I’m delighted to share that I am teaming up with Concordia Equestrians to provide articles for their brand new bi-monthly magazine, Concordia. Take a look at Issue 1 here, I will be contributing from Issue 2.
I love writing, and enjoy contributing regularly to the Intelligent Horsemanship magazine, which is available to members (along with a whole host of other benefits of membership, including access to the excellent webinars). I’m currently working on my next book, about recognising pain in the ridden horse, which I am co-authoring with Dr Sue Dyson. It’s so, so exciting to be part of making the world a better place for horses!
Here’s what Concordia Equestrians have to say about themselves.
In recent years it has become increasingly obvious to compassionate horse people that many of the accepted practices in equine training and care are, at best, outdated and compromise horse welfare and at worst, tolerate or even reward equine abuse.
Concordia began six years ago when a group of like-minded and concerned professionals got together to support each other and promote training and care that is based on science and compassion.
We realised that we shared a set of principles about training and management. Principles that could actually unite those who are looking for the best ways to work with and care for horses, be they from the natural, modern, traditional, or classical schools, or people who just want to connect with horses, through observation, companionship, groundwork, or riding.
Fast-forward, and Concordia is welcoming like-minded people from all over the world. We are building a community of Friends and Professionals who share Our Principles and our community has now grown to over 600 registered friends and 3.3K joining our Thoughtful Equestrians group on Facebook, but it hasn’t all been plain sailing.
We have taken on some massive projects over the years but have realised that to do them justice they need money and more time than any volunteer could be expected to donate. So, we decided that The Concordia Magazine, something that was planned from the start, will be the very best way to grow our community. It will bring like-minded professionals and non-professionals together, educate, and have a much-needed positive influence on equine training and care.
Anyone who shares Our Principles can register – free – as a Friend at www.concordiaequestrians.org with their name and email address to be part of Concordia and have the link to the Concordia Magazine sent to them bi-monthly.
Any equestrian professional, business, club, organisation, or charity that can honestly self-assess themselves as Concordia Professional can register for free. A basic database will be put on the website and while it isn’t too many pages (thinking ahead!) will be printed in the magazines.
More details about Concordia, registered professionals and our story can be found in Issue One of Concordia Magazine.
Our vision is of a world where all horses are cared for and trained with kindness and understanding.
Our shared values are compassion, harmony, empathy, patience, partnership, and honesty.
Our compassion is for all equines, and also for our fellow human beings, offering a supportive community, where open-mindedness allows us to learn from each other. We adopt the ‘Five Freedoms’ principles that were developed for farm animals and which are: freedom from hunger and thirst; freedom from discomfort; freedom from pain, injury, or disease; freedom to express normal behaviour; and freedom from fear and distress.
Our commitment is to promote successful human-horse relationships in which equine welfare is paramount. Through sharing education and knowledge that are based on science, research, evidence-based practice and compassion, we create thoughtful practices in care, management, and training.
Fundamental to our beliefs is the fact that horses are sentient beings, capable of being aware of sensations and emotions, of feeling pain, of suffering and of experiencing a state of well-being. With this in mind, we acknowledge that the management, handling, training and riding of horses must be in such a way that fear and distress are removed, or at least reduced to an absolute minimum.
We believe in listening to the horses, supporting the learning style that allows for the horse’s individuality, and giving them the time to develop both mentally and physically.
We believe that horses should have freedom of movement and expression, this applies to all the ways we manage, live, work and connect with horses, and eliminates the use of restrictive equipment and force.
Our desire is to be a force for good, and a voice for horses all over the world.
© Sue Palmer, The Horse Physio, 2021
Treating your horse with care, connection, curiosity, and compassion
