I have spent the past few weeks reflecting because the start of a new year naturally brings a desire to change what we do, how we do things, or even how we think.

If you’ve been sitting with a quiet sense that something needs to shift, for yourself or for your horse, this episode is exactly what you need to hear as we step into 2026.

Pay Attention to Your Feelings

When you sense that something is different with your horse, pay attention because it matters. A strong connection helps you notice subtle shifts long before anything obvious shows. Ignoring that gut feeling often leads to endless research, outside opinions, and overthinking, which only adds confusion instead of clarity.

When Caring Turns Into Freeze

Freezing, overthinking, and second-guessing are proof of how deeply you care. The weight of responsibility can feel overwhelming, especially when your horse’s health is on the line.

Analysis Paralysis and Lost Intuition

Too much information can shut down your intuition. Articles, courses, podcasts, and social media create noise that drowns out the quiet knowing you gain from daily observation and experience with your horse.

The Information Collector

Waiting to know everything before taking action keeps change out of reach. Confidence does not come from more information. It comes from deciding and taking action, even if the steps are small or imperfect.

The Permission Seeker

Looking for opinions from vets, trainers, or social media delays leadership. Horses don’t need thousands of opinions. They need an owner willing to advocate, make decisions, and guide their care with clarity and intention.

The Worst-Case Spiraler

Imagining disasters will drain your energy and stall progress. Indecision becomes a costly choice when fear prevents you from acting. Moving forward requires grounding, focus, and shutting out both external noise and internal catastrophizing.

Indecision Versus Intentional Action

Doing nothing is still a choice. Creating a plan, committing to it, and adjusting along the way brings stability to both horse and human. Calm, centered leadership will have a direct effect on your outcomes.

Intuition as Valid Data

Gut feelings are just as important as science. Daily observations, patterns, and responses are meaningful information. Writing them down turns intuition into evidence and builds confidence in decision-making.

Alignment Matters

Decisions that contradict your beliefs and instincts disrupt flow. When actions align with your values and intuition, outcomes improve. When they don’t, stress rises and progress often stalls.

Fire Horse Energy for 2026

The Year of the Fire Horse calls for boldness, movement, and decisive action. It favors momentum over perfection and independence over approval. It’s a push to stop waiting and start acting.

Imperfect Action Over Perfect Planning

Horses benefit more from timely, intentional effort than from endless preparation. Small, thoughtful changes often lead to noticeable improvements and strengthen trust between horse and owner.

Become the Expert on Your Horse

Creating a health profile for your horse helps you notice patterns and understand what has led to their current state. Knowing where things have shifted or gone off balance guides the changes your horse truly needs.

Fire Horse Goals vs. Frozen Goals

Frozen goals keep you stuck in learning mode. Fire horse goals are action-based: you create a plan for your horse, implement it, and adjust as you go. Taking steps- even if they are not perfect- builds confidence and leads to results.

Simple Changes Create Real Feedback

Small changes give immediate information. Observe what happens, write it down, and adjust as needed. This makes observations into valuable data and strengthens both trust and clarity.

Support Without Surrendering Authority

Bringing in help doesn’t mean giving up leadership. The right support aligns with your beliefs, respects your intuition, and works with your understanding of your horse.

Community Builds Confidence

Confidence grows in connection. Shared experience, accountability, and support reduce isolation and replace judgment with learning.

Stepping Forward in 2026

This is the year to stop waiting and performing for others. Step up for your horse with courage, commitment, and consistency. Remember that perfection is not a requirement.

“Your horse would rather you try at 70% certainty than wait for 100%.”

Links and resources:

Connect with Elisha Edwards on her website.

Join my email list to be notified about new podcast releases and upcoming webinars.

Free Webinar Masterclass: Four Steps to Solving Equine Metabolic Syndrome Naturally

Save your seat in Elisha's 2-hour live workshop Detox Done Right.

Healing Horses Their Way: Sign up for the 6-month payment plan

Healing Horses their Way: Get more information and join the waitlist

Every year, from late November to early December, we roll up our sleeves, set the dates, map out the plan, and fine-tune the details for the year ahead.

Join me today for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how we structure the program, what you will learn, the rollout date, and all the incredible benefits you can expect!

Overview of the Program

This signature program has been a favorite among horse owners and practitioners since it launched in 2018. It has been designed to give you a strong foundation in holistic horse care and is packed with practical, easy-to-understand information to help you make the best choices for a healthy and happy horse. Updated in 2020 with even more resources, it is a hands-on, flexible learning experience perfect for horse lovers at any level.

A Supportive Global Community

Caring for horses can feel like a solo adventure sometimes, especially if you live in a remote area. This course connects you with a worldwide community of like-minded people who share your passion. You will swap stories, share insights, and learn how horse care challenges are surprisingly universal, no matter where you are.

How the Course Works

The course spans 12 weeks and includes nine in-depth modules with a few pause weeks to allow you to work through the material at your own pace. Each module builds on the last, with practical exercises you can apply to any horse.

A Holistic Mindset

The course starts by helping you view horse health from a new perspective. You will learn to look at the history of a horse, spot patterns, and connect the dots between symptoms and underlying issues. It is a whole-horse approach that considers mental, physical, emotional, and even spiritual health, giving you a deep understanding of how the equine body works and reacts to care.

Practical Horse Care

In modules two and three, we dive into the fundamental aspects of anatomy, physiology, and diet. You will learn how to use food as medicine, tailoring the diet to address imbalances, intolerances, or allergies. By the end, you will know how to customize a feeding plan to meet the unique requirements of your horse. 

Advanced Tools for Health

We also explore therapeutic nutrition, herbs, and homeopathy. You will learn to use vitamins, minerals, and natural remedies to tackle specific health challenges. These modules are all broken down into simple and easy-to-apply, actionable steps.

Tackling Common Problems

In the later modules, we get into the nitty-gritty of hoof health, toxins, and parasites. You will learn how to spot common hoof issues, like thrush or long toes, and how to address them naturally. You will also learn strategies to minimize exposure to toxins and manage parasites in ways that keep your horse feeling their best.

Real-Life Solutions

One of the highlights of this course is the final module, which has natural protocols for over 30 specific health issues. When you reach this point, you will have all the tools you need to create a personalized care program for your horse. You will also know how to track your horse's progress and adjust when necessary.

Flexible and Easy to Follow

The course is structured to fit into your busy life. The materials are released weekly, and there are live classes every Tuesday evening (with recordings if you cannot make it). There is also a private Facebook group where you can get extra support and connect with other participants, and quizzes you can complete along the way, and you will earn a certificate at the end.

Ready to Join?

If you want to learn about holistic horse care and give your horse the gift of better health, this is the course for you! Join the waitlist on our website or email us at support@elishaedwards.com if you have any questions. 

Links and resources:

Connect with Elisha Edwards on her website 

Join my email list to be notified about new podcast releases and upcoming webinars.

Free Webinar Masterclass: Four Steps to Solving Equine Metabolic Syndrome Naturally

Register for my self-paced course, Resolving Equine Metabolic Syndrome Naturally

Save your seat in Elisha's 2-hour live workshop Detox Done Right

This week, we are continuing with the theme of toxicity because it lies at the root of most health issues horses experience.

Looking back at past cases, the pattern is unmistakable. Once you remove those dietary toxins, things start to turn around. The tricky part is knowing what is helpful and what is harmful, so that is what we are focusing on today.

Over-Supplemented

Over-supplementation becomes a major contributor to malabsorption, inflammation, and chronic health problems. Many ingredients, especially synthetic, inflammatory, or poorly absorbed ones, cause toxicity, overwhelm digestion, and suppress the immune system. 

Interpreting Ingredient Lists 

Horse owners must learn to interpret ingredient lists to distinguish food ingredients from vitamins, minerals, preservatives, flavorings, and fillers. Many supplements contain a few beneficial components surrounded by ingredients that negate their benefits. So it is essential to know which are organic, which are inorganic, and which are highly processed.

Detoxifying Means Removing, Not Adding

Detoxification comes from removing substances rather than adding more. Every ingredient requires a digestive resource, and when the system is congested, even beneficial nutrients turn toxic. Removing non-essential supplements frees the liver, gut, and cells to function normally, improves absorption, and reduces inflammation. A temporary reset with hay, water, and salt will allow the digestive system to heal.

The Fear of Stopping Supplements

Many owners fear that their horses will regress if they remove their supplements, yet many horses decline because they cannot properly absorb the supplements they get. Most commercial ingredients are so processed and inorganic that the body barely recognizes them. Simplifying is not deprivation. It restores capacity. Nutrition from forage and whole foods becomes far more effective with reduced digestive stress.

Why Simplifying Works

Turnarounds can happen when owners strip everything back to only a few essential nutrients plus detoxifying herbs. Even horses on high-quality programs with good ingredients can improve dramatically by reducing their overall load. Fewer ingredients reduce competition for receptors, lowering inflammation and improving the absorption of fat-soluble nutrients and minerals.

Ingredient Competition 

Inflammatory ingredients block the absorption of critical minerals, fat-soluble vitamins, and proteins. Even high-quality formulas can fail if too many ingredients compete for absorption. Less is often more because simplified diets reduce receptor blockage, increase bioavailability, and allow the body to use what it gets.

Choosing Supplements 

Labels market conditions like ulcers, metabolic syndrome, and digestion, without guaranteeing ingredient suitability. Horses with ulcers, for example, cannot absorb synthetic nutrients well, especially while on proton pump inhibitors. So owners must evaluate what each ingredient actually does rather than trusting marketing claims.

A Three-Step Supplement Audit

1. Count every ingredient your horse consumes daily across all supplements.
2. Categorize each item (food, vitamin, mineral, preservative, flavoring, or colorant)
3. Assess processing level and quality 

Auditing provides clarity and helps you decide what to remove, what to keep, and what genuinely benefits the horse.

Do you know what exactly is in your horse's supplements, and what they're actually doing for their health? 

Keeping your horse's diet and supplement program clean is one of the most beneficial things you can do for them. There is nothing that turns a horse's health around faster than cleaning up their diet and supporting their health from the inside out. 

The good news is I'm going live on Saturday, December 6, 2025, at 10 am Mountain Standard Time, and I invite you to join me for my first-ever two-hour workshop called Detox Done Right: How To Reduce Your Horse's Toxic Load and Upgrade Their Health.

For just $127 Canadian, you will get my hands on my label-reading playbook and my clean feed roadmap- and we will finish with a 30-minute Q&A to help turn your supplement confusion into clarity.

If you care about your horse's health and want real, practical steps that lead to results, then this workshop is just for you! 

Save your seat by clicking on the link in the show notes, or head over to my website. No need to worry if you register and miss it because I will have a recording waiting for you, whenever you are ready- but I do hope to see you all there, live!

Links and resources:

Connect with Elisha Edwards on her website 

Join my email list to be notified about new podcast releases and upcoming webinars.

Free Webinar Masterclass: Four Steps to Solving Equine Metabolic Syndrome Naturally

Register for my self-paced course, Resolving Equine Metabolic Syndrome Naturally.

Save your seat in Elisha's 2-hour live workshop Detox Done Right.