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Training Tips

Training Tips
March 24, 2015

Training Tip: A Staple Exercise

Lunging is one of the most used and abused exercises in the horse world. You can go to any horse show or training facility to see what I mean. Often you’ll see someone in the middle of an arena lunging a horse on a 60- or 70-foot lead rope. The horse is galloping around, he’s […]

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Training Tips
March 17, 2015

Training Tip: Expand the Comfort Zone

When you are desensitizing your horse to a new object, keep in mind that resistance is normal. Often, the reason for resistance is related to the horse’s desire for safety and comfort. Imagine a bull’s eye on a target.

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Training Tips
March 10, 2015

Training Tip: Work With Your Foal Now

Raising foals is a lot of fun. The thing to remember when you’re raising a foal is that the little things make a big difference – both good and bad. Using the Method to work with a foal just 10 to15 minutes a day for the first six weeks of his life will lay a […]

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Training Tips
March 3, 2015

Training Tip: Mental & Physical Stimulation

When horses feel safe, comfortable and have enough food and water to sustain them, their next need is stimulation. Your horse needs to be stimulated both physically and mentally on a daily basis. As with many other things when working with horses, you need to balance between the mental and the physical. You have to […]

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Training Tips
February 24, 2015

Training Tip: Softness in Your Horse

Horses have a natural instinct to pull and push against pressure – not give and soften to it. So every opportunity you get, teach your horse to soften to pressure. You always want your horse thinking of how he can give and soften to pressure rather than thinking of how he can resist, stiffen and […]

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Training Tips
February 17, 2015

Three Great Training Tips from Top Trainer Clinton Anderson of Downunder Horsemanship

Tip #1: Fix the cause, not the symptoms. The majority of horse “problems” (such as bucking, rearing, biting and pawing) aren’t really problems at all, they are really just symptoms of a cause. Seventy to eighty percent of all the problems you will ever have to deal with as a horse owner will fix themselves […]

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Training Tips
February 17, 2015

Training Tip: Turnout Safety Tips

#1 – If you’re turning your horse out with other horses, get the other horses away from the gate before leading your horse through it. People often suffer serious injuries turning horses out because they’re unaware of herd dynamics of horses. When you throw your horse into a herd, the other horses will react, and […]

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Training Tips
February 10, 2015

Training Tip: Two Sides to Every Horse

Horses have two sides to their brains: the left brain and the right brain. Each side of your horse’s brain is like a completely separate horse. You’ve got Lefty and you’ve got Righty.

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Training Tips
February 3, 2015

Training Tip: Bring a Horse Back to Work Safely

If your horse had a break in his training, his mental attention and physical fitness aren’t going to be up to par. The biggest mistake people make when bringing horses back to work is getting straight on them. They drag the horse out of the pasture, yank the girth up as hard as they can, […]

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Training Tips
January 27, 2015

Training Tip: Light Hands = Light Mouth

You’ve probably heard the saying, “Light hands, light mouth.” I disagree with that. I say, “Light hands that pick up softly and hands that release quickly make a horse’s mouth light.” For example, you could pick up gently on the reins and be very light, but if your horse roots against that pressure and flips […]

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