There’s an emotionally manipulative trend of using the excuse of “saving” the horse to justify treating horses badly. As if the horse should be so grateful that we’ve decided to give them a chance rather than put them down. This is the defence of the people responsible for that horrific video of an extremely distressed horse left with their head tied to their chest and a dummy on their back for several hours, I think the video is still up on David Marlin’s page if you don’t k

I want you to imagine you’re really sore, you’ve perhaps got some hidden arthritis in your neck and the way you’ve had to compensate has made the muscles all down your neck and through your back really sensitive. I also want you to imagine that you’re surrounded by people who you cannot communicate with vocally. They keep touching you and putting things on your body that make it really hurt and making you run around while you’re in pain. You now feel snappy and defensive abou

I don’t really know where this post is going I just got upset and started writing. I am tired. I’ve been emotionally supporting a client this week who is really struggling with pressure and bullying on her yard over her decision to train her horse more gently and with positive reinforcement. She trains safely and out of the way of others, she bothers no-one and yet the passive aggressive comments just don’t stop, including from the yard owner. Despite her horse’s behaviour im

I used to solve training issues by simply applying enough pressure to get the horse to do the thing, I didn’t give much thought to how they were feeling, I just knew that if you applied more pressure, then removed that pressure only when the horse complied, that is how you fixed behavioural problems. Horse won’t load? Apply pressure on the head and only release when they step forward. Horse won’t catch? Apply pressure by making the horse move and only release when they stop a