Open Wide Equine Dentistry

24/08/2026

Meet Roxy
New team member who’s enjoying her 2nd day at work 💜

18/08/2026

Check out the up-downs on my amazing 4yo client! This one is a star in the making 👌🥰

13/08/2026

I have a list of priorities when it comes to working with people and their horses.

1) Human safety – mine, the handlers and anyone stood around
2) The horse’s safety
3) How the horse feels about it.

Social media has made it so that people cannot show the realities that are sometimes involved in working with horses, lest the keyboard trainers descend and rip apart any chance of a logical conversation.

Short videos and attention spans only allow for the perfect 20 seconds of harmony. Not the years of ugly moments involved in getting there.

When I first meet a horse, I can honestly say in 99% of cases, the first thing I need to address is personal space. To me, it is the single most effective thing in training horses. It is not just a manners exercise. The horse learns from the get go that pressure has meaning and that the answer is to yield to it rather than brace against it.

The boundaries need to be black and white and most importantly CONSISTENT. Don’t push through me, don’t overtake me, maintain your position in relation to me. If the boundary is crossed, it is corrected, then and there. Every time. When they are in the right place, there is peace.

That clarity actually reduces conflict. The horse understanding the boundary actually makes them lighter and softer, because they STOP pushing on you and you STOP pushing on them. Your hand, your body and your space become meaningful aids. The horse, yields, bends around you and maintains awareness of you, which really does transfer into the ridden work. He already understands the fundamental concept behind an aid, yield to it, don’t push against it.

Connection and relaxation are developed from understanding. Horses are rarely stressed about something they understand and knowing exactly what is expected of them helps keep them relaxed, responsive and attentive.

Every good relationship has boundaries that are understood by both parties. Firmness and softness are not opposites.

12/08/2026

28/07/2026

Very proud of my clients & their ponies this week!

Charlie Dawson & Vanessa Townsend's TGF Africa winning the Silver League HOYS Qualifier at NCS. Charlie also qualified Lola 🤩

Chloe Burns & the evergreen Mr. Jaco jumping 3 fab rounds Bronze League Semi final, also HOYS bound! 🥳

Holly Genders winning both her classes with Russell on their BS debut! 🥰

Heidi Hutchinson Regional Champions at PSG Silver with Florida of Westoak. As well as a chhky win on cheeky Larry PSG 👏😍.

Best g well done to you all x

22/05/2026

Hope all my lovely clients are getting their horses boosted in the face of the current flu outbreak. If your horse hasn’t been done in the past. 6m I strongly advise a booster 💪

05/03/2026

Absolutely delighted to see this chap looking so well at 29! He didn’t have the best teeth as a late teenager, but his mum has been so diligent, letting me visit every 8 months. A few years ago he was a bit skinny & had always needed sedation. Now his mouth is so comfy, & Altho the uppers are very cupped out (worn), he’s 100% happy for me to tidy up any edges,& reduce the one high tooth opposite his only missing cheek tooth. He seemed to enjoy his treat,ent today. And the HayCare he started 5 years ago when we extracted that one tooth, has really played a part in his wellbeing. I think it’s also improved his oral health,alomg with widening tight valve type gaps that allowed food to trap & erode/inflame the gums, to heal.
Great holistic team work & a very happy, healthy horse. V rewarding for me & Laura to see him blooming 💙.

29/01/2026

Top notch office today 👌

26/01/2026

Brilliant post 👌🏼

A simple way to think about horse training

Over the next few days I’ll share a short series outlining the developmental stages a horse should go through in correct training.

Not exercises, levels or disciplines, just the questions each stage is really asking of the horse and what often goes wrong when rushed or misunderstood.

Even if you have no intention of getting your horse to a high level, understanding the whole arc can change how you view training your horse.

Training Stage 1: Orientation & Safety

This is what ‘natural horsemanship’ is most commonly seen to address. Mostly related to groundwork and early ridden work and will be frequently revisited well into stage 2. Without this stage things can be built on a shaky foundation and will fall apart the further up you go.

Central question
Can the horse exist in the human’s world without needing to defend itself?

What’s being developed
• emotional regulation
• trust in pressure and release
• clarity of communication
• reduction of defensive behaviours

What commonly goes wrong
• compliance without understanding
• learned helplessness
• tension disguised as obedience
• quiet mistaken for calm

Without this stage, everything else is built on coping, not confidence.