The Little Morgan Horse That Could

08/24/2026

08/20/2026

🤠

08/19/2026

no one tells you how hard it is to rewire your brain to allow amazing things to happen after experiencing so much trauma or pain…

blessings exist, good people exist, & a softer life exists…

let it happen 🫶🏼

07/12/2026

💞

07/08/2026

I think one of the deepest forms of self-respect is no longer forcing your nervous system to pay the price for environments your spirit already knows are unsustainable…

🫶🏼

05/05/2026

I Do Not Know Who Needs To Hear This Today…

…but riding can, and could, be a meaningful part of an ethically minded horsemanship program.

A lot of people who start questioning their training end up in a crisis around riding. You start wondering if it’s fair, if horses should even be ridden at all. You hear they’re not built for it, not designed for it, that it’s unnatural. Then you look around and try to find good examples. Maybe you find a few, but mostly… once you see it, you can’t unsee it. A lot of horses are, in some way, made to do it. Conditioned over time to not question that riding is just part of their life whether they like it or not.

So people stop. Or they keep riding, but it doesn’t sit right anymore.

This morning I was teaching a lesson and found myself saying something that felt important, even to me as I said it. Riding is important to me and my horses. Not essential, not something they have to do, but something that adds to their lives when it’s done well. And at the same time, I’m very clear that not all horses should be ridden. Some don’t have the body for it, some don’t have the mind for it, and those horses shouldn’t be part of riding at all.

But for the ones who can be, we can at least try.

Because the benefits of appropriate weight-bearing work are actually very clear now. Done well, it builds strength, supports soundness, reduces pain over time, improves longevity. But that only holds true if the weight is appropriate, if the horse is taught how to carry it, and if it’s built up progressively rather than just expected.

And this is where I think it changes.

Because unlike us going to the gym and lifting dead weights, the weight a horse carries can be something meaningful. It can be the person they trust, the person they enjoy, the person who actually knows how to help them carry it instead of just sitting on top of them and hoping for the best.

At that point it stops being extraction. It stops being obligation. It becomes a relationship and a conversation. Something that can actually be interesting for the horse, something that keeps them thinking, adapting, staying mentally sharp as they age.

And that version of riding looks nothing like the stuff that makes people want to quit in the first place. It doesn’t feel the same, it doesn’t look the same, and it doesn’t produce the same horse.

Not all riding is equal.

And not all riding is unethical.

04/25/2026

basic needs are NOT optional

It can feel heavy when we’re told we’re being antagonistic or judgemental… for asking that a horse’s basic needs are met.

Not preferences.
Not trends.
It’s not “my way vs your way.”

It’s BASIC needs.

This isn’t about opinion or preference. It’s literally what years of welfare science tells us horses REQUIRE.

And to be clear, this is not about emergencies.
Or medical restrictions.
Not temporary situations where something has to be adjusted for the horse’s safety.

This is about the choices made every single day.

The setups.
The management.
The routines that continue, not because they have to but because someone decided that was “good enough”.

Because that’s where this conversation actually lives, in the day to day management decisions that prioritize the human convenience, not the horse.

And if that feels uncomfortable, that’s not something that can be softened without losing the point.

Because this isn’t about US.
It’s about what the horse requires to function, physically and mentally.

There is progress. There are more people speaking up than ever. Comment sections are shifting. Discussions are shifting.

But the pushback still matters, a lot.

Because it shows that, for some, meeting a horse’s basic needs is still seen as optional.
Debatable.
Or worse… confrontational.

And that’s the part that sits heavy.
But because it shows how far we still have to go.

So these conversations aren’t going anywhere at least not on this page.

Because basic needs are not optional.