My Passion Project is all about improving equine welfare in training while giving back to those who need it the most
TrulyTrust is all about helping horses thrive in their everyday life, but more than that it's about helping people as well. My passion extends beyond rehabilitation and holistic care to training as well, specifically promoting the amazing benefits of positive reinforcement training with horses. While TrulyTrust focuses mainly on the holistic care and rehabilitation of horses, I decided to also start a passion project where I can share my knowledge surrounding training, while in the process also raising funds for some of my favorite charities.
30% of all income from training ebooks, - classes, and - courses sold will be donated to these incredible charities (all also passionate about positive reinforcement training).
New Beginnings Rescue Centre
"We use all our finances, resources, space at the shelter and time on animals who would have died if we didn’t come to their rescue. We take in the misunderstood animals, the old animals who only knew of suffering, the less attractive animals, the mix breeds, the less adoptable ones. We take on the difficult cases and walk the extra mile to give them a new beginning."
Tenerife Horse Rescue
"Our aim is to offer homes to all equines who need a second chance. Horses are our main focus, but we didn’t stop here. Our animal sanctuary has a huge array of abandoned animals, all rescued from the island. For example, dogs and cats, birds, ducks, guinea pigs, goats, pigs, tortoises, hamsters and more."
My main objective is reducing stress for your horse, and helping you both enjoy training together
Helping your horse thrive is as much about emotional wellbeing as it is about physical wellbeing. When horses experience stress or expect a stressfull experience because of traumatic past experiences, it can cause them to want to avoid the situation or even to avoid humans all together.
What is traumatic for the horse might not always seem like a big deal to us but it defintely affects them. Something as simple as being suddenly separated from their herd can cause them anxiety which can later get worse and affect their training and behaviour, and prevent them from truly connecting with you.
Signs that your horse is stressed can look like:
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Your horse not wanting to cooperant when you cue a behaviour
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Becoming increasingly anxious and starting to rear, spook or run away
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Shutting down and not having any reaction to you
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Your horse displaying defensive behaviour such as kicking or biting
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Or more subtle behavioural signs such as repeated licking and chewing, head lowering or yawning
When your horse is stressed it doesn't only limit your relationship, but it also affects your horse's physical health
Mental and physical health also often overlap. If your horse is stressed and unwilling to participate you'll have a hard time getting a vet check done, hooves trimmed, or even getting your horse dewormed. The essential oil vet, Dr Janet Roark, describes that stress can actually directly compromise your horse's health by compromising the immune system. She states that stress can lead to behavioural problems, digestive problems, weight loss, autoimmune diseases, tying up etc.
"I bought the digital book, in the Horseowners guide to positive horsemanship and found it very insightful. A different perspective and approach on how we should be working with our horses. There were some great references to research on which the book was based and the inner workings of different horses and how to identity certain characteristics were explained really nicely. I learnt a lot!!!"
"It was awesome! When I enrolled I actually wasn't expecting to learn this much, because I already did a few courses on this topic, but really it was great, so detailed and complete, and I learned many new things!! Thanks for another great course!" -
Elaine LB
- South Africa
Violette C
- Portugal
You can build trust with your horse & overcome stress by creating multiple positive experiences
Trust is how you build that beautiful bond with your horse that you dream of, but it's not achieved through being the leader, chasing the horse around, or by the use of pressure or a whip. It's achieved by incorporating the pillars of trust into your interaction and training with your horse.
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The pillars of trust are:
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Consistency & Predictability
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Two-way Communication
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Safety & Positive outcomes
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I can help you get started on your journey
Enhance your knowledge about your horse & learn about R+ training
I believe that training starts outside the arena, it starts with knowledge. Before training the horse we need to understand how the horse communicates, how he thinks, how he learns, etc. In order to train successfully we need to expand our knowledge about our horse first, building the trainer "toolbox" so that we are prepared for the arena
Continue on your training journey with Alta from Empowering Equine
The next step is to learn more about the specifics of training and how you can positively interact and train your horse. It's important to understand what you need to do and what your part to play is. The more you know about training and how to implement it, the faster your results will be, and the smoother the training. ​
