Written by Debbie Busby MSc CEBC ABTC-CAB CCAB, Clinical Equine Behaviourist 

Help - you and your horse are not on the same page!

You’ve spent months diligently following vet and physio advice to rehabilitate your horse through a physical problem such as kissing spine, PSD or an acute bout of laminitis, and you’ve finally got the all clear to start work again.

But your plans of getting started on light hacking, or easy school work, are thwarted when your horse tells you in no...

Horses are born crooked...left or right handed so to speak, and in simple terms it's up to us as their rider / trainer / rehabber, to train our horse in such a way that we develop symmetry into their movement, to help prevent injury. 

This is a huge topic, and it's super important to be aware of and improve with our horses. Standard walk-trot-canter exercise and straight line work doesn't improve the crookedness pattern. And if we don't address the crookedness pattern at its source...

How is your mindset when it comes to your horse...good or bad, positive or negative? 

Are you aware of your own thought patterns and how they affect your time with your horse? 

Did you know that you are actually in control of your own thoughts and feelings, even the really negative ones, and with some daily work you can massively improve your mindset! 

Old outdated thoughts and 'programming' can be changed, to free you up so you can enjoy being with your horse every single...

What is body language?

Body language is the display of instinctive or learned physical signals that help horses communicate with each other and with us. Communication is about sending a message that is received and understood by somebody else, and communication between horses and humans is a two-way process; horses learn our communication signals, and we can learn their signals; what they are saying to us. Horses have lots of ways of communicating via body language and they do it very well,...

This weeks Blog is on the different parts of your horses movement that you can improve! 

Whether they are heavy on the forehand, not working over the back, crooked in their limb patterns, these are all parts of the horses movement that we can positively influence, and actually the effects are far reaching in terms of both the movement AND the horses wellness. 

Last week in my Blog and posts I talked about the thoracic sling, the sling of muscles that suspends the front section of...

Postural improvement work with horses is one of my specific areas of focus, especially as I have a lot of experience with horses going through 'kissing spine', which is often a postural issue. 

I like to share my knowledge around posture, and how to assess your own horse, so that you can keep an eye on your horses posture and notice when things maybe need improving. Making changes before your horse starts struggling is always the best option...or even better, is to have your horse in...

Owning a horse that has been through kissing spine treatment/rehab is a really unique and unfortunately difficult part of horse ownership. 

Having been through it myself as a horse owner (in addition to working with many clients horses), and through a lengthy rehab process with my horse, I am fully aware of all of the ups and downs of the process, the changes that need to be made, and the emotional toll it can take on the owner. 

The reality with owning a horse that has had kissing...

Why is it important to understand how horses learn?

This weeks Blog is written by Debbie Busby, Clinical Equine Behaviourist and is an interesting insight into the ways that horses learn and ways that we can help our horses to learn! Debbie is one of the guest experts in my Strength & Straightness Programme and is joining us live this month...details below! 

How do horses learn to do what we want them to do? We can understand this by exploring psychological learning theory....

Horses can be massively overwhelming...especially if we are going through rehab or an issue or changing what we're doing in terms of training or exercise (change on its own can be difficult!). 

And a lot of what we experience during overwhelm can be down to our mindset and the thoughts that run through our heads, unfiltered. 

Last week in both my equine training and my online business support groups we were working on mindset and motivation, so I wanted to write a blog about it too,...

Uneven shoulders is quite a common issue, as it relates to the horses naturally occurring crookedness pattern (their left or right handedness).

If you look along your horses back (from behind - if safe to do so!), with the horse standing square, you will be able to see their shoulders and whether they appear ‘even’ or not.

It’s often accepted as ‘that’s how they are’ etc…BUT did you know that you can actively work on this pattern and create much more...