Maia Nunn Equestrian

03/10/2026

Last week was a pretty exciting moment and I've been keeping it to myself to marvel at for a few days. Last week I got to ride Qi for the first time!! It was a little pony ride around the arena but I was grinning from ear to ear! She was perfect! Relaxed and chill like we've done this a million times. A great first ride for me on her and an awesome return to riding for Qi! Excited to see her development as we bring her along this summer! She's going to be a pretty fun riding horse😊

Thank you Nikki at Wildwood Equestrian and Kate for this opportunity!

03/09/2026

Maybe it's natural? Maybe it's Neigh-belline! Had such a fun time helping teach this little guy to connect and engage in the space with us. Isn't his hair the best??

Interested in getting lessons?
Mondays I have openings in Falkland and area.
Tuesdays and Wednesdays I have openings for Armstrong and area.
I also teach in Vernon, Lumby, and Enderby.
Shoot me a message if you would like to learn more and book a lesson!

03/07/2026

Fear is a powerful messenger and a terrible house guest. Pt. 2/2 (Finally😅)

Soon fear camped out in my house. Followed me around even outside of the horses. It didn’t feel like I could get a break. I knew I wanted something different but I had no idea where to start. I just knew I wanted my joy for riding back.

I started looking for alternatives to what I knew. How else could I figure this out? What other ways were there to help calm a horse down? It felt like searching into a void. At that time in my life, the idea of meeting a horse’s needs felt as ephemeral and mysterious as trying to find the holy grail. No one could tell me what it actually looked like. They'd throw around the word like it was as obvious as breathing but no one could explain what it actually meant when I tried to dig deeper. So I kept looking, kept trying. I scrapped my plans of competing and stopped my lessons for a time. If I was going to do this, I needed the freedom to try things without pressure. I needed to learn to trust myself and my own intuition about what my horse needed. If it took me a year to figure it out, I was prepared. In a grit your teeth and buckle up kind of way. As luck would have it, just two months later I discovered Relational Horsemanship and my journey as a horseman was forever changed.

Learning how to meet my horse's needs, to be able to read not only what his physical body was doing but also how he felt emotionally allowed me to recognize signs of anxiety and tension way before they became a problem. It also gave me the time and space to learn how to advocate for myself, to recognize what things I was and wasn't comfortable with. Like my horse, when I had the space and safety to say no, I could give a more wholehearted yes to the things I was doing!

Things didn't change all at once. The fear didn't magically disappear but as I started to unravel Rory's tension and my own fears and beliefs, the fear started to lessen.
The fear didn't go away for a very long time. Several years in fact, but each day it got a little more manageable. There are still moments today that will trigger that old fear but now I have the skills to know what to do when fear visits.

03/03/2026

Fear is a powerful messenger and a terrible house guest. Pt. 1/3

Lately, I've been reflecting back on my journey with fear around horses. I think every horse person has had an experience at least once that left them feeling fearful around their horse and/or riding. For me those experiences stacked up pretty well all at the same time around the age of 17-18. I was kicked badly by a strange horse and had 6 or 7 scary falls from my (then new) horse Rory all in a matter of months. I felt out of my depth. All of the years of experience and confidence I had built suddenly disappeared in an instant. Any interactions with horses left me wondering if I could trust myself and my ability to read a horse.

I went from someone who would gallop ba****ck in a field to someone who struggled to ride in the arena. I was told again and again that I was doing great and I had to just keep trying. But I didn't feel like I was doing great. Rory would feel tight and anxious from the moment I went to catch him in the field. It felt like I was just waiting for a ticking bomb to go off. He held himself tight like a spring, hypervigilant of everything in his surroundings. It was hard to not get anxious just being around him. For months I just shoved down my fear, told myself to be tough, that he would get over it. I kept going to clinics and would sit by the trailer, trying to plan how I could best mitigate him from bucking or scooting out from under me. Each time I put my foot in the stirrup, especially on cross country, I just prayed for the moment it would be over. The only time I felt any excitement or joy in it was after I’d completed a jump and felt the rush of surprise that I was still on. That I’d made it! Soon fear came into the paddock with me, halter in hand. Even just taking him on walks was riddled with stress and anxiety as he’d spook and push into me. There were many days I would come back from the horses with tears in my eyes, frustrated and afraid. But I knew I wanted to make it work. I wanted my joy for riding back. So, after a while, I had to turn to my fear and acknowledge why it was there.

To be continued in a post tomorrow! (FB and IG don't allow longer captions)

02/23/2026

Spring is almost here!! And that means getting back out with the horses! I thought it was time that I share more about who I am and what I do!

I am a traveling dressage and horsemanship coach from Vernon, BC! I offer lessons in the Vernon, Armstrong, Enderby and Kelowna area.

I use elements that I've learned from Josh Nichol's Relational Horsemanship style, working on meeting the horses needs and helping both horse and rider feel calm and confident in everything they do! As a competitor myself, I want to be able to combine the amazing confidence that can come from horsemanship and use it in the show ring! I utilize a combination of classical and modern dressage to help your horse move and feel powerful in what they do, regardless of discipline. I believe we can be ambitious with our dreams and also honour our horses along the way! I have trained with many trainers around north america including, USDF Gold Medalist Kathryn Christensen, 5* eventer Dana Cooke, and Relational Horsemanship trainers Josh Nichol and Brooke Rempel.

I'm now booking for the spring season so please contact me via PM or email me at [email protected] for more information. I would love to work with you!

02/19/2026

Why doing eventing in my late teens taught me the most about training for resilience.

Earlier this week I had an online lesson with my dressage coach, Kathryn Christensen and just as I started prepping Rory, the weather started to change. In the course of an hour and a half, over 3 inches of wet sloppy snow fell. By the end of my lesson both my horse and I were soaked and cold but we had had one of our best lessons to date!
I was reflecting afterwards about how much my earlier eventing days with Rory really set both of us up to go into situations with a can-do/we're going to make this happen until lightning strikes the field-type mindset that can be really helpful for those tough days when all you want to do is stay inside.

Do I suggest this all the time? No! I've also been the person who rode and trained with pneumonia... twice!🫣 And I think there's definitely a tipping point where it can go too far but there's something to be said for building your resilience in a sport as difficult as horseback riding.

When I started eventing, I would say I was fairly tough already, but going to clinics and having terrible weather and realizing that you still needed to go out there and ride and pay attention in your lessons, really made me realize how little we push ourselves a lot of the time. Eventers will just go out in extreme windy weather with hail and spooky horses and go jump solid logs like it's a regular Tuesday. They're obviously a different kind of tough from most of us, but it's so easy to stay in your comfort zone. To just ride on the nice days, but I find there's something magical that happens when you and your horse get to experience and overcome something challenging together. Your trust and connection gets so much better!

You leave your ride feeling like you've conquered the world and it sets you and your horse up to feel more confident if there's a poor weather day at the show or you get caught out on the trails with some windy weather or spooky horses. You've trained for it and in it. So when it shows up, as it will, it won't seem so hard after all.

What are your thoughts on this? Are you a fair weather rider or do you thrive in storms?

01/13/2026

Why I still hand walk my "broke" horse on the trails.

Anyone who's seen me working with horses long enough has seen me hand walking my horse up and down the roads and trails far more than I trail ride. Why is this?

I love hand walking my horses because it gives me insight into how my horse is responding to me on the ground and if there's any holes in my leadership that need to be addressed. As my horse navigates new things on the trail is he pushing into me or rushing ahead? Am I being affective in my aids or is he dulling out? Does he feel confident to navigate a potentially scary thing with me or is he looking for his buddies back home and getting anxious? This all gives me a lot of insight into what my horse is feeling when he works with me.

It also builds connection as my horse and I navigate the trails and roads together. Often this time of year we have to work around icey patches and snow piles, which requires me to be precise in how I adjust his speed and direction to get around these spots. Hand walking also helps build muscle in my horse without the added weight on their back which can help build their topline to be stronger when I am on their back.

Foremost, I find it brings me closer to my horse and gives me more empathy to the challenges of the trails by walking them alongside him which makes me a more thoughtful trail rider. I love trail riding and I do lots of that too, but especially with a mind horse like Rory who is always hyper aware of his environment he can gain so much more confidence on the trails if we hand walk it first. And why would I miss that opportunity to bolster his confidence by just riding all the time?

Do you hand walk your horse? What have you noticed about your training after hand walking?

01/09/2026

Training for mistakes.
We all make mistakes or get clumsy sometimes and with horses there is always some pieces that are out of our control to predict or prevent. I have found the best way for our horses to feel empowered when things go sideways is to train for it.

But what does this look like? Here I'm teaching Qi to stay calm with the driving lines bunched under her legs. When we're working with ropes, lines, or reins, there is inevitably going to be a time when those lines will drop and get under foot. I don't want that moment to be when we're already in a potentially hairy situation, I want my horses to know how to accept the lines under foot and how to navigate this long before I get behind them to drive.

The more she can be used to feeling things underfoot and around her legs in a calm, relaxed manner, the more likely she is to respond positively if I drop a line or she steps a leg over it. This way she has more positive experiences to pull from in a stressful situation and the less likely that there will be a wreck in the future.

I've seen so many trained horses panic when their lead rope is dragging on the ground and narrowly avoided injury or a serious wreck simply because they hadn't been taught how to handle this new pressure. Helping our horses feel empowered to think through situations and problem solve with our guidance and support makes them so much more confident and safe partners!

12/08/2025

Boundaries.
A few years ago I worked with a very exuberant 2 year old mini named Bambi. Bambi loved clear boundaries. He taught me a lot about holding boundaries without being reactive or harsh about them. Boundaries are not meant to be a wall, they're more like a roadmap for how we can feel safe with each other.
When I am clear in what I will allow and won't allow, what's safe and what isn't, what I enjoy and what makes me uncomfortable, I feel empowered.
Bambi would feel empowered too. Every time I redefined my boundaries with him, he would yawn and relax. His eye would soften and it was as if he was saying, "Thank you! Now I know where my place is in the world."

It's like when someone's giving you directions but they aren't sure if their directions are very good, so then they ramble on and on and then ask you for reassurance that their directions are correct. Then you're thinking, "I don't know! You're supposed to be the one telling me directions, how am I supposed to know?"
Sometimes we can be like that when we're setting boundaries. We feel unsure as to whether our boundaries are asking "too much" or are "unfair".
So we're left questioning and asking "Is this ok? Am I doing it right?"
But then, how great does it feel when someone else gives you directions and is very clear and understandable and confident?
I know for myself I feel a huge wash of relief and empowerment to get to my desired location.
I think that's what our horses feel when we hold our boundaries with them.
Boundaries are so much more than NO. Its being clear in your center about where you stand, listening to what your heart has to say about the matter, and getting into the intention of what you DO want.
So boundaries are so much more than boundaries if you think about it! It's about honouring ourselves and each other in our unique experiences.

11/25/2025

I love riding my horses out in wide open spaces. Maybe its the eventer in me, but knowing that my horse will stay calm and responsive even in uncontained areas gives me a greater sense of peace and connection in everything I do. There's also something magical about feeling the horse cover ground with no restrictions of fencing or dangerous terrain. Everything gets more in-sync as we flow together. I find that there's an untangling that happens when our horses are encouraged to just move freely without our constant input. Whether that's cantering down a field or going on a trail ride, I notice that the horses that are often behind the leg get a chance to really free up and feel empowered in what they're doing and this can really help us in our arena work. It's important to lay the foundations in the arena but when we have the building blocks in place its fun to take that horse power out for a spin!!

Would you trust your horse in a wide-open field? What pieces do you think you'd need to work on to feel safe to go for a canter in a big field?

11/19/2025

So true!!

Horses will meet you exactly where you are—whether you know where that is or not.

One of the hardest truths in horsemanship is that you cannot separate the rider from the human being riding. You can learn theory, techniques, and timing—but if you don’t know what drives you at a deeper level, your horse will feel that gap long before you do.

Most of us move through the world with old narratives still running without our awareness in the background. Maybe you were taught, directly or indirectly, that you were small, inconvenient, or unimportant. Maybe you learned to keep your head down, not make waves, not ask for much. Or maybe you learned to overcompensate: to become hyper independent, to feel important.

Those early experiences don’t stay in childhood; they become the lens you see yourself through, and the filter you misinterpret the world through.

And the horse—sensitive, perceptive, honest—becomes a mirror for every part of that story.

A horse refusing or resisting becomes “rejection.”
A moment of hesitation becomes “I’m not good enough.”
A correction feels like conflict, and conflict feels dangerous.
Or, the opposite—you search for conflict because you expect it, and it feels safer to control it than wait for it.

None of this comes from malice. It comes from the unexamined places inside us, mirrored in the world around us.

But a horse isn’t rejecting you. A horse isn’t judging your worth. A horse isn’t reenacting the dynamics of your childhood. They are responding to the energy you bring, the clarity you offer, and the steadiness—or lack of it—behind your choices.

When we don’t know what drives us, we keep repeating the same emotional choreography over and over, in the barn and everywhere else. We avoid setting boundaries because we fear being “too much.” We micromanage because we fear losing control. We rush because we fear being behind. We freeze because we fear doing something wrong.

The real work is not really about the horse. It’s about getting curious about ourselves. Identifying the motives that subconsciously steer our hands, our timing, our expectations, our reactions. Asking, Where did this pattern come from? Who taught me this? And is it actually true?

Because once you see your own story clearly, the horse stops being a mirror of your inadequacy and becomes a partner in your growth.

Horses don’t need us to be perfect. They just need us to be honest—especially with ourselves.

And when we learn to operate from clarity instead of old wounds, our work with them becomes lighter, cleaner, more present… and our whole life tends to follow.

09/19/2025

Bad quality photos but a great quality horse! Man I love this horse. He is feeling so proud of himself and powerful right now. I'm only working him a couple days a week in the arena until he's a little fitter and stronger but the days we have been in the arena have been amazing!🥰