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Training Tips

Training Tips
December 13, 2016

Training Tip: Your Horse Anticipating You Can Be a Good Thing

Anticipation is a common problem that plagues horses in all disciplines, particularly horses that are hot-blooded and sensitive. Horses are great at predicting our behavior and learning our habits, and it isn’t generally too hard for them to do so. As predators, we tend to follow the same routine, day in and day out. It […]

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Training Tips
December 6, 2016

Training Tip: Avoid These Trail Riding Mistakes

If you want your horse to be an all-around broke mount, it’s important to ride him outside the confines of an arena. Riding outside the arena will expose your horse to a brand new environment filled with strange objects, and most importantly, allow you to put some steady miles under his feet. Here are two […]

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Training Tips
November 29, 2016

Training Tip: Don’t Drill on Backing Exercises

When you first introduce the Fundamentals Backing Up exercises to your horse (Method 1: Tap the Air; Method 2: Wiggle, Wave, Walk and Whack; Method 3: Marching; and Method 4: Steady Pressure), spend just three to four minutes each training session working on each method. Backing up is not natural for horses (think about the […]

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Training Tips
November 22, 2016

Training Tip: Troubleshooting a Spook

If your horse does spook at something, put his energy to good use. If it’s an object you can ride around, circle your horse as close as you can to it, and every one and half circles, turn him into the object and head off in the new direction. Horses can only think about one […]

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Training Tips
November 15, 2016

Training Tip: Understanding Cold-Blooded Horses

While the Method works on all types of horses, every horse will require you to vary your approach slightly. I break horses into two broad groups – hot-blooded horses and cold-blooded horses. Cold-blooded horses are generally docile, laid back and relaxed. This category is made up of most draft breeds and some bloodlines of Quarter […]

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Training Tips
November 8, 2016

Training Tip: It all Starts With Lateral Flexion

Long before I even think of teaching a horse how to give vertically to the bit and collect, I teach him how to flex his head from side to side. Whenever a horse’s body is straight from his head to his tail, he’s practicing resistance. With that being said, once you start to teach your […]

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Training Tips
November 1, 2016

Training Tip: Warm Up With Groundwork Before Hitting the Trail

Before hitting the trail, be sure your horse is in the right frame of mind, meaning he’s calm, using the thinking side of his brain and focused on you. Most of the time, horses spook because they’re fresh and using the reactive side of their brain. Don’t just pull your horse out of the pasture, […]

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Training Tips
October 25, 2016

Training Tip: Nothing Beats Experience

If you have a desire to be a great horseman, I encourage you to ride not only as many horses as you can, but a variety of horses. Otherwise, you run the risk of fooling yourself into thinking your horsemanship skills are well-rounded. No two horses have the same personality, move the same or react […]

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Training Tips
October 18, 2016

Training Tip: The Best Way to End a Training Session

If you finish when the horse is frustrated or misbehaving, that’s what he’s going to remember the next day, and then getting him over his problem will take twice as long. If you find that you’re in a time crunch and your horse isn’t performing well at a particular exercise, stop what you’re doing and […]

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Training Tips
October 11, 2016

Training Tip: Invitation Only

The only way the horse is allowed into your personal hula hoop space (what I call an imaginary 4-foot circle around you) is if you invite him in. You’ll only invite him into that 4-foot circle if you know you can get him out of it. Think of how you want your neighbors to treat […]

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