https://www.facebook.com/844242195607507/

Shona McLauchlan Equine

Home
United Kingdom
Moretonhampstead
Shona McLauchlan Equine

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Shona McLauchlan Equine, Moretonhampstead.

Shona has worked in many different disciples with horses in her career, using the experience over the years and learning from the horses themselves she know focuses on building a good relationship with the horse from the ground up.

15/10/2025

Really honoured to have this article in the magazine about how I came across groundwork and how I now use it with all my horses and try best I can to share with others via my clinics.

Huge thank you to Clare Deitrick for putting my name forward for the article to go alongside her thoughts on how to deal with spooking issues in horses.

Obviously the most important thing is to rule out pain and discomfort but after that it’s great to have training methods to have in place to help your horse.

By using principles from the TRT method and other groundwork practise we really can prepare our horses better and set them up to much better abled to deal with the environmental stressors and situations we ask of them.

The full article is page 90-91 of the current BD magazine for anyone wanting to read it 🥰

11/10/2025

Great work today at the Moreton RC Pole clinic from Ann Sidwell and her very fabulous stallion Paws. A real improvement from the previous clinic with such a clever horse getting the idea and building on confidence.

📅 My next clinic at this venue is 15th November get in touch to book on ☺️

23/09/2025

Another fab jumping lesson where Luca got called normal again 🥳🥳 I mean he’ll never be properly normal but that wouldn’t be him 🤣🤣

I really feel this summer we’ve ironed out some physical issues and changed a few things that have him feeling really good in his body. Along with a bit change he’s really pushing from behind through the corners and we have much better canter ☺️

Lots of strengthening through the winter with a few outings and next spring hopefully get some BS clear rounds 🤞🏻

Still in love with this colour on him from last years Eskadron Heritage collection 🧡🧡 can’t wait to see this years colours. Kindly gifted from the team

21/09/2025

Another weekend covering the north to the south of Devon 🥰

A really fun pole clinic Codden Hill, thank to all the ladies who took part, a real range of size and types. Great progress made in all the groups with lots of super horse and rider combinations,

A new groundwork client on my way up yesterday then another new client down near Plymouth this morning. Always such a pleasure to help guide people on their groundwork journey. Whatever their reason for reaching out and previous experience it’s always such a joy to watch horses find more softness in their body and connection to their owners.

All followed by a lovely dog walk on the moors and meeting this rather fabulous highland she was quite the beauty.

The next groundwork clinic at Codden Hill near Barnstaple is Sunday 19th October and the next pole clinic is Sunday 26th October more dates to follow, please get in touch to book ☺️

07/09/2025

Very grateful to be indoors this morning at Codden Hill in North Devon! Some slightly interesting weather ☔️☔️

A morning full of familiar faces both horse and human. Great progress being made all round and homework for next time 🤓

The next clinic at Codden Hill is Sunday 19th October, several places are already taken so if your interested and want to book on do get in touch 🥰

04/09/2025

Dealing with the spooky end of the arena……

Luca has always struggled with this corner of the arena and I believe it goes right back to very early on in his ridden career and we didn’t know that he had an issue with poll. He did have a very high speed book I now believe that as a young inquisitive horse he would look at the jumps that was stacked in this corner and raise his head this would then lead to an intense pain in his pole region where his atlas was rammed into his axis causing nerve pain. I don’t know for a fact but I think it’s fairly sure that that is what happened.

This pain caused him to get out of there very very quickly and he would spin as fast as lightning and then refused to go near the end of the arena again because obviously it was very uncomfortable and he really didn’t want to go back there which is understandable.

We never pushed him to go back down there we would work our way towards it and if he said no, then we listen to him.

Fast forward six years and he still struggles with that corner of the arena, on some days more than others although he doesn’t have the pain. They are so impressionable at young ages that there is a deep rooted worry in him that truly believes there is something to be concerned about.

The way I deal with this is to ask him to keep his attention on me so as I ride towards this end, I lift an inside rein and wait for an ear flick asking if he will listen to me and give me some attention. If his ear stays back on me then I ride towards it if not then I turn away as I know that he’s not really concentrating on me and he’s still fully focused on the corner.

I play around with coming at it with shoulder fore and I very much feel how he is in his body, whether I ride a little bit closer towards it or whether I turn and ride away from it and keep asking him for bringing his attention onto me rather than the corner. This means that some days we don’t go right into the corner and some days we do but they each have their own emotions and feelings on different days so I accept this with him and listen to how he’s feeling what he is telling me I never force him into the corner because I know this is unfair as he truly believes there is something to be concerned about.

When I lift the inside rein I wait for him to have a rotation of his ear , ideally an ear flip back to me and then I know that he’s trying listening to me not on what is up ahead when he’s really relaxed he has floppy ears on both sides so I know he’s really in tune to my seat and my aid and waiting for the next aid to come.

When both as ears are fully focused in front and I just feel there’s no conversation happening then I don’t force the issue. I know him well enough that all I do is upset him if I try and say no, you’ve got to go down that other end they are all different and we have to take into account their emotions their physical feelings on that day and things that they might hold onto them from the past.

Does your horse have an area of this arena that they spook at? Do you think this would help them?

Address

Moretonhampstead

Website

facebook.com

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Shona McLauchlan Equine posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want your practice to be the top-listed Clinic in Moretonhampstead?