Totally Tack

22/08/2025

22/08/2025

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

09/08/2025

The Illusion Of Safety 🐴

Safety is often the biggest justification people use for being rough and hard on horses. The idea that if we don’t square up to the horse and put them in their place they will hurt us. Any behaviour we deem undesirable on the ground is fixed by moving the horse’s feet and chasing them out of our space either backwards/sideways/forwards with a stick/rope/flag. I used to train like this, I was constantly driving horses away from me either by pushing their shoulders/quarters or sending them forward with pressure behind them.

I don’t treat horses like this anymore as I have come to realise it isn’t ethical or necessary. I now focus on getting the horse into a trainable state before we start asking questions and then setting them up to succeed so we don’t get into any dramas.

I have since realised that training for compliance and obedience like I used to can actually make horses more unsafe to be around. I’m going to tell you 3 little stories to give you some food for thought.

🐴 Years ago when I was training with strong pressure the horses I worked with would often kick back towards me when they spooked or exploded, I didn’t give it a huge amount of thought beyond “that’s just what horses do”, it didn’t occur to me their instinct was to kick back at me because I was the stressor always driving them away. I used to solve this by always disengaging the quarters and making the horse face me.

I haven’t thought about this much since I started training differently as I very rarely have horses explode like that around me anymore, however I was in the arena with Dan loose one day. I was stood halfway down the long side and he was at the far end of the arena. He spooked and came galloping down towards the gate, I winced and sort of cowered away from him as he was coming past worried he might kick back as he came past me because my brain was still thinking “that’s just what horses do naturally when they’re spooked”. To my surprise, despite him being really upset and stressed, he didn’t continue to the gate, he stopped dead right next to me and waited for me to reward him.

It seems so obvious looking back but this was a big penny drop moment for me. Why on earth would a horse want to kick back at me when they were “fresh” or stressed if they didn’t find my presence aversive?

🐴 I have a client who has a large 2yo, she was having trouble with her being pushy and hard to lead so she sought the help of a horsemanship trainer. He came out and showed her how to use a flag to make the filly “respect” her space, if she got too close she was told to flap the flag hard until she backed off and they did a lot of disengaging the quarters by flapping the flag towards them.

She did her homework diligently but the next week the filly had a spook, span away and then kicked out at her owner. She had never ever kicked at her before. Her owner expressed concerns to the trainer who told her that the filly was “testing her” and to be firmer. The next time she tried the filly got away from her and actually jumped out of the training space with the long lead rope trailing, it took her 20 minutes to be able to get near her to unclip the rope.

This filly didn’t need to learn “respect”, she was learning to navigate the world, finding everything a bit stressful and was now having a scary flag flapped at her by the person she used to feel safe around and couldn’t understand why. We have since done some work together around leading safely and learning to down-regulate before she feels the need to leave the situation and she is now leading quietly out on short walks off the property.

🐴 My last story is about a horse who came to one of my obstacle clinics, she was a large horse who came in with her eyes on stalks dragging her owner all over the place. Her owner said she had done similar obstacles before and the mare was obediently going over them by the end of the session after a lot of rearing and pulling. The horse wouldn’t even entertain standing near the tarpaulin and her owner was confused because in their other clinic the horse had been walking over it with “no issues” by the end.

What had actually happened was the horse had given up and complied but had such a horribly stressful experience they had created a really scary, negative association with the tarp. So on being presented to it again months later all the horse remembered was how scary and horrible it had been. Every time she tried to even get the horse within 10ft of the tarp she would barge very quickly and determinedly through her shoulder and leave without pausing.

I told her to stay well away from the tarp and we did some work with low value food rewards. When I felt she was calm enough I asked the owner to just walk as close to the tarp as she could without the mare trying to leave and feed her there. We finally got her to stand and wait rather than panic and leave. Eventually she took a step forward and we continued to reward until she was stood right in front of the tarp, loose rope, nice and straight and considered sniffing it. After a few more breaks she walked straight on and was happily searching for food on it, completely calm.

The previous training made this horse more reactive and dangerous because instead of thinking she would have time to assess, she assumed heavy pressure was going to be put on her straight away so she was just panicking and trying to leave.

There is a price to pay when we simply train for compliance, we are not benign to the horse in these interactions, the pressure is associated with us. I want my horses to look to me when they feel stressed or worried, not look to get away from me. If your horse is kicking back at you, running away from you or even going to the lengths of jumping out of the training area to get away from you, please re-think what you’re actually training and what kind of associations you’re creating. 🐴

Pictured is Paul getting to grips with the tarpaulin, obviously not the large horse in the story 😅

07/08/2025

06/08/2025

About time it was taken seriously

In an outcome marking one of the most significant sanctions issued by the Fédération Equestre Internationale Tribunal and announced today, a 15-year suspension has been imposed against U.S. dressage rider Cesar Parra for actions violating the principles of horse welfare. Parra has also been fined ...

04/08/2025

Is your horse’s back truly broken…
…or just misunderstood? 🤔

Most cases of kissing spine aren’t a death sentence, they’re a postural SOS.
Your horse isn’t weak, lazy, or resistant.
He’s trying to carry himself the only way he knows how, until you show him another way.

The real cure?
🔄 Retraining how the horse uses his back, not just managing the pain.

Let’s rebuild strength, unlock mobility, and rewire the nervous system.

💬 Have a horse with a KS diagnosis or suspect something’s not right in their movement?
Tell us your story below — or check the link in bio to find out how we help horses like yours every day.

01/08/2025

**warning**

If you're too heavy you should lose weight
None of this 'I ride light' nonsense... you still weigh what you weigh.

I watched my weight for years to make sure I didn't get too heavy. My horses made it quite clear if I was too heavy for them.

Today I've put on my brave pants because equine welfare is important to me.... as is being kind, compassionate, supportive and understanding to my fellow riders. This topic is emotionally charged, but it's a conversation that is necessary and sticking our heads in the sand won't help ourselves or our horses.

🧠 Fat Shaming vs. Equine Welfare: Let's Clear This Up 🐴

In the equestrian world, conversations around rider size can quickly become uncomfortable. But here's the thing: talking about load limits isn’t about fat shaming — it's about equine welfare. There’s a big difference between targeting a person’s body shape and discussing what a horse can physically carry without risking pain, injury, or long-term damage.

📣 Your amount of body fat or how much you weigh does not need to be discussed. In fact, a tall muscular person can weigh more than a shorter person who has higher adipose tissue (bodyfat).
This is not a conversation about anyone’s worth, appearance, or character. It’s about physics and biomechanics (which is measurable and does not change), and the welfare of our horses.

📊 The Research Is Clear
Multiple studies support the 20% rule: horses should carry no more than 20% of their bodyweight, including tack and rider. Beyond this point, horses begin to display observable signs of stress and unsoundness — regardless of how balanced the rider is or how well the saddle fits.

🔬 Key Findings

✅ Clayton (2020) found that even with a balanced rider and appropriate tack, horses showed increased gait asymmetry, higher heart rates, and signs of discomfort when load exceeded 20% of their bodyweight.

✅ Greve & Dyson (2013) observed that exceeding this threshold often led to lameness, saddle slipping, and altered movement patterns, even in well-conditioned horses.

✅ Powell et al. (2008) demonstrated that horses carrying 25–30% of their bodyweight had significant increases in muscle soreness, heart rate, and fatigue compared to those carrying 15–20%.

⚖️ Yes, There Are Other Factors Too
It’s not just about the numbers. Factors like the age of the horse, their back health, fitness level, the type and duration of activity, and rider skill and balance all matter. A fit, skilled, and light rider may impact a horse less than an unbalanced one — but weight is still weight, and the research shows even the best riders cannot eliminate the risk once past the 20% threshold.

🤝 No Room for Bullying
There is absolutely no place for abuse, bullying, or humiliation of riders. Conversations around appropriate rider-horse matching must be sensitive, kind, and thoughtful. It’s essential to create space for honest, supportive discussions without shame.

🐴 But We Must Do More to Protect Our Horses
Our horses can’t speak up when they are struggling. It is our duty to advocate for them, to keep their welfare front and centre, and to ensure they are not placed in situations where physical harm is inevitable.

If you’re unsure whether you're within your horse’s safe load limit, consider:

✅ Weighing yourself and your tack

✅ Knowing your horse’s actual weight (not just guessing)

✅ Speaking with a vet, bodyworker, or qualified saddle fitter

✅ Exploring different breeds or horse types that better match your riding needs

🥰Let’s keep these conversations kind, factual, and horse-centred.
Protecting our horses is not up for debate.

27/07/2025

🤣🤣🤭🤭

26/07/2025

Got to ❤️ a mare

She was massive—over 17 hands tall. A queen in both size and soul. But Zenyatta didn’t just run races; she performed symphonies. Each race was a slow build, a rising swell of tension... and then an explosion.

From the back of the pack, she'd watch chaos unfold ahead. Then, as if on cue, she'd flick her ears forward, gather herself, and fly. Her trademark? A ballet dancer’s prance in the paddock—light, playful, full of power she hadn't even begun to show.

Her most iconic triumph? The 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic. The first female to ever win it. Against a field of the best males in the world, she stood stone last—until she wasn’t.

Coming around the turn, Mike Smith asked. Zenyatta answered. She slipped through the wall of colts like wind through trees, surging past them like a myth. The crowd didn't cheer—they gasped. And when she crossed the wire first, undefeated and untouchable, the gasp became thunder.

She bowed to them after, like a queen acknowledging her people

09/09/2024

I don't necessarily agree with all the hm behaviour... however the demise of this poor creature was unmistakably poor hoof care and heels that were left way too high 😢

The Price of Ignorance: A Hoof That Tells the Truth

For those of you who wanted to see the inside of the AI-generated hoof we posted yesterday (yes, social media never ceases to amaze 🙄), here it is.

What are we looking at?

A P3 that has lost nearly half its bone, all thanks to an almost vertical boney column that wouldn’t budge due to unnaturally high heels.

The toe was cut through to the epidermal laminae in a feeble attempt to maintain an unnatural hoof-pastern axis (HPA) and ‘tame’ that ‘long toe’.

An act that resulted in the desperate slowing down of the growth rate of the toe wall, whilst the heels motored on, causing painful bunching and pinching at the coronary band.

Aided and abetted by allowing the contracted, jammed up heels to reach incredible heights.

This foot had nowhere to go, forwards or backwards, the pain would have been excruciating.

Did naughty ‘unsupported’ P3 rotate through the capsule itself - pulled by the DDFT?

Somehow pushing its digital cushion upwards and pulling the apex of the frog backwards with it before your very eyes?

No. Poor P3 was put in this agonizing, bone degenerating, rotated position because of shocking hoof care.

What led this poor horse down the sad path of death? A catalogue of errors.

This horse didn’t just suffer because of one person, one farrier, one vet, one owner - but at the hands of a broken, outdated, and ignorant domestic equine system.

One continuously hindered by internet gurus pushing outdated ideas, manipulating both owners and professionals with their harmful rhetoric - ensuring the blinkers of ignorance remain firmly in place.

It’s not only the fault of the farrier who hammered that last nail into this poor horse's foot. Nailing on the open toed ‘remedial’ heart bar shoe.

No, it’s the collective failure of a world locked in myths, false beliefs, and a dangerous lack of correct education and clear direction.

Awful outdated ‘knowledge’, propped up on faulty hypotheses, egos and a massive dollop of assumption.

For those saying we shouldn’t hold humans accountable - particularly the so-called professionals - take a long, hard look at this hoof and the suffering behind it.

If you're more focused on defending this broken system and the people in it, rather than on what’s happening to the horses, you’re definitely a big part of the problem - and one of the reasons the cogs on this equine world have rusted up.

We need to stop this ignorance, the myths, the false beliefs, and the damage we’re causing.

Stop the agony.

Stop the misguided malfeasance.

Our horses deserve better.

P3 is not your fall guy.



HM.

p.s. help us raise the standards of equine hoof care, join our free rehab group - The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health