TBT - Toni Bendall Training

31/05/2026

NEW CLINIC DATES!!

When: Friday 26th June 2026

Where: Holme Lacy College, Hereford

1hr sessions available between 9am and 5pm

£45 per session (yes you can book one in the morning and one in the afternoon if you want to but if one session is all you want then thats fine too!)

You don't need to be a western rider or have western tack, this is a horsemanship clinic with sessions tailored to your personal goals.

Max group size of two!

Message for more information or to reserve your time slot!

08/05/2026

Gorgeous photo of "Rain" taken by Nathan Haynes Photography 😍

14/04/2026

Rain strutting her stuff on the way to the forest 🤗

05/03/2026

Trickshotnic looking less like a baby in the spring sunshine 🌞

Thank you Nathan Haynes Photography for this gorgeous headshot 😍

21/02/2026

First ride out for 'Rain' 😍💪

19/02/2026

Trainer rant of the day: breeding and mares:

I'm so over hearing people say: she went lame as a yearling and we don’t know why, so we never got her broke or she has a bad attitude and bucks but she's pretty so we are going to breed her. Or we got her shown but had to inject her every 8 weeks to keep her sound, keep her on daily regumate, so we could get through warm up and cocktail her with Ace before each class to get a score, but we are breeding her. Or she only has one club foot, is cow hocked to the point of needing corrective shoes and has a back that’s long enough for the Harlem Globetrotters to sit on, but she’s roan with chrome, so we are breeding her. Why, why, why reproduce it?

Now maybe the injury was a freak accident, after all horses could get hurt in a padded stall or maybe the mares not conformationally correct due to a growth injury, that aside, if she has a bad attitude, why?????

I've ridden over a thousand horses and I've seen more full siblings out of the same mare have bad attitudes than any stallion line I can think of. But it's "pretty" or "flashy" they say. Maybe a baby will help her disposition. Yeah and maybe the foal will be her devil clone.

Well I suppose you can hope, cross your fingers, light some sage, send up a prayer flag, but it's surely setting that foal up for a challenge.

I've personally owned one of the most flashy mares around, she had the best work ethic and try of any horse I've ever ridden, she has no quit. And she had a show record with earnings. BUT I wouldn't have bred her if you paid me. She had a crappy disposition with anyone but me, and I don't mean cute crappy as in she loves me most, I mean crappy! She also had underlying health issues including the fact that she was so athletic but too slow footed in front, so much so that she injured herself unless booted her up more then Madonna. I mean from hoof to knee then taped with vet wrap. Was she fun to ride, I thought so, she'd walk through fire for me, yet she was still naturally so cold backed, that I had to get on behind the barn at horse shows in case she blew up, she was a hassle for my staff and family, no one wanted to catch her much less ride her, she hated to be groomed or messed with, and was a witch in her stall, and destroyed every feeder known to man. I ignored her antics and she rode amazing for me but she was awful unless you were on a cow working her. I think she'd have been an horrible mother and anything with her disposition would be like trying to market a She-Devil, lol. Did I like her, yes, well built, yes, flashy with color, that she had, earnings in the show pen, yes, well bred, Absolutely. But does deserve to be reproduce, plain and simple, hell no. I don't care how cool I thought she was.

Unless you are breeding to keep beyond a doubt (and let's face it life changes, stuff happens, it's really a good idea to always keep in mind what someone else would think of your foal), be smart. Do you really want to reproduce what you’re leading, feeding and riding? Sure you can work on improving traits, but if nothing improved would you be happy? Would it be marketable? Enjoyable?

Then be objective, be critical, pick the best cross for your mare and if you can't afford the best cross, save up or just don't breed her. Be rigid with your judgement, do what's right, for your mare and any future foals, because maybe the best future for her, is not to have a foal at all.

Jen Bulger
Rocky Mountain Performance Horses

30/01/2026

My little orange unicorn 😍
... his face when he realised I was watching him through the gap 🤣🤣

25/01/2026

This ❤️

“Trainers won’t accept my 5-year-old ‘blank slate’ horse 😡”

Here’s why.

By five, a horse is big, strong, and opinionated.
If they’ve had little to no correct training, that’s not a “blank slate” — that’s years of unchecked habits.

Trainers aren’t avoiding older horses because they’re lazy or cruel. They’re avoiding:
• Safety risks from an uneducated, powerful animal
• Months of undoing bad habits instead of teaching basics
• Owners expecting fast results on a late start

This is exactly why many programs start horses at two years old.

At two, training is:
• Light, short, and foundation-based
• Focused on manners, balance, and understanding pressure
• Spread out over time instead of rushed
• Safer for both horse and human

A correctly started two-year-old grows with the program.
A late-started five-year-old often has to be reprogrammed — and that takes time and risk.

Good trainers start young so they don’t have to fix wrecks later

22/01/2026

The days really ARE getting longer, hang on people, better weather is on the way!!

🙋🏻‍♀️Surviving, not thriving (and that’s ok)🙋🏻‍♀️

😓 January has a particular energy at the yard. It’s cold. It’s dark. The mud has achieved its maximum. Horses are fuzzy, fresh or feral (or all three at once). And yet somehow, the pressure to reset, recommit and thrive shows up right on schedule.

👉🏻 If you’re an equestrian in January, here’s your permission slip to do something radical: survive.

🫣 Winter riding is already hard. Short daylight hours mean riding before work in the dark or after work in the dark. Weather cancels plans, freezes footing and turns “just a quick ride” into a full logistics operation. Horses feel the seasonal shift too, maybe less turnout, more energy, more opinions. Simply showing up consistently is an accomplishment, even if nothing is productive or pretty.

🐎 Your horse doesn’t need January to be magical. There’s a quiet guilt that creeps in this time of year: I should be doing more. More conditioning. More training. More progress toward goals. But January is not where most horses physically or mentally peak and that’s normal. Maintenance is not failure. Walking hacks, groundwork, stretching and short rides still count. Even rest and regulation are training tools, not detours.

🙈 Motivation is allowed to hibernate. Equestrian culture often celebrates grit and pushing through, but January asks for something different. Your nervous system is tired. Your body is cold. Your capacity is lower. Forcing high expectations during a low-energy season often leads to burnout or resentment toward the horse, the yard, or yourself. Surviving keeps the relationship intact so you can thrive later.

❄️ Progress looks quieter in winter. January progress might look like:

👉🏻 Keeping routines consistent
👉🏻 Prioritising safety over ambition
👉🏻 Choosing shorter, calmer sessions
👉🏻 Accepting that some days are just a groom and a check-in

🕰️ None of that is wasted time. Horses learn in cycles. Winter often lays foundations that show up months later.

🐴 The horse world doesn’t pause, but you can soften. Shows, clinics and social media don’t stop just because it’s January so it’s easy to compare your muddy reality to someone else’s highlight reel. But most riders are quietly just getting through winter too. Thriving is not a moral obligation. You don’t earn your place in the horse world by suffering harder.

💪🏻 Survival is a skill. Getting through January with your body intact, your horse healthy and your relationship unfrayed is success. You don’t have to optimise, level up or reinvent yourself this month. You just have to keep going, gently.

👌🏻 Spring will ask more of you. January just asks that you stay.

😇 If all you’re doing right now is surviving, you’re doing exactly what this season is for.

🫶🏻 Love always, Hx

15/01/2026