Horses are social animals designed to move freely, forage throughout the day on various plant materials, and develop strong connections with other individuals and family members. Sadly, domestication has dramatically changed the horse's natural routine forcing them to cope with many stressful situations. Traditional horsemanship practices typically involve horses being left isolated and understimulated with harsh methods being used for training and handling. Often the horse's needs go unmet to satisfy the goals and agendas of humans or due to widespread misinformation. 

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However, it doesn't have to be like that! Through recent discoveries in equine behaviour, welfare and management there are many resources to help us reconnect with our horses. We can now understand their physical and psychological needs much more accurately which can be used to inform modern management systems. By providing routines based on the horse's natural behaviours and adopting compassionate training and handling methods we can reduce stress while improving performance. When we recognise horses for the individuals they are, we can work with them rather than against them. 

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Furthermore, one of the 5 Freedoms (a framework used to assess animal welfare) includes the "Freedom to express normal behaviours". While all the 5 five freedoms are essential to ensure the horse's wellbeing, this one particularly stands out to me as there is something beautiful and simple about equine behaviour that we should seek to cultivate and not hinder or avoid. By ensuring horses have opportunities to express themselves within domestic environments we will not only create a safer, calmer, and more motivated companion, but also allow them to explore and bring out their abilities further than we ever thought possible. This leads to sustainable and thriving human-horse partnerships.