07/09/2026
“Don’t just do something; stand there.”
A client relayed this quote to me during a lesson recently; it struck me how incredibly relevant it can be when working with horses.
Every day I encounter good-hearted people who are trying their absolute hardest to do the best for their horses.
They put in the time.
They put in the money.
They put in the effort.
They put their whole soul into trying to help.
But sometimes… is it too much?
I recently had a client realise that all of her good intentions were, quite literally, making her horse worse.
He was struggling, and she was desperately trying to help him. So she added another supplement. Then another. And another.
Each one was purchased with the best of intentions.
But eventually, she realised that instead of helping, the combination was contributing to the problem.
When is the time to do something — and when is the time to stand there?
We can become so focused on doing that we forget to stop and observe.
Change the feed.
Buy the supplement.
Change the bit.
Try a new exercise.
Add another training technique.
Buy another piece of equipment.
Sometimes the answer really is to intervene.
But sometimes the most useful thing we can do is… nothing.
Stand there.
Watch.
Listen.
Gather information.
Let the horse show us what is actually happening before we decide what to do about it.
Because knowing what to do is often easier than knowing when to do it.
Sometimes, we need to stand there long enough to understand the problem before we start trying to solve it. 🐴
