Next Level Equine

Viggo Mortensen once said:
"Someone once asked me what horses taught me most. I said—everything I needed to unlearn.
They don’t care who you are, or what you've done. They respond to how present you are in that exact moment.
Over time, I realized that if I approached people the way I approach a nervous horse—with patience, with honesty, and without ego—life became a lot quieter, a lot clearer.
You don’t control a horse. You earn its trust.
And maybe that’s the lesson for everything else too.”*

There’s this old, tired idea that riding is about control. That dressage is about making the horse submit. Taming the wild. Forcing precision.

But here’s the truth:

You don’t ride to break the horse. You ride so 𝑦𝑜𝑢 don’t break.

Because the horse isn’t the chaos. You are.

Your fear. Your tension. Your ego. Your overthinking.
Every crooked thought runs straight down the reins.
And the horse? He doesn’t care about your excuses. He shows you exactly who you are.

So you learn to breathe. To feel. To listen more than you speak.
You learn to hold your position in the storm.
You learn to ride into the fire, not to dominate it, but to survive it.

Dressage doesn’t make you perfect.
Done right, it makes you unbreakable.

Not because you control everything. But because you learn to hold your seat when everything falls apart.

It’s not about who you are when the ride begins, it’s who you are when you dismount.

Watch Ada Draghici LIVE!!!

It will be published on this page, as well as on my YouTube very soon 💛🪽
I hope you love it!

So wonderful!

•getting to the root of the problem• The horse industry is a cruel place. Yes there are people who do it right, but we are still the minority by a long shot. There are many trainers like myself who are available for hire for individual horse owners looking for a better way. I change the world one horse and human pair at a time. It's quality work, but it is slow. I put out content on the Internet, but that is even slower. You know what really supercharges change? What could flip the industry on it's head with a tidal wave of kind horsemanship? LESSON BARNS!!! Often totally forgot about once outgrown, those beginner lesson barns have a massive grip on the entire future generation of horse culture. What those kids learn there, before even owning a horse sets them up for a lifetime. Even if they do not continue in the horse industry as they grow older, they will interact with the horse world through educated, ethical eyes and hands. I am privileged to know two incredible lesson barns that I believe are singlehandedly changing the future in the biggest and brightest way. Right at the very root. They are doing God's work. They have skill, grit and dedication that I do not possess. To provide a string of lesson horses to students who may not have their own, and to teach skills from the raw beginning to people of all ages takes a level of patience and wisdom I have not personally achieved. The way they make it work is truly superhuman!! I cherish and support the work that FairyTail Fields & Rudy Horsemanship offer to horses and people alike. //They are the very heartbeat of our beloved horse industry. They are the foundation of all foundations// Let's make relationship based lesson barns officially a thing! I know someone reading this will know of great programs to mention. And PLEASE plug yourself if this is what you do!!! (Video is of Gina's bridleless lesson pony string, led by assistant coach Kiki Jade)

Mindset matters

Embracing positive thoughts, rejecting doubt, insecurity, fear...

You will grow...in all areas of life, heights you've never dreamed. .

If you fester in bitterness and constant negative self-talk,

You'll be stagnant for life.

❤️ 🐴 ❤️

Saddle up for cuteness overload! ✨ We clipped the Insta360 GO 3S to Blossom’s riding hat — but this time, it’s facing her! Capturing every giggle, song and words of encouragement for her bestie Mac 🦄🫶🏼 This tiny camera captures big emotions — and memories you’ll treasure forever @insta360 💫 🎬 Want to film your own magical moments? 👉 Tap the link in bio to grab your GO 3S now! *#ToddlerTitan* #Insta360 #Insta360FamCam
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•On starting to ride•

This is a hot topic for me, because I think the age at which we start asking a horse to carry a rider says everything about the paradigm we follow and what we value in our horses.

I am not going to cite sources or teach anything in this post. I've done my research and work my horses according to what I found to be best practice. This information is all free and readily available.

The culture of accepting riding a 2 year old horse is very much based on a *disposable horse* model. I'm seeing people rotate horses every few years, usually before said horses turn 8 (or skeletal maturity)
I am not saying that these horses aren't loved dearly. But I am saying that based on the decision to ride them at age 2 strongly indicates that long term soundness is less of a priority.

Maybe they will stay sound carrying a rider directly on their open growth plates, or maybe they will not. But a pasture sound mare could always be put in foal, and there's always a cute new blue roan or palomino youngster to bring along in the meantime, right?

Just be honest with yourself when you make this decision.

Wolff's law is everyone's favorite argument to bring up, yet it is only a tiny aspect of a huge picture. Our knowledge has long since upgraded, and yet this is still the only piece of evidence that a person will shout about while sitting on that 3 year old. It is the same crowd that rides 3 year olds, that considers a horse old at age 10 and that is them telling on themselves and the longevity of their system.

Every year I lose business due to not starting client horses that are younger than 4.
This is a matter of integrity and ethics for me.

I have had the absolute privilege of being carried by my now 6 year old horse that I've raised since a yearling.

For her, I chose to wait until age 6 for a light start because she is hypermobile, because she had severe spinal trauma as a foal that we will always be rehabbing, and because sitting on a baby noodle horse does them no good even if they are perfectly healthy.

Most of all, I waited until she turned 6 because I train with the intention of keeping my horses for a lifetime. Because I believe a horse that is fully grown at age 9 should be in the prime of their life!
This statement brings me no money, and if anything is me shooting at my own foot.

It is hard for me to speak on this openly on social media, because thinking this way absolutely goes against the grain.

But that very thing makes it clear to me that it needs to be said.

I am showing my work to the world, and sharing that I started riding my filly at age 6.

I believe in this strongly enough to happily lose clientele and "popularity" because I can only work from what I found to be best practice. Nothing less.

Thank you for reading.