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If you show your horse in an event with patterns, like reining or dressage, don’t practice the pattern from start to finish during training sessions. Doing so is likely to cause your horse to anticipate the next maneuver and get ahead of you. Taking your horse through the same patterns over and over is […]
Read MoreAnticipation 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. […]
Read MoreWhat does a respectful horse do when you walk up to catch him? He turns and gives you two eyes, and even walks up to you. What does a disrespectful horse do?
Read MoreIf you talk to any good horse trainer about how they got to where they are, they’ll admit they’ve made some mistakes along the way. And if they’re worth their salt, they’ll probably tell you that the lessons they learned making those mistakes were invaluable. I often tell my Academy students, “If you haven’t […]
Read MoreIf you want your horse to wait for your cues and be patient, you have to practice. Whatever you practice with your horse is what he gets good at. I literally include periods of waiting into my training sessions.
Read MoreIf you notice that your horse is in a hurry as you’re heading back home, do plenty of transitions with him to get his mind on you. When you do get back to the barn, put his feet to work. Spend ten minutes trotting and cantering him around the barn or in a nearby […]
Read MoreWhen I take a horse on the trail for the first time, I prefer to ride him out by myself so that it’s just the two of us. When you get two or more horses on the trail, they have a tendency to want to race one another and get reactive. And, when you […]
Read MoreIf 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 […]
Read MoreIf 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 […]
Read MoreWhen 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 […]
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