Get Grounded Equine

Does she look like a flunky with bolt issues to you?
What about her bit less side pull? Does she look like she needs rehab from it?
This is a video of Coco, a 4yr. Fell mare who had recently weaned a foal and was in foal during her introduction to trail, long reining and saddle. Coco had her 2nd foal in 2025, had maturity time, and went on to continue training as a 6yr. old. The training was with a different trainer who utilized a different approach. I saw a video of Coco now and she looks to be doing well and shows some nice progress. Sadly her progress was publicly delivered with a skewed narrative of her past: that she flunked my approach, that she had trauma, needed rehab and had a bolting issue with me. (ugh!) Now it's not expected practice for one trainer to get insight from a former trainer about approach, accomplishments and challenges. But maybe they should, especially when things are not going smoothly. It's much easier to blame what we experience in current behavior on a past approach of another rather than openly face the reality of our own approach. (More on concluding/criticizing approaches to come)
I now feel the need to defend my approach, separate in age, circumstance and context from her 6yr. experience. It was custom designed for her based on her feedback. Because there is plenty of time for her to connect all the dots, we let her direct the level of progress.
Reclaiming the Narrative. Why? Because for me to continue what I feel is important for horses, I need to know others see this work is important too. Because narratives created for engagement bait disrespect the horse. Because I do the work based on the expectations of the horse, not their owners nor their future trainers. Thanks to Lydia Scott Equine Services for empowering me to be loyal and true to the horse above all else and helping me form a respectful approach for Coco.
So here is the true narrative. Coco was quiet but in a period of dullness. Her cognition to find patterns and flow was limited, but she communicated these things quietly and with very little reactivity. For anyone considering training a pregnant mare, you must consider the hormones at different phases of gestation and how they may affect things. Self motivation is what we hoped to foster, yet we didn't pressure it to happen. Rather, we arrange things the best way we can in hopes we can tap into it. External pressures, be it from the handler or the environment, are delivered in the degree according to readiness. We were prepared to school her for reactive startles, but she only manifested 2: one with long reins solo on the trail (shown in the video) and one solo riding on the trail.
Coco was not a disappointment for us. The video clips show how well she did overall with this introduction, leaving us....chewing a solid chunk of all that is involved in partnering on the trail.

Introduction to saddle for young Fell pony mare. 4 yr. old mare bred by Dakotafell in South Dakota, visiting Fiddlehead Farm for breeding purposes in Oregon. We took some time between weaning her first foal and delivering her 2nd foal to introduce her to daily interactions, long reining, and riding.