Big Dark Horse Development

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Big Dark Horse Development 🐴 Creating confident horses & wilder humans
🐴 Helping riders develop their horses
🐴 Documenting my horse’s starts & restarts
⬇️ Stay & train with us

10/06/2026

I like to let my horses live a bit on the feral side 😊 - they live in turnout and I try to not over-wash or over-groom, beyond making sure they are comfortable any cuts and scrapes stay clean.

But when Cruella was born almost pure white, with that really sensitive, pink, baby skin - I’ve had to learn some things.

As a human with wavy hair, I figured out a long time ago that avoiding sulfates in my shampoos makes a big difference. I normally use purple shampoo to help get the stains off her - but I recently noticed how dry the skin on my hands is after using it (even when diluted).

I decided to try The Gilded Paddock (The Gilded Paddock) because it’s free of all the stuff I avoid putting in my own hair - no sulfates, parabens, silicones, etc.

I also like that it’s made by an actual equestrian woman who had the right skillset to create something like this, and turned entrepreneur.

The Clarify shampoo works BETTER to remove stains on Cruella’s coat than the purple shampoo (and I don’t have to spend 20 minutes standing there rinsing the purple out, either 🤣).

The mane and tail stains are harder - but I saw an huge improvement after the first wash, and I hardly even cared because the change in the look and feel of her hair was so dramatic.

Before using the Clarify shampoo, Shimmer moisturizer, and Glisten spray, her hair looked honestly nasty and the skin on the dock of her tail looked… itchy. Afterwards all the buildup was gone, her hair looked smooth and healthy instead of ready to break and split, and her skin (and my hands!) felt so soft and moisturized.

I love this stuff 🧡

10/04/2026

I am raising Cruella from birth as my next “everything” horse - with specific focus on eventing.

At 17 months old, she is too young to ride - but they are never too young to begin learning about the world. Horses are full-faculty learners at birth - which means she was just as capable of learning new concepts on the day she was born as any of my older horses (albeit with a shorter attention span 😊).

Cruella lives most of her life turned out in a herd, munching free-choice forage, playing with her mom and her friends. But I try to do a little something with her most days - usually in 15-20 minute sessions, to slowly introduce her to the things she’ll see throughout her life and build her understanding and confidence.

These are the key prerequisites we have worked on (and continue refining!) to prepare for getting off property:

🐴 follow the feeling of the halter - even if you get worried
🐴 rewarding curiosity, thinking, breathing, relaxation when encountering something new or scary (we’re going to see lots of new things off-property!)
🐴 the trailer is a mobile stall with yummy snacks; don’t fear it
🐴 stand tied, and/or confined in the trailer, with patience
🐴 wear a ba****ck pad with confidence (she’ll eventually be my snack carrier and wear saddle bags on the trail)
🐴 follow me at liberty and ponied while I ride my confident, older horse at home in the pastures
🐴 and of course, all the foundational fields (move backwards, forwards, sideways from HQ, FH, or together)

Follow along to see how her first trailer ride and off-property experiences go, and how we build to her following along with me play liberty or ponied on the trails.

If you’re interested in learning to work with young or green horses, or dealing with a behavioral issue around trailer loading or riding off-property, consider coming to stay and train with us in Austin, Texas. We offer private residency programs from three nights to two weeks, for deep, focused development tailored to your situation. Link in bio.

09/25/2026

When I bought a pregnant mare a year and a half ago, I had no idea what was about to happen.

I love training young horses but Cruella is the first one I’m raising from birth.

I always dreamt of doing this and believed it would be a peak life experience for me. It’s pretty crazy to think that my expectations were that high, and the experience still absolutely shattered them.

I’m obviously a little biased 😁😇, but I think Cruella is a very special horse. The way she’s wired, plus the emergency circumstances of her first 24 hours created a bond that’s not quite like anything I’ve had with another animal. And I live on a farm with horses, cats, and dogs - I consider myself queen of the animals 😊.

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to have a foal born, Cruella’s full birth story is available on YouTube (link in bio).

I’m enjoying every moment of her life as a foal, now a yearling, and soon a young horse. And I also can’t wait to see who she’s going to be as a grown up one day 🥹🥹

09/22/2026

Energy is the language horses speak.

You can get away with a surprising lack of technical knowledge, if you get your energy right.

You could also have all the technical knowledge in the world and still struggle, if you haven’t mastered your energy.

And you can’t fake it. That’s what draws us to horses. They see the truth, and they reflect it back.

It’s popular on social media right now to say that you can train a horse without ever letting them experience emotional discomfort. I don’t think any living being can even experience life without discomfort, let alone pursue a sport or excellence of any kind.

And we forget for some reason: we are meant to experience discomfort. Humans and horses are meant to experience a full range of emotions, not to live in a perpetual state of placid calm. How boring.

I repeat to myself, “Don’t steal their capability.” It’s a phrase I learned from Dr. Becky Kennedy (a parenting expert with a company and book called Good Inside - whose ideas often translate very well to horsemanship).

My older brother was born fearless - and I was fearful. For some reason, he was obsessed with transferring his experience of the world to me. He taught me to do backflips on a trampoline, forced me onto rollercoasters, dragged me into a cold ocean with big waves. There is hardly anything I’m more grateful for in my entire life.

Your horse needs your love, your kindness, your judgment about how to keep them safe. They also need your leadership.

09/16/2026

When 1,500 lbs says “nope,” it’s pretty hard to contradict that.

Galaxy is an absolutely lovely, well-started, sensitive horse who has developed some tension and some evasive behavior after about eight months off due to health concerns.

When a horse gets the idea to run through the pressure of the halter (and/or the bridle), it can be a tricky problem to fix.

Instead, we have to pull at the following threads:

🐴 why does the horse want to evade our question? (I don’t care what anyone says - horses love to play with us if we give them a good feeling about learning, wear our love for them on our sleeves, and work to improve our own communication skills. I’ll die on that hill 😊.) If they aren’t willing and eager in response to us, there’s something for us to learn.

🐴 does the horse actually understand to follow the feeling of the halter (a.k.a. yield to the halter)? Sometimes we focus on the big movement of the horse’s body away from us, but the reality is that the halter is the aid that is broken. Accepting and understanding of a human asking to steer the head is a sensitive thing, and I find it is a little bit of a training “hole” for many horses.

🐴 does the HQ yield work? If I can untracked the HQ, I can interrupt the pattern of bolting and bring the horse back to me physically and mentally. But many horses interpret any stimuli toward their hind end as pressure to run from. We need them to understand that the stick isn’t scary; it’s just a communication tool.

🐴 are we truly stopping our question when the horse gives the right answer? If we are asking for forward, and the horse gives it, but we still have all the tension and energy of “forward” in our body language, the horse gets confused, feels unsuccessful, and it’s a short hop from there to shutdown or explosions.

Training horses is a spiritual journey that takes study, experimentation, and support. If you’d like support from a mentor who can help you understand and guide your horse, come stay and train with us. Link in bio.

09/15/2026

It’s easy to watch others with a critical eye.

Anyone who came up in a lesson program has probably spent many hours getting shouted at by a trainer and learning by watching others. We learn by seeing good examples and also by seeing mistakes.

But consider the impact of watching others with empathy instead of with judgment. An offhand negative comment could crush the confidence of someone who is taking a huge emotional risk, just by daring to attempt their dream in front of others.

A positive comment could be the kindness someone needs to keep going - even if it’s just “you’re going to get this, I’ve been there, keep going.”

The people you see jumping bridleless on the internet aren’t just magical, talented riders. They are people who found softness and understanding through hundreds or thousands of hours of trying, of making mistakes, of tracking a feeling.

We’re all just going along until we make the mistakes that teach us.

Make more mistakes, not less.

And applaud others for trying, not only for succeeding.

If you want that kind of support and mentorship, come stay and train with us through our 1-2 week residency program in Austin, TX. Link in bio.

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Georgetown, TX
78626, 78627, 78628, 78633

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+13134107813

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