Do Better Horsemanship Coaching

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Kalispell, MT
Do Better Horsemanship Coaching

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A horsemanship & coaching program empowering others to do better, be better and bridge the gap between personal growth and our horsemanship.

10/27/2026

Heart horses. 🤍

We can love a lot of horses in our lifetime. But some find a place in us that’s hard to explain until you’ve experienced it.

You learn every expression, every quirk, every little thing that makes them who they are. You can pick out their whinny without seeing them. Being with them feels familiar in a way that settles you, even when nothing else in life does.

That kind of relationship takes shape in the everyday moments. The rides, the time spent caring for them, the setbacks you work through together. One day you realize just how much of your life you’ve shared with this horse and how much they’ve helped shape the person you’ve become.

Princess was that horse for me. Sixteen years of loving her, learning with her, trusting her, and doing everything I could to take care of her the way she took care of me.

I believe we can have more than one heart horse. There’s room to love another that deeply, and each relationship gets to be its own. Princess will always have her place in my heart.

What a privilege to know a horse that well. To have all those memories. To have loved her for so much of my life.

My sweet Princess. Always one of my heart horses. 💕

10/14/2026

Doing better often starts with noticing more.

The tension in your hands.
The hurry in your requests.
The moment your frustration gets louder than your ability to listen.

It’s easy to focus on what we want the horse to change. It takes more honesty to ask what we might need to change, too.

Was I clear?
Did I give them time to understand?
Have I prepared them for what I’m asking?
Am I responding to the horse in front of me, or the expectations I brought into the arena?

Our horses are individuals with their own needs, experiences, and limitations. Every difficult moment isn’t a reflection of something we’ve done wrong. But we are responsible for how we respond.

Sometimes doing better means being more consistent. Sometimes it means changing the approach, asking for help, or recognizing a small try before asking for more.

You can hold yourself accountable and still give yourself room to learn.

That’s what “Do Better Be Better” means here. Paying attention. Taking responsibility. Putting what we learn into practice.

The work begins within and carries into every interaction we have with our horses. 🤎

10/13/2026

DO BETTER BE BETTER
Horsemanship Coaching

The horse reflects the human.
The work begins within.
And they move forward together. ✨🐴♥️

10/11/2026

Horsemanship is hard to teach.

There’s an art to it that doesn’t fit neatly into a set of instructions.

We can teach the mechanics. Where to put your hands and legs. How to ask for a transition. How to recognize a lead. We can explain how horses learn and why timing matters.

But learning to feel what’s happening underneath you, recognize what a horse needs in a particular moment, and adjust yourself accordingly takes something more.

The same response might call for more clarity with one horse, more time with another, and a closer look at your own riding with the next. Even the same horse may need something different today than they needed yesterday.

That’s what makes it difficult to teach. There isn’t an exact answer for every situation.

“Do this when your horse does that” can give someone a starting point. Developing judgment means learning to notice what happened before, what changed with your response, and whether the horse actually understood.

As an instructor, I’m trying to teach more than how to get something done. I want riders to become observant enough to recognize when their approach is helping —and willing enough to change it when it isn’t.

Sometimes that means letting someone work through a moment instead of immediately giving them the answer. Sometimes it means slowing everything down so they can notice the small change they would have otherwise ridden right past.

And sometimes it means saying, “Let’s try this and see what the horse tells us.”

There is science behind how horses learn and move. The art is in applying that knowledge with feel, timing, patience, and good judgment.

Those things develop through experience, thoughtful repetition, mistakes, and a willingness to keep learning.

That’s part of why horsemanship can be so humbling. You can know more than you did a year ago and still be learning how to use it well.

The goal in teaching is to help someone build enough understanding that, eventually, they can make a thoughtful decision without you telling them what to do.

To help them become a horseman.

10/04/2026

Well, Jack is starting to grow on me. 🤎

He’s mostly been Ashby’s ride (and his favorite) and this summer we started using him more in our lesson program. I honestly never pictured myself choosing to spend much time on him.

I’m a mare person and I like to remind everyone of that. 😂 And between Jack being a bit of a ding d**g and not really having the feel I naturally gravitate toward, I figured he could stay Ashby’s favorite.

But lately I’ve been putting more time into helping him develop and somewhere along the way I’ve found myself really enjoying this horse.

There’s something rewarding about spending enough time with a horse to start finding a feel together. Learning how they think, figuring out what helps things make sense to them, and noticing the little changes as you both get more familiar with each other.

It’s also a good reminder to leave room for a horse to surprise you.

We all have preferences. The horses we’re drawn to, the personalities we enjoy, the ones that feel familiar underneath us. But I want to keep growing as a horseman and part of that means being willing to spend time outside of what comes naturally to me. To get curious about a horse I haven’t immediately clicked with. To consider what I could understand better or do differently.

It’s easy to decide “he’s not my kind of horse” and let that become the whole story. So I’m glad I’ve given Jack and myself some room to write a little more of it.

09/23/2026

There’s something about just sitting with a horse that feels like therapy.

Not asking anything of them. Just enjoying their company and hoping they find as much comfort in your presence as you find in theirs.

We spend so much time asking our horses to do things with us and for us. It feels good to slow down and give them room to simply be.

And when they choose to be with us, without us asking, it makes those moments even sweeter. ♥️

09/21/2026

Your horse is responding to far more than the cue you think you’re giving.

We have an incredible amount of influence over our horses — physically, mentally, and energetically.

Physically, the way we move affects the way they move.

If we lean, collapse through one side, brace, grip, or become unbalanced, the horse has to adjust underneath us. Sometimes the resistance we feel in the horse is their attempt to find balance around the position we’ve put them in.

But our influence goes beyond mechanics.

Our horses also notice the way we enter a space. The rhythm of our movement. Our breathing. Where we place our focus. Whether our body feels soft or guarded. Whether our intention is clear or hesitant. Whether our pressure has purpose — or is simply coming from frustration.

That is what I mean when I talk about energy.

It isn’t something separate from our physical communication. It shows up through our posture, muscle tension, pace, timing, focus, and emotional state. Even when we think we’re hiding it, our horses are receiving all of that information.

A nervous rider often moves differently.

A frustrated handler changes the timing or intensity of their pressure.

An uncertain person may ask without fully committing to the answer they want.

A person trying too hard to control everything often creates more tension for the horse to carry.

This doesn’t mean every challenge with a horse is the human’s fault. But it does mean we have to be willing to look at our part in the conversation.

When we become more aware of our bodies, clearer in our intention, steadier in our emotions, and more consistent with our timing, the horse’s response often begins to change too.

Working on the human isn’t separate from training the horse.

It is part of training the horse.

09/16/2026

Where I’m at right now… enjoying my horse without needing to accomplish anything.

Riding because it feels good, without turning it into something to work on.

I spend so much of my time teaching and training that it’s nice to give myself room to simply enjoy my own horse.

There’s still plenty I want to do. But right now, this feels pretty good. And maybe that’s a good reminder for you too. ♥️

09/13/2026

Nervous system regulation doesn’t always look like meditation, breathwork, or an ice bath.

Sometimes it looks like staying at the barn a little longer and letting the horses set the pace.

Horses have a way of bringing us out of our heads and back into what’s right in front of us. The rhythm of grooming. The sound of them eating. The warmth of a neck beneath your hand. The simple responsibility of noticing what another living being needs.

You could rush through the last few chores, jump in the truck, and hurry home. There’s always something else waiting.

But instead, you slow down.

You finish feeding without checking the time. Listen as the horses settle in. Take one more deep breath of cool evening air. Let your body catch up with the day.

Horses don’t make the stress disappear but they remind us that we don’t have to carry urgency into every moment.

Sometimes the extra ten minutes at the barn are the ones that bring you back to yourself. 💖

Address

55 Lost Creek Trail
Kalispell, MT
59901

Telephone

+14068904516

Website

https://do-better-be-better-horsemanship-coaching.square.site/

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