Adventure Neighground

13/09/2026

Are you intrigued by your horse's facial expressions and how they are similar or different to another horse?
There is a very interesting 'thing' called Facial Action Scoring.
It won't tell you what the facial expression means, but it will help you identify similarities and differences.
Plus for the geeks doing research papers, it's already creeping into analysis of horse expressions.

In many websites you need to pay to access the materials, but here https://animalfacs.github.io/AnimalFACS/ it's free and there's a test so you can become a recognised FACS coder.

If you have a dog, cat, another human in the house, or a gorilla, there are FACS for those too (and other species).

Another fab example of the research world making their information and methods freely accessible to all of us :-)

A repository to access AnimalFACS information and documentation

12/09/2026

Riding a bucking horse doesn't make you look like a good horseman/horsewoman

Holding onto a rearing horse doesn't make you look competent or skilled

Getting a horse to load doesn't always make you look like you have empathy or understanding

Using a pessoa, side reins, draw reins, cross ties, hobbles or other tying up equipment doesn't make you look skilled, competent or knowledgeable.

Smacking your horse to tell it to go forward doesn't show that you are in control. (No, not even that couple of small snacks because your horse was being stubborn)

Wearing spurs doesn't make you a great dressage rider, and a double bridle doesn't make you county show standard.

Using a flash or grackle noseband doesn't show that you understand how to manage your horse under stress.

Having a BHSAI doesn't mean you understand equine psychology or learning theory for horses or your clients.

Running a livery yard doesn't mean you (or I) know everything.

Let's just get all of that out there.

11/09/2026

Adding onto yesterday's post with the HEYS tool to assess yard welfare, today it's another tool, again free!

It's an app where you can store a huge amount of information about your horse, and share it with your yard owner or trainer (or also vet, farrier etc if they also have the app)

You can record worming, egg counts, training sessions, vaccinations, farriery, behavioural training, vet visits.
You get notifications and reminders.

So we have all got the app and are trying it out.
As a yard owner, I can easily check when any horses are due the farrier. I have instant access to all the worm egg count results.
I can log and document when I have done desensitising work for a specific horse.

The owner can then see my desensitisation record added for their horse.

What it doesn't do.
The mucking out.
Invoices.
Schedule in tasks for staff.
But there are paid for apps which will do that.

Should an owner leave the yard, they will still have all their horse records on their own app. They can just remove me from being linked to their horse.

The paid for version includes AI and will then have advanced features on gait analysis, possibly also GPS and tracking for hacking out, and a variety of extra monitors which you can purchase to give even more advanced inforomation on telemetry. I don't think we are going to need that, or at least not right now.

Oh and if you have an elderly parent or a member of the family with considerable medical needs, hospital visits, you could always pop them into your app 'stable' so your phone has a record of hospital (vet) appointments, medication, outcomes of consultancy reports etc. And you could attach photos of documents etc. This would avoid the need to have a raft of paperwork with you at all times.

Connect equine telemetry, AI riding analysis, and complete yard management in one secure platform. Track performance, health, and lifetime care

10/09/2026

Managing good welfare on a yard is a challenge, with each horse needing slightly (or sometimes more than slightly!) different management, feeding, turnout, rugging etc.
Trying to assess where we are up to is also a challenge.
A new resource specifically aimed at what horses are experiencing on a yard has been created and is available on World Horse Welfare on the linky.
Its free, it isn't going to tell you what you should or should not do, but it guides you through taking a snapshot of where you are right now, and helps you think about how you would improve or change, and what that might look like (both for humans and for horses).

Right now I am seeing a wealth of fabulous resources being created especially from World Horse Welfare which are diving straight into helping horse owners navigate the new learning coming from research. A few years ago I was despondent about there not being enough change, about having to trawl through some pretty weighty books to find the information and then work out how to translate that into meaningful results. This year I am hugely positive about improvements in horse welfare, in the information available, and even the conversations I am seeing where horse owners are demanding adequate turnout. The tide is definitely turning in favour of the horse.

07/09/2026

Do you wear a seatbelt when driving?

Do you wear a helmet when handling a horse?

05/09/2026

Ooo I have dropped followers
For those of you still following, what do you feel might be the problem?
You tell me ....
What works...

What doesn't...

03/09/2026

What IS social license to operate?
Who controls or defines it?
What might it mean for us in the equestrian world?

https://youtu.be/WhWj0BCRQmc?is=NbMoYiKSaFhyyZO3

Dr Gemma Pearson has produced a brilliant video on the link above, for the Pony Club (but tbh, I think ALL of us should watch it!)

If you saw my post about 'Should you use or carry a whip' from World Horse Welfare, well Dr Pearson was one of the main contributors to that publication.

Now here's a thing....
A few years ago I was a bit dismissive of the academics who (I thought) sat in offices, looking at data, analysing it, coming up with unrealistic expectations
Just two years ago that was my perception
And wow it has changed
Those academics are doing the detailed investigation into what is pain, how much rein pressure is acceptable, how tight a noseband should be, how does society influence decision making, what is the future of equestrian sports, how can we protect the horse, what's going on in the horse brain, how do they actually learn....
AND... almost all are experienced horse owners, like you, and me... But they have the tools, diagnostics and information to assess the stuff that matters to the horse.
It's not about what you think, and certainly not about what I think, it's ALL about what the horse is experiencing.

Watch Gemma's video if you are a yard owner, trainer, horse owner, riding school instructor, parent of a child who rides, you ride at a riding school, you are involved in equestrian activities in ANY way.

This isn't about my personal opinion. This is about many many brains much more brilliant than mine, thinking hard about horses.

The video is one of a series of videos, I haven't watched the rest yet, but I reckon they will be fabulous too.

Well done to the Pony Club for being forward looking, and for making these videos freely accessible!

This is part 1 of the Dr Gemma Pearson Lecture Series, in partnersh...

03/09/2026

September.
The start of enquiries from people who see that we have winter turnout not just a few hours a day, or a few days a week, but true 24/7 with ad lib hay provided. And they want that.
Yes you might have suddenly had your yard change their policy on winter turnout so now you need to move. However, more often, people have chosen a summer yard with turnout, but not actually checked the whole year turnout regime. Often that yard is cheap, and cheap BECAUSE they don't have full winter turnout, so they can pack more horses in than the land can support.

That is your responsibility. Finding a yard with turnout.

Before you move onto a yard, find out ALL the turnout availability.

So now, lots of folk want winter turnout and are making enquiries. Here's how it goes... They put their horse here for the winter, trash the fields, but that's ok (as far as they are concerned), then come spring they move somewhere cheaper. Let's face it, my fields will look rough compared to those which haven't had horses on them all winter. Those pristine green pastures are very appealing.

That's not ok.

Firstly your horse has just settled into the routine, got happy with his new friends, my liveries have got to know you, you have benefitted from the extra support we give each other in hard (winter) times. Then you bu**er off.

And leave me with trashed fields, horses here missing their new best friend, a livery space that I need to fill, liveries who have supported you and now get zero return on that.
That's not ok

So if you want to move here and are making enquiries, it needs to be for MORE than just the winter turnout.
Please read previous posts, read the website, be prepared to be interviewed. We are much more than winter turnout, and you need to want much more, be forward thinking and keen to learn about equitation, even if your pony is 11hh, 30 years old and non ridden (and I LOVE the oldies so much) - there is SO much to learn that will enrich their lives, and yours.

So please...
Think
Are you making an enquiry because you have suddenly realized your horse will lose his turnout and display difficult behaviour due to being very stressed (which you saw coming but your current yard is cheap/local/where your mates are)
Or
Are you enquiring because you want FULLY ethical horse care where 24/7 turnout is just one of the whole jigsaw of pieces, and where you are committed to looking at change, being a part of developing ethical practice, enhancing your horse's lived experience?

01/09/2026

Online courses vs face to face
Which do you prefer?

Would you be interested in any of the following?

Faecal egg counts... How to do your own worm egg counts - online or face to face?

Applying learning theory to equine work - online or face to face?

Scentwork online course

Equine body skills - finding heart rate, pulse, gut sounds for your horse, plus body condition scoring and muscle scoring, using a weigh tape and horse body dimensions for weight estimation - online or face to face

Face to face courses would be a half day, so approx 4 hours, on my site here at Accrington, or possibly at your site (weekends only) if there are enough people attending and you have a suitable space to use.

Drop your thoughts in the comments.

If there is interest in any of the above, I will get the courses up and running.

31/08/2026

Badly behaved horses.

Horses behaving badly.

What do we mean?
Rearing, bucking, napping, refusing to be caught, pulling away, napping towards the gate, kicking out, nipping when being tacked up, not standing at the mounting block, not going forwards off a light leg aid, opening their mouth when a rein aid is applied.
These are commonly termed bad behaviours by people.
What the people mean is that the horse is not complying with what they want the horse to do, and very often the horse is then blamed. The horse may even be given derogatory names or attributes such as stubborn, lazy, a 'total git'.

What is actually going on?
The horse is giving you an answer which you don't like or want. There will be a reason for them behaving like that.
And the problem lies not in the horse.
It might lie in...
How their whole day looks (turnout, forage, socialisation)
How they feel within their body (arthritic joints, ulcers, muscle strain)
What they predict is going to happen (aversive riding, loading into a trailer where they have had a bad experience previously)
Their hormonal level
The events that just happened which you didn't even notice (a bucket in a different place, an odd noise)
They are confused by a mixture of signals and cues so they respond to the one which they find most important in that moment.

The horse is in conflict. And all they can do is behave in the way least likely to get them injured or killed (they are prey animals after all).

So that mouth opening with rein contact - that's telling you something about how your horse understands the rein aid, and how he feels in his mouth, and his body about what you are asking.

And that nipping you when you do the girth up - that could be ulcers, a sore back, not wanting to be ridden....

Napping at the arena gate when ridden - your horse wants to be out of the arena. Ask yourself why? What's so bad about being in the arena, and what is outside which is so much better?

When you start trying to think about WHY your horse gives you these behaviours, you can start to look at answers. But the answer is often in changing OUR behaviour, way of doing things, how we train, and in watching for the teeny indicators from our horse so we can respond and redirect things onto a path that the horse is happy with.
Because we ALL want our horses to be happy with what we are asking, and to do it willingly.

Linky for the curious who want to think hard about conflict behaviours...

Unwanted horse behaviours in human–horse interactions are often labelled with historical terms such as evasion, resistance, and disobedience, which fail to recognise current knowledge of the horse’s nature, as well as its mental and sensory ...