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Training Tips

Training Tips
August 1, 2023

Training Tip: Trust vs Respect With Horses

Question: My Thoroughbred mare had an abusive past and was quite fearful when I bought her. I followed your advice to treat her as any other horse and not worry about her past. I have done a lot of groundwork with her, and we’ve made a lot of progress. Several people in my riding group […]

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Training Tips
July 18, 2023

Training Tip: Filly Pins Her Ears When Fed Grain

Question: I have a 4-year-old Quarter Horse filly. When I approach her with the grain bowl, her ears go flat back. If I walk away with it, her ears come back up.

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Training Tips
July 11, 2023

Training Tip: Why Horses Become Aggressive Towards Humans

Horses become aggressive towards people for two main reasons. Sometimes they develop aggressive behavior because they feel threatened and think that aggression is the only way to protect themselves. Horses that are trained by people that I describe as barbarians often fall into this category. These trainers keep increasing pressure without giving the horse a […]

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Training Tips
July 4, 2023

Training Tip: Mare is Aggressive About Protecting Her Foal

Question: My mare has become very aggressive about protecting her foal to the point that she’s lunged at me and bitten my shoulder. Before the foal, she was a gentle mare. Will she begin to lose her aggression?

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Training Tips
June 27, 2023

Training Tip: Practice Handling a Spooky Horse in a Controlled Environment

Knowing how to handle when your horse spooks and actually getting in the saddle and doing it are two separate things. If you want to get good at handling a spook, you have to put yourself and your horse in the situation to practice. You do that by introducing your horse to as many spooky […]

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Training Tips
June 20, 2023

Training Tip: Horse Bites When Asked to Flex

Question: My horse either grabs the reins, bites the stirrup or tries to bite my boot when doing lateral bending. I have tried kicking him in the mouth when he goes for me, but that doesn’t stop him! I am riding him in a sidepull currently until he gets his teeth floated. My mom bought […]

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Training Tips
June 13, 2023

Training Tip: Why and When I Introduce Spurs to My Horses

When I start a horse under saddle, my first two goals are to establish a gas pedal and a brake. A gas pedal refers to the horse increasing his speed as soon as you gently squeeze his sides with the calves of your legs and maintaining that speed until you cue him otherwise. If a […]

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Training Tips
June 6, 2023

Training Tip: Catching a Loose Horse

Question: While leading my mare, I had to let go of the lead rope because I got stuck in the mud. At first, she stayed close by me and nibbled on scraps of hay. However, as I approached her, she took off running and bucking and didn’t stop until she found more food. I did […]

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Training Tips
May 30, 2023

Training Tip: Training and Handling Deaf Horses

It always surprises me how many people think deaf horses are useless and untrainable to the point of thinking a deaf horse should be put down, or, at the very least, shouldn’t be ridden. It’s ridiculous. I know plenty of deaf horses that are athletic, have great minds and are great partners. A few years […]

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Training Tips
May 23, 2023

Training Tip: Trailer Loading a Blind Horse

Question: My horse is blind in one eye. We finally got him to go in the trailer, but when we went to tie him up, he freaked out. What do you suggest for me to do so I can get him in the trailer and for him to stay still when he’s in there? We […]

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