Equine Translation Team

08/08/2025

Speaking up for horses?

When you tell yourself and others and even your horse that you both had so much fun today?
Might you consider your horse’s true thoughts and feelings by watching and listening to their equine body language??
Horses don’t lie.
They don’t even know what a lie is.
Unlike humans.
And this horse is defeated…

06/08/2025

Whilst this result is welcomed, there are many more ‘elite’ competitors who engage in similar abuse which is either excused, covered up or ignored.
If the FEI and other regulatory agencies implemented a consistent approach across the board, then competitors would maybe feel more pressure to stop their deliberate abuse and concentrate their focus on improving their riding and understanding of equine ethology in the round.

🗞️LATEST NEWS 🗞️

Lets hope this serves as a warning to anyone who has a "win at all costs" attitude and no respect for horses!

CESAR PARRA SUSPENDED FOR 15 YEARS FOR HORSE ABUSE

In an outcome marking one of the most significant sanctions issued by the FEI Tribunal, a 15-year suspension has today been imposed against Dressage athlete Cesar Parra (USA) (FEI ID: 10000031), for actions violating the principles of horse welfare. Parra has also been fined CHF 15,000 and ordered to pay CHF 10,000 in legal costs.

A prominent figure in international equestrian sport, Parra has competed at the top level since 1998. He represented his native Colombia at the Pan American Games in 1999, the Olympic Games in Athens 2004, the FEI World Equestrian Games™ in 2002 and 2006, and the FEI World Cup™ Final in 2005. After switching nationalities in 2008, Parra went on to compete for the United States at the Pan American Games in 2011 and the FEI World Cup™ Final in 2014.

Parra has been provisionally suspended since 2 February 2024, when he was notified that he was under FEI investigation following reports of horse abuse submitted to US Equestrian.

US Equestrian had received multiple allegations along with numerous videos and photographs showing Parra engaging in abusive behaviour and training methods involving several horses.

The FEI, in coordination with US Equestrian, launched an immediate investigation into the allegations that Parra had repeatedly and deliberately subjected the majority, if not all, of the horses he owned and trained to recurring and serious abuse over a number of years.

The investigation involved a thorough review of extensive video and photographic material, as well as multiple witness statements.

On 22 May 2024, the FEI initiated formal disciplinary proceedings against Parra, bringing forward three charges: i) abuse of horse; ii) conduct that brings the FEI and/or equestrian sport and the FEI into disrepute; iii) breach of the FEI Code of Conduct on the Welfare of the Horse.

“This case is deeply unsettling, not only because of the recurring nature of the abuse, but also because of the number of horses affected,” FEI Legal Director Mikael Rentsch said.

“That such behaviour came from a top-level athlete makes it all the more troubling. Our athletes are expected to represent and uphold the highest standards of horsemanship. Horse welfare is the foundation, not an add-on, of equestrian sport.

“The investigation demanded significant time and resources due to the volume and complexity of the evidence, which had to be meticulously verified. The 15-year suspension sends a clear message that regardless of profile or position, those who violate the principles of horse welfare will face serious consequences.”

Parra is banned from taking part in any competition or event, or in any related activity under the jurisdiction of the FEI or any National Federation. He is also prohibited from training any FEI registered Athletes and/or FEI registered Horses. The provisional suspension already served will count towards the 15-year sanction, which will end on 1 February 2039.

The full reasoned decision will be published here in due course. Parties can appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within 21 days of receipt of the full decision.

According to the FEI General Regulations (Article 164.6) during the period of a Suspension the Person, Horse and/or body suspended may take no part in any Competition or Event and/or in any activities related to any Competition or Event, as an Athlete, Support Personnel, Horse and/or Official or in the organisation of, any Competition or Event under the jurisdiction of the FEI or any Competition or Event under the jurisdiction of an NF in accordance with the Statutes or in any FEI and/or NF related activity (e.g. FEI courses, meetings, General Assembly etc.). For the avoidance of any doubt, training FEI Athletes and/or FEI Horses (whether at FEI Events or anywhere else) is to be considered as an FEI related activity. Persons are entitled to train their own Horses at their own facilities or at private facilities (i.e. not linked to any FEI or national Events/trainings’ facilities).

04/08/2025

Something to think about…

Sensitive Sole Dysregulation Disorder (SSDD):
Why Your Horse Isn’t a Jerk—He Just Has Sore Feet 🐴🔥

⚠️ This is long. Possibly the most important thing you’ll read this year about your “frustrating” horse. So dig deep and let me transplant some good ideas into your head....

People come to me for all sorts of reasons.
Some are curious about my nerdy, no-nonsense take on horse training.

Some want help building a better relationship with their horse.
And some arrive clinging to the last threads of hope, unsure whether their horse is traumatised, dangerous… or they are just not good enough to own a horse 😔.

Most of the time, the horse is just confused.
Once we clear up the misunderstanding, lay out a process, and build some real skills, the change is phenomenal.
✅ Communication improves.
✅ Confidence blooms.
✅ Partnerships are born.

It’s effective.
It’s beautiful.
It works—until it doesn’t.

Because there’s a subset of horses—genuinely lovely horses, with well-meaning, capable humans—who still struggle.
Not from lack of effort.
Not from uselessness.
Not because the horse is a waste of time.

It’s because the horse isn’t physically in a state to learn.
And the top culprit?

Sore. Bloody. Feet. 🦶💥

Which is why I’m proud (and mildly exasperated) to introduce a term that I believe deserves a permanent spot in the equine lexicon aka lingo:

Sensitive Sole Dysregulation Disorder (SSDD)

A multifactorial, stress-induced hoof spiral that masquerades as a behavioural problem—but is actually your horse’s way of saying, “Human, I cannot cope. And what you're asking me to do is bloody uncomfortable and I feel threatened.”

Why We Need a Term Like SSDD

If you’ve read my blog on New Home Syndrome, you’ll know how powerful naming things can be.

That post gave thousands of horse owners a lightbulb moment:
💡 “Ah—it’s not that my new horse was drugged and sold by an unscrupulous lying horse seller. He’s just completely unravelling from the stress of relocation.”

Naming gives us a grip on the slippery stuff.
It stops us chasing trauma narratives, mystical contracts, and fantasy horsemanship rabbit holes wasting our time, money, and enjoyment of horses.
It invites clarity.
It invites action.

So let’s do it again.
Because SSDD is real.
It’s widespread.
And it’s quietly ruining training, relationships, and confidence—for both horse and human.

The Official Definition (Because I’m Nerdy Like That 😎)

Sensitive Sole Dysregulation Disorder (SSDD):

A stress-induced, multifactorial syndrome in horses, characterised by systemic dysregulation and poor hoof integrity. It results in chronic sensitivity from inflammation, poor structural balance. It causes altered posture and movement, and unpredictable or defensive behaviour—especially when the horse is asked to move, load, or engage physically.
Commonly misdiagnosed as poor training, bad temperament, or “being crazy, dangerous, or… a bit of a dick.”

How It Starts
(And Why It’s So Sneaky 🕵️‍♀️)

Stress—whether from relocation, dietary change, social disruption, intense work, poor training, or all of the above and more—disrupts the gut.

We talk about ulcers and hindgut issues, but gut disruption reaches much further. It impacts:

- Nervous system regulation
- Nutrient absorption
- Muscle and fascia development
- Sensory processing
- Postural support
- Biomechanics
➡️And yes… hoof quality

Systemic inflammation gets triggered, and it ripples to the hooves.
Thin soles.
Inflamed hoof structures.
Suddenly, every step hurts.

And when all four feet hurt at once?
There’s no limp.
No giveaway unless you know what to look for.
Just a horse who suddenly doesn’t want to:

🚫 Go forward
🚫 Bend
🚫 Load
🚫 Be caught
🚫 Be mounted
🚫 Leave its friends
🚫 “Trust you”
🚫 “Connect”

From the outside, it looks like resistance and unpredictability.
But inside?
It’s one long, silent “Ouch.”

And just because they run, buck and gallop in the paddock does not mean it isn’t festering away.

Case Study: The Off-The-Track Time Bomb 🧨
Meet the OTTB.
He’s fresh off the track with the emotional resilience of a sleep-deprived uni student living off Red Bull and vending machine snacks.
His microbiome is wrecked.
His feet are full of nail holes.
His hooves are thin and genetically fragile.

Hoof balance and form has been considered for the next race—not the next 20 years.
And someone’s just pulled his shoes in the name of “letting down naturally.” 🙃

Cue: SSDD.

Now he’s bolting, spinning, rearing, planting, or shutting down.
The forums recommend groundwork, magnesium, a different noseband, an animal communicator, or an MRI for a brain tumour.
The horsemanship world says “move his feet.”
The trauma-informed crowd say “get his consent.”
Kevin at the feed store says “get his respect.”

But nothing changes.
Because it’s not a behaviour issue.
It’s a hoof–gut–nervous system–biomechanical spiral.
And until you break the cycle, no amount of connection, compassion, or carrot sticks will touch it.

What SSDD Looks Like:
🔹 Short, choppy strides
🔹 Hesitation on gravel
🔹 Tension through the back and neck
🔹 Braced posture, dropped belly, collapsed topline
🔹 Popping hamstrings
🔹 Loss of bend, swing, or rhythm
🔹 Explosions without warning
🔹 Refusal to leave the paddock
🔹 Sudden regression in training
🔹 Being labelled a “dick,” “bitch,” “jerk,” or “nutcase”
Imagine removing your shoes.
Now walk barefoot over gravel, or Lego hidden in shag-pile carpet 🧱
Add a backpack.
Now have someone control where you have to move and how fast.
Now smile, be polite, and do what you’re told.

Sound like trust and connection to you?

That’s SSDD.

Let’s Be Clear 💡
This isn’t an anti-barefoot rant.
And it’s not a pro-shoes crusade.
It’s about recognising that stress undermines hoof quality…
And compromised hooves undermine everything else.

Hoof pain is a master dysregulator.
It breaks posture.
Fractures movement.
Feeds stress.
Causes breakdown.
Blocks learning.
And it’s hard to see—especially when you think your horse is acting like an idiot.

What To Do (Especially for OTTBs, STBs, and New Arrivals)
✅ Be strategic.
✅ Be clinical.
✅ Be kind.
- Replace shoes or hoof protection, don’t rip off shoes on Day One.
- Support the gut from the start.
- Prioritise routine, rest, and recovery.
- Make sure they’re sleeping—properly.
- Work with a hoof care pro who understands stress transitions.
- Wait before reassessing shoeing choices.
- Stop mistaking pain for personality.
- Choose insight over ideology.
- Choose systems thinking over magic silver bullets.

Why It Matters

When we name SSDD, we stop blaming horses for not coping.
We stop shaming owners.

We stop spiralling into horsemanship cults where stillness is the only sign of success.

We start looking at the actual horse.
In the actual body.
With actual problems.

Because sometimes, it’s not temperament.
It’s not training.
It’s just a hoof—
Tender, tired, inflamed—
Whispering softly:
“I can’t cope.”
A hoof that needs support and protection.

📸 IMAGE TO BURN INTO YOUR MEMORY BANKS
Study it.
See the posture searching for comfort?
The tension lines?
The zoned out face that says “pain”?
The weird stance?
That’s SSDD at a standstill.
Even if you can’t see it yet—please consider it.
I might’ve made up the name…
But the thing itself is very, very real.

Just like New Home Syndrome, SSDD deserves its own hashtag.
Okay fine— is a bit long.
Let’s go with:

If This Blog Made You Think—Please Share It 🙏
But please don’t copy and paste chunks and pretend you wrote them.
There’s a share button. Use it.
Be cool. Give credit. Spread the word.
Because if this made you stop and wonder whether your horse isn’t being difficult—but is actually sore, stressed, and stuck in a spiral—
That moment of reflection could be the turning point that changes everything.

We’ve just released our Racehorse to Riding Horse – Off the Track Reboot course, plus other clear, practical resources to help you understand OTTBs & OTTSTBs and support these incredible horses, as they are more prone to this than most.

Because with the right information, what feels impossible…
Can become totally achievable. 🐎✨

I’ll pop some references in the comments.

03/08/2025

Bits were only ever designed to cause pain, leverage force and discomfort in order to control horses.
There is no kind bit.
There can be equally negative effects with bitless.
But there is another kinder way to either use minimal engagements with bits or bitless or none at all.
Once you learn to position and move your whole body and mind in alignment with physics and equine ethology, you’ll be amazed at how much easier both your interactions become.

“The welfare of horses has been disregarded in the pursuit of results” – Denmark is to ban double bridles at lower levels of competition as part of a major welfare shake-up

28/07/2025

No one really knows what has happened and what is happening in other people’s lives unless they open up and talk about it.
And even then it is still impossible to truly understand unless you have walked in their shoes.
But still we make uninformed judgments about people by the way they present with, for example, their clothes, house, cars, behaviour and words without understanding their body language.
They might seem to be having a wonderful life on the outside but are actually struggling on the inside.
And the same can be said for animals.
They don’t have the option of opening up and talking about it.
They can only use their voiceless bodies to convey their thoughts and feelings.
In the absence of any understanding of their species specific language, we similarly make archaic assumptions about them.
In the case of horses, most will have suffered from some level of trauma in their lives.
It could be weaning, environmental management, training, equipment and hoof care.
And that’s before you add human traits into the equation.
Every Touch Makes Every Horse and they all have a backstory which we can never really understand.

So instead of making judgements on the face of what we have been conditioned to believe that we see in horses, could we consider their previous and current individual equine lives and see, listen and acknowledge what they are telling us?
In the only way that they can?
With their bodies…

28/07/2025

Something to think about…

Horse welfare advocates aren’t just stating the obvious.
They are proving it..

Research conducted by Kienapfel and colleagues (2025) set out to investigate the relationship between head–neck position (HNP) and behavioural indicators of welfare in elite dressage horses.

Their goal was to provide an objective, evidence-based threshold at which flexion during riding becomes problematic for equine welfare, and to clarify the respective roles of vertical and poll angles in this context.

Concurrently, the occurrence of conflict behaviours—such as tail swishing, abnormal oral behaviours, headshaking, and gait irregularities—were quantified by trained observers.

The study used linear mixed-effects models to show that greater head–neck flexion—especially more negative vertical and poll angles—is clearly linked to increased conflict behaviour in dressage horses, with other factors like age, breed, or bit type not significant, though stallions did show more conflict than mares or geldings.

The authors identified that a -7.5° vertical angle (nasal plane behind the vertical) was an evidence-based limit: positions less flexed than -4° can be considered safe, -4° to -7.5° require caution, and beyond -7.5° pose a welfare risk.

Notably, more than 90% of horses examined were ridden behind the vertical, with half of these exceeding the -7.5° threshold, despite regulations.

📖: Kienapfel K, Hartmann E, Preiss B, Bachmann I. Head–Neck Positions in Ridden Horses: Defining Degrees of Flexion and Their Impact on Equine Behavior and Welfare. Int J Equine Sci 2025;4(2):107–124

24/07/2025

Something to think about?

There is a lot of toxicity in the horse industry which causes individuals and horses significant harm.
But if you stay true to your inner conscience you can find like minded people who also act with kindness towards others and their horses…

24/07/2025

Horses have been communicating this to us for years and they were ignored.
Hopefully the industry will not ignore the data?

A new scientific study co-authored by Animalweb’s own Dr David Marlin in conjuction with Anglia Ruskin University students Emily Hopkins and Stacie Whitrod and ARU Writtle Associate Professor of Animal Biomechanics and Sports Medicine and School Research Lead Dr Roberta Blake, has found that tight...

07/07/2025

Every touch makes every horse and every movement makes every horse…

06/07/2025

Something to think about?

Kindness does indeed enrich your own soul with inner beauty and the souls of others.
But if you don’t apply critical thinking alongside your acts of kindness, then your perception of kindness might not actually be a species or circumstantial appropriate act of kindness at all?

For instance a compassionate human throwing grass cuttings into a field of horses might seem like an act of kindness to the human, but could mean an extreme, painful illness and/or death for the horses.

Likewise, a person could bring cakes into the new workplace as a treat for colleagues, but unwittingly make a colleague ill due to an allergy.

Therefore, if we genuinely wish to add a little bit of kindness into another living being’s life, then it might be worth considering if your conditioned perception of kindness is actually an act of kindness at all.
When we educate ourselves with evidence based, species specific information along with an open minded assessment of the responses and feedback, only then can we calculate that our well meaning interventions were in fact kind….