Equestrian Relationship Coaching

28/01/2026

How can you honour the light?

I’ve just wrapped up a yummy call with my incredible My Horse is My Mirror coaching group.

This is our third January together.

And tonight we discussed what the half way point of winter brought forwards in them…

And what it meant to them to honour the light.

… so we bring it to you,

What does honouring the light mean to you? ☀️

Cat xx

25/01/2026

An incredibly insightful read written by Maddie.

Nervous system has swept the world by storm. I am part of that sweep!

But understanding the messaging and what’s really at play here- gives us a much deeper and nuanced view of where the balance really lies.

And empowers us to make better decisions and see through the “veil”, that can cloud our critical judgement.

Thank you Maddy for such a wonderful post.

Xx

THE NEW WAVE OF 'NERVOUS SYSTEM AWARENESS' ~ WHY I'M NOT ON BOARD WITH IT

I first began looking at the inner workings of the nervous system, and considering how this might apply to working with our horses, back in 2017/2018. At the time, I think this knowledge wasn’t very well known or taking much of a center stage in horsemanship (in general).

But now, I’m realizing its become a bit of a buzz word – words like ‘nervous system’, ‘attunement,’ and ‘resilience' are rapidly gaining popularity. I always thought this would be a great thing! But, its recently come to my attention to how this is actually playing out and I have to say, I find it rather concerning.

>>> Don't have the time to read? I've started recording the audio version of my shares so you can listen to them like a podcast! 🎙️ Link in comments! (it's free)

22/01/2026

We have one spot left for Reflect, Reset & Create: New Year Workshop

Spend a few hours away from the busy ness of life, and about stepping into a vision that's authentic and sustainable to you & your horse.

Leave behind what's not serving you, and move into the year of the horse with an inner sense of direction and renewed zest for life.

You can expect to be guided through thought provoking questions that brings meaningful reflection that can unlock new refreshing perspectives that put jigsaw pieces in place.

There will be three different areas you will move through: you, your horse and your relationship.

End by channelling your 2026 into a vision board, lose yourself in the creation of something that lights you up, inspires you, and anchors you to what your soul is calling you towards.

Soak in a mindful moment to settle into your body and can step back into your life regulated and replenished. With a sense of completion on the year that has been, and centred clarity for the year ahead.
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So, are you are ready to leave the 2025 blocks behind, and step into the new light of 2026? is the last chance to secure your spot on Reflect, Reset & Create: New Year workshop.

Tickets are £40 and that includes the workshop, workbook and new year tapping.

You can book directly here:
https://www.balanceandalign.com/reflect-reset-newyearworkshop

Or email catherine@balanceandalign.com

22/01/2026

21/01/2026

"Many people love their horses deeply and still participate in systems that cost horses more than they realise"

How can we be responsible, aware and take action that recognises the system that our horses (and ourselves) are in? How can we integrate this into our horse care, training and choices?

If you want to hear more, and work with Emotional Horsemanship by Lockie Phillips, we have the absolute privilege of hosting his first UK Clinic tour.

Where?

Naturally Light Equitation

When?

18-19th July 2026
21-22nd July 2026

There are participant and spectator spaces available, and this is a horse first clinic. So you and your horse will be deeply cared for in the set up, running and post clinic.

You can get your tickets by visiting:

https://emotionalhorsemanship.com/clinics-2722

or emailing admin@emotionalhorsemanship.com

Don't miss it.

Cat x

Care and love for a horse, and the impact we have on horses, are not always the same. Many people love their horses deeply and still find themselves participating in systems or habits that cost horses more than they realise. This isn’t a failure of character, far from it.

This pattern may be a consequence of how normalised certain practices have become in our world.

Facing that truth doesn’t make you a bad person. Recognising your past, your present, doesn't need be be shameful or heavy.

Avoiding it doesn’t protect your horse, or you.

Growth begins when we can stay present with discomfort long enough to learn from it, rather than rushing to defend ourselves from it. Including myself and my faults in this sentiment, inherently.

Horses don’t need our shame.

Horsemanship will not evolve through avoidance.

We might need, now more than ever, our willingness to see clearly and choose differently.

21/01/2026

An epic post by Kim.

What if…

What if we’ve made a huge mistake?

What if our ancestors made a massive mistake when they chose to harness horsepower and put it to use for purely human purposes?

What if in their short-sightedness our ancestors destined one of Earth’s most peaceful, adaptable, longstanding and emotionally intelligent mammals to become nothing more than eternal slaves of human war, transport, commerce, sport and hobby?

What if today we’re pulling the wool over our eyes when we tell ourselves that horses are our willing partners or that they’re “better off” as domestic captives than wild living beings?

What if our planet and its grassland ecosystems actually need horses even more than we do?

What if we’ve become too addicted to our purely human and completely unnatural systems of ownership and money to even care?

What if humanity’s continued oppression of the horse represents our larger unhealthy inability to see beyond our own interests?

If these things were true, what might we do?

When a mistake has been made, isn’t changing course the smart thing to do?

Or are we too far down this road of our own making to even remember there’s another way, or that we’re perfectly capable of making different choices that honor our proper and balanced place in the higher order of things… and gives horses theirs back too?

20/01/2026

There are 2 spots left on Reflect, Reset & Create: New Year Workshop

This Saturday, 24th January, 1:30-4:30pm
Stanwick Lakes.

☀️ Online: Tuesday the 27th of January 7-8:30pm

Where you can join likeminded horse people, process your 2025 and settle in to your year ahead. In your life, your horses life, and where your lives come together- your relationship.

Why?

Because, the truth is, we don’t know what the year will bring.

How it will unfurl.

But what if, you set your inner compass…

And allow it to unfold.

One day at a time.

But instead of chasing something that isn’t you, making more aligned choices and decisions, and letting the magic happen.

The wonderful women who have been to these workshops often share how it helped them…

let go of what the world is putting on their shoulders- and instead step forwards into what feels authentic to them, their horse and their relationship.

Because that is rare 🩵that is freeing.

If you would like to come to the workshop or find out more- get in touch, or book directly through my website.

Cat xx

17/01/2026

It started as a 1-2-1 session.

It grew into a group experience

It grew a vision board

It grew community

It grew year on reflections

Reflect, Reset & Create started on a very different level. And gradually I realised part of the magic of doing your new year ritual… is creating it in community.

To share, discuss, draw inspiration from others, and bring it into the world. Not just in your own mind but sharing it with likeminded individuals who can celebrate and support you in whatever your path may be.

It’s simple and meaningful. Having a circle to share it with- that’s how it was always meant to be.

So come in from the cold, gift yourself a few hours of time, to reflect, reset and create.

Tickets can be booked on my website, or reach out directly,

Stay wild,
Cat xx

14/01/2026

A really important post by Kim.

How safe do we really feel if we do not have the choice to leave?

How might our horses feel if they do not have the choice to leave?

What happens when control replaces consent?

How can we ponder on this, and integrate it into our own training and interactions with our horses, to support the conversations to be safe, consensual and supportive. Not just to the eye but to the nervous system and the body.

Not just a facade of safety but the truth of safety.

Cat xx

What happens to beings—individual or collective, human or otherwise—when control replaces consent; when the addiction to “feeling safe” eclipses core freedoms; and when listening/hearing is sacrificed in the name of care, governance or management?

If we want to know the answer, we could look to current events... or we could simply take a more honest look at the plight of domestic horses.

Horses who are habitually over-managed in the name of love or care.

Horses who are spoken for rather than listened to.

Horses who get “protected” into powerlessness.

Horses who are expected to be calm, compliant, and grateful... and punished when their nervous systems and behaviors speak the truth about how their lived experience actually feels.

Included in that truth is the universal experience (across species) of trauma that's born from being prevented from leaving (or even expressing honestly) when one does not feel safe.

For a prey animal—and this includes humans, too, although we prefer to deny this aspect of our nature—choice and movement are not luxuries. They are sources of regulation. When exit is removed, when discomfort is met with dominance, when the instinct to return (or stay close) to one’s trusted community is punished/prevented/pathologized, the body learns something very dangerous: that survival requires silence (or demands aggression).

And what does a dysregulated nervous system look like at scale?

I'm pretty sure we’re finding out in human society right now, even though the horses in our "care" have already been showing us.

It looks like hypervigilance in bodies that can no longer distinguish between imagined, perceived, immediate, potential and real threats... versus nature’s way (and the way of wild horses) that is present-moment awareness, anchored in noticing the plentiful evidence that, at least for right now, things are okay and the herd is safe.

For a surprisingly long time, systems based in coercive control can appear to function, or even to be healthy. Because the bodies inside them comply. Things often look calm on the surface. The lies we tell ourselves feel safe. The cost is hidden.

Until it isn’t.

Because when enough pressure accumulates—when a nervous system has been denied movement, voice, authenticity and autonomy for too long—the smallest spark can become a flame. But the final straw isn't what actually creates the collapse; it merely reveals how much weight was already being carried.

And once that threshold is crossed, there is no returning to the illusion that restraint was ever the same thing as agreement, acceptance, or meaningful relationship.