InquireA practice built from everyday life with horses
Equine Notion is a private equine relationship advisory practice founded by Nobuyuki NONAKA and Tetiana V. NONAKA in the Netherlands. Its perspective was not developed around lessons, clinics or scheduled training sessions, but through living on the same land as a stable herd of Icelandic horses and observing what changes when riding and deliberate training are no longer the organising purpose of the relationship.
Our history
Our first experience of horse ownership was very different from the life we have now. Our first horse was a 3.4-year-old Friesian stallion. At that time we had no land of our own and limited practical experience. We moved between boarding stables, encountered difficult handling situations and injuries, and eventually returned the horse to the seller.
That experience forced a more serious question: how much of a horse problem belongs to the horse, and how much is created by the environment, routines, expectations and human decisions surrounding the horse? Instead of searching for a better technique alone, we began changing the conditions around the relationship itself.
From 2022 onward, our herd of Icelandic mares was assembled gradually. Today nine mares — adults, young horses and foals — live together outdoors year-round on the same property where we live. None are ridden or formally trained by Equine Notion. Daily coexistence, rather than a scheduled training programme, became the basis from which Equine Notion developed.
The beginning
We learned early that owning a horse does not automatically mean understanding one. Boarding, handling and management decisions can shape behaviour as strongly as the human standing beside the horse. That lesson remains central to our advisory work.
The shift
We stopped treating the relationship as something that exists only during a lesson, training session or task. We began paying closer attention to land, herd structure, distance, timing, voluntary approach and withdrawal, daily routines, care procedures and the horse's own initiatives.
Today
Our work now grows from continuous participation in the herd's everyday life. The horses live as an established social group across different age groups, giving us a setting in which changes can be compared across individuals, contexts and time rather than inferred from a single moment.
Founder & Lead Advisor
Nobuyuki develops Equine Notion's analytical framework and leads individual advisory cases. His role is to separate what can actually be observed from what is assumed, identify relevant conditions around a case, and turn those observations into practical questions, comparisons and decisions for the client.
Focus: case structure, interpretation discipline, environment–relationship analysis, advisory design and final review.
Co-Founder & Daily Field Observer
Tetiana carries out much of Equine Notion's continuous day-to-day field observation. Living on the same property as the herd allows her to follow changes in social dynamics, individual preferences, approach and withdrawal, use of space, contact with people, routines and repeated patterns without turning every observation into a training event.
Focus: longitudinal field observation, individual differences, herd context, daily interaction patterns and case evidence.
Our observation environment
The horses are not brought to us for an observation session and then returned to another environment. We live on the same property and are present there throughout the day. This makes ordinary, horse-initiated moments visible: who approaches, who stays away, who waits, who leaves, which horse changes position when another arrives, how the group uses shelter and space, and how behaviour changes before and after human actions.
This does not make every observation scientifically proven. It does make it possible to compare repeated events over time instead of relying only on a single clip or a single interpretation. That distinction matters to us.
Meet the horses →How we work
Equine Notion is not a system for making horses do anything. Our starting point is to observe what emerges when nothing is imposed. We clearly distinguish between what was directly observed, what interpretation became more plausible through subsequent responses, and what could not be established. A horse's behaviour is not treated as a fixed dictionary of signals, and we do not claim to know an internal state simply because one gesture appeared once.
Equine Notion is not riding instruction, conventional horse training, veterinary diagnosis or medical treatment. When a case involves health, veterinary findings may be relevant evidence, but diagnosis and treatment remain with the veterinarian. Our work concerns the conditions, interactions and decisions surrounding the horse's everyday life.
Read our method →What trust means here
A private advisory service is only useful if the client can see where the conclusion came from. Our standard is not to produce the most dramatic explanation, but the most defensible one available from the evidence supplied and the patterns that can actually be compared.
Direct observation, client report, third-party information and our interpretation are not presented as though they were the same thing.
We look for repetition, contrast and context. A single video can show an event; it cannot automatically establish a long-term relationship pattern.
We do not assume the horse is the sole source of the problem. Environment, routines, management, expectations and human responses are part of the analysis.
The result may differ from what the owner expected or believed before the review. We do not alter a conclusion merely to make it more comfortable.
Public record & developing research practice
Before Equine Notion was developed as a formal advisory practice, our life with horses in the Netherlands was featured in the Japanese equestrian magazine UMA LIFE. The feature documented the reality of our life with nine horses rather than a manufactured brand story created after the business began.
Private advisory
If you are looking for a flattering interpretation, a quick training formula or a predetermined answer, Equine Notion is probably not the right service. If you want a careful reading of the conditions surrounding your horse and are prepared to look at the human side of the relationship as seriously as the horse side, you can begin with our services or contact us privately.