Free Flow Equine Therapies - Susan Rousak

Great post from Dr Shelly! This paragraph in particular resonated with me:

"You can adore your horse and still accidentally make their life difficult. That doesn't make you a bad horse owner. It gives you something to investigate, learn or change"

https://www.facebook.com/share/19a6ohZa6H/

When “I Just Want to Ride” Becomes the Problem🔥

A trainer friend of mine recently lost it with a client. This bothered her enormously because she is normally incredibly patient. She is also kind, experienced and genuinely goes out of her way to help people.

The client was lovely too, and that matters. This isn't a story about a horrible person mistreating a horse. It's about a perfectly nice person who loved her horse, wanted to ride her horse and was struggling to see that some of the things standing between her and that goal weren't going to disappear simply because she really wanted to ride.

For a couple of months, my friend had been helping her with an anxious, spooky mare. Quite quickly, she noticed several things. The mare appeared mildly footsore. Boots were purchased, but my friend suspected more investigation was needed, including looking at diet and hoof care. The saddle had also never been properly fitted.

Then there was the riding. When the mare became anxious and rushed, the rider would shortened the reins and pulled harder on her mouth. On the ground, her handling of the lead rope was inadvertently creating confusion. Nothing malicious was happening. She simply didn't yet have the capability or insight to recognise how these interactions might feel from the horse's end of the rope.

So my friend went back to groundwork. Not because groundwork is some sacred spiritual practice, but because the woman needed to learn how to communicate with her horse. The mare was already showing some anxiety on the ground, and my friend wanted to help the owner develop the skills to guide and support her there before adding the complexity of riding. The groundwork wasn't really about groundwork. It was about helping the human become clearer, more reliable and more capable of guiding the horse when things became difficult.

Each lesson, my friend explained what they were doing and why. She demonstrated, coached and gave the woman things to practise. Unfortunately, very little was practised, so they kept returning to much the same place. This wasn't a case of a trainer endlessly insisting on groundwork while refusing to let someone progress. The things preventing that progression weren't changing. The mare was still showing some anxiety on the ground, the owner's handling wasn't improving because she wasn't practising, the feet remained questionable and the saddle remained unchecked. They couldn't progress simply because time had passed when the problems they were trying to resolve were still sitting there waiting for someone to resolve them.

Then one day the client announced that she was sick of groundwork. She wanted to ride.🤨

Somewhere inside my friend's normally well-regulated nervous system, a small fuse finally reached the explosives.💥

Because the groundwork wasn't preventing her from riding. A collection of unresolved problems affecting the horse was.

The horse's feet were uncomfortable. The saddle hadn't been assessed. The owner still struggled to guide the mare clearly, and when the mare became worried under saddle, the response was to restrict her further. Getting on and riding wasn't going to magically make any of that disappear.😑

In fact, it potentially bundled all the problems together and added a human.

This is the part of the story worth committing to your memory banks.

When we describe a horse as anxious, spooky, reluctant, resistant or lacking confidence, we are describing what the situation looks like from our side. We still need to ask what the situation might look and feel like from theirs.

Perhaps the horse isn't simply anxious about the world. Perhaps she is anxious about experiencing the world while her feet hurt. Perhaps she is reluctant because the saddle is uncomfortable. Perhaps every time she becomes worried, the human shortens the reins and increases the pressure. Perhaps she doesn't feel particularly secure with the person handling her because that person is still learning how to communicate clearly.

Then we climb aboard and wonder why the horse isn't confident.😑

Determination is a wonderful human quality, but it has limitations. You cannot out-determination sore feet. You cannot positive-think a poorly fitting saddle into fitting. You cannot repeatedly confuse a horse and overcome the consequences by deciding that today you are definitely going for a ride.😑

My friend eventually lost her temper. She wishes she hadn't, but I understand why she did. Perhaps a boundary could have been established earlier, but hindsight is wonderfully articulate. She had spent weeks trying to help someone understand what she believed the horse was experiencing, and eventually her frustration got the better of her.😕

There is a useful warning here for all of us. Horses don't experience our good intentions. They experience what actually happens to them.

You can adore your horse and still accidentally make their life difficult. That doesn't make you a bad horse owner. It gives you something to investigate, learn or change.

The problem begins when the horse keeps providing information and we decide we don't want to hear it because it interferes with what WE want to do.

So perhaps the uncomfortable question is this: do I want to solve the problem my horse is experiencing, or do I just want my horse to stop having a problem with what I want to do⁉️

Because there comes a point where saddling up and getting on is no longer perseverance. If the horse is uncomfortable, the equipment is questionable, the communication is unclear and the horse keeps struggling, but we choose to ride anyway because riding is what WE want to do, perhaps we need to stop calling that determination.

At some point, refusing to listen to the horse in front of us becomes disregard for their experience.

And surely, if WE genuinely care about horses, that should matter more than whether we get to ride today.❤

Collectable Advice 289/365

Please SHARE this one, especially with the coaches and equine professionals who have found themselves in this exact situation. I suspect many of you will read this story and think, “Yep. I’ve lived this moment too.” Sometimes the hardest part of helping the horse is helping the human see what the horse has been trying to tell them.🥹

PS. I am looking forward to Project Reboot ❤

We have some fantastic sponsors on board for our online competition. Huge shoutout to:
Canberra
Riding With Sticks
Magan Equine Herbalist

Please support these businesses. We are lucky to have such amazing horse people in our community 😁

If your business would like to sponsor this event, please get in touch:
[email protected]

I will be taking some time off from 15 September to 30 September 2026. During this time I will not be available for appointments or supplement purchases, and I'm not planning to check my messages (to often anyway 😆).

Please get in touch if you need any supplements before I go!

Image by eleatell from Pixaba

Mandy is back in Canberra the weekend of 12/13 September and has some space for rider optimisation and tests of the Ergox2 saddles.

Mandy makes regular trips to Canberra and the last few times has been booked out with existing clients, so this is a rare opportunity!! Get in touch with Mandy to take a spot.

These saddles are amazing and have helped my position and balance so much. The rider optimisation really opened my eyes to my imbalances and their effect on my horse. I highly recommend giving it a go 😃

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19QFZhxEsq/

Please share!!! We really want to promote the partnership we can have with our horses, regardless of tack used! The more this can be shared the better, so I'd really appreciate if you can share and help promote this event 😀

Entries here: https://www.lagoballo.net/event-details-registration/online-competition-freedom-in-motion

It's International Dog Day!! Share a picture and a story of your dog 😄🐕🐶

This is my pup Cleo who loves the beach - apparently digging your nose into the sand is the best thing ever 🤣

There is a green "fuzz" of grass (and w**d) coverage coming in quite quickly after the last lot of rain.

Just because the grass is short, does not mean it's safe for horses, particularly those prone to laminitis.

Watch out for the signs of laminitis, such as:
⭐Reluctance to move or short, choppy steps (especially on hard ground or when turning).
⭐May appear stiff when walking.
⭐Horse may stand with front feet stretched forward and hind feet tucked under the body (trying to shift weight off the painful front feet).
⭐Hoof walls or soles may feel warmer than normal.
⭐Hooves may be tender when you use hoof testers or press on the sole.
⭐Increased digital pulse - a stronger-than-normal pulse can be felt at the fetlock or pastern, indicating inflammation in the hoof.
⭐Restlessness, shifting weight from foot to foot.
⭐Lying down more often than usual.
⭐Sweating, increased breathing or heart rate.

If you are unsure or worried at all, please contact your vet for advice. Better to be proactive than have to react to late.