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Training Tips

Training Tips
September 3, 2019

Training Tip: All Business When Selecting a New Horse

When looking for a horse, you need to assume a business mentality. You’re entering into a business transaction, not finding a horse to fall in love with. Most horsemen get tripped up and allow emotions to sneak into the equation because they go into their horse shopping experience unprepared. They have a vague idea of […]

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Training Tips
August 27, 2019

Training Tip: One Rein Stops With Hot-Blooded vs. Cold-Blooded Horses

Since a hot horse is always going to be thinking ahead of himself, you’ll want to shorten him mentally by not letting him go very far before doing a One Rein Stop. This is especially true at the lope. Don’t let him build up to 100 miles an hour before you shut him down. If […]

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Training Tips
August 20, 2019

Training Tip: Be Smart About How You Introduce Your Horse to Trail Riding

The ideal location for first taking a horse outside is a long dirt road because it gives you plenty of room to move the horse forward and it gives him a straight line to follow. Beyond that, you need room to move the horse’s feet, meaning you can bend him down in circles to soften […]

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Training Tips
August 13, 2019

Training Tip: The Benefits of Training Your Horse Outside of the Arena

No matter which category a horse falls into — hot-blooded or cold-blooded — riding him outside the confines of an arena and taking him down the trail is one of the best things you can do for him. Riding outside gives cold-blooded horses a reason to go somewhere. They’re already unambitious as it is, so […]

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Training Tips
August 6, 2019

Training Tip: Set Your Horse Up for Success When Riding in an Unfamiliar Location

When taking a horse out on the trail for the first time or riding him in an unfamiliar location, I do groundwork before getting in the saddle to make sure the horse is using the thinking side of his brain and tuned in to me. I’m setting us up for success. That’s one reason I […]

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Training Tips
July 30, 2019

Training Tip: You Can’t (and You Shouldn’t Try to) Change Who Your Horse Is

The important thing to keep in mind when working with a horse is that you’re not going to change who your horse is. You’re not going to get a 19-year-old gelding that’s been stiff and dull his whole life to be an athletic, soft, supple, talented machine. Can he improve?

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Training Tips
July 23, 2019

Training Tip: Handling a Horse That Refuses to Go Into the Arena

When you’re working with an arena-sour horse, don’t think, “How can I make the horse get in the arena?” Think, “How can I make it uncomfortable for him not to go in the arena?” You’ll do that by working the horse where he wants to be (outside the arena) and letting him rest where you […]

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Training Tips
July 16, 2019

Training Tip: Core Principles of Training

I’m a learn-a-holic and proud of it. I’m always looking for ways to become a better horseman and increase my horses’ performance. If another trainer can show me a technique that’s better than what I’m doing, I use it! However, just because a technique works well for one individual doesn’t mean that it’s well-suited for […]

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Training Tips
July 9, 2019

Training Tip: When Your Horse Won’t Leave the Arena Gate

At some point or other, almost all horses develop a magnet to the arena gate. To deter your horse from hanging out at the gate, make being next to the gate feel uncomfortable to him. Right now, your horse is attracted to the gate because he knows that’s how he gets out of the arena […]

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Training Tips
July 2, 2019

Training Tip: The Spinning Collection Drill

The spin is something that’s difficult to teach horses because it’s very much like a seesaw. Every day, depending on the way the wind is blowing, a seesaw is tilted one way or the other. It rarely stays the same day in and day out.

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