03/07/2025
Horses are naturally pure and in step, they know how to be in perfect harmony, ears and tail swish together and always present ♥️🐎
Good horsemanship and hoofmanship should first be, all about the love for the beautiful horses themselves.
Pure horsemanship and hoofmanship is about the love for both horses and humans.
In the way that we train, love and care for our beautiful horses overall and in the way that we show up, in genuine kindness, respect, warmth, love, help and support for others.
Horses are always the ones that should come first in all of this and good horse people should always support and champion other good horse people, no question.
If you have a special gift and knowledge, I believe you must be willing to share it generously, kindly and open heartedly with others.
Pure horsemanship and hoofmanship is about the love for both horses and humans.
Meaning there absolutely must not be any human ego, fake, one-upmanship, untruth, neediness, me first, or holier-than-thou attitude, disrespect, confusion, force, manipulation, coercion, exclusion, unkindness or bullying of any sort, on any level, in any way.
I can’t stand any of that type of behaviour or people with agendas, hidden or otherwise.
Being insecure or defensive also shuts down growth and new learning.
Horses above all else teach us humility.
There is a humble assurance and quiet reassurance to good professionals and they know their work is a vocation and a lifetime dedication. Their talents and skills are always reflected back to them perfectly, with an awareness about how they are doing and the things they need to improve on and they accept it with good grace and a positive attitude, always keen to learn more.
A warm welcome, bright smile, good manners, humility and genuine acts of kindness, go an extraordinarily long way too.
A true horseman or woman with an aptitude for something, does not need to bark loudly and tell the whole world how good they are, or try to prove anything to anyone, they just quietly keep their heads down and carry on.
Genuine horsemen and women are where they are through their own good merit, true achievements, love, commitment, dedication, study and genuine hard work.
Horses teach us that there is always something more for us all to learn and improve on and quite often, it has nothing much to do with learning about the beautiful horses themselves.
Everyone is unique, you cannot emulate someone else or be something you are not.
We can all learn from each other and most of all, from the beautiful horses, they have so much to say, without saying a word.
Good people are naturally good people, they will always have something genuine to offer the beautiful horses and other human beings.
There are no shortcuts, to a place worth arriving at.
I believe the only way forwards, is to embrace all good people, willing to take the time and dedication to train properly in useful skills, learn correctly, practice honestly, lead by example, be reliable, do what they say they are going to do and help to educate others.
This means that a person is willing to be better, learn and improve, for the love of the horses and other human beings and that can only be a good thing.
Diversity, fluidity and the ability to adapt yourself is key and really important too, because not every horse or human are the same.
It means with the same ethos of love and respect for the horses and humans, anything is possible.
If as many good people as possible train well, in good horsemanship and hoofmanship skills and offer diversity, the brighter the future is for the horses and the better it is for the humans, that also love to learn and practice for their own horses.
It is up to all of us, to pull together strongly as a team and do the very best we possibly can, for the good of the incredible horses, because after all, they are the one ‘true gift’ in all of this.
A successful team beats with one heart ♥️
Good professionals know how to collaborate and work strongly together as a team, because they know it is not about them as individuals, it’s about the bigger vision for the beautiful horses and that they come first, in everything.
The more good people training, joining forces and leading the way, in fine, intelligent equine practices, each bringing their own positive, unique and special skill set to the table, the better for the horse world ♥️🐴
The more people there are, with an intelligent ongoing education and deep knowledge, the better and brighter the future is, for all the beautiful horses and humans and the faster any old, damaging ways will be replaced and become obsolete forever and not before time.
Now is the time to act and acquire as many good, knowledgeable horse professionals as possible, training with exceptional people, especially the way some of the equestrian world is at this current moment in time.
The public are watching and equestrian practices and pursuits are very much in the public eye and on the line, people can see when things are wrong, more than ever before, especially with the explosion of social media.
There is a subtle, but conscious movement happening in the horse world and people are pushing for change and they want to see better practices for the horses and not before time.
We must all try harder, to be better human beings for the beautiful horses and for each other too ♥️🐴
Empathy is realising, that it is the ability of the beautiful horses themselves, who show us the way and teach us so much.
Their ability to shine their beautiful lights on us like stars and share generously with us, their deep and vast knowledge about themselves, always reminding us, that we are their ever listening, learning and humble human students.
We do not need to prove anything, the horses show us everything. We have all we need, right there, with them.
"Equitation is not the search for public acclaim and self-satisfaction after applause.
Nor is it the pleasure of every prize, or a judge or jury's admiration at a show.
It is the head to head dialogue with your horse and the search for communication and perfection."
Nuno Oliveira
