay. So why would a young person want to start something that takes considerable time to learn, doesn't pay much, and has a high risk of a short career?

So here is what I believe can be done. Take it or leave it.

Be reasonable, despite what you may think, ALL young, uneducated horses can have their moments. I know in the YouTube, TikTok age that doesnt happen, but in the real world it does.

Don't be cheap. It isn't the trainers responsibility to make horses affordable for you.

Understand that the process of training a horse is a VERY time consuming, thought out process filled with immense intentionality in everything and that doesn't end when you pick them up from the trainers.

And finally and most importantly, understand that horses are not programmable. Just because a trainer spends tons of time teaching a horse to do all the things, but you do everything differently they they did. You will get a different result. That wasnt and isn't the trainers fault. Ask the same way they did or expect something different.

I have just scratched the surface of the topic. Much more could, and maybe should be talked about. And to be fair the horror stories can be told from both the client and trainers perspective by many of you. So lets see if we can communicate better with each other and do our best to look at life from potentially others perspectives, not just our own, just like when we are working with our horses.

Pc Tracey Buyce Photography

12/06/2025

Just 2 friends soaking up the sun

10/21/2025

🐴 Horses Aren’t Hard to Train — We Just Make Them Confused

People act like horses are complicated. They’re not. They might be the most reactive animals on the planet - but they’re also the most predictable. Their reactions make perfect sense once you stop viewing them through dominance or trauma filters and start seeing them through an equine lens.

Nature gave them a simple brief: stay upright, stay alive, and reproduce.
To balance that out, it made them the fastest learners on Earth. ⚡️

Where humans go wrong is either by being unnecessarily rough, or paralysed by the fear of not being kind enough. Ironically, both stress the horse out - because neither helps them feel safe.

The good news? There’s a clear, practical knowledge base and a set of abilities that make sense to horses. Learn them, apply them, and everything gets easier. I’ve worked out what’s most efficient and effective - the base layer of being good with horses.

But Shelley, what is this base layer?🤓

It’s what you do with a horse when you teach the fundamentals of handling and the foundations of under-saddle work. The real basic stuff. And basic stuff is powerful stuff. 💪

If you’ve got no clue how to teach a horse to get confident getting on a float or trailer or accept a rider without tension, that’s your sign - you’ve got gaps. Because these examples are just ways you apply the basics. And those gaps are exactly where confusion, frustration, and risk sneak in.

And before you think I’m saying you need to break in a horse — no, you don’t. It’s about being able to revisit and tune up those foundations on your 14-year-old mare so she understands and feels okay about everything you ask. Because these things degrade over time if you don’t know how to maintain them.

And here’s the big one when you get a new horse, this base layer becomes even more essential. Every new relationship needs to start here. It’s how you build understanding and trust.

Learn to tune them up, and you’ll do more for your horse’s sense of security (and your own) than any gadget, gimmick, or guru ever could.

Because horses aren’t hard to train - we just make them hard by guessing.

Collectable Advice 58/365 to save, hit SHARE but it's officially uncool to copy and paste.

IMAGE📸: My good friend Tracy, with a horse she helped with her brilliant ability to re-build his basics from the ground into the saddle❤.

07/29/2025

Nothing soaks up the sun like a black bummed horse☀️And nothing in the world feels better than a sun soaked horse

07/23/2025

It seems we are always praying for rain-Either for it to start or to stop-And we are always so grateful when the sky complies

07/21/2025

Many Thanks to Andrea of Willow Hills Animal Reboot for fitting Howdy into her schedule today- much appreciated by both by Howdy and
I💕

07/14/2025

Suzy had a lovely PEMF session with Andrea Lorenz from Willow Hills Animal Reboot