Mountain Air Trails and Stable

06/07/2025

𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽 𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗰 𝘂𝗽𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗽𝘀 — I’ve received a number of messages from owners and therapists asking what type of work, including ridden exercises, would help.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀: 𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱.

These horses should not be ridden through this kind of injury.
They need targeted manual therapy and a structured, species-specific rehab plan.

𝗡𝗼 𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗡𝗼 𝗰𝗶𝗿𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸. 𝗡𝗼 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽.
𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

And no amount of relaxation-based horsemanship, no matter how well-intentioned, can “unlock” a shear in the SI joint. This is a joint-level injury that requires professional intervention.

𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱, 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗷𝘂𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗳𝘂𝗹.

Humans with upslips often describe 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗽 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽.

We wouldn’t load a human spine with extra weight in that state, so let’s not do it to the horse.

𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴:
– If the horse is lame at the trot, do not ride.
– If they toss their head or resist when asked to circle or back up, do not ride.
– If you see pelvic asymmetries greater than 1 cm combined with pain responses, absolutely do not ride.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴.

Support them with rest, evidence based handling, and the right hands-on therapy—
and you’ll give them a real chance at recovery.

And if you missed the first post explaining this injury—or the reel we posted showing a real-life case—please go back and read and watch.

It will help you understand the full picture and why this injury needs to be taken seriously.

My heart is breaking right now for the number of horses in the world being ridden through pain rather than receiving structured intervention.

06/04/2025

”USING THE SEAT”  Part 1: Shifting your Pelvis Over. 

▪️Some manuals teach us to sit to the inside of the bend.
▪️Some manuals teach us to sit in the direction of travel.

 For most movements, this is the same direction. If you are circling to the left, all the schools of thought agree- sit to the left. If you are doing a haunches in or a half pass, or a pirouette to the left, sit to the left. It does not matter which classical train are you follow, for these movements, you will be sitting to the inside.

But if you are doing a shoulder in or a leg yield, the bend and the direction of travel are opposite, so who is right?!?

Personally, I have found that most students need to spend a long time since into the inside of the bend. A student that automatically slips to the left will be able to perform a leg yield to the right no problem, but really struggles to do one to the left!

That said, the highest level riders typically put their weight in the direction of travel.

What’s with the discrepancy?
Easy- upper level riders are in full control of the motion of their hips and are able to easily teach Horses to bend correctly through the rib cage. The horses are more advanced, and the riders are more advanced. The rider no longer needs “help” getting the horse to bend. Instead, they are looking to develop bigger gaits, and to be able to help their horses distinguish between movements.

In my experience, the change takes place somewhere around third and fourth level Dressage. Once you can easily do shoulder in and half pass, it’s nice to move your seat in the direction of travel, because shifting from one movement to the other now becomes a shift in weight and that’s it.

But please don’t try to skip ahead!! In part two, we will talk about the movement of the riders hips. This is a critical thing that’s not talked about near enough! If you can’t blow diagonally through your pelvis, both directions, you are not going to get nice lateral movement from your horse, and the best way to get those hips moving is by sitting deep down through the inside leg and seat bone.

❓But before we get ahead of ourselves, what do I mean when I say sit, left or sit right????

Most riders already slip to the left, and if you are going to the left, it’s perfectly fine. And when traveling left, we want the entire spine to be just a little to the left of center, which will high center hour, right seat, bone closer to the middle of the saddle and allow our left seat bone to drop down. Often times riders must seriously exaggerate this one going to the right- they have to “scooch over once” just to get to center, and then “scooch over again” to actually get over to the right so they can drop there right seat bone down lower than the left side bone. I often times even if students can Scooch over to the right, they still have a hard time, allowing that right seat bone to drop down! That’s why I often do this without stirrups and have them “drop down into the hole” until the right hip, right knee, and right heel are clearly lower than those on the left.

This helps your horse with axial rotation through his ribs (aka- “bend).

In the picture, Ruth keeps her body upright, while stepping into her inside stirrup, so that her left hip, knee, and heel are slightly lower, which helps her mare bend her rib cage.

The more advanced a rider is the more subtle this becomes, so unfortunately, a lot of people have the misunderstanding that advanced riders just sit perfectly in the middle all the time…. They don’t!!! (often times super athletic riders are not even aware of what they are doing with their pelvis, so what they say they do might not match what they actually do)

Look for “USING YOUR SEAT” Part 2: Sashay those Hips! and “USING YOUR SEAT” Part 3: Separate the Over and the Drop (why pirouettes are hard).

06/03/2025

No Guru. No Gimmicks. Just Layers.

Over the years, I’ve gone from riding horses to unravelling them—layer by layer, like a dirt-covered onion with opinions 🧅🐴. What began as a casual hobby quickly spiralled into a full-blown forensic investigation of everything from behaviour to biomechanics to herd dynamics, with the occasional brief holidays in Overthinkingville (population: me) 🧠⛺. Apparently, once you start paying attention to horses, they return the favour by showing you everything you didn’t know you didn’t know. It’s both magical ✨ and mildly humiliating.

I began, as most do, with the Standard Model of Horsemanship: lead, ride, rug, feed, repeat 🔁. If a horse was “tricky,” there was always a solution—get lessons, bigger bit, fancier gear, lunge them into submission. We called it “training.” I thought that’s how it was done, mostly because that’s what everyone else was doing while nodding confidently 🙄.

Then a horse came along who didn’t just refuse to play along—he tore up the script, lit it on fire, and handed me the ashes 🔥📝. And that’s when the real learning began.

I discovered that horses actually learn things 🤯. Not just learn about things—but learn through things. Wild, right? I’d spent years doing stuff to them, and now I had to figure out how to do stuff with them. I got curious. I got better. I started spotting gaps in their understanding and learned how to build bridges instead of battlegrounds 🌉. I even built a business out of it. Turns out, I’m quite good at helping confused horses make sense of our nonsense.

But then came the mare.

The one who couldn’t learn that she’d be okay. Not just whether she could do the thing—but whether she could cope doing it 💥. Confidence, I learned, isn’t a side-effect of click-and-reward or a byproduct of pressure-release. It’s a whole internal ecosystem. And when that ecosystem is out of balance, no amount of cheerleading or technique will stick. In her case, the cause? Pain. Subtle, sneaky, unseeable. Her body couldn’t do what her brain knew it should, and her failure to gain confidence was the only breadcrumb she left behind 🧩.

By this stage I thought I’d reached the summit 🏔️. Turns out, I was still at base camp, holding a stick and calling it a compass.

And just when I’d stabilised that paradigm shift with a cup of tea and some deep breathing—enter wild horses 🐎🌾.

No saddles. No stables. No five-step plan to connection. Just horses being… horses. Grazing, breathing, moving as one—wired by nature, not rebranded by humans 🌿. And it hit me square in the prefrontal cortex: I’d spent years working with horses without ever really meeting the horse (note: Thank you to Kerry M Thomas ❤ )

It was like discovering your housemate of 20 years has a secret identity, and you never thought to ask what they do on weekends 🕵️‍♀️. I’d helped horses cope with the lives we gave them—but I never stopped to ask what life they were meant for.

I thought I understood “herd dynamics.” I could talk about alpha mares and hierarchy and "herd bosses" with the best of them—which is to say, confidently and inaccurately 😬. Turns out, a lot of what we call “natural” is just domesticated dysfunction and that's the only horse behaviour we are exposed to so we "think" it is normal 😵‍💫.

But these wild horses? They were functional. Their instincts were firing like a well-tuned alarm system 🚨. They were dialled in, not spaced out. When I energetically projected my desire to be their friend and guardian and emotional support human, they said, “No thanks. This is our family. This is our life. We already have a system. You are… not part of it.”❌ (True story 😆)

And just like that, the domesticated horse looked different to me 👀. I saw how captivity doesn’t break their instincts—it triggers them. Their brilliance becomes their burden. Because when flight is your superpower, suburbia is a psychological maze full of plastic bags, squeaky gates, and people who believe “groundwork” means walking in a circle until your soul leaves your body 🔄🫠.

But here’s the twist: those same instincts that make horses reactive also make them remarkably adaptive 🧠⚡. Nature didn’t just give them alertness—it gave them learning. Which means the problem isn’t their wiring. It’s whether we honour it.

And just when I thought I had reached a nice, balanced place with all this—along came Tami Elkayam Equine Bodywork.

While I decode behaviour and external expression, Tami dives into the deep tissues and anatomy of the horse and speaks fluent fascia 💬🧬. Where I build communication through behaviour, she builds it through biology. She taught me that tissue talks—and your touch can either soothe it or send it into full-blown DEFCON 1 🚫🖐️. She showed me how to read the horse’s movement, even when they aren’t moving, and how my own sensory system could be trained to listen like fingertips reading braille. [Note: I will admit here that this did involve a lot of Tami putting my hands on horses and asking me if I “Can you feel that?”. And me saying “I think so” while secretly panicking because I felt nothing before finally I felt enough tissue to feel something 😂].

She taught me that every single thing we do—the feed, the feet, the tack, the terrain, the exercise, the thoughts we had at breakfast—all of it feeds into the horse’s nervous system 🔄🧠. It’s a full-body conversation, 24/7, and you’re participating whether you mean to or not.

Tami also reminded me that every time I teach a horse something, I’m asking them to do something nature didn't necessarily create them to do. And that comes with risk. My job isn’t just to teach—it’s to protect the process 🛡️. To recognise when I need to back off, modify, or support. Because safety isn’t just a concept—it’s something a horse feels.

Now, I know some of you might feel overwhelmed by all this. You might think I feel overwhelmed by all this.

I don’t.

Because when you stop needing to know everything, the not-knowing becomes wonder instead of worry ✨. I don’t feel lost—I feel bloody lucky. Lucky to be learning. Lucky to be part of the conversation. Lucky to still be here, peeling back layers with muddy boots and an open mind 🥾🧠.

So yes—I’ll keep learning. I’ll keep listening. I’ll keep calling out red herrings, rabbit holes, and rebranded fairytales that promise magic and deliver mediocrity 🎭. I’ve been blessed by the horses I’ve met, the people I’ve learned from, and the lessons that hit me like a sack of feed when I least expected it 🪣💥.

And I’ll keep sharing it all. The good ideas, the bad ones, and the ones that just need a firm tap with the “this could be better” stick 🔨.

Because the horse deserves better. And we can do better 💛.

And now, a few closing notes for the back row philosophers, bored scrollers, and Facebook comment warriors:
👉 If this resonated, hit the share button. Thoughtful horsemanship isn’t built on silence and side-eyes. It’s built on brave conversations and brains that like a bit of friction 🧠💬.

🚫 Please don’t copy and paste this and pretend it’s yours. I wrote this. With my brain. And my time. Plagiarising me is not the flex you think it is 🚷🖊️.

🙃 I discuss ideas, not people. So if you’re reading this and thinking “Is this about me?”—take a breath. Probably not. But if it feels uncomfortably close to home… well, I’m not a psychic, but I’d take that as a gentle cosmic nudge ✨🫣.

📍 And if you think we shouldn’t critique ideas because they’re linked to people—pull out a map. If you don’t live in North Korea, you are not banned from having public discussions. This is not a gulag. It’s a conversation. Welcome to democracy 🗺️🗣️.

🎻 And finally, to the tone police:

✔️ Yes, I make you think.
✔️ Yes, I’m cheeky.
✔️ Yes, I know my stuff.
❌ No, I’m not writing for everyone.

I’m writing for people who want to do better by their horses and enjoy a laugh along the way 🐎😂. If that’s not you, that’s okay. Scroll on. There’s an entire internet full of other stuff for you to enjoy 🎶🌈.

I’m not your guru. I’m the person who makes you drag your favourite ideas out onto the porch and give them a good whack with a cricket bat 🏏. (Hat tip to Tim Minchin.)

Now go forth—and get curious about your horse. 🐴💡

IMAGE📸: Wild horses in Kosciusko Natural Park rejecting my subliminal messages for me to be their friend. They didn't want a human, they strongly preferred the world they had evolved to thrive in ❤

fans

06/03/2025

Yesterday I wrote about the all too common riding flaw of today's riders, interfering with their horse's balance. (link below). It didn't get much interest, so this is a follow up. This rider is doing the minimum to not interfere. The image shows a partial attempt to center their balance.

The yellow line shows the horse's line of balance in a turn. The orange line shows the same for the rider. Note that the two lines intersect below the rider's throat, high up within the rider's mass.

The rider is leaning in less than 5 degrees, which is the maximum acceptable rider lean in any direction. Leaning beyond 5 degrees in any direction substantially interferes with the horse's ability to balance.

The inside leg pressure (red horizontal arrow) gives the horse a specific point for the of the center of the bend in the turn. The outside leg (downward red arrow) pressure helps the rider to stay more vertical, thus aiding the horse's balance. We can project that if the rider was more vertical (greater pressure in the outside stirrup), the orange and yellow lines would intersect just above the rider's belly button and thus be a lower center of balance and more correct, being closer to the horse's center of balance.

The closer we can get to having our center of balance lower and closer to the horse's center of balance, the more we begin to share balance with our horse in unity, which results in making the work of our horse easier.

One difference between being a beginner rider, regardless of years riding, and being an intermediate rider is the ability to balance in a way that does not interfere with your horse's balance. Beginners do not know how to not interfere. The difference between being an intermediate rider and a master rider is the master rider does not interfere with their horse's balance, and the master rider can also improve the horse's balance. Where are you in this spectrum of rider training and ability? Beginner? Intermediate? Master?

*link to post on how to share balance with our horse in unity -www.facebook.com/BobWoodHorsesForLife/posts/pfbid0ZrJavVbEXonTKLx4gXA4bJrg43z1wxkphd133DzvaLt42QLGWbZZ5TFNqd5fAdYFl

*link to yesterday's post about not interfering with your horse's balance -www.facebook.com/BobWoodHorsesForLife/posts/pfbid02rKfzED7WUnjX5qge4MbTEH9tmwt75xUC5bzGZZchkzW3JAeV4f86R2nyDGu7Fk7Dl

06/01/2025

05/31/2025

"Through no fault of their own" seems to be the starting phrase to a lot of horse sale and rehoming ads these days, specifically ones for horses that are older, less than sound, high maintenance or otherwise difficult to place.

It always makes me scratch my head a little bit. It also lights a small fire in me.

I have buried every horse that has come to be mine over the last 20 years. I feel pretty strongly about being the last stop for an animal that comes into my care. I also feel pretty strongly that dealing with the inevitable decisions regarding end of life for those animals is not only part of the deal, it's my responsibility as a horsewoman.

As someone who has carved out an unintentional niche working with tough horses, I get offered - more often than I'd like - horses no one else has been able to figure out and for whom I am often their last hope. I got another offer this week for such an animal. I declined. My heart is too open and soft and is marked with too many scars from horses past that I couldn't fix. I wear those scars well and with a fair amount of stoicism...but I know they're there and feel their pull more often than I care to admit.

The older I get and the more time I spend with horses, the more I feel that it is a rare thing that choosing a peaceful end for the horses in our care is the wrong decision.

Even if the horse is still rideable "for the right person".

Even if the horse is sound.

Even if the horse isn't what one might consider "old" or "aged".

Even if the horse "just needs some basic maintenance".

Even if the horse "might be perfectly suited for a different job".

Maybe so.

But the moment you release that horse into someone else's hands, all bets are off as to what happens next. I offer my horses quite a bit - at least I'd like to think so - but the most important thing I offer them is the guarantee that they will never know suffering. They will never know cruelty.

They will never face an uncertain future "through no fault of their own".

05/31/2025

Food On The Hoof
Movement and eating go hand in hand (or hoof in hoof), When out grazing in a more natural way as you can seen horses graze in a variety of different ways but the most common way it to step and eat.

They mostly take a step, eat around the foot, take another step and so on. Now why is this important for the horses physical and mental well being, well firstly they are working the whole of their body they are less likely to load onto one leg for too long therefore lessening the countereffects of the asymmetry pattern remember asymmetry may be seen in the body but teeth have a huge influence as to where the rest of the body is going to end up. you can see here how rebel utilises all of his jaw when eating, foraging, feeling, selecting, now think of hay placed on the floor or a haynet fixed to a wall in the same place the horse eating the same way day in day out you can see how a pattern of wear and tear will develop.

Its natural for a horse to move when eating and they will do this for upto 16 hours a day and maybe more so you can see if they are static eating for long periods of time how this can encroach on so much of the delicate make up of the horse from teeth, feet, gut, joints, and more

Of course we can never achieve a way that is as nature intended for the horse but we can mimic a lot to keep our horses health at its best, if we always keep in mind that moving and eating means we have to work a little less to achieve a more balanced in body and mind equine partner.

Watch your horse eat see if it does repetitive movement but to only one side, change things around there are really simple things you can do if your horse is flexing both sides or its neck you may find your horse may be better when it comes to the riding

Tips to Help

Feed at 3 heights so your horse can mimic the grass, hedge, tree heights (feed the high one so it swings from side to side)
Resist the urge to keep forage in one corner only often I will advise having it on two sides so the horse can load more evenly
Remember I said look down the dorsal line if you see a bigger side on a horse then we can do so much to equal them out a little without having to do to much work ourselves

Horses were not designed to eat off bowling greens and they are not cows so dont need fattening up so lush rich grass is a no no for me, my horses are natives so they have have rugged pasture where they have to move alot to get their value for food, don't Diss what we perceive as weeds lots of things like nettles etc have really good benefits for the horse and they also have to work a little harder to reach the grass beneath

Out is better than in, even if your horse cannot go on grass you can make some really good stimulating feeding areas that your horse will keep occupied for the hours required
Things like poles placed on the floor to their feeding station, different ground surfaces for proprioception etc get creative remember how your horse's utilise their downtime has a huge effect when it comes to a healthier horse for training

Check your horse poo, this will tell you alot regarding gut activity I never want my horses to get to a stage of green sloppy poo or watery

Sometimes in this busy world we can forget just to watch our horses but taking 5 and just sitting and watching can tell us so much

05/29/2025

How to have peace in your world

Don't try to impress those who you feel are unimpressed by you, don't look at those who dont impress you, and do not feel you need to battle through the trenches in order for you to change their mind for often it can be a battle that neither side wins

We can often get sucked into the negativity rather than see the positives, we ignore 10 positive comments and only overthink the one negative, pondering what went wrong for someone to not like us, cause we are nice guys right ???? We often take it way to personal when often it isn't, we post on platforms that is open to both positive and negative feedback and I bet we also look at some posts and think WTF yet the only difference is we think it not type it 😃

Its human nature to want to be liked, to want people to agree with us but we know we cant get on with everyone and that is ok and having peace that even the way we approach our horsemanship goals may not be agreeable but it doesn't mean all those who disagree are getting it wrong it and it doesn't mean we are getting it right, yet if we only focus on trying to prove them wrong then your own work will begin to be lost, people will simply forget what you stand for.

I dont want to change the world, because often I am still figuring stuff out, I always remain open to something that might make be a better horse person and we have to remain open to others views for us to achieve that, its why every post I do is an invitation for discussion and not an absolute,.if someone thinks I got it wrong then they might lead me down a new rabbit hole that I never knew existed and that is good, that is education, that is progression. For those are the people who make changes in the equine world.

To focus on those that only annoy you is toxic, its not healthy for our own minds and I have one simple rule, would I engage with them in real life and if I wouldn't then why should social media be any different, we are not saving owners from a fate they dont know is about to happen for maybe those owners need to take their own journey to reach a conclusion just like we did, to not allow someone to experience their own journey just because it didn't work for you is dictating what journey they should take, we make mistakes and others will to that is the path of learning.

If you feel the urge to type I always say wait 24hrs because the words you write are often put more eloquently when the fog has cleared, and often the conclusion after 24hrs is not what you would have wrote down the day before. Ragebait posts are simply that no one listens, comments descend into them and us and education begins to fail.

It is much more healthy and productive to follow who you admire, aspire to be like, resonate with, makes you hit that search button with the need to know more, and that doesn't mean being a yes person it simply means you bring a positive attitude back to both yourself and being with your horse.