Ethos Equine and Kathleen Beckham

12/25/2025

12/04/2025

In our standard intermittent fashion, Ethos Equine and Kathleen Beckham and I have released another podcast episode.

This time we're updating our new horses, what we have learned about them, what we're exploring and what we think we might try next...

If you have a question you would like us to answer, or a topic you would like us to discuss, please get in touch.

Here are two of the platforms you can find us on:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0bWpzurjGyH7efIyghiXnn?si=nm3EzHjQTq-z57XwSKujrg

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/kate-and-kathleen-a-podcast-about-humans-and-horses/id1765966770?i=1000739680961

11/20/2025

Tonight at 7pm Eastern, I'll be doing a free, informal Q&A "Tack Room Talk."

I've had a good bunch of very interesting questions come in, but we have room for more if you'd like to submit one.

We will send out the recording afterwards, so if you reserve a seat, you'll get the link to the recording.

Follow the link in the comments to reserve a seat, submit a question and/or access the recording.

11/18/2025

Herdbound Part 1
Kathleen Beckham

Being herdbound, arguably, is one of the things we horse people dislike the most about horses. Ironically, as a herd and prey animal, the horse has a double-dose of built-in insecurity. He doesn’t like being away from other horses, and he’s always looking for threats. These things kinda drive horse people nuts, if we’re honest. We end up kind of blaming the horse for being a horse, for suffering from the things that burden every horse born.

The problems of a herdbound horse are, to him, VERY real. In his mind, his or her life is in danger, and the need to be with a herd is overwhelming. When a horse is in a herdbound state, very little, if any of his mind is available to the human. It is fruitless to try to teach on or train a frantically herdbound horse, and doing so risks making us look pretty tone-deaf to the horse.

A herdbound horse is not funny. A herdbound horse is not trying to be a problem. A herdbound horse is not actively trying to frustrate you and make a fool out of you in front of your friends. A herdbound horse is not trying to get out of working. A herdbound horse is not enjoying what he’s experiencing. A herdbound horse is not, as they say, giving you a hard time. A herdbound horse is HAVING a hard time.

Every horse born needs to be “innoculated” against herdboundness. It’s not something they’ll just figure out or “pick up” on their own. Every horse born has the potential to experience crippling herdboundness, so it needs to be on every horse person’s, and every horse trainer’s radar. Teaching a horse how to deal with herdboundness should be part of every horse training “program.” Somebody needs to do it. It’s when nobody takes responsibility for it that the horse ends up, far along in his or her life, still struggling with horrible herdboundness.

While a horse is experiencing herdbound feelings, in that moment, he or she is not available to you, the human. Herdbound feelings are overwhelming and all-encompassing to a horse. They will cause a horse to do stupid-seeming and terrible things, that can not only put his own life at risk, but the human’s as well. If the human stands between the horse and the perceived comfort and safety of the other horses, it can be pretty ugly. In that moment, the horse will sacrifice the human’s skin to save his own.

A horse that is herdbound, we’ll find ourselves using more pressure than we might otherwise, because the horses are drawing him, and we want him to go a different way. So we start pushing and pulling, kicking and dragging. A herdbound horse will be unbalanced, because they will lean toward the other horses. They will go faster toward the other horses and slower away from the other horses. So how much pressure do we end up using to combat all this? If our horse wasn’t herdbound, could we live in a world with less pressure? If his mind was free of herdbound thoughts, what else could we do with his mind??

Stay tuned as we explore more about the universal theme of herdboundness.

11/10/2025

This month's free Tack Room Talk Q&A will be Thursday, November 20th at 7pm Eastern.

This is an opportunity for us to get together in an informal setting. You send me questions ahead of time, then I talk about them. Simple. Kind of...

I'd love to see you there. I'm not saying I know everything there is to know about horses. I think my goal is not to pontificate, but rather to encourage us all to THINK. Sometimes just thinking about something from a different angle can be really helpful.

To reserve your seat in my tack room and submit a question, follow the link in the comments below. See you soon!

11/04/2025

"They" say ("they" being people who measured this) say that a horse carries around 60% of his total weight on his front feet. So he is naturally "heavy on the forehand." This is not a "fault" of the horse, but rather a fact.

When the rider gets on, that percentage changes to 70%. So simply by getting ON the horse, we are increasing the amount of weight he is carrying on his front end, not just by our weight, but by a higher percentage of his own weight as well.

Keeping the numbers really simple, let's say our horse weighs 1000 pounds, and our rider an all their equipment weigh 200 pounds. Therefore:

This horse, by himself, then carries 600 (60%) of his 1000 pounds on his front end, and 400 pounds on his hind end, left to his own devices.

When the rider gets on, the horse/rider combined weight is now (in this simple example) 1200 pounds. Now he's carrying 70% of that aggregate on his front end, which is 840 pounds, and a mere 360 pounds on his hind end.

This math applies to all riders. "Just a trail rider" is not exempt from this math. People on particularly big horses are not exempt from this math. If you ride a horse, you are subject to this math.

This is why, since the beginning of our relationship with the horse, the human has worked on how to help the horse distribute this aggregate weight differently, so it is the least harmful to the horse as possible. Simply put, this is what learning to ride should be about.

The horse is designed to carry 60% of his weight on his front end. Left to his own devices, he will do fine with this out in the pasture. But when we add the rider and their equipment, that percentage changes, and the horse was NOT designed for that.

Knowing this, some people will choose not to ride horses. Others will follow the paths of so many who have gone before, learning how to help the horse carry us with the least negative effects possible.

10/31/2025

Our next free live Q&A Tack Room Talk will be Thursday, November 20 at 7pm Eastern!

This isn’t a polished Powerpoint presentation or list of "tips and tricks." Sometimes questions just beg more questions. That's the reality of a life with horses. I'll take a few of your questions and just share what that brings to mind. Any question is okay, questions about attention, about technique, about the nature of the horse, about horse-keeping, about the challenges and triumphs of being a middle-aged horse crazy person -- they're all okay.

If you’ve been feeling stuck or just curious about a specific topic, this is your chance to ask. If you don’t have a question of your own, I promise you’ll find value in listening. So often, it’s someone else’s question that brings us the clarity we’ve been looking for.

To reserve your seat and submit your question:
Comment YES below.

I’ll send you the link to sign up and save your spot.

Come join us, and bring your curiosity, your stories, and your love for the horse. I look forward to seeing you there!

09/17/2025

Next Wednesday, September 24th, I'll be hanging around my tack room and answering questions (or simply mulling through ideas... because sometimes there ARE no answers...) on Zoom. I love thinking about and talking about horses, and if you do too, I'd love for you to join us! It's free and informal.

You can submit a question, or you can just hang out in the background and listen, it's up to you.

Our horsemanship journeys can be lonely, full of hiccups, and can test our resolve and self-confidence. Simply being with other people sharing those experiences can be heartening and inspiring.

To reserve your seat, comment YES below and I'll send you the link to save your seat. You'll also have a chance to submit a question there too.

Wednesday, September 24 at 7pm EASTERN (that's 6pm Central, 5pm Mountain and 4pm Pacific!).

09/02/2025

This month's free live Q&A Tack Room Talk will be Wednesday, September 24th at 7pm Eastern!

This isn’t a polished Powerpoint presentation or list of "tips and tricks." Sometimes questions just beg more questions. That's the reality of a life with horses. I'll take a few of your questions and just share what that brings to mind. Any question is okay, questions about attention, about technique, about the nature of the horse, about horse-keeping, about the challenges and triumphs of being a middle-aged horse crazy person -- they're all okay.

If you’ve been feeling stuck or just curious about a specific topic, this is your chance to ask. If you don’t have a question of your own, I promise you’ll find value in listening. So often, it’s someone else’s question that brings us the clarity we’ve been looking for.

To reserve your seat and submit your question:

Comment YES below.
I’ll send you the link to sign up and save your spot.

Come join us, and bring your curiosity, your stories, and your love for the horse. I look forward to seeing you there!

08/19/2025

Checking cows today, the calves are huge, and we are pretty sure the momma cows are looking forward to weaning next month!

08/04/2025

You’re invited to a conversation that’s a little different than most.

On Thursday, August 14 at 7pm EST, I’m hosting a free live Q&A session and I’d love for you to join me!

There’s no set topic. No rehearsed presentation. Just real questions from real people who are trying to do right by their horses… and honest answers from me, as best I can give them.

If there’s something you’ve been chewing on, something about attention, timing, pressure, connection, behavior, or just where to go next in your horsemanship journey, you can submit your question when you register.

And even if you don’t have a question right now, I think you’ll find value in listening. Sometimes someone else’s question helps us see what we’ve been missing.

This isn’t about quick fixes, gimmicks or trending training methods. It’s about clarity. Conversation. And learning to meet your horse right where they are.

Want to join me? Comment YES below and I'll send you the link to save your seat!