Performance Horse Intensives
Unlocking the horse behind the performance
For talented horses who should be performing better than they are.
Sometimes training harder isn’t the answer.
A horse may be exceptionally talented, well trained and physically capable - yet tension, stress, previous experiences, physical restriction or nervous-system patterns can begin to interfere with their ability to perform consistently.
They may become reactive. Resistant. Tight. Anticipatory. Shut down. Difficult to settle. Or simply stop feeling like the horse you know they can be.
And sometimes everything has been checked, yet something still isn’t quite right.
That’s where Sabre Ranch comes in.
Specialist intensive stays for performance horses
Through Equine NeuroAlchemy, I look beyond the presenting performance or behavioural issue to understand what may be happening within the whole horse.
Rather than approaching training, behaviour, physical tension and emotional state as separate problems, I consider how the horse’s brain, nervous system, body, previous experiences, training, environment and energy may be interacting.
The objective is not simply to suppress an unwanted behaviour.
It’s to create the conditions in which the horse can access more of their natural ability.
The horse you can't quite figure out
You know the horse - the one with more ability than they’re currently able to show.
The horse who is:
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Talented but inconsistent
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Tight, braced or resistant during work
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Reactive, anxious or easily overwhelmed
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Anticipating rather than waiting and responding
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Struggling to settle or recover following pressure
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Physically capable but mentally or emotionally blocked
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Showing a change in behaviour or performance without an obvious explanation
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Returning to work but not feeling like the horse they were before
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Performing adequately - but you know there is more horse in there
Perhaps you’ve already investigated the obvious causes.
Perhaps the horse doesn’t need more training - they need somebody with the time to look deeper.
Send them to Sabre Ranch.
Built for trainers. Designed around the individual horse.
Running a performance program means your time matters.
When one horse requires a level of individual investigation, decompression or rehabilitation that simply isn’t practical within a busy training barn, an intensive at Sabre Ranch provides another option.
I do the deep work while you continue doing yours.
Your training program isn’t being replaced.
My role is to work alongside the horse’s existing trainer, owner and professional team, addressing factors that may be preventing the horse from fully benefiting from the training they already receive.
The aim is to return the horse to their program more regulated, comfortable, responsive and able to learn and perform.
The Reset Intensive
Nervous System Regulation • Recovery • Performance Reset
For horses who need time away from the demands of their usual environment to decompress, regulate and reset.
Particularly suited to horses who are:
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Increasingly reactive, tense or anxious
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Mentally overwhelmed by their work
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Struggling to settle between training sessions
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Holding persistent physical tension
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Becoming resistant or defensive
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Returning from a stressful period, change or difficult experience
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Beginning to show changes in behaviour or performance
The focus is on reducing unnecessary tension, supporting nervous-system regulation, identifying contributing patterns and helping the horse return to a state in which they can think, learn, respond and recover more effectively.
THE GOAL
A calmer, more present and responsive horse, better prepared to return to their training program.
The Deep Transformation Intensive
Complex Performance Problems • Rehabilitation • Whole-Horse Transformation
For the talented horse where the problem runs deeper.
This is designed for horses experiencing persistent or multifactorial performance challenges that haven’t been resolved through the usual routes.
Particularly suited to horses who:
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Have significant talent but aren’t reaching their potential
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Have developed persistent resistance or behavioural patterns
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Carry physical restriction or compensation
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Have a history of trauma, pain or difficult experiences
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Have changed mentally or physically following injury or rehabilitation
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Have been investigated by other professionals but still don’t feel right
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Need more time and individual attention than can realistically be provided within their normal training environment
The longer stay allows me to observe patterns over time, work through different layers of the problem and continually adapt the program according to the horse’s response.
THE GOAL
To uncover and address the factors limiting the horse and help create greater physical freedom, emotional regulation, responsiveness and performance potential.
Equine NeuroAlchemy
Where nervous-system science meets whole-horse transformation.
Performance begins long before the horse enters the show arena.
The horse’s nervous system influences how they perceive pressure, process information, learn, move and respond.
A horse who is carrying persistent tension or operating from a heightened protective state may struggle to access the softness, responsiveness, focus and physical freedom required for exceptional performance.
Equine NeuroAlchemy is my integrated approach to changing that underlying state.
Every horse is different, so there is no prescribed treatment or rigid protocol.
Instead, I draw upon more than a decade of professional experience across nervous-system regulation, therapeutic bodywork, performance horse training, trauma-informed work, remedial saddle fitting, behaviour, movement and energy work.
I follow the horse in front of me.
Because when we change what’s happening underneath the behaviour, we create the possibility for the performance to change too.
What Happens at Sabre Ranch?
First, I observe.
Before trying to change anything, I want to understand the horse.
How do they settle?
How do they respond to their environment?
Where do they hold tension?
How quickly can they regulate following pressure?
What happens when they’re asked to move?
What happens around tack?
What changes when expectations are removed?
Often, the horse tells us considerably more when we stop immediately trying to correct the behaviour.
Then, we investigate.
Each horse is assessed as an individual.
Their history, training, physical patterns, nervous-system responses, behaviour, movement, tack and environment are considered together rather than in isolation.
Where appropriate, I will also recommend involvement from the horse’s veterinarian or other members of their professional team.
Then, we create change.
Sessions may incorporate elements of bodywork, groundwork, ridden work, nervous-system regulation, movement, trauma-informed techniques, saddle assessment and energy work according to what the individual horse requires.
The horse determines the pace.
And importantly, they have time to integrate.
Transformation doesn’t only happen during a session.
Horses are given appropriate downtime between deeper sessions, allowing the nervous system and body time to process and adapt.
Turnout, movement, rest and a low-pressure environment are an important part of the intensive experience.
Performance without force
The objective at Sabre Ranch isn’t to make a horse comply.
It’s to understand why they’re struggling in the first place.
When unnecessary tension and protective patterns begin to change, we can often access a horse who is:
Softer.
More present.
More responsive.
More confident.
More physically comfortable.
Better able to process pressure.
And more available for training.
That’s the horse I want to send back to you.
For Owners
You invested in their potential. Give them every opportunity to fulfil it. Sometimes you know something isn’t right long before you can explain exactly what it is. Your horse may have been checked by excellent professionals. They may have good training, appropriate veterinary care and everything they seemingly need.
Yet you still feel they’re capable of more.
An intensive gives us something that individual appointments often cannot: time.
Time to observe, time to investigate, time to allow the horse to settle, time to identify patterns and time to create meaningful change without forcing it into a one-hour appointment.
If you’ve invested in a talented horse, this is about protecting that investment by supporting the whole horse behind the performance.
For Professional Trainers
You train the performance. Let me help with what’s getting in the way of it.
I don’t want to replace your training program.
I want to become a resource within it.
When you have the horse who needs more individual time, deeper investigation or a different environment before they can progress, send them to me.
I’ll work with the horse, communicate with you about what I’m finding and help prepare them to return to your program in a better place to continue their training.
You don’t need another modality.
You need somewhere trusted to send the horse you can’t quite unravel.
Is Your Horse a Candidate?
Sabre Performance Intensives are intentionally limited and horses are accepted on an individual basis.
Before offering a place, I want to understand:
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The horse’s history
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Their current training and competition level
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What has changed
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What has already been investigated
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What their trainer and owner are experiencing
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And what you ultimately want this horse to be capable of
From there, I’ll determine whether a Sabre Intensive is appropriate and which level of support I recommend.
Your horse doesn’t need to be broken to benefit.
Some horses come because something has gone wrong.
Others come because their owners and trainers want to prevent it from getting that far.
For a valuable performance horse, supporting regulation, physical comfort and emotional resilience shouldn’t begin only when performance starts to deteriorate.
It can be part of protecting their longevity.
Send Your Horse to Sabre Ranch
For the horse with more to give.
For the horse you can’t quite figure out.
For the horse whose potential is worth protecting.
Apply for a Performance Intensive
Spaces are intentionally limited to ensure every horse receives the individual time and attention this work requires.
Apply for a space:
Stark's Story
From unable to perform to winning in the showjumping ring
Stark was a talented horse whose past experiences, physical discomfort and deeply established protective patterns were preventing him from accessing his ability.
By the time he came to me, he was struggling physically and emotionally with his work. He had become unable to jump consistently, would reverse backwards rather than go forward and didn’t have the emotional resilience to cope with the demands of jumping.
There was significant history behind the behaviour.
Stark had experienced an accident when he was young and had also been pushed hard early in his career, with previous damage to his fetlocks requiring the removal of bone chips. He presented with considerable tension through his neck, shoulders, withers, back, lumbar region, hindquarters and hamstrings, alongside sensitivity through his spine.
But the physical picture was only one part of the problem.
His nervous system was constantly on alert.
Stark found it extremely difficult to relax. He was guarded, reactive and initially unable to tolerate much bodywork at all.
Rather than treating the refusal to jump as simply a training problem, I worked with the whole horse.
His rehabilitation was carefully paced around what he could process. We began by creating trust and helping him feel safe enough to lower his defences. As his nervous system began to settle, he gradually became able to accept deeper physical work.
Layer by layer, we worked through the tension, physical restriction, previous experiences and protective responses he had been carrying.
As the horse underneath those patterns began to emerge, his performance changed too.
Stark returned to jumping - and went on to win his classes.
The horse who had been reversing rather than going forward and struggling to cope with the demands of his job was once again able to use his talent.
But the transformation wasn’t simply that he could jump again.
He was more comfortable in his body, more emotionally resilient, more connected and better able to cope with what was being asked of him.
Stark is exactly why I don’t look at performance problems in isolation.
A refusal, resistance or deterioration in performance is information.
When we understand what is happening beneath it - within the horse’s body, nervous system, previous experiences and emotional state - we have the opportunity to create change at a much deeper level.
From a horse unable to access his potential to a horse winning again.
That’s the work behind Equine NeuroAlchemy.
Toby's Story
From being an angry, sad pony in pain to a pony free of pain and happy to work with you. Toby came to me because the relationship with his rider had broken down, he became aggressive so was turned away. He had suspected back pain and negative behaviour when ridden. He'd lived out for months before coming to me at the retreat.
When he arrived, I’d describe him as being stuck in the sympathetic nervous system phase, with cortisol consistently being released into his system. This was causing his stress and insecurities. He was bargy with no respect for boundaries and wanted to be in charge. At first, he didn't like me working on the left side of his body and would manoeuvre himself to block me. Working with him was a process, I started with essential oils to help him relax. The oils he chose told me what was going on physically and emotionally for him. He chose oils for stress, depression, muscle soreness and joint stiffness.
Throughout his stay he's had a combination of therapies and training and has made huge progress. It became clear the reason he didn't want me working on his left side was because of his saddle and the pain it had caused. When I placed his saddle on him, he had one of the worst reactions to a saddle being placed, by leaping up and forwards when the panels made contact with his muscles at the back of the saddle. The saddle was too long for him, the panels were very hard, the saddle was asymmetrical and it wasn't the right shape for him.
The root cause of his issues was poor saddle fit, which caused pain and tension so when he was ridden he associated the pain with his rider, causing the negative behaviour. He also lacked leadership, making him feel insecure which heightened his dominant nature, leading to his bolshy behaviour and increasing the friction with his rider.
Session by session he released so much tension in his mind & body, his muscle tone, posture and mindset completely changed. He's now being ridden off lead rein by myself and a young rider and is especially enjoying the rides through the retreat woods. He originally came to me to resolve his anger, sadness and physical issues so to get him to a place where he's being ridden without pain is a huge bonus. His back feels great, he's lifting underneath me and using his body correctly.