AES Training & Sales

04/05/2026

01/10/2026

Need gone by end of month, all offers considered

12/25/2025

Merry merry!!

12/23/2025

There are things about horses
that non-horse people just don’t understand.
Not because they don’t care—
but because some things can only be learned
by standing in a barn long enough
to let them change you.

They don’t understand
that horses aren’t just animals we own.
They’re relationships we build.
Slowly.
Intentionally.
With patience, trust, and time.

They don’t understand
that a horse reads your energy
before you ever say a word.
That they know when you’re anxious,
overwhelmed,
or carrying something heavy—
and they respond to that,
not the version of yourself
you try to present.

They don’t understand
why a bad day feels lighter
after time in the barn,
or why brushing a mane
can calm a mind that won’t slow down.
They don’t understand
that sometimes the barn
isn’t about riding at all—
it’s about survival,
healing,
and breathing again.

They don’t understand
why we spend so much time, money, and energy
on something that gives us nothing tangible in return.
But they don’t see the confidence built slowly,
the patience learned quietly,
the strength formed without applause.

They don’t understand
that a horse becomes part of your identity.
That once you’ve loved one,
your life is forever shaped by it.
That your definition of trust,
leadership,
and love
changes.

They don’t understand
why losing a horse hurts the way it does.
Why it feels like losing a piece of yourself.
Why grief lingers quietly
long after others think you should be “okay.”
They don’t understand
that a heart horse isn’t replaceable—
because they weren’t just a horse.
They were a season.
A safe place.
A teacher.

They don’t understand
why we choose early mornings,
muddy boots,
and tired bodies.
Why we rearrange our lives
around feed times and care.
Why we show up
even when it would be easier not to.

What they don’t understand
is that horses don’t ask us
to be perfect.
They ask us to be present.
And in a world that constantly demands more,
that presence becomes priceless.

You can explain it,
but it’s never quite enough.
Because the bond between a horse and a human
isn’t logical.
It’s felt.

And the truth is—
horse people don’t need to be understood
by everyone.

We just need our horses.

12/03/2025

This!

“They’re just children!”

No. They aren’t.

👉They are the future generation of adults.

👉They are the future generation of our sport.

They are the future caregivers of our beloved horses.

👉They are the future teachers of the following generation.

‼️Stop spoon feeding them.
🧡Make them figure it out on their own.
‼️Stop making excuses for them.
🧡Hold them accountable.
🧡Ask them to analyze their own mistakes and how to fix it the next time.
🧡Ask them why something happened instead of giving them the answer.
👉Make them carry their own saddle.
👉Make them pick up a pitch fork.
👉Make them work a weekly feed shift at the barn.
👉Make them pack their own show clothes.
👉Make them clean their own tack.
👉Make them prep their own horse.
👉Make them handle a colic, and then Go over what contributes to colic.
👉Make them rehab a horse, and teach them how that horse got injured, and how to prevent it.
👉Make them work with an auction horse.

✅Let them fail, so they learn humility, and how to regroup.

✅Teach them to have grit.

✅Teach them actions have consequences.

✅Teach them to own their mistakes. 

✅Teach them to overcome challenges instead of passing the buck.

✅Teach them how to respect the horse, and everyone that contributes to that horse’s welfare.

✅Teach them to do right by the horse.

✅Teach them how to make things last instead of throwing it away and buying new.

I know it sounds harsh, but if we do not start preparing the next generation of adults properly, we will not have a generation of adults; We will have a generation of spoiled, overgrown children who have to ask ChatGPT how to do everything instead of thinking for themselves.

It takes longer to have those conversations and takes more effort to be that kind of mentor, but I promise you, it’s worth it 🧡

11/02/2025

SOLD! Hello! I’m told my name is Thunder Streak but I prefer to go by “Thunder” or “Thundy”. I am a 2017 model, 16.1 1/2 ( gotta make sure the 1/2 is added) H OTTB gelding (definitely not by my choice). While I really love where I live, I’m told that my owner needs to find me a new home. I really miss having a human that loves and snuggles me. I’m a very good boy, some would say I can be a bit quirky but I just like to make sure everyone knows how I’m feeling and by no means am looking to hurt anyone. I really love to jump, (have my changes) and go trail riding, I don’t mind going alone or with friends, just like to get out of the ring sometimes! I would be open to learning a new job as I am pretty eager to please as long as my tack fits correctly and the humans take their time to teach me new things, I am open to anything! I’m told I am very fun to ride! I wear front shoes, have no vices and am a bit passive when out with my friends (I have a lot and am always open to making new ones). I don’t like to cause trouble, just want to play and graze, not interested in confrontation in the least! I like it when the people come to give me a pedicure and crack my back, sometimes people come and hold my limbs in weird ways or stick me with needles but they always have snacks so I don’t mind them so much either, even though they sometimes make me a little uncomfortable. I have a recent PPE and back X-rays on file. My back is clean but my PPE is not 100% perfect and my price reflects that. I had my hocks and my SI injected last year. I have been sound since then, please remember that while I am young, I had an entire career on the track prior to my current job, so I may require some maintenance in the future. I also have splint on my left front which has never bothered me. I currently live in Highland Twp, MI and am told that to take me home would require mid-high 4 figures (whatever that means), but I’m really hoping someone thinks I’m as great as I and all the humans around me do! Please send a message and come meet me!!

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5aIyga_vwW0rJDy_4ECVQegWTWsD6l1d&si=XsDGyGrY3FbbC8ax

10/23/2025

One of the Most Offensive Things a Client Ever Told Me.

It is the hallmark of being professional that often times, you have to bite your tongue, or be calm and quiet in the face of inappropriate behaviour. Thankfully, for the last two years, the folks I have been lucky to work with and work for, have enabled me to be 100% myself. And even solicit my total honest, and unmasked self. They call THAT professional, not the masked politeness that often befalls us all in a working setting.

But before I got that lucky, I was once sitting on a zoom with someone who said something that for me- was wildly, wildly offensive -despite the fact they meant it with good intentions.

"I booked with you because I kept wondering why this guy who appeared to know so much about training, riding and biomechanics, chose to just trail ride."

Framed, of course, in the common mainstream assumption that those that can't do much with horses, trail ride. Or, that lower level horses trail ride. Or that preparing for a trail ride is somehow a lowly endeavour.

I spent about 12 years working in trail riding for the public environments. At various different levels. One employer I had used to only "rescue" horses, meaning not spend more than 1000€ on a horse which in Spain only buys you problem horses. Another would drop a minimum 8000€ on well bred youngsters. The latter once lamented that when they visited breeders and mentioned they run a trail riding outfit, would be shown the horses in the back, with weak spines, minimal bone, poor head set. And she would instead insist on the quality of breeding that they hold Dressage horses in regard for, because her horses work harder and in greater demand than any sport horse could dream of.

What this client said was offensive to me, because they were an intelligent, talented and kind-hearted person making an enormous difference in their local community with advanced, empathic training. And yet, they demonstrated a profound prejudice and ignorance about one of the most difficult jobs you can ever ask a horse to do.

Trail Riding a fit, properly prepared, happy and aware horse is one of the highest expressions of quality training in my humble opinion. Requiring them to be as fit as a sport horse. As calm as a paddock puff. Adaptable as a Police Horse. As agile as a Working Equitation mount. As powerful as an Eventer. As collected as a Dressage horse. Yet be able to do all this with both connection to their rider and independence in their skills, while their rider relaxes and takes in the scenery.

Some of the most impressive feats of training I have ever seen, have been out on the mountain, in the forest.

Not in the arena.

09/04/2025

While the Short Stirrup division is a beloved tradition, it is driving up the costs associated with all ponies. What’s supposed to act as a gateway and foundation to horse shows for young equestrians has done the opposite. A Short Stirrup pony that costs less than a division Pony Hunter is going extinct. And so many potential equine candidates for the Short Stirrup are jobless. Why?

Because judges expect kids in an entry-level class to do lead changes.

Short Stirrup riders lack knowledge and experience to ask for and execute proper lead changes — that is literally one of the reasons they are in short stirrup. They both don’t know how to land the leads and also they don’t have the mechanical skills to ask a pony for a lead change properly. So when they are judged on the requirement of a lead change, the answer is simple to many trainers: their ponies have to have an automatic one.

But there are only so many full-package packers, and the Children’s Pony and division Pony Hunters are hungry for them too. Exceptionally made ponies can often increase in value the smaller they are. Producing a quality small pony (standing at 12.2 hands – about 4 feet – or less) requires a small person to do the training. And tiny professionals or well-educated teens willing to pony jockey for the years it takes to truly make them up for children are even rarer than the ponies themselves. It’s a supply and demand issue — everyone wants ponies that check every box, so they’re expensive.

Reading a recent ISO ad posted on Facebook:

“I need a small/medium learn to canter and jump pony. Don’t mind ancient. Would love something that knows its job. Auto change is ideal. This is for a tiny tiny kid to do X-rails – 2ft on.”

Only a handful of ponies fit that description, and yet, there’s a multitude of ponies who, aside from an automatic lead change, offer everything you could want in a Short Stirrup mount. There is little market for such a thing. They are reduced to little value. So many lesson horses – who are rarely automatic but have the most to teach – could be the best (and most affordable) Short Stirrup partners, but requiring a lead change disqualifies them.

Outside of pure aesthetics, there is no merit in having lead changes in the Short Stirrup. It’s not beneficial to the rider, who should learn to land from the jump and sit up, balance, collect, and recognize they’re on the wrong lead so they can transition to a balanced trot before picking up the correct lead again, demonstrating a planned and organized simple change. If their pony does the change automatically while they sit still and hang on and learn nothing from it, they lose an understanding of good basics and how to ride every inch of the ring. The ponies that take a ridiculous amount of labor to produce also do not need a kid giving them confusing or incorrect signals for a lead change and untraining them because they don’t know any better.

🔗 Continue reading Marley Lin-Gonzalez's article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2024/09/04/short-stirrup-shouldnt-require-lead-changes/
📸 © Heather N. Photography

09/03/2025