AB Equestrian Bristol

19/05/2026

What a busy few weeks it's been!

🐴 sole yard cover
🐴 multiple holiday care bookings
🐴 clipping
🐴 exercise
🐴 took Flynn to see Sunny again and he was just the most gentle boy (it always amazes me how such big animals seem so aware of tiny humans)
🐴 poo picking
🐴 meeting new clients
🐴 desensitization training
🐴 some shadowing for myself where I get to pick the brain of someone incredibly respected within the industry (can't wait to do more of this!)

10/05/2026

Small ponies aren't taken seriously 🐴

There is a somewhat unpleasant attitude towards smaller ponies within the industry that is often dressed up as humour. Ponies referred to as “devils” or “sh*tlands”. People seem to find small ponies displaying extreme stress behaviours hilarious and somehow just a quirky personality trait instead of an animal in distress. Just this week online I have seen extremely stressed ponies biting and rearing while the humans present laugh away. Stress behaviour is seemingly just cute and funny when you're small.

I think a lot of small ponies are treated horribly. I wonder if it is because they feel easier to dominate and intimidate so we don’t feel the same sense of fear or respect around their behaviours. A tiny shetland kicking or rearing at you just doesn’t feel particularly dangerous so we feel more comfortable trashing through their boundaries and forcing them to comply.

They are still equines who have the same needs as any larger horse and should be treated with the same respect.

Life is hard when you’re a small pony, think about how defensive you would feel as a prey animal when everyone handling you towers over you. They are often lead with their heads pulled upwards in uncomfortable postures or when we handle their legs we may pull them too high to make it more comfortable for us. They are often given to children and expected to put up with being kicked and yanked about, then labelled “sassy” or “stubborn” if they don’t put it up with it quietly enough. Many are used just as companions to larger horses and their own needs fall by the wayside, often being left on unsuitable forage and grazing which damages their health.

I have several clients with smaller ponies, from miniature Shetlands to Exmoors and riding ponies, and all of them feel they have, at some point, not been taken seriously when they have gone to the vet or other professionals with concerns. There is an underlying feeling of “why would you bother spending all of this money and time on “just" a small pony”. Although I guess this speaks to the wider industry problem of horses being seen as things to “use” rather than as sentient beings we care for unconditionally.

Earlier this year I met a lovely Shetland pony who had been purchased for my client’s young son. He was “fine” to ride but she really wanted her son to be able to handle and groom him. The previous owners had said he was always grumpy and an adult needed to handle and put his tack on because he would “take advantage” of children. The pony I met was very shut down and uncomfortable. He nipped and pulled faces half-heartedly still trying to communicate a discomfort he knew would be ignored.

We addressed his management so he had appropriate forage 24/7, he had bodywork and was treated for stomach ulcers. We then worked on building positive associations with people using fun enrichment activities and clicker training. I also worked with the client on how to handle him with his posture in mind to make sure we weren’t pulling his head upwards all of the time and making him sore. Her son can now lead, groom and tack up his pony and is really enjoying him while learning to have respect and empathy for horses.

I have met some very frightened, traumatised small ponies who have been labelled “nasty little sh*ts” by professionals when they have tried to defend themselves after all of their warnings had been ignored. If we started treating them with respect and considered how they’re experiencing the world, they wouldn’t feel the need to be so defensive. They have all the same body parts that can be sore as larger horses do. 🐴

Have you got a small pony and felt you haven’t been taken seriously when looking for help? 🐴

08/05/2026

Nothing like a bit of cow based desensitization training 🤣

26/04/2026

Behaviour doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s always connected to something.

A horse that only becomes tense when separated is telling you something about safety and attachment. A horse that only resists during saddling is giving you information about association, discomfort, or anticipation. A horse that only reacts in certain spaces, with certain people, or under certain conditions is not being inconsistent - they are being specific.

And that specificity is where the real understanding lives.

When we zoom out and look at the full picture instead of just the moment of behaviour, we start to see patterns. And those patterns are what guide us. They show us where the pressure might be too much, where the nervous system is struggling, where confusion exists, or where something hasn’t been fully processed or understood.

The context is not separate from the behaviour. It is part of the behaviour.

So instead of asking “how do I stop this,” the more useful question becomes, “what is it about this situation that brings this out?”

That’s where the answer is.

24/04/2026

These sunny days are genuinely reviving me 🤣

🐴 yard cover
🐴 holiday care
🐴 hacking in Lords woods (SO beautiful 😍)

24/04/2026

Look at that grin!🤣😁

Had the best day enjoying the sun today ☀️

Hand walked Sunny over some raised poles this morning - he had another round of steroid injections recently so we're slowly bringing him back into work

Then I went to work where I've been doing some painting for a client (not horsey I know but very satisfying)

Finished the day off with a beautiful ride around Lord's woods with Rebecca Williams and the lovely Billy who was an absolute dream

This is what it's all about 🩷

23/04/2026

20/04/2026

Grace & Isla 🩷

I've been looking after these girls, when their owner goes away, for three years now!

It's so nice to have the opportunity to build solid relationships, not only with my clients but with their beautiful horses as well ✨️

They both love a snack, hate faffing and enjoy a good scratch (Isla more so than Grace). Grace struggles with mild trigeminal headshaking so wears a UV fly mask while Isla could get even the strongest of fly masks off. Isla runs hotter than Grace and is at higher risk of things like laminitis - every horse has their own needs and personality and I so enjoy getting to know each one 🥰

Thank you Jackie Liminton for trusting me with your girls

18/04/2026

The harsh reality for a lot of ex racers. It doesn't matter how they're treated when they're making money if this is where they end up. Some humans are the absolute worst

A fella (clearly an amateur jockey) popped onto our page during grand national weekend to say we are very one sided with our posts, that their horses are treated well and homes are found for them in rescue or sanctuaries, that not all retired race horses end up being slaughtered and why don’t I share their stories…….

What he failed to see was that they are not rehomed to rescues sanctuary’s they are dumped on them leaving the rescue to pick up the tab and put the time and effort and money into rehabbing and homing these once “racing superstars” that made their owners trainers and jockeys A LOT of money…….

Ok so here’s one that didn’t get slaughtered, but it wasn’t because the yard that it came from made an effort to find to her a new home, this mare & 10 others were saved by pure chance…….

“”These are elite athletes at the top of their game not just any horse. These horses are also extremely well cared for, there is a team behind every horse, an owner and trainer, physios, chiropractors, vets, farriers, dentists, nutritionists etc etc”” blah blah 🙄

“”Sure We Treat Our Horses Like Kings””

A horse who once sold for £240,000 but was “thrown out with the garbage” a few years later has gone on to showjumping success in a loving new home thanks to the animal rescue team who saved her, not her breeder, trainer or owner who made alot of money out of her……….

War Celeste, who is by American former racehorse War Front, one of the most expensive sires in the world, was found in a group of 11 starving thoroughbreds by Irish charity My Lovely Horse Rescue in 2018.

The mare, whose ancestry includes Secretariat and Northern Dancer, was born in 2012 and sold for nearly quarter of a million pounds as a yearling. She was sent for training but two years later was sold again, for £15,000.

“We met War Celeste one wintry day in February 2018 when the doors of a large hay barn in Co Cork were prized open to reveal a sight that those of us present that day will never forget,” a spokesman for MLHR said.

“Inside were 11 starving thoroughbreds. Some had access to a small muddy paddock, others were trapped inside individual stalls, standing on manure so high that the stall doors had to be broken off and the manure torn out with a digger to create a slope the horses could climb down. They came out slipping, falling, terrified.

“War Celeste was in one of the four stalls. She was on her own, emaciated, head down, slowly dying. She was one of the horses in the worst condition and was in danger along with four others that day of being put down on site.”

The charity took in all five of these horses, while the other six were taken elsewhere to start a new life. Two of the five had to be put down as their condition was so serious, but Celeste, Grandpa John and Kelly all survived.

“For the first year that Celeste was with us, everything was geared towards keeping her alive, putting her on a slow and comprehensive re-feeding programme,” a spokesman for the charity told H&H.

“It is a very tentative process when looking after a horse in such poor condition. Once we had Celeste over the first few weeks, the danger period, we sent her from our rescue farm to one of our experienced fosterers who put her out on grass. This, combined with the love and care from her fosterers, had a hugely beneficial effect on her health and eventual full rehabilitation and recovery.”

The spokesman praised Celeste’s “unbreakable spirit”; who did not hide from humans as many rescued horses do but came to staff with “an amazing, ‘we’re all in this together’ attitude”.

She had a fear of open spaces at first, and would panic if turned out, but “like a prisoner emerging from the dark, she eventually learned that freedom was a truly wonderful thing”, the spokesman said. “Her recovery was slow but she made it.”

The charity did not know Celeste’s history when she was rescued but as it emerged, there was interest in her, mainly from breeders. MLHR has a strict no-breeding policy so has decided to keep the mare for good, to best protect her welfare.

💙🐾