Equine Safety and Success
Equine Safety and Success Network™ (ESSN)
The Equine Safety and Success Network™ (ESSN) is a professional community where horse professionals come together to explore the everyday decisions, communication, systems, and experiences that shape equine programs.
ESSN is also the home of the Equine Safety and Success Guide™ (ESSG), a growing collection of practical professional resources developed for real-world horse operations.
Through the ESSN Pilot Program, horse professionals help develop, test, and improve ESSG resources by working with the tools, discussing ideas, asking questions, sharing their experiences, and helping identify what works in different types of equine operations.
The Equine Safety and Success Guide™ (ESSG)
The Equine Safety and Success Guide™ provides practical resources designed to help horse professionals strengthen communication, consistency, documentation, decision-making, and the experiences they create for horses and people.
Rather than asking every horse operation to work in exactly the same way, ESSG resources are designed to support the experience and judgment of horse professionals and provide tools that can be adapted to different types and sizes of programs.
ESSG Toolkit Collections
The Guide is being developed through connected Toolkit Collections, each focused on an important area of professional practice.
Complete Rider Evaluation Toolkit Collection™
Three connected Rider Evaluation Toolkits™ provide a structured process for observing, documenting, and communicating rider development from the rider’s starting point through progressive riding.
Complete Rules & Expectations Toolkit Collection™
Four connected toolkits help horse professionals establish expectations, respond when expectations are not followed, recognize developing patterns, and determine when additional evaluation or management action may be appropriate.
Parents, Guardians & Friends Toolkit Collection™
Practical tools help horse professionals create clearer communication, appropriate boundaries, meaningful involvement, and stronger relationships with the parents, guardians, family members, and friends who support their riders.
The First Lesson Experience™ Toolkit Collection
Five connected toolkits help horse professionals create a consistent first lesson experience, from the initial inquiry through the first lesson and follow-up.
Additional Toolkit Collections are planned for guided trail riding operations, boarding barns, traveling instructors and trainers, horse trainers, and other areas of professional equine practice.
View the ESSG Toolkit Collections (click here)
More Than Toolkits
ESSN is also where many of the conversations behind the Guide begin.
Through Roundtables, Moments That Matter™, What to Say Saturday™, professional discussions, and Pilot Program participation, members explore situations that happen every day in horse operations and consider how communication, teaching, documentation, expectations, and professional decision-making affect what happens next.
Those conversations help ESSG resources continue to grow from the realities of working horse operations rather than theory alone.
Join the ESSN FREE Pilot Program
Horse professionals interested in participating can join the ESSN Pilot Program, where members work through developing resources, discuss ideas, share experiences, and help shape the Equine Safety and Success Guide™ as it continues to grow.
Active discussions, Pilot Program participation, and new ESSG resources are shared through the official Equine Safety and Success Network™ Facebook group.
ESSN Founding Advisory Board
The Equine Safety and Success Network™ Founding Advisory Board provides experienced professional perspective as the Equine Safety and Success Guide™ and ESSN Pilot Program continue to grow and develop.
Board members contribute their experience, ideas, and professional perspectives to help ensure ESSG resources remain practical, relevant, and useful to horse professionals working in real-world equine programs.
Laura Kelland-May
Founding Advisory Board Member
Equine program and standards consultant based in Canada.
Senior Judge, Steward, FEI Steward, and East Coast Working Equitation Judge.
Laura brings direct insight into how conduct, supervision, and decision-making are evaluated across jurisdictions, particularly in systems operating under duty of care, negligence, and premises liability frameworks.
Darla Walker-Ryder
Founding Advisory Board Member
Professional equine educator with more than fifty years of experience teaching, mentoring, and leading riding instruction and trail programs across multiple disciplines.
Darla’s work spans inclusive rider education, instructor development, and operational leadership. Her long-standing focus on practical systems, documentation clarity, and team communication supports structured programs that serve both horses and people.