13 Shillings Equestrian Center

11/12/2025

“When a horse is calm and understands what is being asked of them, they don’t buck with a rider. Not because I train them not to, but because they don’t feel the need to.”

Celebratory bucks.
I don't believe in celebratory bucks, because I don't have bucks show up under saddle very often.
I don't punish bucks, or buck a horse out. I don't use restrictive techniques to prevent a horse from bucking, and I definitely don't use oppresive gadgetry. A buck is feedback that needs to be addressed,bnot repressed.

I still don't have bucks come up with any regularity. This photo was one of the three times I rode a buck over the last 5 years. Remeber my job is to start young horses, and work with troubled horses. Lots of them. It wasn't a celebratory buck. This moment wasn't from pain or anxiety either, but the other bucks I experienced were. All three were, however, the results of an error on my part.
I would say the most common reason I see for horses bucking is anxiety, but that doesn't mean it is the most common reason. Before I work with a horse with bucking issues, I ask owners to provide a clear vet and physio report. This means that I don't end up seeing as many of the pain related cases, as they are identified before I am needed. Pain may be the cause for bucking just as often as anxiety is. Saddle fit, injury or chronic pain.
Anxiety is the overwhelming cause for bucking that I see, but it is wide ranging. A horse may buck when it gets scared and can't get away from a rider holding them in, but it can also get anxious when it doesn't understand what is being asked of it.
For example, a cue for an canter transition. Kicking, or whipping to get the canter is not a communication, it is a forceful manipulation. A horse might stumble on the right answer and canter to get away from that force, but often they will get anxious about it and buck.
So, an anxious horse trying to get away, but being held, or an anxious horse not wanting to go, but being forced to,
might buck.
So what is the other reason? Like the horse in this photo. This guy used to struggle to take a united canter, and would buck to 'organize his legs'.
It is something I usually address on the ground, with exercises to help prepare for the canter depart. I am working on some videos on these exercises for my Patreon page, but it's obviously not in the scope of this article.
On this occasion I had a great photographer on hand and she asked me to canter. I knew I hadn't worked on this youngsters canter depart enough, but wisdom left the building, and I did it anyway. The smile was not glee at riding a buck, it was me laughing at my own stupidity.
It is usually around this point in the discussion about celebratory bucks that someone points out that horses run and buck from excitement when loose in their fields.
They do, and there is a function of this behavior.
If you have even seen. group of horses turned into a new pasture, you would have seen the run, kick and buck as they cover the entire area in a few seconds. They are in a heightened state, and this practice is designed to flush predators from long grass, while the herd is in a heightened state of alert.
I don't want to be riding a horse in that mental state. There have been studies on how often equestrians misread anxiety as excitement in horses, and this phenomenon adds to the celebratory buck myth.
When a horse is calm and understands what is being asked of then, they don't buck with a rider. Not because I train them not to, but because they don't feel the need to.

Photo credit: Catherine Grace Jackson

11/08/2025

Ok ok — now that’s something to be proud of !!!

The UK is NOT following the FEI's lead! 🚫
KEEPING THE BAR AT HIGHER WELFARE

British Showjumping (BS) confirmed they will NOT be changing their national rules. This means at British national shows, the presence of blood will still lead to automatic elimination.

This is a brave, clear commitment to putting horse welfare first and protecting the sport’s Social License to Operate (SLO).

If the UK can stand firm, other nations that voted 'No' (like Germany) can and should do the same.

We stand with the British Equestrian CEO, who said: "removing automatic elimination for visible blood is a step backwards."

The fight is now at the national level. We will continue to demand transparency from the FEI and push all our National Federations to follow the UK's ethical lead!

Fédération Equestre Internationale

11/07/2025

Oh dear FEI, you are heading in the wrong direction …and poorly conditioning much of the industry along with your actions.

10/23/2025

We support when people, let alone entire organizations “for the horse” say what they mean, and mean what they say.

This reminds me of a typical unfulfilling relationship, always words over action, no action over words - looks like these 2 epidemics have something in common😳

Dear Fédération Equestre Internationale & Equestrian Canada,

I am writing to express my deep concern and formal objection to the FEI’s proposed amendment to Article 259, which would downgrade visible bleeding from a horse’s mouth or nose from an elimination offence to a recorded warning.

Currently, this rule is covered under Article 241 (Eliminations) of the FEI Jumping Rules. The proposed amendment would move it to a new Article 259 (Recorded Warnings), effectively reclassifying bleeding as a minor administrative issue rather than a welfare breach.

This change is entirely inconsistent with both the FEI Code of Conduct for the Welfare of the Horse and Equestrian Canada’s stated commitment to ethical, welfare-based sport.

The Code clearly states that:

“The welfare of the horse must be paramount and must never be subordinated to competitive or commercial influences.”

Visible bleeding, no matter how minimal, represents tissue damage and pain. It is not cosmetic. It is not inconsequential. By permitting riders to continue competing after such an occurrence, this rule normalizes injury and desensitizes both participants and the public to equine suffering.

The proposed change creates multiple welfare and reputational risks:

• It incentivizes riders to continue competing horses with mouth, nose, or soft-tissue injuries.

• It reduces accountability when equipment or rider error causes harm.

• It erodes public trust and threatens the social license to operate for equestrian sport in Canada and internationally.

At a time when horse welfare is under increasing public scrutiny, relaxing welfare safeguards sends a dangerous message that competitive outcomes matter more than compassion.

This is the opposite direction our industry should be moving.

I urge Equestrian Canada to:

1. Publicly oppose the proposed FEI rule change to Article 259.

2. Advocate for the retention of elimination as the standard consequence whenever bleeding is observed, regardless of the cause.

3. Reaffirm Equestrian Canada’s commitment to evidence-based welfare policy and transparent representation of Canadian horse owners, riders, and welfare professionals at the FEI General Assembly.

Thank you for standing up for the horses who cannot speak for themselves.
I trust that Equestrian Canada will act with integrity and courage on behalf of equine welfare and the reputation of our sport.

Sincerely,
Brie Simpson

10/20/2025

It really isn’t that deep, it’s just foundation.
And how they were introduced to it, imprints them for the rest of their life.

🐴 The Groundwork Gap: Or How Being Brilliant in the Saddle Isn't Enough

There’s a certain irony with equestrians: the better people get at one thing, the more allergic they become to feeling like beginners again.

A talented young event rider once brought me her young Clydie cross - anxious, unpredictable, and prone to bolting. The vets had cleared him, the tack was fitted, but something didn’t add up.

So I stripped everything off and turned him loose in the round yard. Within two laps, a problem revealed itself - he couldn’t canter a balanced circle to save himself. He’d rush and get discombobulated. I told her, “You’re asking him to gallop cross-country and jump stuff when he can’t even stay upright on a circle. He’s not naughty—he’s freaked out he’ll fall over.”

The logic landed. Until she said, “I don’t do groundwork.”

Ah yes—the phrase that has quietly ended more riding careers than kids and financial resources combined.🥺

It made her feel clumsy, awkward, uncoordinated - a beginner again. She would apologise profusely as I coached her. Apologising because she wasn’t learning fast enough… and then apologising for apologising when I told her to please stop apologising 😕.

She stopped after two sessions - apologising she was just hopeless at groundwork - and went back to riding through it. A few weeks later, she fell off and broke her ribs. That was over ten years ago, and her name hasn’t appeared on an eventing start list since.

It’s sad - not because she didn’t try, but because she felt so much shame at the discomfort of learning something new. That awkward, messy stage that’s actually normal.

Versatility isn’t optional; it’s what separates capability from calamity. You can be brilliant in the saddle, but if you can’t help your horse from the ground, you’re only half a horse person.

Versatility makes you adaptable to the horse's needs.

So be versatile. Be curious. Embrace the messy. Fight those shame demons in your head 💪—for the sake of both you and your horse. ❤️

Collectable Advice Entry 57/365 to hit SAVE, SHARE...and no copying and pasting!

10/08/2025

Pressure is a privilege. It means things are expected out of you.

Credit: Wild Hearts Photography

09/23/2025

It’s not just a black dot (one cause/problem), it’s a collaboration of all the systems of the horse as a whole. And the cure?

— a collaboration of all the equine professionals covering each corner of the horse as a whole.

Now, just to deem if/which system(s) is failing, and if it is being managed by a professional, why is this happening.

“That’s the way they are/will always be / you can’t fix that” is not a valid explanation (excuse). Along with any other downplay of an issue in relation to the horse’s behaviour or function.

Look at this Picture - What Do You See?
(A long post for those with resilient attention spans)

The Problem with Only Seeing the Problem

Be honest - your eye went straight to the dot, didn’t it? You zoomed in on the flaw, the mistake, the tiny blot that interrupts the clean page. That’s how most of us are wired. School taught us to circle errors in red pen, work taught us to obsess over weaknesses in performance reviews, and riding horses taught us to fixate on heads, hocks, necks - the “problem.”

The black dot ⚫️

But here’s the thing: your horse isn’t the dot. Your horse is the whole bloody rectangle.

And the sooner we stop dot-hunting, the sooner we actually start seeing what our horses are showing us.

1️⃣ The Seduction of the Black Dot

We humans bloody love a black dot. A lame step here, a sticky joint there, a hoof angle that looks like it was filed during happy hour. We cling to that single “wrong” thing because it gives us something to blame. Something to circle, name, and throw money at.

But horses aren’t black dots. They’re the system - the muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, organs, hormones, biochemistry, posture, motion, behaviour, and more... including yes, the attitude they give you when you turn up late with the feed bucket.

2️⃣ When the Black Dot Doesn’t Show Up on the Scan

💔 Here’s the truth: sometimes the X-ray machine or ultrasound won’t find the black dot. Not because the horse is faking it, but because the problem isn’t a neat little lesion hiding in a diagnostic pixel. It’s the entire system that’s overloaded, crooked, or worn down.

And that disappoints people. We love a dot we can circle in red and say “Ah, there’s the villain!” But clinging to dot-thinking blinds us to the obvious. The evidence is etched in the horse’s muscles, posture, and behaviour. The horse is telling the truth with every wonky step, every over-developed muscle, collapsed core, or sour expression. We just have to stop dot-hunting long enough to believe them.

3️⃣ Compensation: The Body’s Survival Party Trick

Horses are world-class compensators. If something hurts or feels tight, or one side’s stronger than the other, or the saddle fits like a torture device, the body doesn’t stop. It adapts. That’s compensation: the body’s way of staying upright, moving forward, trying to feel comfortable and keeping you from landing face-first in the dirt.

It’s clever. It’s essential. It’s also a ticking time bomb. Because when the horse leans on the same compensation strategy, step after step, day after day, tissues designed for variety and balance start waving little white flags. Eventually, something gives.

4️⃣ Load Transfer (a.k.a. Force Transfer for Nerds)

Every step a horse takes is about load transfer - how weight and stress move through the body. Biomechanics nerds call it force transfer, but it’s the same idea.

⚖️ If the ground reaction force (that’s the push from the earth every time a hoof hits the ground) doesn’t travel through the joint in a neat, balanced way, the soft tissues have to fight like mad to stop the joint twisting into oblivion. A little of that? Fine. Every damn step, every damn day? Hello tendon injury, fast-tracked arthritis, anxious horse or much more.

5️⃣ The White Rectangle View

The rectangle is where the truth lives. The posture, the history written into muscles, the way they stand, move, swing, bend, and rotate. The way a horse’s behaviour shifts when its body isn’t coping: the refusal, the napping, the agitation at the mounting block.

See the rectangle, and you stop playing endless whack-a-mole with symptoms. You start seeing the story. And that’s where prevention, longevity, and actual soundness live.

6️⃣ So What Do We Do About It? (Spoiler: Stop Thinking Like Accountants)

This is the part where someone always asks: “Yes, but what can we do?” As if there’s a neat checklist, a black dot solution to the rectangle problem.

The answer: stop thinking in silos. Start thinking holistically.

Hooves: A foot isn’t just a foot. It’s a bloody foundation stone. An unbalanced hoof torques everything above it. Farriers aren’t trimming toenails; they’re managing load transfer.

Teeth: That uneven wear isn’t cosmetic. It twists the poll, skews the neck, derails the front end. Teeth give the brain important data. If the teeth are out of whack, the data is faulty — and the whole body pays.

Saddle fit: A saddle that pinches or slides doesn’t just annoy the horse. It rewrites posture, one compensation at a time. You’ve just trained asymmetry, not to mention damaged tissues.

Gut health: Fascia, muscle tone, and behaviour all go to hell when the horse’s internal chemistry is off. A cranky gut = a cranky body.

Bodywork & training: The right hands and the right exercises don’t “fix” the horse. They give the system options. They remind the body of pathways it’s forgotten, instead of forcing it to hammer the same old crooked groove.

No single guru, gadget, or injection is the magic dot preventer. It’s the collaboration — vet, farrier, dentist, saddle fitter, nutritionist, trainer, bodyworker, and your impact in the saddle — that keeps the rectangle intact.

7️⃣ Believe the Horse

Here’s the take-home message: stop waiting for the X-ray fairy to conjure a black dot so you can finally “believe” your horse.

The horse has already told you. It’s etched on their bodies and it’s shouted through movement and behaviour.

Believe the horse 🐴. Believe the rectangle.🔲

Because once you stop dot-hunting and start rectangle-seeing, you don’t just fix problems — you PREVENT them. You don’t just “manage” breakdowns — you stop them happening in the first place.

That’s how horses stay sound, willing, and alive in body and spirit. Not because we circled the right dot, but because we finally had the insight to see the whole bloody page.

RESPECT✊: To Tami Elkayam Equine Bodywork for opening my eyes and teaching me to see rectangles and not black dots. Canter Therapy Podcast just released a full discussion with Tami on this exact topic. We also discuss some seriously important insights about mares - link below❤

09/15/2025

Sometimes the most disturbing and troubling part of restarts/rehabbing horses that come in with behavioural issues, resistance, tension, unpredictability or some form of “off-ness” is what you can’t see.
Vets often can’t quite put a finger on it, or write it off a simple “pissiness or don’t want to work mentality” - or if your saint of a horse indeed does not protest, it could perhaps appear as lack of try, extendable movement or maneuverability and results in training plateaus or atrophy (not just lack of muscling - ATROPHY, which in my opinion, is always unusual).

Yes, the most troublesome part is in fact what you can’t see - what’s not common - what doesn’t fit into the generalized blanket of assessments - what the previcox, hormonal supplements, or injections can’t relieve.

And then there’s the pressure from the outside world to “push them through it”, deeming it as simple protest from behaviour (which as mentioned here is caused from poor/unethical training in the first place) or perhaps the riders lack of experience or skill in working through the matter.

But I think most of those riders/owners, deep down, if they know their horse and have core values around the animals welfare first (and that behaviour is not developed around spiteful resistance)…they know when something isn’t right and don’t believe in what they’re being advised to do.
But pressure from the higher ups and other “professional opinions” in this Wild West of an industry can be overwhelming and quite convincing. But if you really look into it, what really can go so horribly wrong and astray from the horse’s once sustainable evolution, which we’re currently so badly scribbling over the lines of…these dysfunctions are there, and disturbingly, they’re becoming common.

The work done here at our own farm, working with whatever comes through the door looking for help and explaination, has been such an eye-opener.

So best to get ahead of the game, and start training your eye now

09/06/2025

09/02/2025

When seeking a mentor, find someone who is a better human than you.

Find someone who is grounded to a moral code
Find someone who is less judgmental, more patient, stronger emotionally, and more giving.
Find someone with strong boundaries and a soft heart.
Find someone who you aspire to be like- if you aim for 100% and manage 60-70%, that’ll be far and above where you already are.

Aim for the top, with a sharp eye on where you want to be. A mentor models how to be a better horse person, but more importantly, how to be a better human.

08/25/2025

Mic drop .

"I'm not telling you it's going to be easy. I'm telling you it's going to be worth it." -Art Williams

How many things in life does this apply to?
A healthy diet
Exercise
Setting clear boundaries in your life

Animals have taught me so much about how to better take care of myself through taking care of them ❤