Training Tip: How to Achieve a Slow Lope Without Four-Beating
Question: How do you get a horse to do a pleasure lope and not have the horse break down to a trot on the back feet and lope on the front feet? – Cowgirlb Clinton’s Answer: The secret to getting a horse to lope slowly is to practice and practice and practice and then practice […]
Training Tip: Build a Horse’s Confidence About Passing Thru Tight, Narrow Spaces
Your horse may perform like a trail-riding veteran across vast stretches of open land, but ask him to step down a narrow trail and he turns into a nutcase. With rock walls pressing in on him or tree branches and bushes brushing against his sides, he may act as if you’re forcing him to walk […]
Training Tip: What If You Don’t Have an Arena to Train Your Horse?
In a perfect world, we all have a facility that meets our requirements to train our horses year-round. Reality is far from perfect, though. I’ve been there myself, some of the situations and conditions I’ve had to train horses out of throughout my career were far from desirable, but I found a way to get […]
In a perfect world, we all have a facility that meets our requirements to train our horses year-round. Reality is far from perfect, though. I’ve been there myself, some of the situations and conditions I’ve had to train horses out of throughout my career were far from desirable, but I found a way to get […]
In a perfect world, we all have a facility that meets our requirements to train our horses year-round. Reality is far from perfect, though. I’ve been there myself, some of the situations and conditions I’ve had to train horses out of throughout my career were far from desirable, but I found a way to get […]
If thought isn’t given to how you do the cinch up, you can teach a horse to be “cinchy.” A “cinchy” or “cold-backed” horse has a tendency to overreact and possibly buck when pressure is applied around his belly or flank area. It’s normal for a horse to feel reactive whenever this area is squeezed […]
Training Guide: Safely Introduce Your Horse to Being Bathed
Building a horse’s confidence about standing quietly while you bath him requires a step-by-step approach and patience. Water is scary to horses because not only does it move, but it also makes a noise when it’s sprayed on the horse’s body. Add to that the sensation the horse feels when the water hits his body, […]
Training Tip: The Rule of Three When Saddling Your Horse
Properly tightening the cinch on your saddle ensures your horse’s wellbeing is taken into consideration, you’re not putting yourself in a dangerous situation and you’re not causing behavioral problems in your horse. While there’s no universal rule for how tight the cinch should be, it should be tightened in three stages. When I first saddle […]
Training Tip: Find an Experienced Horseman to Ride Your Inexperienced Horse
If you have an inexperienced horse and need to put miles under his feet and don’t feel as if you have the confidence or ability to get the job done, have an experienced rider take him out the first few times. Then, when the horse is confident on the trail, you can get in the […]
Training Guide: How to Stop Your Horse From Biting You
Horses need both mental and physical stimulation to be happy and content. If you don’t give your horse a job and keep his mind busy, he’ll find an outlet for his pent-up energy and a way to keep his mind busy. In a lot of cases, that results in the horse developing some sort of […]