Shelby Dennis was taught to "get after" horses from the age of four, showing on the Arabian circuit and told not to worry: they're big animals, it doesn't hurt them. Then a rescue horse called Milo squared up to fight her when she escalated pressure the way she'd been taught, and everything she'd internalised started to come apart.
That's where this conversation with the IAABC-certified equine behaviour consultant and author of Secrets of the Horse begins. There was another catalyst too: when her family went bankrupt and her horse moved from a show barn to a yard with herd turnout on 20 acres, his spooking and bolting stopped almost overnight, and nothing in his training had changed. Now she trains with positive reinforcement, on the principle that all behaviour is a symptom of an underlying feeling: a horse can't disrespect you, because respect is a human concept.
From there, she and host Anna Louise Claydon take the same questions to the sport itself. Can equestrian competition ever be ethical? Shelby's answer is yes, but not under the current governing bodies. She points to the FEI's softened blood rule, the equipment still permitted at the top levels, and a study that found oral lesions in 87 to 88% of horses examined after an upper-level cross-country test (one event, as she's careful to say, and one that needs replicating). Her challenge to the industry is simple: if these things are truly harmless, prove it.
The conversation also turns to the humans: trigger stacking, emotional regulation, and the permission not to ride today; and the connection between neurodivergent minds and horses, which Anna (freshly diagnosed with ADHD) and Shelby (diagnosed later in life) both speak to from experience.
In this episode:
- How being taught to dominate horses unravelled, one rescue horse at a time
- How moving one horse to herd turnout on 20 acres did what training never had
- Why positive reinforcement gives a horse a reason to enjoy the work, where pressure and release can only offer relief
- Whether equestrian competition can ever be ethical, and why Shelby says not under the current governing bodies
- The FEI blood rule, permitted equipment, and the cross-country oral lesion study
- Trigger stacking, emotional regulation, and honouring your body around horses
- Neurodivergence, masking, and why so many neurodivergent people are drawn to horses
Find Shelby Dennis
Book: Secrets of the Horse
Paperback: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/4745/9781608689736
Audiobook: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/4745/9798349163685
Website: milestoneequestrian.ca (Publications tab)
Instagram @sdequus | Facebook Milestone Equestrian | TikTok @sdequus
(The Bookshop.org links are affiliate links: they support independent bookshops and Curious Equestrian at no extra cost to you.)
Curious Equestrian
Follow the show on Spotify so you never miss an episode, and join our free newsletter for listener Q&As with our guests, bonus content and behind-the-scenes: https://www.curiousequestrian.co.uk/#/portal/signup
