2024 Clinician Academy
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April 1 - May 17
Location
Downunder Horsemanship Ranch
Farmington,
AR
Training Tips
Training Tips
November 12, 2013
Training Tip: Horse Overreacts To Other Horses On The Trail
It’s common for horses to get excited when they see other horses on the trail. Anytime a horse starts to use the reactive side of his brain and it feels like you’re losing control, redirect his energy in a positive way. When a horse uses the reactive side of his brain, the only way […]
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Training Tips
November 5, 2013
Training Tip: Hold The Soft Feel Longer
Vertical flexion is something that you’ll build on with each give. First the horse has to understand that when you pick up on the reins and apply pressure with your legs he needs to maintain whatever gait he’s in and give to the pressure. As soon as he understands that concept, then you can […]
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Training Tips
October 29, 2013
Training Tip: Choose Your Horse’s First Trail Wisely
When you ride your horse outside for the first time, I’ve found that it is best if you can give him a path to follow so that you can just put some steady miles under his feet. Ideally, I like to take my horses out on a wide dirt road where I can walk, […]
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Training Tips
October 22, 2013
Training Tip: The Concept Lesson
When you first teach a horse something, it’s a concept lesson. In the concept lesson, your goal is to get the general idea of the lesson across to the horse. When you first ask a horse to do something, he won’t automatically know what to do. In fact, he’s probably going to do everything […]
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Training Tips
October 15, 2013
Training Tip: Practice Parts, Not The Whole
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 […]
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Training Tips
October 8, 2013
Training Tip: Anticipation Isn’t Wholly A Bad 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. […]
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Training Tips
September 24, 2013
Training Tip: Two Eyes Are Always Better Than Two Heels
What 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?
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Training Tips
September 17, 2013
Training Tip: Don’t Let Fear Hold You Back
If 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 […]
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Training Tips
September 10, 2013
Training Tip: Practice Patience
If 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.
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Training Tips
September 3, 2013
Training Tip: Horse Hurries Back To The Barn
If 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 […]
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