Rachel Windchaser - Horsemanship from Nature

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Rachel Windchaser - Horsemanship from Nature

Horsewoman, Author & Coach. Sharing Horsemanship from Nature and ReWilding from Windchaser Ranch, home of the Spanish Mustangs.

31/08/2026

Monday Field Notes Post
One interesting thing I've noticed this week has been happening in my own herd.
Parker is five now. He's Champ's son. The hierarchy between the boys has been very clear from the moment Parker was introduced.

Champ could move Charlie. Champ could move Parker. Charlie could move Parker, but not Champ. Parker couldn't move anyone.

Over the last few months that's been changing.

It's most obvious at feed time. Parker now walks over and moves Champ off his food. Champ doesn't argue. He immediately goes and moves Charlie, and Charlie just takes the spare place because, honestly, Charlie is more interested in food than conflict.

At first I would move them back, because I can move everyone!, putting everyone back where they "should" be. Then I stopped.

The more it went on, the more I noticed this wasn't just a youngster testing boundaries. Something was changing inside the herd, and I didn't think it was my job to keep putting the hierarchy back where it used to be.

Here's the part I find really interesting.

Parker can now move Champ.
But he still can't move Charlie.
Champ can still move Charlie.

It's such a strange little shift in the relationships between the three of them.

What I've also noticed is that Parker isn't as settled as he was before. He has gained status, but he hasn't gained calm.
He's more alert. More reactive. More switched on to everything happening around him. It's as though he's taken on a role he isn't completely comfortable carrying yet.

It's made me think about other horses I've known.

Years ago I coached a mare whose owner described her as incredibly confident. She'd go first, she'd tackle anything, she'd always be the brave one. But she wasn't confident at all.

She was deeply insecure, and taking charge was how she coped with that insecurity.

Since then I've wondered how often we get this wrong.

How many horses do we call confident when actually they're the ones who feel responsible for organising everything around them?

Maybe what looks like confidence is sometimes a horse saying, "If nobody else is going to do this, I will."

I'm still sitting with that thought.
What do you think?

30/08/2026

MIJAS | HORSEMANSHIP FROM NATURE | 12th–16th OCTOBER

I'll be in the Mijas area from 12th to 16th October and have a limited number of spaces available for private Horsemanship from Nature sessions.

These are tailored one-to-one sessions for you and your horse, looking at what your horse is communicating through behaviour, emotion and response, and what is happening between the two of you.

I'm also available for small group workshops. If you have a few friends or fellow liveries at the same yard, I'm happy to come to your yard and create a session around the horses and questions you bring.

I'll be covering Mijas, Marbella, Fuengirola and the surrounding area.

This will be the last time I will be in the south of Spain this year!

If you'd like to know more or book a space, send me a message.

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28/08/2026

Reality Check: Your FEI Badge Isn't the Mic Drop You Think It Is

Every time someone questions what they see in elite competition, someone eventually appears with the same response.

"I'm an FEI instructor." As if it is a mic drop that ends the conversation. It doesn’t, in fact It raises a much bigger question.

If you're an FEI instructor, then as exactly the person with the influence to change what happens inside that world, why don't you?

Those of us outside it are not the ones who are going to change competitive horsemanship. We can speak, educate and bear witness. We can shine a spotlight on what we see, ask difficult questions and refuse to look away. But we don't write the rules, train the next generation of riders, or stand in warm-up arenas every weekend.

You do.

So please stop coming into spaces where people are genuinely upset by what they see horses enduring and using your qualification as a shield. It isn't a defence of the sport. It's a responsibility.

And before anyone decides this is an attack on the FEI alone, no, western disciplines don't get a pass either. There are plenty of things happening in western competition that deserve the same scrutiny. The difference is that, interestingly, when I raise these questions, it is very often the FEI people who turn up to tell me why I don't understand their sport.

If you want people to stop shining a spotlight on what is happening within competition horsemanship, then stop telling caring horse people they're unqualified to have an opinion. Turn the dial from the inside.

Because you are the ones who have the power to make change while still allowing people to compete, train and participate in the sport they love. If competition wants to continue without increasing outside intervention, then change has to come from within.

From instructors at riding clubs. From coaches. From judges. From stewards. From every FEI professional willing to stand up and say, "This is not good enough."

And I don't mean the people at the very top. I mean everyone working their way up through the system. The instructors teaching children. The coaches teaching amateurs. The people schooling horses every day. The people standing at the warm-up ring.

Because change doesn't begin at the podium. It begins with what we teach people is acceptable.

And the horse being pulled behind the vertical doesn't know what letters come after your name. The horse only knows what is being done to them.

So yes, I'm going to keep shining a spotlight on what I see. I'm going to keep asking questions. I'm going to keep talking about horses whose behaviour is telling us something, even when the behaviour is inconvenient for the sport.

And if you don't want that spotlight there, I understand. But you are the ones who can turn the dial. You have the access. You have the influence. You have the qualifications. You have the position within the system.

Use them.

Because qualifications do not impress me nearly as much as courage. The courage to be a voice for horses when it's uncomfortable, when it challenges your colleagues, and when it risks upsetting a system you've spent years working within.

That's the mic drop I'm waiting for.

28/08/2026

I often say celebrate the no. It's information.

One of the most interesting moments in my conversation with Lockie was this:

"A horse choosing to opt out is the only true data point we have that tells us the horse is still choosing, rather than simply repeating a conditioned response."

When Charlie doesn't want to leave the gate, I don't see that as a wasted day. I see it as information. His "no" tells me where he is in that moment. For me, that's the difference between obedience and conversation.

Choice doesn't mean letting a horse do whatever they want. It means recognising that a refusal is part of the conversation, not the end of it.

I'd love to know what you think. Does that change how you see a horse saying no?

The full conversation, Too Much Turnout? A Conversation with Lockie Phillips, is now on my YouTube channel.

27/08/2026

"Horse first, not methodology first." One sentence from my conversation.

I believe this not to be about abandoning principles or who we are as horsepeople. But, being willing to question whether even the practices we believe are ethical are still serving the individual horse in front of us.

Please sit with that and let me know how it lands.

26/08/2026

Champ is a problem solver. He thrives on mental engagement... and the kindest horse I have ever met. And I have met a lot of horses!

25/08/2026

When I first read Lockie’s post about turnout, I instinctively disagreed. The title was provocative, and I almost recorded a response video.

Instead, I asked him for a conversation.

I think difficult ideas are worth exploring rather than simply reacting to. And this conversation made me think about something we perhaps don't talk about enough:

What is the quality of the turnout our horses are experiencing?

I hope you'll listen with curiosity.

25/08/2026

Three places for one-to-one coaching

Sometimes the problem with our horse isn't really the problem we think we're trying to solve.

Your horse won't leave the paddock. They stop at the gate. You feel like you've lost your connection. You keep trying different things, but somehow the conversation still isn't working.

And eventually you start wondering whether you're the problem.

You're not. But there may be something in the conversation that neither of you quite understands yet.

This is where I work.

Through Horsemanship from Nature: Navigation Sessions, we spend four weeks looking closely at what is actually happening between you and your horse. We explore what your horse is responding to, what you are communicating, what you might be missing, and sometimes whether the destination you're aiming for is actually where you want to go.

There isn't a prescribed method to follow. There is your horse, you, and the conversation you're having together.

We'll work through individual coaching, video review, observation and experimentation between sessions, with a summary after each session so you have something to come back to as you continue exploring.

The aim isn't to give you another set of things to do. It's to help you understand enough to ask your horse a question they can actually answer.

You bring the problem. We navigate what's really happening.

I'm opening three places for new clients.

If this feels like the conversation you've been looking for, send me a message with NAVIGATE and tell me a little about you and your horse.

Investment: €375 for the four-week coaching programme.

Rachel

24/08/2026

I almost recorded a response video, instead, I asked Lockie Phillips if we could sit down and have a conversation.

This wasn't about winning an argument. It became a much bigger discussion about quality turnout, structured rest, choice, welfare, and what it means to put the horse first.

Some parts challenged me. Some parts confirmed what I already believe. That's exactly why I wanted to share it.

I'd love to hear what you think after you've watched it.

🎥 Link in the comments

22/08/2026

Horses respond and process in the present.

But they don't arrive empty handed.

Your horse brings memories, experiences, learning and expectations. What has happened in the past can influence what they think is going to happen now.

And that means what we do today has an influence on the future.

Because today's experience becomes part of what our horse carries into tomorrow.

So when you are with your horse today, ask yourself:

What am I leaving them with that could impact their future?

Field Notes In Motion

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