Equi-nine UK

Equi-nine UK National Award Winning Equine and Canine Behaviour Trainers, covering South and West Wales, and beyond ⭐️. Real training, real results 👏.
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We train the animal AND the human 🐶👫
IHRT. 🐎

04/12/2025

Meet BARRYYY…
(Yes, a horse called Barry! What a name 🤣🐴)

Barry has been struggling to load, and like with any “non-loader,” it’s never just about getting them on the box. It’s about understanding the horse, figuring out what works for that individual, and leaving the owners with a toolkit they can return to again and again.

Because truly…
every horse is different.
Every brain, every history, every emotional threshold, every fear, every default behaviour pattern.
And loading only works long-term when we tailor the approach to the horse in front of us - not a generic method.🐴

Barry is a perfect example.
He’s learnt a skill: on the little lorry, he’s mastered going sideways around the ramp.
Because remember:
Whatever we repeat, we learn.
Barry has repeated “sideways exit”… and has he perfected it.😅

And any suggestion of pressure at the head?
Barry’s response is:
“Ah yes, pressure… wonderful. I shall now take myself backwards.”
Straight into pressure, straight off the ramp. Remember- horses are into pressure animals, it’s our job to teach them to come off pressure.

Yes, we can (and will) do plenty of groundwork to teach him how to soften to pressure - that matters.
But sometimes…
we also need to change the question.

Now, before anyone panics when I mention lines behind the horse:
I am NOT talking about the “two people tugging a lunge line like it’s a medieval rope pull” approach.
Absolutely not. 🚫

We’re talking about:
✨ tiny, thoughtful suggestions
✨ and MASSIVE releases

Pressure and release in action:
Pressure is simply the ask.
Release is the “YES, that’s it!”
Pressure invites movement.
Release teaches the answer.

To stop Barry performing his repeated ‘off the side of the ramp’, we set up poles to remove that option entirely as environmental support. To help set him up to succeed.❤️

Because if a behaviour keeps working, the horse will keep offering it and learning it. And if we remove that option just to begin with, we instantly increase the chances of success.

Barry began loaded on the 3.5 tonne lorry with clarity and confidence.
Then we progressed to the 7.5 tonne, in which he’d never been on before -
and he walked on with the same growing understanding, before I could finish talking😅

Barry didn’t just learn how to load today. He learnt how to think.
How to try. How to search for the right answer without panic.

And the best part?
His owners now have a personalised toolkit for their horse - not a one-size-fits-all method.
Because training isn’t about just loading for the trainer…
it’s about empowering the owners to support the horse’s learning long-term 🥰

03/12/2025

Rocket 🐾 Had Rocket in today, and he smashed doing some work with Riot too! Focusing on emotional regulation and impluse control, there was no reactions at all, super boy 👏👏👏

That’s the point! Sometimes we want to scream it from the roof tops 📣We hear it all the time:“The dog didn’t react with ...
03/12/2025

That’s the point! Sometimes we want to scream it from the roof tops 📣

We hear it all the time:
“The dog didn’t react with you.”
“The horse was fine when you handled them.”
“They don’t do what they normally do around you.” 🙈

And here’s the honest truth:
GOOD. That is EXACTY the point 👏👏

But it doesn’t matter how many times we explain sometimes, it doesn’t get heard 😅

Because listen - and we mean really LISTEN:

It would be easy for us to force a reaction.
We could push your dog or horse over threshold.
We could crowd them, pressure them, trigger them, overwhelm them…
and we’d get the behaviour you’re used to seeing.

But why on earth would we do that?
😭For dramatic effect?
😭For good media content?
😭To put on a show?

Nope. Absolutely flipping not. *insert swear word here*
That’s not training - that’s trauma🙄

We are not here to push your animal so we can “prove” the problem exists.🥹

We’re not here to make them explode just to show you something you already know happens.

We are here to teach. 🐶🐴
To protect.❤️
To rebuild. 💪
To change their emotional state, not weaponise it.

If your dog or horse doesn’t react with us, that is not a failure. It’s literally the clearest message you could ever get:

When we set the animal up to succeed… the behaviour doesn’t happen.
Because the behaviour was never the problem-
The way they feel and their emotion was.

And when we work under threshold, when we work on emotional regulation, when we build confidence, when we communicate clearly and calmly, the animal suddenly feels safe enough to not fall apart.🥰

That’s what you need to understand.📣

We’re not here to drag them into survival mode just to satisfy a moment of curiosity, or to get good media. We’re not here to push them into panic so you can “see it.”

You’ve already seen it - you live with it.

Our job is to show you what’s possible when they’re regulated, supported and understood.
Not what’s predictable when they’re overwhelmed.

So yes - they behave differently with us.
THAT. IS. THE. POINT.

We are repeating what we want them to learn.

Because that’s the version of your horse or dog we’re trying to bring forward - not the version drowning in fear.

Let’s stop testing their limits, and start protecting their nervous system. That’s where real change begins. 💛

Horse Loading Isn’t About “Won’t”… It’s About Why. 🤔When we talk about non-loaders, we have to stop asking “Why won’t th...
02/12/2025

Horse Loading Isn’t About “Won’t”… It’s About Why. 🤔

When we talk about non-loaders, we have to stop asking “Why won’t they load?”
and start asking “Why can’t they?”

Because loading issues are about history, emotion and survival.

A horse doesn’t refuse a lorry or trailer because they are “stubborn”.
Something in their body or memory is telling them: “This isn’t safe.”

So if a horse won’t load, we must look deeper:

🐴Is the box already a negative experience?
Did something scary happen inside it?
Was the last journey stressful, slippery, or painful?

🐴Is the human unintentionally adding pressure or frustration?
A tense handler → a tense horse.
If your horse associates loading with stress, conflict or force…
why would they walk into that again?

🐴Are they claustrophobic or sensitive to confinement?
For a prey animal, stepping into a small, dark, echoing space is huge.
Some need more emotional preparation than others.

🐴And here’s a big one… How are we driving?
I’m a big advocate for ‘just because you can, doesn’t mean you should’. Just because you can legally tow, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get the experience first.
Sharp corners, fast turns, uneven acceleration, sharp breaking, rattling boxes - all of this teaches the horse that the journey itself is frightening.
If the ride feels unsafe, the horse will avoid the box next time (it’s not normal to hear your horse scrambling!)

Loading isn’t a one-moment behaviour.
It’s a collection of experiences -
and the horse is simply telling us how those experiences felt.

Instead of forcing them in, we must listen.
Because the moment we stop blaming the horse
and start understanding the why, everything changes.

Loading becomes a conversation, not a battle.
A choice, not a chase. A moment of trust, not tension.

And when we give horses a reason to feel safe,
they give us everything back. ❤️

01/12/2025

After we did a couple of things, we handed it over to the social experts to help get Misty on her way to happy social doggo. She’s come so far so fast 👏👏❤️🐾

01/12/2025

The most handsome boy Gus started with us today for a few different issues, so we started on the reactivity he can have around other dogs. Muzzled for safety to start with, Gus came in unsure and left…well, we’ll let you judge by the thumbnail and the last 2 slides at the end 👏👏. Thanks to GR Dog Training for lending a hand with their fab dogs! ❤️🐾

Sorry can’t make anything else today unless Cherry gets up 😂🤪❤️
01/12/2025

Sorry can’t make anything else today unless Cherry gets up 😂🤪❤️

01/12/2025

Equestrian Business Awards 2025 – What a Night!

This weekend, I had the honour of judging Riding School of the Year, and it was incredible to speak with so many fantastic places doing brilliant things across the industry. The level of dedication, care and heart was inspiring.❤️

But our winner truly shone through - their passion for education, their community spirit, and most of all… the fact that welfare sits at the forefront of everything they do. That’s what set them apart. That’s what matters most.

I’ve had to keep the result quiet for so long (the longest secret I’ve ever kept!) - knowing how much it would mean to them made telling them this weekend feel extra special. 🥹💛

What an event. What a celebration of horses, humans and the businesses that keep this industry moving forward.🐴❤️

…And today, I am supporting a 2-day hangover 😂🍾
Worth every moment.

Just coming down from a wonderful weekend- and I’m super proud of our clipper-phobic demo horse, Woody, whose owner had ...
30/11/2025

Just coming down from a wonderful weekend- and I’m super proud of our clipper-phobic demo horse, Woody, whose owner had happy tears during the session 🥹💛

What I love about this event is how it dismantles the old stigma that there’s only one way to train, one method that works, or one acceptable timeline. The equestrian industry often carries pressure around how quickly something “should” be done - or the way it should be done - but real progress doesn’t follow a stopwatch or a singular method.

One of my favourite parts of the Horsemanship Showcase was watching the 3 Trainers Challenge. Three trainers. Three different approaches. And one shared goal: doing what’s right for the horse at all times. 🐴

What truly shone through was that each trainer, despite using different methods, had two things in common:
✨ They were genuinely listening to the horse
✨ They adapted their approach based on what that individual horse needed - including allowing each horse to emotionally regulate, have breaks, and use latent learning time to process what was being asked.

And for me - that’s everything🐴

The message of my talk Saturday was ‘Survival - not defiance.”
So many behaviours we label as stubborn, difficult or resistant are not acts of defiance - they are survival strategies. When we can see the emotion beneath the behaviour, our approach shifts. We stop trying to overcome the horse and instead begin to understand them. And that’s where real progress starts.

Because what I think is so important in horsemanship is working with the horse in front of us… not the horse we wish we had, or the horse that doesn’t respond to the method we want to use. The moment we cling too tightly to one method, we close ourselves off to growth- and the horse becomes squeezed into our expectations rather than heard within their reality.

True progress doesn’t come from rigid systems- it comes from curiosity, timing, emotional awareness, openness and a willingness to adjust.

Different trainers. Different tools. Yet all led by the welfare of the horse. That’s what this showcase is all about - and why it matters❤️

29/11/2025

Horsemanship Showcase – A Snapshot of the Day🐴

What a wonderful day at the Horsemanship Showcase! 🐴✨

Watching the demos at the start of the day was fantastic. It’s about working as a collective team of humans to improve welfare and understanding, learning from each-other and growing ❤️

A talk on “Survival- not defiance: understanding the psychology beneath the behaviour.” It was amazing to see how many people resonated with the idea that what we often label as “naughty” or “defiant” is so often rooted in survival strategies and emotional stress. When we change the lens, everything changes❤️

Then we moved on to a live demo with Woody, the clipper-phobic horse who normally requires heavy sedation. The goal: to show how we can approach fear with clarity and compassion, building confidence using psychology - not force.🥰

Watching Woody begin to process, breathe and choose engagement over avoidance was incredibly special. These moments are why I do what I do. 💛

Full rundowns, videos and breakdowns coming later in the week - I’ve just arrived at the Business Awards tonight so it’s time for a quick change 💃🥂

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CF31

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