The Savvy Herd

08/03/2026

❤️

Have you heard of the SA Boerperd? 🐴🇿🇦
Breed # 149 in the Quest — watch here!
▶️ https://youtu.be/wZM0R-zpWk4

✨Featuring: Rooigras SA Boerperd stud & Tonkin-Biering Equestria ✨

16/02/2026

Stop Shrinking. Your Horse Notices.

There is a quiet habit many women perfect long before they ever own a horse. It is the habit of becoming smaller. Do not inconvenience anyone. Do not impose. Do not be too much. Be agreeable. Be easy.

It works in human society. You are rewarded for it. You are described as kind and low maintenance. Shrinking keeps things smooth.

Then you buy a horse.

And the strategy falls apart.

Because horses do not interpret shrinking as kindness. They interpret it as irrelevance.

When you hesitate because you do not want to upset your horse, when you soften your request halfway through, when you step back the moment you feel uncertain or judged, your horse does not admire your sensitivity. Your horse simply concludes, “I’ll organise this.”

So it scans the environment. It drifts. It disconnects. Not because it is dominant or damaged, but because you diluted your own significance.

This is the part people romanticise as connection. They imagine something mystical has happened when a horse is “with you.”

It is not mystical.

When a horse is with you, it is oriented toward you because you make sense. Because following you reduces uncertainty. Because you feel organised and predictable. Attention is not magic. It is learned relevance.

And relevance requires you to occupy space.

You cannot guide a horse while apologising for existing. You cannot ask for attention while quietly believing you should not have it.

This is not about dominance or force. It is about tolerating being significant. Staying present. Allowing yourself to matter in the interaction.

And here is the beautiful part.

Horses have a way of teaching you that you do matter. They need you to be heard. They need you to be important, not for ego, but for security.

You are already that person.

Your horse simply needs you to believe it too.❤

Now share this far and wide.🙏
Somewhere out there is a woman rehearsing how to be smaller tomorrow. She needs this interruption. ❤
Collectable Advice 156/365. Save it. Share it. But please do not copy and paste.I have retired from shrinking. Including around my own writing.😜

09/02/2026

The best part about being with your horse
isn’t the riding.
Or the goals.
Or the results.

It’s the being.

Standing with them while the world goes quiet.
Leaning into their warmth.
Breathing at the same pace.
No masks. No performance. No explanations needed.

With your horse, you don’t have to be productive.
You don’t have to be impressive.
You don’t have to be “on”.

You just get to exist
muddy boots, tangled hair, tired heart and all
and still be completely accepted.

In a life that asks us to be everything to everyone,
horses remind us that presence is enough.

And sometimes, that’s exactly what we need. 🐴💛

09/02/2026

The idea that horses require equipment like whips, spurs, or complex tack to perform is a common misconception. In reality, training is built on trust, clear communication, and mutual respect. When you focus on developing a strong bond with your horse, you'll find that you need less equipment, not more.

- *Trust is key*: Horses are sensitive animals that thrive on predictability and trust. Using force or relying on tools can damage this trust and create anxiety.
- *Body language matters*: Horses are experts at reading body language. By using clear, consistent cues, you can communicate effectively without needing gadgets.
- *Natural movement*: Horses move naturally and respond well to subtle guidance. Over-reliance on equipment can hinder their natural movement and balance.

As Pat Parelli says "The best equipment is the one that's not needed."

31/01/2026

Savvy Posiedon
one of my personal steeds & best friend
What a powerful land dragon with the most gentle soul 🖤

Foals born on our farm choose trust from day one 🌾 They gallop to us in the paddocks, craving connection – not because we're the food bucket, but because they've decided we're worth it. Ask for a little extra exercise? More like they're demanding attention on their terms 😉. And yes, they get a bit possessive if they're not the centre of our universe 😂.

These horses mirror what we teach them. Give respect, love, and trust from the start, and they'll give you their all. No domination, no force – just mutual understanding. It's living proof: there's no such thing as a 'problem horse', just a breakdown in communication.

As Monty Roberts says, 'The horse is a mirror to your soul.' What do your horses reflect about you?

21/01/2026

Turns out, he rescued me...

Ill never forget the day we fetched him, "my shining light" aka "Marley"
As well as 3 others, one of which is his sister. They were all in a common situation, living untouched with a big herd on a farmers land in the middle of a drought and struggling to say the least. My parents and I were offered to give them a second chance.

They had no experience of humans other than being herded to different pastures or cattle grids so getting into a horse box and trucking them home was a challenge in itself but we managed to get all 4 trucked and arrived home in the middle of night, with our next challenge of getting them into separate paddocks as 2 of the horses were still Stallions (Marley being one of them)
Halters were introduced, both stallions were gelded and once healed the training would start.
Of all four horses Marley was the most difficult to get through to, he was so driven by fear that most of the time he would attack me.
After months of trying different methods I was about to give up, I'd got through to the others and I even questioned if Marleys eyesight was damaged, he would attack and or run blindly it seemed.

But I never gave up on this horse. I spent hours just sitting and observing him, I can't tell you exactly what he or I did but we went from opposite ends within in a few days. He gave me permission to ride him but without a bridle or saddle, and so one day him and the herd were running in from their paddock to the stables and I took the opportunity to vault on his back. From that day on he did anything I asked
And my horsemanship journey truly began.

15/01/2026

Be the reason someone believes in goodness again ✳️

13/01/2026

We’re Losing ‘Em!

I have a number of horsemanship training friends and acquaintances that have shifted or are in the process of shifting out of training horses for the public.

So many have gotten burnt out and are switching gears because training horses for the public can be tough to say the least. The stress, expectations, high overhead expenses, customer disappointment, etc. It’not rare for a trainer to make minimum wage after they pay everything else. Why go through the struggle if theres a better option???

It’s a balancing act when dealing with the public. The public will usually hire someone to help them with their horse because they lack the experience and expertise to do it themselves. Maybe they tried to do it themselves and created a mess. Maybe, the horse needs an education so they’re trail safe. Yet, the hard part, they expect a result in a certain time frame and it’s usually a fraction of what it takes to do right. To go a step further, a lot of people fall into the belief that the trainer is just like an auto mechanic… replace the part, tune it up and out it goes, good as new. The horse is expected to be good as new…

And … when the horse goes home and nothing has changed, the owner goes back into the same routines, the horse reverts. Now the trainer is blamed for not doing their job right. 🤦‍♀️

The reality, if an owner doesn’t actively participate and elevate their skills along with their horse who is in professional hands, the chances of the training “not working” or falling apart, are very high. Skills and cues stick but the relationship between human and horse doesn’t transfer. New skills only stick if the new methods are continued. New relationships only form with time and effort.

Training for the public usually has a large clump of horses with “bad habits”. If you assume it’s like a car, replace the part and it’s good as new, you’ll soon feel like your horse is unfixable. It’s not the truth, the truth is, your habits and energy aren’t fixed and your horse is responding to old cues and old triggers. Old habits don’t open new doors, they just take you back in time.

A lot of my friends and acquaintances are evolving and realizing their time and talent is better rewarded when they put time into a quality project horse, they typically own them, get them pretty, get them broke and sell them. It’s amazing how quick you can double your money on a horse that just needs some attention and education. This means fewer horses, less over head, no “bosses” and higher wages. The risk is rewarded.

If this sector of the industry isn’t careful with how they treat their trainers, there’s not going to be that handy horseman down the road willing to teach you and your horse to load in the trailer anymore.

It’s already trickled into the c**t starting sector where it’s hard to find good c**t starters anymore. They do their own thing and don’t waste their time or talent on the 30 day miracles people demand from them. The days are numbered where someone handy will just ride the bucks out for you. Good c**t starters are being scooped up by trainers that know how valuble a good c**t starter is.

Thank you for reading my TED talk 😆

Let 2026 be the year of evolving for the better ❤️

13/01/2026

what you water grows -

The other day, I had a few of my horses out in a public space tied to the trailer. There were a few other folks there fussing with their horses, calling them bird brains and dummies, and complaining about various aspects of their behavior.

One of these folks said to me, "You are so lucky to have such quiet horses. I feel like bird brains over here falls apart over everything, and he just needs to deal with life!"

I thought about that word - luck. If they'd have seen these horses a few years back, they might have called them such naughty words too. My horses struggled just as much as anyone else's might have for a time.

But things have changed. Now I am blessed to have peaceful horses who are confident inside. I'm not better than anyone else or magical in any way - there was a lot of work involved. I sought help outside my realm with some very good instructors, took them to clinics with the best of the best, and worked outside my comfort zone a lot. Sometimes I wasn't sure if they'd come around either, but I always hoped.

Work is important. On a retrain, you are untying knots and tying them again, and sometimes again and again.

But the work means nothing if you don't like the horse. If you can't bring yourself to give from inside yourself, what does the horse have to open up to? If we spend our time around them thinking negative thoughts about them, and pinning labels on them, how can the horse grow outside these parameters?

We can say all we like what we think the horse SHOULD deal with, what they SHOULD do - but as one of my teachers says, "good luck with that." It's like saying gravity should not affect me. And yet gravity does not care about my opinion, it does its thing.

The horse is going to continue looking out for himself if there is nothing we have to offer outside control and correction. I'm pretty sure none of us would willingly hang around a teacher, outside or coersion or psychological manipulation, who constantly criticized without offering much help - without teaching skills and paving the way for a better version of us.

So whether the horse SHOULD do something is irrelevant. What are they like now, and where would you like them to be? Our words and thoughts carry an energy. And our generosity of spirit is the water in the soil of tender shoots - we can blossom a horse beyond our wildest dreams, into something others can only label as luck, if we give it the right ingredients: work, time, training, persistence, yes - but an oppenness, a love for the horse, is final ingredient to carry us through to the horse.

13/01/2026