Dark Horse Therapeutics

02/07/2026

Dear Horse Teachers (from a speech therapist):

I’ve had a couple folks reach out recently interested in my work because they have horsie people in their lives with communication challenges. Here are some general ideas that anybody can think about when teaching riding and horsemanship to someone who might communicate in a different way.

1. Say less

This might sound weird coming from a speech therapist, but one thing I immediately notice from parents / teachers / caregivers / friends of an individual with a communication disorder is they talk too much. When we notice a lack of words, we feel uncomfortable and tend to want to fill the space. Someone with trouble expressing themselves might have something to say; it could just take longer to say it. Or, maybe I have something to say, but its hard to get it out, so I get comfy allowing others to fill the space. Make space for these voices in your barns and arenas. Literally count to 5 or 10 in your head before asking a question or adding another comment. It will feel like forever in awkward silence but I promise: you want to hear what they have to say.

2. Routines foster independence

How many mini steps are involved in catching grooming and tacking a horse to get ready to ride? Build routines into your lesson structure that minimize the need to ask questions or request assistance. Post steps and reminders in visual format to reduce reliance and over-helping. Do the same get ready and put away routine every time so that the expectations are in place and we can challenge ourselves with new information at other times in the lesson (like the riding part!).

3. Let the horses do the motivating

I’ve seen some beautiful healing and therapeutic interactions between horses and humans in my time offering equine-assisted therapy. That’s how I know its important not to force it. Often we have this idea that horses are going to be a magic element and the nonspeaking child will “suddenly talk” on the back of a horse… and maybe that could happen! But probably, like anything truly therapeutic, progress will happen steadily over time. I know that horses aren’t motivating for everyone, and this is especially important to be aware of when working with people with communication disabilities. Just because my mom thinks I look cute on the pony, doesn’t mean it feels good for my body. The magical effect of horses (at least for certain, er, -special- horse-crazy people like us) is that they keep us coming back, every day, every week, showing up in calm presence. Humans can harness (no pun intended) this interest in students, but interaction with horses has to be intrinsically motivating for the learning to work.

I’d love to hear any strategies or tips from others teaching riding and horsemanship with students with communication differences. I hope mine are helpful and spark some ideas. Happy horsing!

12/30/2025

So sweet 🥲

Something which tells me a great deal about the kind of people I get to teach and support is how many of them have, 'The Very Best Horse In The World'.

I find myself smiling and biting my tongue when the 5th person of the day says to me, 'The thing with Blossom is that she really is more intelligent than most other horses'.

Or, 'I don't think you'll ever meet a horse who gives us much as Jigsaw'.

And points out repeatedly, 'I know other people think their horse is the best looking, but you'll really never see another horse as lovely as Sugarpuff'.

What I particularly enjoy is how vehemently people tell me this about an old, brown, slightly tattered around the edges pony. Or a creaky ex-racehorse. Or a cob of no known origin.

A good friend and student recently wrote about her mare, 'When I count my blessings, I count her twice'. And even just typing this now makes me weepy.

And the truth is it is very rare to meet a horse or pony I don't like a great deal. And who isn't - in a good light with a kind cameraperson - the best looking horse you'll ever see.

I mean, none of them are - The Very Best Horse In the World - because fortunately for me, I managed to acquire all of those.

But the rest are pretty good runners up.

12/29/2025

This is a great question! For me, gym time. Kettlebells and long walks. Also cooking and connecting with non horsey friends.

12/29/2025

The first time I fled from a bad barn situation, I rode my horse with all his tack through the woods up a river bank down the road and trailer loaded him on the side of the highway. He was a Selle Franciase who looked pretty out of place on a ranch with cows. He was probably wondering what the hell he was doing there, and why he had to learn to haul in a stock trailer (my best option on short notice).

Not my finest moment, but the lesser evil. I had been fired for taking off work for my little brother’s graduation and my boss took hay and water out of my horse’s stall. Time to go.

Horse people are crazy.

I hate hearing that stereotype but most agree it is true: if the general population has 1 in 10 difficult personalities, the horse industry has got to be the reverse. 1 in 10 reasonable folks, 9 in 10 the sorts that make you want to pull your hair out.

I’ve asked several mentors I respect in the industry why this is the case. Some say it’s about passion and doing it for the love making emotions run high. Others say it’s because it’s a tough industry, everyone’s stressed, overworked, and hard up for money.

To me it makes sense that people attracted to horses are either seeking healing in the horses’ peaceful nature, or seeking something they can control. Seems like two sides of the same coin.

Operating in the horse industry is a minefield of navigating the human personalities. I take pride in being kind and a good communicator. I’m tempted to believe at times that if I can listen well enough, if I can just say the right thing, it will work out.

It’s not true.

It’s a damn shame that the communities around these beautiful animals are often rife with high drama and controlling personalities. Good intentions get wrapped up in ego. Harsh, mean edges might blend with tough love and cowboy logic.

Am I part of this dynamic? Definitely. I care, a lot. I’m eager for opportunities and might overlook red flags if it means access to horses. I’m totally guilty of rainbows and puppies dreamy horse girl energy that might feel really annoying to someone struggling.

I’m still working on my nose for these pickles. While I feel I’ve generally been lucky and done a good job maintaining relationships in the industry, I’m counting three times in 15 years now I’ve felt the need to make a quick exit. Three time’s a charm, third time on Winter Solstice, the longest night. Seems like a clear mark to end a pattern.

I’m reflecting on this shift and remembering that these are God’s creatures. We may care for them, but they don’t belong to us. A horse is not a therapist. They are not here to heal our brokenness or serve our egos. Horses are whole people who give us a chance to see outside ourselves and grow our capacity for connection to the Other.

Unless you’re really stuck.

Unless you really, really need horses in your life, but you aren’t ready to receive their gifts yet.

So you dig in against perceived threats with a black and white perspective. Dominant, submissive. My way or the highway. You create little pockets of chaos, putting others down and repeating painful patterns.

The way you do one thing is the way you do everything.

You can get a horse to do most things with dominance, but not all. Horses give us opportunities over and over to do the hard work of shifting our perspective. The reward is endlessly deepening connection.

I’ve said this before and it bears repeating: horses are 1,000 chances to start over.

I’m closing up shop in January to enjoy my honeymoon and take a much needed break. Look for Dark Horse to reopen in 2026 with good vibes and happy horses. 💜🐎

12/21/2025

"He's fine once I'm on" 🐴

Often when I’m taking history from a new client they will list behavioural issues like turning away when they bring their tack in, pulling faces when tacking up, refusing to stand still at the mounting block, throwing their head up and bracing as you put weight in the stirrup. This is very often followed by “but he’s fine once I’m on”.

If our horse is communicating all of this discomfort in the lead up to us getting on, I guarantee what we’re experiencing once we get on board isn’t a horse who is “fine”, it is a horse who is compliant and knows that once you’re in the saddle there are no other options on the table and he has to just get on with it.

Horses are very compliant animals, its actually really easy to make them do stuff they don’t want to do and there are countless tutorial videos to show you how to make them, they’re just dressed up as “building connection/being a good leader/teaching respect/building confidence”.

Your horse isn’t moving away from his tack because you’re not a “good leader”, he’s moving away from his tack because he finds what comes next uncomfortable/scary/painful.

Usually we have already made it quite difficult for the horse not to comply by applying pressure until they do the thing we want them to do, so for them to still be trying to communicate their discomfort to us is very telling.

This is one of the main reasons I believe giving horses real choice is so important in training. Tapping a horse with a stick/putting pressure on the reins/flapping a flag and only stopping when the horse does the “right” thing is not giving the horse a choice. It is telling them there is only one choice if they want the uncomfortable thing to stop. If we’re persistent enough, and it doesn’t have to be high pressure just persistent, most horses will eventually give in and comply, despite often being in pain or frightened.

If instead, we prioritise listening to the horse communicate with us and set up training scenarios where they can give us those clear answers, we may really not like those answers, but this is how we train ethically and also how we can start to actually problem-solve.

The inconvenient truth is most behavioural issues are rooted in chronic stress and/or pain. A lack of explosive behaviour is not a green light to continue, “gently” ignoring their communication is still ignoring their communication, I have a post I really want to write on this but I can’t quite get the words out today so I wrote this one instead.

I do not ride horses unless they’re fine before I get on. If we want to train ethically we need to get really good at reading our horse’s communication and then using that information to make appropriate choices, not trying to figure out how to make them comply despite it. 🐴

12/14/2025

Happy snow day! ❄️ 🐎

12/12/2025

Tempo -

Being in a steady rhythm is essential for the horse to be able to let go of their back. But you can't discuss rhythm without getting into tempo, which is the rate at which those steps occur.

When I was learning this years back, I rode six or more horses with my teacher in a day. In the first lesson, she would encourage me to get the horse into a longer stride. In the second lesson, I would warm this next horse up in the last lesson's tempo, and my teacher would say "woah! Don't run this horse off his feet! Slow the tempo!" I was very confused at first, thinking there was a perfect recipe for each horse. But what I learned through these lessons was that each horse was unique in their ideal tempo - and that this tempo could change over time.

The correct tempo helps the horse develop engagement, elasticity, and connection into the bridle. It is essential in helping the horse relax by creating correct swinging over the back.

With the wrong tempo, a horse can feel rushed, stiff, "soggy" and unengaged, nervous, heavy, or behind the bridle.

So how do you know what the right tempo is?

Riding is part art, part science. In a nutshell we are looking for downward flexion of the joints married with forward impulsion. This recipe has never steered me wrong in my guesswork. Too fast stiffens the joints and you lose joint flexion. If the stride is too slow you obviously lose forward impulsion.

But here are some ways to guage if you are riding in your horse's best tempo:

-the rhtyhm is very steady. The correct tempo makes pure gaits: a four beat walk, a two beat trot, and a three beat canter. Too slow or too fast makes the gaits scrambled, and you will not be able to count a clear repeating rhythm

-Your seat can feel and follow easily. Too slow and your seat will feel like shoving, closing off your hips. Too fast and you will not be able to feel the hind legs due to tension and rushing. The just right tempo feels like your seat wants to just settle right in.

-the horse is now in its own power - you don't feel like you have to pedal or restrain constantly, because you have the circuit of energy connected

-if you're riding on contact, the horse feels soft but connected to both reins - not hiding behind, not bearing down on, but right with your hand

-the horse is calm but focused. In the wrong tempo they can feel distracted, spooky, or evasive.

-You can give a half halt and it goes through easily. If you are in a regular cadence in the correct tempo for your horse, your aids go through easily, just like ice cream melting over a warm piece of pie. It is not jerky or resistant, but wonderfully connected.

This is of course a complex topic - many people try to relax their nervous horses by restraining them in too slow tempos, and this can drive some sensitive horses crazy. Alternately, many hypermobile horses are driven way too fast beyond their safest range of motion.

Feeling for their focus, breathing, and elastic swing through the back as evidence of correct tempo will never steer you wrong.

12/08/2025

There comes a point in learning where it becomes tedious.

Initially, when you’re introduced to it, you’re pulled in by promise, excitement, and sometimes very quick immediate changes. You feel something you’ve never felt before and crave it, you want to keep it.

But then, it fizzles. Your old habits come back, your magic feeling fades. To get it back, you must make normal the movement patterns and ways of being that created it.

This is where daily practice comes in- tedious, tiresome but essential daily practice. Fine tuning your habits, your thoughts and disciplining yourself to continue creating what you desire.

It can only be yours to keep when you work to make yourself the kind of person who can create it for themselves, as a new way of normal. And this cannot be given to you or sold to you- discipline and daily practice of excellent habits are the only ways to achieve this, there is no way around it.

Stop seeking just the thrill, and learn to love the mundane - because that is where all magic is made. Big changes are made up of little things done well over time.

12/08/2025

Congratulations to my friend and client Judy for being up and out at the barn two weeks post hip replacement! Judy, you are the epitome of committed horse girl. 🫡 Jesse is so lucky to have you for a mom!

Jesse and I had a beautiful lesson with Monsieur Durand with Judy and crew to cheer us on. Special thanks to .kathleen and Loki for being on the support team. Great day! 🥰

12/04/2025

12/02/2025

The pelvis, dont ignore it when looking at the shoulders !!! The whole body will tell you a story

I see allsorts when I am out and about, tilted forward, tilted back, tilted sideways, one side higher than the other, pokey up tuber sacrale, one tuber coxae waving hello in full view while the other is shy and hides away.

I have gone to work on a horse that had eating issues after the dentist, yet was presented with the horse backing up to get a good scratch on their tuber ishciums and while we are there we may as well have a good old feel to make sure one is not heading down towards the hocks while the other is reaching for the sun😉 and when you ask the owner their answer is "oh yes they are always asking for their butt to be scratched" ummm that tells me alot

Two places i look when checking the back is the scapula and pelvic angle now I dont want to draw lines on them trying to achieve the perfect degree angle of what a text book tells, horses bodies are not textbook perfect so why do we strive to see lines that a horse may not fit into??
As always I try to make things understandable and in digestible bites and well this is how I explain it to owners
Think of two chairs back to back with a cover over them like when we used to build dens, the more the chairs tilt towards each other the more the cover will sag and that cover is your horses middle, it also creates the tell tale atrophy, if the chairs are twisted it will create a twist through the body, if the chairs are to far apart it will create a tighter restrictive middle.

We need to change the position of the chair backs to bring the cover back to a less saggy middle🙂

Now we can manipulate, push, pull and often achieve a temporary change yet often because the soft and connective tissue surrounding the area has been that way for a long time its like an pulling an elastic band and not expecting it to just go back to where it was before when you let go,.we often think its only a pelvis or scapula issue yet mostly these angles change because of something else going on so often all we are doing is just chasing our own tails

Pain, pain anywhere in the body will always affect other areas, ever had a horse that is sore at the poll, and yet has gut issues ?? They come in a tandem and while we concentrate only on the poll to "fix" the area we often forget there is a head in front of it and a whole lot of body behind it, so would we start at the point of pain or work our way round to ask did the source of pain stem from one singular area, if your horse is camping under with the hinds then we find something somewhere else then just addressing one area is like leaving a door open to problems further down the line.

Which side is the wrong side?? We often see one side as an issue when both are not correct think of the pelvis like a box when one side is shifted then all the soft tissue connections on both sides will compensate one side may be strong yet to taut the other may be lax yet both need to taken into consideration.

Shoulder assymetry, well first there is no perfection in symmetry, if I had a penny every time I saw a picture of a dorsal view of the horse where everyone is pointing out the shoulder discrepancy yet no one notices the pelvis I would be rich and you can jack one foot up till the cows come home but every cow will probably have a problem in their back, every high low heel horse i have met i have never be concerned about the scapulas my concern always focuses on their back.
Remember different limbs have a different function in movement, the two sides of the body have different organ location, the two sides are not a mirror image of each other so why would we strive for perfection in symmetry.
Stop looking at just the scapulas as the only issue scan your eyes across the horse and see if you can find similar issues at the jaw, eyes, occiput, limbs, pelvis, and your horse must always be standing square to assess these !!!

A hamstring issue is hardly ever a hamstring problem look where the tendons attatch we can massage the area till our hands are sore but we also need to find the reason why or else it will just be a rinse and repeat, how many of you have been given homework of a hamstring massage yet they are still the problem area on the therapist return, I have never ever given a hamstring massage technique as homework for my clients as the problem has never been there they are just the result not the reason. Have you ever been told the reason why???

I dont live in a world of perfection I live in a world of this is how the horse is and can I make it better, I dont want to keep things as the are for the owner and the horse as both cannot stagnate and not move forward, but i dont want the owner to not see what i see and its why I try to be less jargon more action.

I see many many horses that are out there that do ok but my philosophy is it always could be better just dont strive for perfection as often that is the end of the rainbow we just can't reach and we can often miss out on enjoying our time with our horses trying to reach an impossible goal.

Of course this is my own opinion and experience of many horses out there doing ok with all those imperfections that leave the social media world aghast🙂