Julie Watson - McTimoney Animal and Equine Touch practitioner

24/05/2026

FREE POSTER ON HEATWAVE ADVICE

DOWNLOAD HI RES VERSION- drdavidmarlin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/DM_HeatwavePoster_A4_high-2.pdf

20/05/2026

🚨 REMINDER - Have your say (deadline Friday)

A major garden community development is proposed which could significantly affect local bridleways and horse riding access.

We need as many people as possible to respond.

📅 Deadline: Friday 22 May 2026

✅ How to Comment (5 minutes)

Option 1 (quickest):
👉 Go to: https://idox.tendringdc.gov.uk/online-applications
Search for: 26/00424/TCBGC
Click Comment
Copy and paste the message below ✅

Option 2:
📧 Email: [email protected]

🐴 Help protect horse riding access

⬇️ Copy & paste comment below - takes 5 minutes ⬇️

13/05/2026

Stanfords are pleased to announce that we will be holding a Stock Dispersal sale on Behalf of Kiln Saddlery to include a wide range of new tack and other related new items. The sale will be held of Saturday 6th of June starting at 10am. We are inviting further entries with all entries required to be...

01/05/2026

Are you being over protective with your horse without realizing you may be doing more harm than good?

When did people start tiptoeing around their horses like they’re made of glass? Or has it always been their & Iv just stopped observing 🤷‍♀️

Let me give you a few examples

Tilly Bud is walking her horse past someone clipping there horse and asks them to turn the clippers off because her horse is scared of them.

Bartholomew James is turning his horse out, as he walks past the ménage he asks the rider in the ménage to stop cantering because it might spook his horse.

Poppy Lulu is passing a horsebox and asks for loading to stop because her horse doesn’t like trailers/ horse boxes.

Sunshine Rainstorm is hacking out in the midst of Summer and starts waving frantically at a man mowing his lawn like it’s a national emergency
“Can you stop please, my horse is scared!”

At what point did we stop expecting horses to learn how to cope with the world?

Shouldn’t owners be

Helping the horse to feel confident in themselves so they can regulate their own emotions, reactions, and body ?

Not a horse that only copes when everything else stops just for them,
but a horse that can process, adjust, and stay with you when life carries on around them.

Horses learn through exposure and repetition.

One of the most essential processes is habituation where repeated, non threatening exposure to a stimulus leads to a reduced fear response over time.

In other words

They stop reacting because they’ve learned it’s safe.

If every time your horse reacts and the world is removed and that exposure is taken away from them

👎 You don’t build confidence 👎

👎 You don’t get habituation 👎

👎 You get the opposite 👎

👎 You reinforce the fear 👎

Horses adapt to new or scary environments through gradual exposure and appropriate positive reinforcement, which improves their response and reduces reactivity.

So when everything “scary” disappears the moment your horse worries, what exactly are they learning?

Not resilience.
Not confidence.
Not trust in you.

Just that the world should change for them.

There’s a difference between supporting a horse and wrapping it up in cotton wool.

So instead of asking everything else to stop maybe we should start asking:

How can I help my horse through this?

Confidence doesn’t build in quiet yards, silent arenas, and empty roads ( obviously we need to keep safe)

But also …

Horses are extremely good at reading us.
Heart rate, tension, breathing & posture they pick it up before you’ve even realised how your reacting.

Is it the horse that’s worried about the clippers etc
or is it the person at the end of the lead rope anticipating the horse’s reaction because a bad experience happened with a set of clippers etc & no training has been put in place since?

Because if you’re bracing, anticipating & holding your breath your horse is already looking for the danger.

If you’ve got horse behavior problems & pain has been ruled out I highly recommend getting a behavioral therapist in to help you & your horse.

I have a couple of ladies that I recommend, please message me if you want their contact details.





Picture from Horse Nation.

11/04/2026

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐞’𝐬

Lately, something’s been sitting heavy with me and it hit even harder after spending more time helping out at the local pony club and now starting to source horses/ ponies for kids. There’s a shift happening in the equestrian world that’s hard to ignore, and honestly, it’s starting to feel like we’re losing sight of what this sport is really about.

Everywhere you turn, you see kids turning up on high-priced horses €/£/$20,000+ for a youngster with all the bloodlines and breeding, destined to jump no more than 80 or 90cm in their life. These are lovely animals, don’t get me wrong. But at the grassroots level, the horse doesn’t need to be bred for Grand Prix. It just needs to be safe and suitable.

What I’m not seeing anymore? The scruffy ponies. The odd shaped ones. The old semi retired hunter that’s taught half the kids in the county how to sit a buck. The Plain Janes of the horse world. Where have they gone?

When did we stop letting our kids learn the hard way?

It’s not just about the money (though, yes the cost of horses in 2025 is mind blowing). It’s about what we’re expecting from these kids, and how we think a good horse will shortcut them into being a great rider. Spoiler, it won’t!!!!!!!!

Because before you can make a good rider, you’ve got to make a problem solver. And problem solvers aren’t made on perfect horses. They’re made on ponies that stop at the gate. That duck out. That need a soft hand one day and a strong leg the next. They’re made in moments of frustration and tiny breakthroughs. They’re made in muck and chaos and trying again and again.

The pressure to have the right horse is everywhere. But the truth is, the right horse might be the one with a few quirks, not the one with a five figure price tag.

We’ve created this illusion that a child’s success in riding depends on the flashiest setup the horse, the truck, the gear. But the best riders I’ve known? They learned on what was available. They fell off more than they stayed on. They learned to adjust, to listen, to think, and to feel. And none of that came from being bought the perfect ride.

So here’s a gentle plea to parents, trainers, and riders alike……,

Let’s normalise kids riding average horses again.

Let them ride the hairy cob. The semi retired showjumper with a dodgy change. The pony that came from the riding school, or off a farm, or doesn’t have a passport full of fancy breeding. Let them earn their feel, their seat, their instinct not buy it.

Because at the end of the day, it’s not the horse that makes the rider. It’s the hard lessons, the dirty boots, and the thousands of tiny moments when they choose to keep going, even when it’s tough.

So if your kid has a safe pony, a helmet, and a dream? That’s enough.

And if you want to teach them to win start by letting them lose. Start by letting them learn.

That’s what makes a rider. Not a receipt.

Myself and The School Master of Gurteen 2013.

14/02/2026

10/02/2026

I don’t know a single horse person who hasn’t stood at this point at least once.

That point where you realise the future you imagined isn’t going to happen.

You start out with hope.
With excitement.
With ideas about partnership, progress, potential.
Even if you “just ride for pleasure”, there’s still a picture in your head of what life with that horse might look like.

And then something changes.

Maybe it’s injury.
Maybe it’s behaviour.
Maybe it’s fear.
Maybe it’s life, money, time, or circumstances you never saw coming.

One day you wake up and the weight of it all feels heavy.
The dreams you were holding start to slip through your fingers.
And the relationship that once felt exciting now feels like pressure.

I know that place well.

I lived there for a long time.

I was an extremely competitive rider. Goals mattered. Outcomes mattered. Results mattered.
And I lost a lot of joy chasing futures that never actually arrived.

The biggest shift for me came when I stopped living in what my horses could be
and started being present with who they were.

Now, I don’t see my relationship with my horses through goals or achievements.
I’m in it for the relationship.
For the connection.
For the privilege of being part of their life.

And honestly — that is enough.

Here’s the uncomfortable bit, and I say this with compassion, not judgement.

When you’re sitting in the mess of
“I don’t know if this horse will ever come right”
“I’m scared”
“The behaviour is awful”
“I don’t even know if it likes me”

it’s very tempting to think, I’ll just get another horse. That will be easier.

But if you don’t look at how you got here —
the patterns, the expectations, the way the horse has been managed, trained, listened to (or not) —
you don’t escape the problem.

You just repeat it.

Different horse. Same cycle.

That doesn’t mean you’ve failed.
It means something is asking to be seen differently.

Living in the future creates anxiety.
Living in “what could have been” creates grief.
And most of the time, that future was never actually real — it was a story we told ourselves.

Dreams aren’t bad.
Goals aren’t bad.

But there’s something far kinder — to you and to the horse — about building the relationship one small, honest step at a time, in the present moment.

So if you’re grieving the loss of a dream right now…
If you’re exhausted, disheartened, or quietly wondering whether to give up…

Maybe letting go of what you wanted
and leaning into what is
isn’t the end of the road.

Maybe it’s a different kind of beginning.

One where the pressure eases.
Where the relationship matters more than the outcome.
Where the horse in front of you is enough, just as they are — today.

And maybe, for now, that’s all that needs to exist.

Just this moment.
This horse.
This connection.

And seeing where that takes you, one step at a time.

Have you ever had to let go of a version of the future you thought you were working towards?

28/01/2026

The Wither Rock is a gentle and effective mobilising exercise for the whole body.

It is good for stimulating the core muscles, particularly the thoracic sling, strengthening the forelimb lateral stabiliser muscles that support the limbs when turning and moving sideways.

With your horse standing square.
💠 Stand facing the left shoulder, with your shoulders parallel to the horse’s spine.
💠 Do a personal postural check, ensure you have no tension in your shoulders or arms and take a couple of deep breaths.
💠 Place both hands cupping the top of the withers and take a moment to allow the horse to get used to your touch.
💠 Imagine the movement first and build up slowly from there.
💠 Gently push the withers away from you by about 1cm initially then allow the withers to return to the neutral position before pulling them back towards you by about 1cm then release again.
💠 Repeat this swaying movement in a natural rhythm. The side-to-side movement of the withers should be continuous and flowing. Don’t try to hold his weight in one position.
💠 Gradually increase the amount of sideways movement but only as the horse relaxes into the movement.

Build up from 20 sways remembering to repeat the same number of push-pull cycles from each side.

👀 As you are doing this exercise watch your horse, he may try to communicate that he wants more or when he would like you to stop.

Comment Rock and we'll give you access to our tutorial video on the Wither Rock

28/01/2026

🤔🤣 If You Don’t Grin and Bear It… Are You Even a Proper Equestrian? 🤣🤔

😭 January.
The month where the arena becomes a lake, the fields resemble a crime scene, and every pair of breeches you own are permanently two shades darker than they were in September. Mud tie-dye effect is not a fashion statement.

🙈 Let’s be honest, being an equestrian in January isn’t a hobby. It’s a lifestyle choice rooted in questionable sanity and an unhealthy tolerance for discomfort.

🙃 Your daily routine now includes:

• Scraping mud off boots with a hoof pick

• Finding hay in places hay should not physically exist

• Questioning whether your horse is still bay or has simply evolved into a new species: Mudicus Maximus

🥾 The walk to the field has become an extreme sport. One wrong step and you’re performing an unplanned freestyle dressage test, sponsored by gravity and poor life choices. Style points deducted. Dignity eliminated.

🐴 Your horse? Thriving. Absolutely living their best, feral, swamp-creature life. Rolling in mud. Sleeping in mud. Becoming mud. Meanwhile, you’re trying to preserve one clean item of clothing like it’s a sacred artifact.

👃 And the smell.
Ah yes. Eau de Wet Horse, with top notes of muck heap and undertones of regret.

🗣️ We tell ourselves:

“It’s character building.”

🛑 No.

🤪 It builds back pain, hypothermia and an emotional attachment to your wheelbarrow that’s deeper than most human relationships.

💪🏻 But still, you go.

🧥 You layer up like an Arctic explorer.

🧒🏻 You lug haynets that weigh more than a small child.

🫵🏼 You trudge through mud that could legally qualify as quicksand.

🐎 You pat your horse, who is now fully camouflaged and blending into their surroundings with expert accuracy.

🤪 And you smile. Slightly unhinged. Slightly feral. Fully committed.

🥰 Because ladies and gentlemen, this is what we do.

* We don’t quit.
* We don’t cancel.
* We don’t stay clean.

🤣 We grin and bear it - in soggy socks, leaky wellies, muddy coats and a level of emotional resilience that should qualify as an Olympic sport.

🤪 Because if you don’t grin and bear it…

🤣 Are you even a proper equestrian?

🫶🏻 A totally tongue-in-cheek post to give you all a smile on an extra delightful January hump-day.

🤗 Do share with any other struggling equestrians to make them smile too. Love always, Hx

21/01/2026