East ‘n West Horsemanship

East ‘n West Horsemanship “Grab mane and pray to the lord!” is something you’ll hear me (jokingly) say quite often ; East ‘n West is horsemanship across the spectrum!

From cowponies to showjumpers � “Grab mane and pray to the lord!” is something you’ll hear me (jokingly) say quite often . . . East ‘n West horsemanship is horsemanship across the spectrum, and knows no boundaries ;; no matter the breed/gender/age or problem, I’m willing to help you find a solution that fits your horsemanship goals and needs. East ‘n West isn’t a one size fits all program, I belie

ve every horse is different therefore cater to each individual horse’s needs and personality. East ‘n West is a very groundwork fundamental program, borrowing many tips and tricks from Doug Mills (Training Thru Trust) and other horsemen and women I’ve learned from among the way. Leading with patience and kindness, but also creating boundaries and maintaining respect at all times, I am often commended for being able to quickly connect and read each horse on an individual level. Please don’t be afraid to reach out with questions, availability and current rates.

This is so valuable and something I not only practice, but teach in my private mentor/training containers with my studen...
04/09/2025

This is so valuable and something I not only practice, but teach in my private mentor/training containers with my students and their horses ❤️

INAPPROPRIATE TOUCHING

I'm reading an amazing book called Amphibious Soul by Craig Foster, the Academy award winning documentary film maker of "My Octopus Teacher".

If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it, it is simply profound.

In the book he says "As a rule, I never touch an animal unless they touch me first".

In my work building relationship with horses, I do this too. Most times a horse will touch you with their nose/muzzle first, and matching that greeting (versus labelling the horse as a biter) is a game changer.

But there's a phenomenon I have noticed going on with people trying to build relationship with their horses that I have labelled "inappropriate touching", and it looks a bit like the photo below.

This picture was taken at a horse expo in Pennsylvania recently, where I worked with a demo horse who has a "biting issue". He would reaching out in a way that his owner was termed as nipping, whereas I interpreted as him saying hello, similar to reaching out to shake hands with someone.

When he reached out I would greet him with a flat hand that he is able to to nuzzle, lick or even scrape his teeth on. After doing this a while his snappy acting motions got less so, and he was no longer needing to say "hey, pay attention" , but was more "hey, how's it going". I was explaining to the audience that I was meeting him in the way that he was meeting me (with his muzzle) and that it's not an invitation to touch other parts (yet).

I then said that it's many people's default to reach up and rub a horse between the eyes, whether that's what they are offering or not, and that if you do, it's inappropriate touching and it gets in the way of connection. It doesn't meet their needs, and is all about yours.

With the horse in the picture, he'd been engaging me with his muzzle, and I said to the audience "watch what happens when I try to rub him between the eyes". As you can see in the photo, he has raised his head up and is clearly indicating "No, not there, on my muzzle".

We had a Connection And Attunement retreat here at the Journey On Ranch a week ago, and I used my wife Robyn to illustrate this point to the participants. I said "imagine I'm at a gathering and meeting Robyn for the first time". We walked up to each other in that way people do when they see someone new and they can tell an introduction is shaping up, Robyn reached out with her hand to say hello and instead of me reaching out to shake her hand, I gently reached up and lightly brushed a wisp of hair from her cheekbone and tucked it behind her ear.

The participants all gasped and the ick factor was high.

Even though it was caring, and gentle, it was inappropriate at that moment.

Now Im not saying you can't rub your horse on the forehead. I'm saying if your horse has a disregulated nervous system around humans because they don't feel seen (and safe), try to meet their needs first, before trying get get yours met.

I recently saw an instagram post from a University in the UK, and the professor was explaining that they were doing studies on horses to determine levels of stress. In the background a horse was standing with his head out over a Dutch door. While he was explaining their investigations on stress, a female student (or maybe another professor, I don't know which) walked up to the horse. The horse reached out with his muzzle to greet her.

She ignored this and reached up to rub the horse between the eyes.

He turned his head 90 degrees to the left to communicate that wasn't what he was offering.

Her hand followed him and kept rubbing.

he then turned his head 180 degrees to the right, saying "No, not like that".

Smiled, gave him another pet between the eyes, and walked of camera.

While the professor was saying that they are doing experiments determining the amounts of stress horses are under, someone in the background was actually creating stress, without either of them even knowing it.

Once you understand how sentient horses are, and how subtle their communication, you can't unsee it.

Throwback to when Billy and I tried our hand at cross country 🙊
03/20/2025

Throwback to when Billy and I tried our hand at cross country 🙊

Did you know…. people aren’t mind readers? Wild, I know. Genuinely speaking, as a person who mostly spends time with hor...
03/17/2025

Did you know…. people aren’t mind readers? Wild, I know. Genuinely speaking, as a person who mostly spends time with horses, I really struggle with this concept. I spend most of my days communicating non - verbally, and then when I’m interacting with my friends, family and people I don’t know I just expect them to hear what I’m thinking 🤣🤷🏻‍♀️ does any other horse trainer struggle with this or is it just me!? 🤣

Horses are humbling. Just when you think you’re getting somewhere they remind you to slow down, be present, and take the...
03/14/2025

Horses are humbling. Just when you think you’re getting somewhere they remind you to slow down, be present, and take the time it takes. Teach them to comprehend things, not just to go through the motions. If they don’t comprehend, they don’t understand, there’s so much room for guessing, if we don’t let them make mistakes they won’t understand what is right and wrong. This is Johnny. He was very emotional, if he didn’t understand something he would check out - but if you gave him the time to process, comprehend and execute he would do things with ease and excellence.

The other day a friend and fellow horseman was in the arena while I was teaching one of my students; he said “you are an...
03/13/2025

The other day a friend and fellow horseman was in the arena while I was teaching one of my students; he said “you are an excellent teacher young lady” it made me feel really good, especially coming from someone I respect as a horseman and a friend. It had me reflecting on what it takes to be a good teacher - for me, I’ve been really lucky to have some of the best teachers set my foundation. People like Faron Forsyth, and Dustin Cossaboom, people who took the time to diligently explain the small details, to never let me skip the basics, to persevere even when it’s tough. I think what makes a good teacher is being taught by a good teacher, having someone lead the way for you from the beginning so one day you can lead the way for someone else. I am certainly grateful for all the teachers I’ve been blessed with over the years, who have made me the teacher I am today. ❤️

What fills your cup? Knowing what fills my cup is pertinent to being successful in my week. If I ask myself what I am a ...
03/11/2025

What fills your cup? Knowing what fills my cup is pertinent to being successful in my week. If I ask myself what I am a yes for, how deep will I dig? A yes for connection, a yes for laughter, a yes for feeling good - but what does all that mean? What does it look like? Today a yes looked like taking the time it takes to groom my horses meticulously, it felt like a restful soul nourishing way to spend time in the barn outside of the every day tasks 🥰 Here is Billy looking like a 10 with his mane pulled 😍👌🏻

Practicing discipline, while honouring my bodies cyclical nature;; recently I have been tracking my cycle, and it has be...
03/11/2025

Practicing discipline, while honouring my bodies cyclical nature;; recently I have been tracking my cycle, and it has become such a soul nourishing experience. Practicing discipline for me is knowing where I’m at in my cycle, and honouring myself within that space. On the days it’s cold (like today) after it’s been warm and sunny it can be hard to get motivated. I don’t often take rest days until I’m absolutely burnt out, I’m trying to be more conscious of that, though sometimes I’ll swing to the opposite side of the spectrum and err on the side of not doing enough, and feeling worst. A wise man once said “sloth breeds sloth” (Denny Emerson) and I keep that in my mind throughout my days when my thoughts are running amuck and my body is tired and sore from the duties of the day. Though rest is important, so is discipline, though discipline is important, so is honouring your body for what it needs in that moment. Today, I look outside, it’s day 8 of work, and I don’t really wanna go out there, but I know there’s going to be a day later in the month that even doing the bare minimum will be hard, and that’s not today - today is a day to lean into discipline, to keep my goals in the front of my thoughts, and not lose sight of the dream, to get out there and stay motivated and inspired because sloth breeds sloth which means energy breeds energy 😎💪🏻✌🏻

Indie and I have had a great couple of days, even after I let him out he always waits at the gate until I leave 🥺❤️ he t...
10/06/2024

Indie and I have had a great couple of days, even after I let him out he always waits at the gate until I leave 🥺❤️ he takes up so much space in my heart, he is kind and genuine and always wants to do the right thing and I feel so grateful to call him mine ❤️

09/18/2024

In case you were wondering how Indie was doing, he’s thriving on pets and love 🤪🥰

06/12/2024

But also a little sneak preview of what these days look like 🥰❤️

06/12/2024

Fourth video :) as you can see in May Indiana was still very protective of himself

06/12/2024

Third video :)

06/12/2024

This is the second video :) hopefully they post in order! I do speak about how worried and protective he was of himself, not super keen on touch, or approach, and he didn’t really tolerate being sent away either (he sometimes would charge toward me with his head in the air ready to fight) his self preservation is very strong

06/12/2024

These videos are all from May 20th, Indiana has improved substantially since these, in fact he greets me at the gate most of the time now and he’s no longer wearing his halter, but this is a progression video series 🙂

There are a lot of videos but I have to upload them 1 at a time so I’ll label them, this is the first 🙂

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Wainwright, AB

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