Friendship Horses

Friendship Horses Equine Assisted Experiences - Certified Equimotional Wellbeing Coach - EAL facilitator - Pony Parties

24/09/2025

14/09/2025

🐓✨ ā€œI’m Fine.ā€
Your horse: Are you though? šŸ‘€

Here’s the thing. You can rock up to the yard smiling, holding your coffee, pretending life’s totally under control — but your horse already clocked your cortisol before you got your boots on.

Why?

Because horses don’t just read the vibe —
They sniff it.

šŸ”¬ Thanks to their superpowered noses and a fancy bit of kit called the vomeronasal organ, horses are wired to detect hormonal changes like stress, adrenaline, and the distinct scent of emotional chaos wafting off you like perfume.

That whole ā€œ2000% more sensitiveā€ stat?
It’s a metaphor, not a GCSE maths answer.
But what we can say is:
šŸ‘‰ Horses = Sensory ninjas.
šŸ‘‰ Humans = Emotional squirrels pretending we’re chill.

They don’t care about your ā€œI’m fineā€ voice.
They respond to what your body’s actually saying — even if you haven’t caught up with it yet.

And they do it without judgement.
No awkward questions. No ā€œhave you tried yoga?ā€
Just honest, grounded presence.

Which is why trauma-informed work with horses isn’t some woo-woo miracle —
It’s literally a biological recalibration with a four-legged truth detector.

They don’t buy your act.
They love you anyway.
And that, my friends, is why they’re the real co-regulators of this emotional rodeo.

šŸ“šŸ’„

05/09/2025

😊 Owning horses is a big responsibility and a lot of hard work. Regular hoof care is part of that. My herd of 7 šŸŽ all have theirs hooves cleaned out and checked for bruising, cracks etc at least once a day. They also have regular scheduled visits from our farrier Tracey Whitney from Horse Happy Hooves. 🧲

I know how my back feels after bending over while cleaning out the hooves (thats 28 between them), so I try to have my horses as prepared as possible and ready for Tracey before she arrives.

🐓 I will have the horses in the yards, in the shade and have their hooves cleaned out prior to her arrival. I will try to make sure they are all calm and relaxed ready to stand still while being trimmed. All will be haltered and have a lead rope on in case of an emergency or if for some reason they need to be settled or corrected. All my horses have been educated (or if new, in the process of education) to be willing to pick up and hold each leg up patiently while being trimmed.

If I see that one of the horses may be a bit moody (one of the mares in season), or possibly look a bit off or uncomfortable, I will tell Tracey before she starts working with that particular horse. This way she is aware of it and understands and knows if more time or patience may be required.

I do all this for a number of reasons:
🐓 I don’t like to waste anyone else’s time so I like to be prepared early.
🐓 Farriers do back-breaking dangerous work, so the more prepared and educated my horses are, the safer and easier it is for Tracey.
🐓 Providing shade and shelter is more comfortable for all concerned.
🐓 Battles between horse and human are avoided.
🐓 Educated horses = well mannered horses = SAFETY

Now I’m not saying I have a herd of 7 perfect unicorns šŸ¦„ … I wish 🄰, they are however like us humans and sometimes just feel unsociable, but they will still do their best. All I’m saying is we should all do our best for our horses and those that need to work with them - farriers, vets, equine dentists, chiropractor or someone other than ourselves. Making each interaction safe is making each interaction enjoyable 🄰

This morning I have woken up with a deep sense of sadness, loss, grief. Not for myself I don’t think, but for others - a...
02/09/2025

This morning I have woken up with a deep sense of sadness, loss, grief. Not for myself I don’t think, but for others - a number of family members in particular, clients, friends and people as a whole.
My heart hurts because of other’s hurt and loss. Not only just the hurt and loss through death, but the hurt and loss of anything important to an individual - home, relationship, job, limb, friendship, self esteem.
I find it so hard watching and listening to others dealing with their own type of grief, knowing I can’t do anything but be there, wishing I could take the pain and heaviness from them. I want to carry their suffering and throw it to the wind.
In saying this, because I’ve suffered so much grief myself over the years, I know it’s impossible to take someone’s pain for them.
With loss, pain, and trials comes growth. Sometimes it’s hard to see the new shoots sprouting, it may take years to see, but they come … eventually.
No matter how much we wish certain things didn’t happen to us, we can’t change the past.
No matter how much the future may scare us, we can’t live in fear and anxiety.
Today is now. Now is what we live. Now is the time to live in the moment. Ride the waves, enjoy the view, learn to find something to be thankful for every day.
I’m so thankful for my husband, my children and their spouses, and all my grandchildren, my parents and my siblings.
When my battery is low and my cup needs filling, I still have them. I love them all with all my heart 🄰

21/08/2025

Dr Temple Grandin is one of the best known animal scientists in the world. She grew up in America, and she is autistic, which means her brain works a little differently to most people’s. She often says she ā€œthinks in pictures.ā€ This helps her notice tiny details about animals that others might miss.

Most of her career has been spent improving how cattle are handled on farms, making systems calmer and safer. (Which is why many farms have safe handing pens for cattle on farms today)But her ideas are just as useful when we think about horses.

Temple reminds us that animals don’t see the world the same way humans do. A shiny puddle, a flapping jacket, or a garden chair in the wrong place might look like danger to a horse. Horses are prey animals, always on the lookout for threats. What seems silly to us can feel very real to them.

As she explains: ā€œHorses have to see the same object from all angles. They don’t automatically transfer learning from one side of their brain to the other.ā€ In other words, a horse that walks calmly past a wheelbarrow on the left rein may still shy at it on the right.

For coaches and riders, this matters. If a horse spooks or refuses, it isn’t ā€œnaughtyā€, it is reacting in the only way it knows. Our job is to slow down, let the horse look, and give it time to learn.

Temple also talks about how animals respond to pressure. A gentle aid, released at the right moment, helps the horse to understand. But rough hands, loud voices, or constant pushing only build fear. As coaches, that means showing riders how to be clear but kind, guiding, not forcing.

And this links horse welfare with rider welfare. A calm horse gives the rider confidence. A frightened horse makes the rider nervous. By putting the horse’s feelings first, we create safer, happier lessons for both.

Temple Grandin may have made her name with cattle, but her lessons about patience, clear signals for animals are pure gold for anyone who works with horses. When we see the world through the horse’s eyes, we become better kinder horsemen.

07/08/2025

Eye tension in the horse.

The horse’s eyes tell us a lot about their emotional state.

Eye tension is a pretty clear indicator of stress if you know what to look for.

In the top photo, this mare was worried and holding a lot of tension.

Even without seeing the rest of her face, this is very apparently in the eye.

The eye lid is pulled up into a triangulated ā€œpeakā€ and her eye is widened, exposing some of the sclera, also known as a ā€œwhale eye.ā€

In contrast, in the bottom photo of the same horse, you can see that her upper eye lid is soft and rounded and her eye is not widened.

Eye lid tension is one of the first indicators you will see of horse’s having an increase of stress.

It can vary in intensity, with low grade stress resulting in slight tension of the lid and a less extreme ā€œpeak.ā€

But if you start to take notice of the subtle changes in your horse’s face throughout different moments, it can help clue you in to when they’re becoming stressed BEFORE they have a big reaction.

It allows you to help your horse regulate sooner, before the stress spirals to a point where it’s much harder to relax from.

Eye lid tension can be present for fleeting moments when horses see stressors that cause anxiety, for example, looking at a new object they haven’t seen before, seeing something in the distance they’re unsure of, hearing a scary noise etc…

But it can also be present due to chronic pain, anxiety or discomfort and in that case it’ll be seen far more often.

It can also be telling if you notice your horse repeatedly becoming tense in the eye following certain stimuli, such as seeing you approach with their saddle or when standing at the mounting block.

All of this is valuable information that can help you to decipher how your horse might be feeling so that you can start to help them relax more.

Stress is a part of life but humans have a major role in ensuring that horses are not living in a state of sustained chronic stress or being put into unnecessarily high levels of stress during training.

We have a responsibility to train kindly and be conscious of our horse’s emotional state. Doing so will also keep us safer by noticing stress before it explodes.

Understanding the subtle signs of equine stress will keep humans safer when working with horses and will also improve horse welfare.

04/08/2025

Late afternoon pony races šŸŽšŸŽšŸŽšŸŽšŸŽ

19/07/2025

ā€œThe three ponies of Polyvagal Theory:

šŸ–¤ Fight-or-Flight Pony – jumpy, twitchy, ready to bolt because someone looked at them funny. Will probably scream if you drop a spoon.
(Yes, this is why you couldn't reply to that text. Or got irrationally angry at the slow WiFi.)

šŸ¤ Safe and Social Pony – this pony is vibing. Makes eye contact. Can handle a chat. Will help you carry your emotional bags AND make you a cuppa.
(This is the version of you that’s brushing your horse, laughing with a mate, and actually responding to emails.)

šŸ¤Ž Shutdown Pony – she’s DONE. Over it. Can’t even. Has entered energy-saving mode like an old laptop.
(Not lazy. Not rude. Just nervous system: unplugged.)

šŸ’”Polyvagal Theory says:
You’re not broken.
You’re not overreacting.
Your body is just trying to protect you — sometimes in ways that feel ridiculous (but make total sense underneath).ā€



Post credit: Equimotional - Trauma-Informed Training & Resource Hub

10/07/2025

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