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. Cool to watch those little wheels turning. I love this passive style of training with youngsters but it works with all horses. Learning by watching is so underused. No pressure, just watch.

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 the PDF’s to learn this great skill!

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 pertinent information is readily available.

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 path (drive them on their own path). Horses climbing onto obstacles can get wobbly with a small height never mind the height of bigger props.

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 have fun with it?

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 foundation affects the function of everything else above it.

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 the conditions. Click on the PDF’s below to learn more:

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 the walk.

Click a button to open the PDF:

Quality Collection – A worthy Pursuit

Achieving quality collection is always a worthy pursuit. Collection is imperative to maximize a horse’s performance
and 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.