Wild Pony - Equine services

01/07/2025

Exciting news! I will be at the Spot That Dog's Pet Fayre this Sunday in Brislington 🥳

Come by for a chat and find out how positive reinforcement, enrichment and play can change your relationship with your horse for the better!
Or just come by for a chat about horses in general 😊

See you there!

24/06/2025

Such an important reminder to go at your own and your horse's pace. It might not look like some of the polished instagram reels out there, but try and find the small successes and celebrate those. Horses, just like us, are individuals, and they have good and bad days, baggage, emotions etc. It's hard sometimes to listen to your horse instead of what people around you might say and/or do with their horses, I can absolutely relate to that! But try and remember that you are on your and your horse's journey together, no one else ❤️

Work with the horse you have, not the horse you wish you had.

We live in a world full of polished social media posts showing horses doing impressive things (as well as some that make my eyes bleed), and it’s easy to feel like you’re not cutting it. Easy to feel your horse should be further along, more advanced, or less... behind. Easy to feel you're not a good enough guardian.

But some horses need to go really slowly. Some take weeks to feel comfortable with a new protocol. Some come with baggage. Some have been misunderstood for so long that they don’t trust us to get it right. That’s not a training flaw. It’s just the reality for that horse.

And once you stop fighting it, it can become something really beautiful.

There’s this idea that progress moves in a straight line. That if we do everything 'right', things will keep improving one step at a time. But with some horses, you need to take a step forward and then stop to let things settle. Or you go backwards for a bit, and that gives you the opening you needed to move forward in a different way. That isn’t losing ground, it’s following the pace that works for that horse to learn.

One of my dogs has taken years to confidently touch a target with his nose. I haven’t been training it that whole time. We’ve done lots of other things, and I’ve waited until he was ready. When he finally offered that touch, it felt like a huge milestone. Not because it was flashy, but because of everything it told me about how he felt now compared to before.

There’s nothing wrong with going slowly. There’s no deadline. You’re not in a competition. You’re not less of a trainer because your horse isn’t 'advanced.' Some of the best trainers spend months helping a horse feel safe just walking into the school. It doesn’t make for sexy social media content, but it’s extraordinary work.

It’s OK if your horse isn’t 'there' yet. Wherever 'there' even is.
Don’t let this be an 'excuse' not to train. Celebrate quiet training that meets your horse where they are.

Thanks to the handsome Jim for, well, just being Jim ❤

19/06/2025

Jessie has a crusty eye from the weather and her fly mask, so I'm doing some cooperative care with her. Eventually I should be able to spray the Leucillin around her eyes.

I start out presenting the bottle to her, she willingly touches it as she is already used to touching things with her nose. I do this a few times until she gets the hang of it. Touch means click & treat. Next I want touching the bottle to become the start button, or consent behaviour.

So she touches the bottle, then I spray a tiny bit away from her face. Click & treat.
I can gradually start to approach her face more with the spray as long as she consents by touching the bottle first.

In the second video you will see her not consenting. She doesn't touch the bottle, so I don't proceed to spray. She still gets rewarded but we change the session and do something else.

Consent cues and start buttons can be used for so many different things from tacking up to medical care. They are especially useful for when we ask difficult things from our horses such as eye care, injections and things they might be fearful of.

Get in touch with me if you're interested to learn more about cooperative care or would like to book a session in 😊

19/03/2025

Like most livery yards around here we have to stable the horses at night during the winter. We are lucky that we have daily turnout in a large field no matter the weather, but the long nights in the stables can be hard for horses.
I try and make it bearable by providing enrichment and variety in Jessie's stable. She has 3 haynets in different locations and with varying hole sizes, some hay on the ground with a few treats scattered in, a treat ball to kick around and this little net that I fill up with hedgerow herbs such as cleavers and cowparsley (now this is starting to grow). I also provide branches, toys and scatter herbs like oregano and basil on the ground.
Nevertheless, I'm sure she can't wait to be back out 24/7 living that herd life!

16/03/2025

Spring is fast approaching, so now is a good time to spring clean the tack room and check all the bits and bobs for the warmer season are ready:

✅️ grooming kit cleaned and disinfected
✅️ flymasks washed
✅️ spare fly mask ordered before they sell out
✅️ grazing muzzle cleaned and ready for the move to the summer field

Next on our list is wash and store away winter rugs, check and ensure balancers and supplements are adjusted to different nutritional needs in spring/summer and stock up on fly repellents and sunscreen.

Bring on springtime ☀️🌻

15/03/2025

Did you know I do dog walks and visits too?
This week I had the pleasure of popping in on this cutie pie 😍

27/02/2025

We did some cue transfer training today with the help from Shai. L Horsemanship.
This means I could give Jessie the cues she has been taught from the ground with positive reinforcement, and pair them with ridden tactile cues such as leg and rein aids from her rider.
It was great working with another trainer, even though it was slightly strange seeing someone else on my horse 😅
Shai did a great job and was really calm and reassuring for Jessie.
Afterwards we let her on the podium which is currently her favourite thing to do 😍

18/01/2025

Today we started out on our agility journey!
When I was younger I competed in agility with my dogs, so I'm really interested to try horse agility with Jessie (which is actually quite different from dog agility).
She was wary at first of the new "thing" in the school, but soon decided that putting her feet on it is great fun.
We obviously have a very long way to go, we are just starting out getting to know some of the obstacles, but I'm looking forward to the fun and the confidence this will hopefully enable Jessie to gain.
We also used the reverse roundpen for part of the session and she's getting the hang of that too, it's a great way to get her exercising 😊

19/12/2024

Availability update 🥳

Are you looking for a trustworthy groom to look after your horses, or are you keen to learn how to train them in a kind and effective way?

From January I have availability for the following on Thursdays, Fridays and some weekends (east Bristol and surrounding area):

Freelance groom services:
• general yard work, muck out, bring in/turn out etc.

Freelance instructor specialising in positive reinforcement (ABTC-ATI):
• Clicker training, cooperative care, groundwork, preparing youngsters for backing etc.

I also offer bespoke services such as welfare and enrichment visits for horses on box rest, welfare checks for smallholding animals (sheep, goats, chickens etc.) and dog walking.

I'm fully insured, DBS checked (enhanced) and I'm a registered Animal Training Instructor in Equines with the ABTC.

Please get in touch with any queries, I'm looking forward to hearing from you 😊