SacredConnections - Horses, Healing & Holistic Education

08/29/2025

I’m not a farrier. But I train horses to be trimmed, and to improve their behavior about being trimmed or shoed.
Baron has been trimmed by farriers twice since he’s been in my barn. Both times he was a bit of a pill about his front feet, and totally fine about his back feet. Which is actually common, because often when horses misbehave in the front feet, the farriers or trimmers give up and skip the back feet, as they tend to be more worried about getting kicked with the back feet.
However, like in Baron’s case, he had a strong association of having his front feet done, which caused him to protest and try to evade. But his rear feet, those probably hadn’t been done as much, so he’s fine about those.

 His protest on his front feet may have also been developed not by his past of being trimmed, but could have come from p**s poor hobble training in his previous barn. With Baron, what was done to him in his 9 months with a trainer in CA is unknown, but clearly it left him with a lot of stress, anxiety and PTSD.

So anyways, it’s time for him to be done again by my farrier.  She is just recovering from knee surgery.  So it was time for me to do a “training trim” on his front feet.

This went well. He’ll be on much better behavior for Kat this next time, or I’ll be underneath him with her guidance.

08/29/2025

Alright friends, here’s your pop quiz.
Who knows what this means?
It is that time again.

08/27/2025

Baron and I trailered to Denman Wildlife Preserve this morning to ride with Sabine Schran-Collings and her new horse Jaguar this morning. We had a lovely ride. And both horses got to work on stuff they needed to work on.
Jag had a tendency to stop and back up with fervor from anything he didn’t want to approach, which only occurred in the recently cleared areas of the trail—so he may have been sensing a disturbance in the field. Horses pick up on way more than we do feel wise, and he may have felt that area was less safe to move through. Who knows, but he tried it a few times.
So Sabine used a little “reverse psychology” flipping him around and backing him through the places he was hesitant. But Jag got smart about it after the first few times, and then tried to find other ways to avoid forward motion toward what he didn’t want to pass. But Sabine pushed him past it, and made him trot on.
It was a good, fun ride.

08/27/2025

“Why am I by myself?” Baron asked.

08/26/2025

An important truth to note: horses train up faster than humans!

08/26/2025

Sebastian leading Kiger C**trane to pasture. It’s fun to think back to Col’s first year in our barn, and how his first time outside of the barn he tried to bolt. I had to put a lariat over his nose to lead him outside at first to teach him he couldn’t pull away. But before his first year was up, he had better manners than anyone in the barn. Even though he’s retired and isn’t handled as often, Col still is trustworthy for Sebastian to lead and handle.

08/26/2025

Holy learning to accept and wear a fly mask. This was a long time coming for this beautiful once traumatized girl who had her ears twisted in the past. She violently tossed the fly mask off her head he first few times I had it on. But I realized if I worked her a bit in it, she would learn to accept it more readily. This one was obviously too big for her, but I chose it because it was easier to get on her as a first attempt.
But Equi spot and roll on fly repellent only do so much to protect the horse’s eyes.

08/26/2025

Arab x Saddlebred Rain has to be locked inside the barn during the day because she sunburns and it’s way too hot in my opinion to cover her in polyester sheets that only have 78% breathability. So she hangs inside during the day and goes out at night. I told Sebastian I was riding her to the pasture, so he wanted to ride too.

08/25/2025

Baron on a solo trail ride. I love riding this boy out. Today he did spook as we closed the arena gate upon our return. That’s because I had saddle pads hanging on the gate—leftovers from my tack sale on Saturday. Since they were not normally there, Baron was surprised when the gate looked different as it swung toward him as we were closing it. He tried to bolt away from it but I redirected his motion and made him return to the gate and finish the job as usual.
But that’s this horse. Every little change he notices, and if I’m not careful he will worry about it. The worry gets taken away or subdued by my confidence. Together we ride my nervous system, not his. We coregulate—his nervousness is grounded through my system, and my confidence is run through his. To do this, we have to be one body. But that’s the goal anyways, the horse is the extension of my body. He should operate off my thought, my slightest move and shift in my seat. Reins are only for reminders and guidance. My skeleton, and even more my intention, is what the horse listens to.

08/25/2025