IN my line of work, I often meet new people while teaching at clinics, or holding online workshops or sessions. There are a few things I hear again and again from the people I chat to - one of the most prominent phrases being, ‘they just do ‘x’ out of nowhere!’ In my experience however, these things rarely happen out of ‘nowhere’.

All of the fun things our horses do, bucking, broncing, rearing, bolting, kicking, biting...there is usually a build up to those actions, and a few signs before they happen. It’s up to us to start reading and recognising those signs, and advocating for our horses. The best thing about this? The second we recognise the signs, and start to support our horses through whatever it is that is upsetting or overstimulating them, they start to trust us more.