Herd Life

13/02/2026

Emotional expression is strongly encouraged 🩵🐴🦄

The herd don’t hold things in.

If something unsettles them, they move it through their bodies.
A snort.
A run.
A shake.
And then… they settle. Back to safety, to grazing,
back to connection.

The Herd, don’t pretend they’re fine. When they don't feel fine!
Like humans do.....
We tighten up. We push it down.
We tell ourselves it’s not a big deal.
We try to keep it “together” all the time.
And slowly, that unspoken stuff builds pressure in the body.
Tight chest, short breath, tight shoulders.
Tension, stress, anxiety, irritability, fatigue, meltdowns, shut down.
Emotions with nowhere to go.

Expression doesn’t mean losing control.
It is simple honesty.
Acknowledgement,
“I’m actually hurt.”
“I’m overwhelmed.”
“I’m angry.”
“I’m sad.”

Simple. True. Human.

The Herd remind me every day that emotion is energy.
It’s meant to move.
When it moves, the nervous system settles.
The body softens.
We reconnect with ourselves.

When you are feeling, feelings.

Let them move safely.

Name it.
Write it.
Art it.
Speak it.
Sing it.
Neigh it.
Breathe it.
Move it.
Stretch it.
Yawn it.
Walk it.
Run it.
Gallop it.

Sit with it, with The Herd
and just be with it.

Experience it.
Express it.

Nothing heals in suppression.

Remember we don’t have to carry everything alone.

Just like The Herd
There is power in connection & community.

11/02/2026

Sorry for disturbing you Shay and Rainy.
You just look so very sweet resting under the tree 🌳
🐴❤️🐴

08/02/2026

Some days are just hard.
Not in a big dramatic way.
Just heavy.
Flat.
Tired in your bones.
The kind of day where everything feels like effort and you don’t really have words for it.

I have those days.
A lot of us do.

On those days, I don’t try to push myself out of it or pretend I’m fine.
I don’t try to “fix” the feeling.
I just try to get through the day in the kindest way I can.

By doing less.
Being quieter.
Letting things wait.
Spending time with the horses and not needing anything from them.

Hard days aren’t a sign that something is wrong with us
They’re just part of being human, and living in a body that feels things.

Sometimes getting through a hard day is as simple as staying.
Breathing.
Making it to the end of the day without being cruel to yourself.

And that’s enough.

If today feels hard, you’re not alone.

And you don’t need to be anything other than exactly how you are right now.
❤️🐴❤️🐴❤️

#

08/02/2026

🐴❤️ THANK YOU!!!!!! To every single person who has supported our GoFundMe so far.

Your generosity, encouragement, and belief in The Herd mean more than we can easily put into words.

So far, $410 has been raised through GoFundMe.

While that amount doesn’t move us closer to purchasing land, it has been used, to buy two large round hay bales, for The Herd.

We were deeply humbled to receive an extraordinary private donation of $6,000 from one incredibly generous person.

This gift has allowed us to clear a significant debt that has been weighing heavily on us and the work we do.

That relief has been profound, both practically and emotionally.

This journey has never been linear or easy. There are moments where progress looks quiet, unremarkable, or slower than hoped, but every step still counts.

Every contribution has helped sustain and protect The Herd in very real ways.

With gratitude and renewed steadiness, we now move forward and continue our mission, to care for the horses, and to share their extraordinary wonder with you.

Thank you for walking alongside us, whether through donations, sharing, kind words, or simply holding us in your thoughts.

07/02/2026

I am trying, deliberately and sometimes uncomfortably hard, to change and unlearn many of the behaviours, ideas and attitudes, I absorbed through my horse life.

Some of them are obvious.
Some are deeply ingrained.
And some, I’m discovering, were invisible to me until they weren’t.
One that caught me completely off guard is part of regard.
It surfaced the other day with Frenchie.
She allowed me to "catch" her and put a halter on so the vet could attend.
That alone is no small thing for her. She does not enjoy being caught, being haltered, or having pressure placed on her.
She is far more settled and regulated at liberty.
Liberty isn’t an option with the vet.

I’ve already changed the way I approach this moment. I no longer go to "catch" my horses.
I ask, “Can I get you?”

That subtle shift matters. It changes my nervous system.
I’m no longer moving like a predator. I’m orienting toward consent, or at the very least, respect.

After Frenchie let me approach, halter her, and we both took a moment to breathe and regulate, I said automatically:
“Good girl.”
She looked me dead in the eyes. And in that look was a very clear question:
Are you serious?
It stopped me cold.
Because suddenly I could hear just how condescending that statement is.

Who am I to judge her behaviour?

Who am I to decide that her tolerance, her discomfort, her compliance under pressure earns her approval?
If I’m honest, “good girl” carries an unspoken condition:
You performed the way I wanted you to.
That’s not neutral. That’s not benign. That’s not respectful.
It implies a hierarchy where my needs, my timeline, my outcomes justify evaluating another living being as “good” or “not good.” And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
This moment has left me sitting with some uncomfortable but necessary questions about freedom, autonomy, and our entitlement, human entitlement, to label others based on how well they meet our expectations.

I don’t have a neat conclusion here. Just a deep pause.
And an invitation to consider how often our language, habits, and praise are less about connection, and more about control.

Something to sit with.

06/02/2026

🎨 You are invited to join our Open Art Group

Saturday 28TH FEBRUARY 2026

Held on the last Saturday of each month

From 12:00–4:00 pm, with The Herd.

This is a relaxed, welcoming space to spend time creating in the presence of the horses.

Bring a plate to share and your own art project, or simply join in with the Herd Life group art project.

There’s no pressure to make anything specific and no need to be “good” at art.

You’re welcome to create, sit quietly, chat, observe the herd, or just be.
The Herd naturally sets the tone. slow, grounded, and honest.

This time is about connection, creativity, and shared space.

No bookings. No expectations.
Just art, food, community, and time with The Herd.

You’re warmly welcome.

Message for further information.

03/02/2026

“What do you do with your horses?”
It’s the most common question I’m asked.

Hidden inside the question is an assumption that horses must do something to justify their existence.

Race. Perform. Compete. Produce. Carry. Achieve.

My answer often surprises people.

NOTHING
And yet, it is far from nothing.
I love them.
I care for them.
I keep them alive.
I protect them.
I spend time with them.
I learn with them.
I provide for them.
I listen to them.
I support their emotional, physical, and mental wellbeing.
I regard them.
I respect them.
I honour them.

They are not projects.
They are not tools.
They are not commodities.

They are living, feeling beings, and they are enough exactly as they are.

Sometimes, the most radical thing we can do with horses,
is to let them be horses.

And to stand beside them, fully present, with no expectations and nothing to prove.

02/02/2026

🌳 Hanging out, in the trees with Baby 🐴🩵🌳

31/01/2026

Alright, legends, quick check-in from us 👋

First up ✨️

❤️🐴 A massive THANK YOU to everyone who has donated, shared, liked, commented, messaged, and quietly cheered us on from the sidelines.
Truly.
You’re the good eggs.
The kind of people who put the shopping trolley back and let others merge in traffic.
Absolute gold. 🐴💛

Now…
To the rest of you watching this like it’s a Netflix series 👀
We see you.
You see us.
So… what’s the hold-up?❓️❓️❓️

This GoFundMe isn’t a scam, a pyramid scheme, or a “thoughts and prayers” situation.
It’s real life.
Real horses🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴
Real costs.
Real people doing the bloody best they can.

If you’ve ever thought:
• “I should donate”
• “I’ll share it later”
• “Someone else probably has”
This is your sign. 🆒️
Later is now.

Someone else hasn’t.

If you can donate ✨️legend behaviour.

If you can’t donate ✨️sharing helps more than you think.

If you’re just scrolling ‼️
🛑 stop mucking about and help your mates out.

Every dollar counts.
Every like & share matters.
Every bit of support keeps this thing moving forward instead of us yelling into the algorithmic void.🗣
Thanks for being here.❤️
Thanks for backing us.🩵🐴

And if you haven’t yet........
Now’s a ripper time to jump in and help us out. 🩵🐴🩵

31/01/2026

Do nothing with us.

It's so beneficial for our mental, physical, and emotional health.

OK, let's try it........

5 seconds later

Oh wow.

It's harder than it sounds,

Try doing nothing.

And it soon becomes very clear, just how go go go we humans are.

Today, sitting with The Herd doing nothing but resting, in the shade,

Maggie showed up to show me how it's done.

Well worth practising.

Thanks Maggie ⭐️ 🐴

28/01/2026

Blessed

🐴 I am learning important things from living alongside The Herd.

They don’t need to be trained how to be horses.
They already know exactly who they are.

For a long time, the focus was on making things happen, correcting, shaping, fixing.

What shifted everything was accepting that the work isn’t about teaching horses how to behave, but learning how to collaborate.

Horses aren’t unfinished.
They’re not confused.
They’re not waiting for us to explain life to them.

The real work is ours.

Learning how to communicate clearly.
Learning how to listen without ego.
Learning how to create enough safety and trust that working together becomes possible.

When things don’t flow, it’s rarely because the horse “doesn’t get it.”
More often, it’s because the system we’ve imposed doesn’t make sense to them.

Acceptance doesn’t mean lack of boundaries or purpose.

It means meeting horses where they are and asking deeper questions,

and accepting the answers the horses give.

“How can we do this together?”

That shift from control to collaboration changes everything.

💙🐴

28/01/2026

🐴 I am learning important things from living alongside The Herd.

They don’t need to be trained how to be horses.
They already know exactly who they are.

For a long time, the focus was on making things happen, correcting, shaping, fixing.

What shifted everything was accepting that the work isn’t about teaching horses how to behave, but learning how to collaborate.

Horses aren’t unfinished.
They’re not confused.
They’re not waiting for us to explain life to them.

The real work is ours.

Learning how to communicate clearly.
Learning how to listen without ego.
Learning how to create enough safety and trust that working together becomes possible.

When things don’t flow, it’s rarely because the horse “doesn’t get it.”
More often, it’s because the system we’ve imposed doesn’t make sense to them.

Acceptance doesn’t mean lack of boundaries or purpose.

It means meeting horses where they are and asking deeper questions,

and accepting the answers the horses give.

“How can we do this together?”

That shift from control to collaboration changes everything.

💙🐴