Miriam Orschel: Grounded Equitation

07/05/2025

Joy lies in simplicity.

07/05/2025

Guess which one is the mare

07/04/2025

One of my favorite quotes.

"The horse knows. He knows the human twenty to one. It’s amazing how much he’ll get out of things, how he’ll fill in for as little as the human knows about him.
How that horse can handle it has always been a mystery to me. Put yourself in his shoes to live your whole life where no one knows who you really are. Well, I haven’t met a human yet who compares to a horse. A human couldn’t take it.
See, you can get a horse to do something if you’re tough enough, just like you can with a human.
But a willing communication is a different matter.
You fix it so the horse can try, then you allow him to work it out. You have to give him that dignity. You make your idea his idea.
I believe these colts, I trust them.
I always trust they can buck too. Don’t think they won’t.
Just keep fixing it up and let them find it. Don’t try to make it happen.
Prepare to position for the transition. The transition is the last thing that happens. And don’t try to be boss."

Ray's words are from an article 'Ray Hunt: The Cowboy Sage' written by Gretel Ehrlich and appeared in the Shambhala Sun, July 1998.

Image of Ray is by W T Bruce.

06/25/2025

There will come a point in your horsemanship journey where you are faced with the reality that it is 100% up to you whether or not the relationship with your horse will work out.

Many people these days are trying to buy something that cannot be bought: connection, a relationship, a partnership. I see people on both sides of the aisle—those spending thousands of dollars on a perfectly trained horse, and those on a tight budget looking for a diamond in the rough. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter which route you take, because all roads eventually lead to the same place: your own accountability.

Of course, some roads are harder than others. Some horses come with deeper wounds, just as some people do. And not everyone has the same resources or support. I’ve been there. But even so, the core truth remains: no matter the starting point, the work of relationship begins within.

A horse is not a machine, nor a puppet, nor a slave. They are a mirror, a compass, a living, breathing presence that reflects more than we often want to see. We can live in the illusion that we’re doing all the right things, but ultimately, it all comes down to who we are in the doing—what we carry, how we move, what we project.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing we’re owed something in return for the money we’ve spent on a horse. But the horse owes you nothing—and yet, they offer everything, if you’re willing to meet them without armor.

The sooner you realize the success of the partnership falls entirely on your shoulders—and the sooner you begin your inner work to unravel the illusions and expectations you may hold—the sooner you’ll begin to connect with the horse in front of you. Not the one in your head. Not the one in your past. The one right here, now.

06/21/2025

What makes a horse safe to ride?

When I started out training, I thought a lot about exposure, and getting horses used to all kinds of stimulus.

I thought a lot about putting “safety buttons” in, like a one rein stop, or a good stop, and the like. A way to shut down movement.

I think exposure is still important, but more and more I think a horse needs to move and move well- and shutting down movement can have its place in an emergency - but these measures often give us a false sense of security.

What really makes a horse safe is balance

And one of the most dangerous things we teach horses to do as a byproduct of our training them to be “safer” (shutting down movement, accepting stimulus repeatedly without being allowed to move, etc) is creating locked up shoulders -

When a horses shoulders are locked up, we really are riding a ticking time bomb. If things are going well, we can get by ok- but add in the right triggers - bad weather, a new location, horses leaving, and so on- and we have nothing to fall back on.

When a horses shoulders are locked we can’t have the horse truly relaxed inside and out.

And so to me now, the most important thing we can do is create mobility in the shoulders - and good balance bodywide

06/18/2025

06/14/2025

Amanda asking her mare Maya for lateral flexions, showing how the flexions should influence and move through the thoracic spine and ribs. This is an important aspect to understand, that the flexions in the jaw and at the poll should speak to the horse’s thoracic sling, ribs, hind quarters, and back, and not get stuck in the neck.