Mindful Horse, Mindful Leader

24/02/2026

So delighted last week to receive my hard copies of Equine Leadership.
The photos look fabulous, such rich colours sitting alongside words of wisdom and colourful tales.

A great gift idea. A collection to delve into as an antidote to these times; stories of nature, connection and earth based ritual, all inspired and guided by horses.

Calmness, Connection, Compassion…one breath at a time.

19/01/2026

It’s here! The 11th volume of Equine Leadership’s collection of short stories inspired by horses is now online, news of hard copy to follow in the coming weeks.

As we approach the Chinese Year of the Fire Horse, what better than to seek guidance from equines?

Delighted and honoured once more to be a contributing author.

Please share this around, a different paradigm for living is so needed now.

Calmness, Connection, Compassion…one breath at a time

Equine Leadership Volume 1.1 ~ A Paradigm of Positive Living Greetings and welcome to our newest volume of Equine Leadership. We invite you to find time for yourself, grab a warm beverage and a...

06/01/2026

A great reminder for all horse caretakers.
Having cared for horses with PPID (Cushings) in the past, and having had to assist an older pony with metabolic issues that collapsed from heat distress on a high 30s day, this advice is essential reading.

13/10/2025

Whilst the horses we partner with in equine experiential learning are always living in paddocks, in groups, many horses are not kept this way and are subject to greater stress.

This research shows the importance and benefits of play to help horses recover from environmental stressors, such as noises, restriction etc.

In our work we often actively encourage play, for both humans and horses. We could all benefit from more play time!

Calmness, Connection, Compassion...one breath at a time.

🦄 Want a happier horse? Research shows playtime makes a difference!

A new study by Jodi Anne Howard and Neville Pillay from the University of the Witwatersrand examined whether play behaviour could help horses cope with acute stress and improve their decision making abilities.

The research involved horses managed under two very different systems: intensively managed riding-school horses and pasture kept horses.

Each horse was exposed to a short but intense noise stressor, then given the opportunity to interact with a large ball (object play), and was subsequently tested in a decision-making maze to see how well they could choose a food reward.

The findings showed that exposure to stress increased negative emotional behaviours and made decision making less accurate, particularly in intensively managed horses.

However, after just a brief period of object play, horses showed more positive emotional states and their ability to make correct decisions improved dramatically compared to both their baseline performance and the stress-only condition.

Notably, while both management style and s*x influenced some behavioural responses, play consistently returned horses’ behaviour and emotional state closer to normal.

The study concluded that allowing horses regular access to playful enrichment activities can help mitigate the effects of acute stress, especially in environments prone to sudden noise or restriction, such as riding schools.

These results prove that incorporating play and cognitive enrichment into your horses management is a simple, practical strategy for supporting better welfare and resilience.

📖 Hold your horses: The effect of play behaviour in horses (Equus caballus) under imposed stress. Jodi Anne Howard & Neville Pillay.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159125002503

18/09/2025

Preview time! As we approach the Equinox, a time that calls us to remember the need for balance, a time to pause and reset, a time to realign with the shifting seasons, it is a joy to follow the thread that runs through the upcoming Volume 11 of Equine Leadership, which will again be available as hardcopy when published.

I invite you to read and share these previews with anyone who could benefit from the wisdom of horses.

Calmness, Connection, Compassion....one breath at a time

Welcome to our 11th volume of Equine Leadership, a collection of short stories sharing the voice and wisdom of the horse. Each volume starts with a theme. This year, we chose: A Perspective Beyond...

28/07/2025

Thank you Equine Leadership.
Always an honour to share the wisdom we can learn from being with horses in tune with Nature.

Calmness, Connection,Compassion…one breath at a time.

04/07/2025

I love the transitions of the skies and light on a winter’s day after days of rain and cloud; the light starting to break through, revealing contrasts, highlighting aspects, shading others.
Winter is the season of rest and reflection, the opportunity to reexamine where we are and what we want to release before the spring and longer days return, before Nature bursts into busyness, urging us to be more outward too.

What is standing out in your life?
What needs release? As we move towards next week’s Full Moon in Capricorn - an earth sign of structure, responsibility, restraint - reflection on these themes may help.

Uranus moves into Gemini next week too (7/7)…the planet of disruption, revelation and higher thought in the sign of communication and the mind.
Uranus governs the nervous system as well as technology; Mercury ruled Gemini is a fast paced air sign, so the shift from earthy Ta**us will cause a surge of energy.

Deepening your embodied connection to the Earth will help tether your energy. Take a tip from the horses, stay attuned to the elements, graze in the light after sheltering from the storm.

Calmness, Connection, Compassion….one breath at a time.

13/06/2025

For those curious to understand the benefits of partnering with horses in developing embodied leadership, increasing social and emotional intelligence, here's a post I shared on Linked In recently with my colleague Jackie Smith from The Wisdom of The Horse.

Calmness, Connection, Compassion...one breath at a time

Experiential learning is so helpful in creating transformative experiences through deep insights. From a neuroscience perspective, as Amanda Blake teaches, transformation (i.e. sustainable, long term change)requires insight to be both verbal and visceral. This felt, embodied learning, facilitated by...

08/05/2025

You cannot feel safe unless your body feels safe.
You cannot be fully attuned to another if you are not attuned to your own body.
You cannot create ease in your mind if you cannot create ease in your body.

You can consciously influence your connection with yourself by paying attention to your body, your somatic experience.
You can consciously influence how your energy impacts others through somatic awareness.
You can improve your life and relationships by improving your somatic and energetic awareness.

As an equine partnered practitioner, continuing personal development is hugely important; shadow work, spiritual growth, and somatic awareness are all part of that. Good, in-depth training takes us on a journey of personal growth and insight, but somatic work is often overlooked. We may pay more attention to our horses' bodies, or our client's soma than our own.

As a somatic coach I help people understand their somatic conditioning and the shape that has created, and support them in somatic opening, to show up how they want to in their relationships, with themselves, their horses, their family, their colleagues. It is deeply transformative work.

If you work in equine assisted services in Australia, join me at the Nature Based Therapies Australiaconference at the end of May at Glenworth Valley, NSW, to get a taste of this, and to share knowledge and learning with like-minded souls.

Bookings close 10 May.

Calmness, Connection, Compassion.....one breath at a time.

11/04/2025

Looking forward to this conference, catching up with colleagues, meeting new practitioners and sharing experience and knowledge! If you are a practitioner in the EAS space, or interested in becoming one, I highly recommend attending in May.

Calmness, Connection, Compassion...one breath at a time...

26/03/2025

Looking forward to this conversation.
Join us at the NBTA conference for equine assisted practitioners in May.

Calmness, Connection, Calmness…one breath at a time.