I didn’t think so… and neither does your horse. Let’s learn a new way to connect with these incredible animals. Form a true bond of complete and utter trust. Yes, it is possible. Read these articles and even better, attend a clinic to learn more.
Fun with Chance I shot some video of Chance who is almost a year old. When we were done the videoing footage to show him, we then just let him follow and and watch Easy do some things in the arena. Chance is just a sponge. He just followed us around watching and then investigating.…
Dance at Liberty Liberty skills improve respect, relationship and correct movement. I consider this part of the basic foundation but how far you take it is up to you. You can go from basic yields to dancing with your horse in collected movements, sophisticated patterns, high school and reining moves. Watch the video and read…
What Kind of Leader Are You? Most people owning horses today realize they will have to acquire some type of knowledge in regard to developing a positive relationship with their horses. I believe that there are more quality trained educators in the equine industry than ever before. This is good – it means that more…
Teeter-totter, Box Pedestal and Pedestal Disclaimer : You build at your own risk. The quality is up to you to build. These are very useful props but care and preparation in small steps must be taken to use them safely. Horses stepping off these can crush you if you happen to put yourself in their…
Exercise for Horse & Rider People are generally aware that our own fitness is as important as that of the horse, but finding the time can be a challenge. We need to exercise to ride better but we have limited time to spend with our horses. So why not mix horse time with exercise and…
Foundation First Foundation preparation is the most important part of training any horse. In building terms, everything relies on the quality of the foundation of a house. It doesn’t matter how good-looking the rest of the house is, if the foundation is poor, you will always have difficulties with the rest of the house. The…
Get Creative Some folks feel it is more difficult to get motivated to practice and train their horses when it’s cold out, so I have decided to make some suggestions that could be done indoor or outdoor. Many of these suggested patterns can be done outside in winter as long as you ride according to…
Start with the Walk Performance movement begins at the Walk. Many people don’t know what a good walk is for a particular horse until they see it change, which can make the pursuit of it difficult for some. Nuno Oliveira, one of the classical masters, required his students to do months of developmental exercises at…
Quality Collection – A worthy Pursuit Achieving quality collection is always a worthy pursuit. Collection is imperative to maximize a horse’s performanceand well-being, whether for competition or just for pleasure. Good posture with a proper relaxed and engaged carriage facilitates a happy long-lasting relationship between horse and human. Open PDF
Safety is Critical The more people I see at equine events, the more apparent it is to me that many riders are very unsure as to whether they are safe or, in many cases, have no idea that they are not safe! Then there are those who know they are not safe but don’t know…
Endotapping: A New Age Technique Why would endotapping be considered a “new age” technique? Many horse training techniques have been invented over the centuries and later revisited. Yet, few are as strikingly different as endotapping. Endotapping consists of percussing the horse’s body with a soft ball attached to a whip. It somewhat resembles the tapotement…
Building Trust Not everyone knows how to achieve a safe and trusting relationship with a horse. Leaders need to be positively assertive. Open PDF
Help Your Horse Feel Secure It’s almost Christmas and a good time to do something special for your horse and yourself. What I would like to see is folks teach their horses that they can be secure when they are with their human leader. Of course the human has to act like a good leader.…
Softening the Poll One of the most difficult skills to master as a leader is the softening at the poll. This article will offer a new spin on an old Classical Dressage technique that used to be called “breaking the resistance at the poll.” I personally hate the choice of words. Anything to do with…
Fun Winter Adventures Wow – winter is almost upon us. This is always a more difficult time for training experiences with horses. Looking at the prospect of cooler weather and slippery conditions not conducive to serious collection, I thought it was time to make a Bucket List of FUN things that I would like to…
Develop the Stop Two things that people find difficult to do with horses is to get “GO” when they want it and to get the “WHOA” when they need it. The purpose of this article is to give you a synopsis on how to develop a good stop with your horse any time you desire…
Don’t Leave it to Chance Diffusing the bomb is something that is very important to anyone owning a horse and striving for a healthy and safe relationship. Why leave it to chance, why hope a horse gets used to it as so many take forever to do so? Open PDF
Control is Critical The simplest way I can aid people in training their horses is by illustrating how, when you control the shape of the horse, you will eventually start to control the emotions of the horse. Open PDF
Release Negative Tension The shoulder-in or haunches out is one of the most useful moves that any rider or horse person can learn — what we often forget is to how to apply it to practical situations. Open PDF
Is it Possible? Oh ya! Most people find it a considerable challenge to collect their horse where they have control of the poll and the horse is put in a position to use its ring of muscles in the most powerful and efficient way possible. However, I am seeing more people on the right track…
Balance = Security Where and how we balance on our seat or feet will determine the security of our balance and the positive performance in our horses for whatever style of riding we choose. I use the term Classical because for eons good technicians on riding had figured out where you needed to sit and…
Keys to Courage Many forms of lunging–or lateral lunging, as some call it–often fall short of increasing a horse’s ability to relax and perform. The purpose of this article is to show how a horse’s state of negative contraction (counter-flexion, inverted) can be changed so that it does not hamper a horse’s ability to improve…
Hang that Head One of the biggest hurdles that I keep seeing people run into with their horses is the unpredictability of horses exploding in situations. These emotional outbursts compromise safety and performance. Too often people deal with this by looking for situational solutions. By this I mean that they see one situation at a…
Trailer Loading 101 If there is one topic with horses that seems to have had a fair amount of coverage but still is a serious hurdle for so many people, trailer loading. We all have to move our horses from one place to another for veterinary attention, pleasure trail riding, show or from one boarding…
Dimesizing Many of the most critical foundation exercises developing movement are the simplest. Now just because I said simple I didn’t necessarily imply easy. Why would Standing on a Dime or reducing the base of support to that size be so important? Who doesn’t want to have a horse that can really use its hindquarters…
Training for Courage Positional Ground Progressions in the CircleIn an article last year I covered Bending and Releasing the Pole, as the key to Courage. The jest of this article was to use the horse’s natural relaxation reflexes to help the horse gain lateral flexion, move into a state of a relaxed top line and…
Relax and Build Confidence Would you like to have your horse…- reach deeper levels of relaxation and release the tension in his top line,- improve body control and balance,- achieve a smaller base of support to power out of and into collected movements,- gain confidence in your leadership and be more courageous? Open PDF