Hello, my friend, There’s a moment many horse owners recognize. You start trying to be more aware. You watch every step your horse takes. You monitor their ears. Their breathing. Their posture. You try to catch problems before they happen. But instead of things improving, the interaction starts to feel tense. The horse braces. Or hurries. Or disconnects. And suddenly it feels like you’re both working harder, but getting less. The truth is, sometimes the problem isn’t lack of awareness....
8 days ago • 1 min read
Hello, my friend, I want to share with you today a bit about the moment when awareness opens. Last week Mancita, a recent addition to the Serenity Oaks herd, had a very difficult veterinary appointment. Standing still was hard for her. Allowing people close to her body was even harder. She barged, pinned her ears, lifted a hind leg, and tried to keep space between herself and the pressure around her. Those behaviors are often labeled “naughty.” But what I saw was a horse who was overwhelmed....
15 days ago • 1 min read
Hello, my friend, There’s a common belief that horses respond to what we do. Our cues. Our timing. Our technique. And those things do matter. But they are not the first thing horses notice. Horses notice our state before they notice our technique. Long before a rein moves or a cue is given, a horse is already reading the human in front of them. They notice breath. They notice muscle tone. They notice rhythm. They notice the quality of our attention. They notice whether there is urgency...
22 days ago • 1 min read
Hello, my friend, There’s a common misunderstanding about awareness. We think it means watching more closely. Monitoring more carefully. Trying harder to notice every little thing. But horses don’t relax when we think harder. They relax when we settle. Honey taught me that. She came to me very young — diagnosed with PSSM and already tying up. I’ll never know exactly how much was physical and how much was the after-effect of being pushed too early. She was futurity-eligible at two. But what I...
29 days ago • 1 min read
Hello, my friend, On Sunday, we talked about readiness — and how often we override it without meaning to. As promised, here’s something steady you can try. I created a short guide called Building Trust Without Force or Frustration. It walks you through how to slow the pace just enough for availability to return — without adding pressure, repetition, or intensity. You can download it by clicking the link below: When Slowing Down Is the Way Forward.pdf Take your time with it. You don’t need to...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hello my friend, There’s a subtle kind of pressure that shows up around horses. Not dramatic. Not harsh. Just… quiet urgency running in the background. This week we were blanketing horses at the rescue. I had help — but only for a limited window — and I could feel my focus shift toward efficiency. We needed to get everyone done. Nothing was wrong. Nothing was forceful. But I could feel it in myself — that slight tightening. Move faster. Organize better. Make good use of the help. And the...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hello my friend, There’s a question I hear often around horses: “Why aren’t they ready yet?” Ready to load. Ready to stand still. Ready to move forward. Ready to stop reacting. We tend to measure readiness by time, repetition, or exposure. If we’ve practiced enough, waited long enough, or explained clearly enough, readiness should follow. But with horses — and honestly, with humans — readiness isn’t linear. It isn’t time-based. It’s state-based. A horse doesn’t move forward because the...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hello my friend, Today I want to share a story about a horse named Angel. Angel is new to the sanctuary and has already been labeled as “not easy to handle.” Sometimes that description has been offered kindly. Other times… not so much. The day the vet was coming, I wanted to see if I could help set her up for a better experience. When I walked into her paddock, Angel moved away. Instead of following her, grabbing for her, or trying to make the catch happen, I slowed everything down. I faced...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hello my friend, Recently, I was handed a horse who was very unsettled. She couldn’t stand still. There was rearing, crowding of human space, and a lot of nervous, chaotic energy moving through her body. This is the kind of moment where it’s easy — almost automatic — to slip into fixing. To correct. To try to make the behavior stop. Instead, I stayed calm in my own body and refused to join the urgency. I didn’t discipline her for not standing still. I didn’t try to control or suppress the...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read