Faunce Holistic Horse

05/14/2026

05/11/2026

05/10/2026

Listening to your horse is an active skill built on observation, timing, and honesty. It means paying attention to what they’re communicating through their body, behavior, and responses and then adjusting what you’re doing to take their preferences into account.

That might look like:
• Letting them choose the route on a ride
• Letting them pick their footing or path through terrain
• Giving them freedom to move and make decisions, both under saddle and in the pasture

This keeps your time together enjoyable for them too, because who wants to spend time with someone who never gives you a say?

Growing up riding in difficult terrain, I was always told to “give the horse its head.” Over time, I realized that when I let them make some of the decisions, we have a better ride and a stronger relationship, assuming it’s a horse I trust and one that has the confidence to do so.

Some horses need more direction to feel secure, and that matters too. But even then, it’s important to recognize their preferences and build their confidence over time.

At the end of the day, it comes down to recognizing that horses are incredibly capable of making good decisions, especially in environments they understand better than we do. If a horse struggles to navigate those environments, it’s often a reflection of limited exposure or lack of opportunity, not a lack of ability.

05/08/2026

My horse Mackhi was doing everything perfectly, so I decided to grab a video… which of course convinced him he should test how much I was actually paying attention 🤣

Even while doing so, he still listened really well. By the end of the video I realized I should probably quit recording, put my phone away, and give him my full attention instead so we were ending on a good note.

He did it correctly right after that, but seemed a bit over it by then, so I set him up for a quick win and we called it a day.

05/05/2026

Horses have incredibly strong memories that are far better than most people give them credit for.

They don’t just remember things for a short time. Horses can recognize people, places, and experiences even after years apart. They retain training cues long after time off, and they remember both positive and negative experiences with surprising clarity.

What makes their memory so powerful is that it’s based on association and emotion. Horses remember how something felt. If an experience made them feel safe, relaxed, or confident, they’ll carry that forward. If it caused fear or confusion, they’re just as likely to remember that too.

They’re also very good at recognizing patterns. If something happens the same way a few times, they’ll start to anticipate it. That’s why consistency in handling and training matter so much. They’re always learning, whether you mean to teach them or not.

This is also why you’ll see horses remember people after long periods apart, respond to cues they haven’t practiced in months (or years), or react to situations that remind them of past experiences.

Their memory is one of their greatest strengths. It helps them learn quickly, build strong relationships, and navigate the world around them.

It’s also a good reminder that every interaction you have with your horse has the potential to stick with them for a long time.

05/03/2026

🐴 Did you know horses only produce saliva when they’re chewing?

Unlike humans, horses don’t produce saliva in anticipation of food—chewing is what actually triggers saliva production. This means the more your horse chews, the more saliva they produce.

Saliva plays a key role in digestion by:
• Moistening and lubricating feed to make it easier to swallow
• Helping form a proper bolus for movement through the digestive tract
• Buffering stomach acid to support gastric health

This is one of the reasons why forage-based diets are so important. Hay and pasture require more chewing than concentrates, which increases saliva production and helps protect the stomach.

Less chewing = less saliva = less natural buffering support.

Supporting your horse’s natural chewing behavior through consistent forage intake helps maintain digestive health, comfort, and overall function.

📖 Learn more about the equine digestive system:
👉 https://madbarn.com/horse-digestive-anatomy/

05/03/2026

5 Counterintuitive Benefits of Massage and Myofascial Release

1. Relaxing Tissue Can Improve Strength

If a horse feels tight, heavy, or inconsistent, the answer isn’t always more work—it’s often less interference.

Tension can look like strength, but excessive tone actually limits how well muscle fibers coordinate and fire.

When unnecessary tension is reduced, muscles can contract and release with better timing.
Strength then becomes a product of coordination—not rigidity.

2. Less Effort Can Create More Power

Power isn’t just effort—it’s efficiency.

As range of motion improves, movement requires less internal resistance. Horses often feel more forward, more willing, and more powerful—not because they’re trying harder, but because they’re no longer working against themselves.

3. You Improve the Back by Connecting the Whole Body

The back doesn’t function in isolation—it reflects the entire system.

Restrictions through the hindquarters, pelvis, or fascial lines disrupt how force travels forward. This often shows up as heaviness in the hand, limited shoulder freedom, or difficulty lifting the back.

When these connections restore, energy transfers more cleanly—supporting a stronger topline, lighter forehand, and more fluid movement.

4. The Tight Area Isn’t Always the Problem

The tightest area is often the one doing the most compensating.

Neck tension, for example, may reflect restriction through the ribcage or reduced support from the thoracic sling. When the underlying pattern improves, the tension often resolves—without directly chasing the symptom.

5. Massage Improves Resilience, Not Just Relaxation

Massage and myofascial work don’t just calm tissue—they improve how it functions and recovers.

They support:

* Efficient energy use within muscle (glucose uptake)
* Circulation and nutrient delivery
* Lymphatic flow and waste removal
* Tissue repair and remodeling

The result is tissue that is more adaptable, more responsive, and better able to handle workload.

A Useful Way to Think About It

Massage removes what’s getting in the way.

When those barriers are reduced, the horse can use his body—and his energy—more efficiently.

That’s where better balance, coordination, and consistency come from.

https://koperequine.com/how-massage-modulates-muscle-and-fascial-tone/

05/03/2026

LEARNING > FLOODING

Springtime always brings out the posts of people using various methods to introduce things to their young horses-and I’m reminded each year how little attention we pay to the physical impact that emotional flooding does to a horse of any age.

Taking a horse past their emotional threshold’s for long periods of time so they can “get used to something” can create a negative association to whatever “that” is. By flooding their mind you’re creating tension patterns in their musculoskeletal system that isn’t training them-it’s shutting them down and creating compensation patterns that can take years to undo.

In this process you’re risking physical injuries that could impact the horses future ability to do whatever job you’re “training” them for.

A pull back or flip over accident can create internal injuries that their bodies will endure forever.

Horses are prey animals, introducing them to domestic practices in a kind and patient way should make them feel safe and curious, not scared and anxious.

Open your mind to kinder practices for the emotional and physical health of the horses long term.

Don’t showcase their fear in practice for clicks, shares, stats and agreeable comments.

We all do things that at some point we can look back on and say “we wish we knew better” but be sure if you’re showing it in real time on the internet-you realize it can follow you forever.

I made a promise at the start of this year that I would do more advocating through my content sharing about the things I see impacting the horses I get my hands on each week and that the horses from dissection bodies are saying….we have to do better.

05/03/2026

Lately, I’ve been struggling to find the right words for something that weighs heavily on me.

Horses are almost always viewed through the lens of usefulness. Even when we say we love them deeply, conversations around them are often cantered on “potential”.

What they can do.
What they can carry.
What they are willing to tolerate.
What they can win.
What they can do for US.

And in that, the individual horse almost always gets lost.

And I struggle deeply with that.

Because they are not tools.
They are not machines.
They are not here simply to serve human ambition.

They are living, feeling beings with their own needs, preferences, and experiences.

I think one of the hardest parts is how normalized it can feel. How easy welfare gets overshadowed by our expectations. And how their value is not measure by who they are as individuals.

I don’t always have the perfect words for this grief. But I feel it often, especially when engaging outside of my community.

And I think that’s why many of us struggle within the industry. Because loving them means constantly confronting how often they are asked to fit into systems that prioritize what they give over who they are.

I don’t really have a polished ending for this. Because sometimes conversations like this are beyond words.

So I want to just end with this:

They deserve to be seen as individual beings first.