Training Tip: Let Your Horse Spend “Friendly Time” on the Trailer
To help your horse get comfortable on the trailer, practice putting him on the trailer and letting him stand tied in it without going anywhere. We do this with our horses at the ranch all the time. After their training sessions, when they’re cooled down, we load them on the trailer. We tie them up […]
Matt spent summers on his father’s farm in Southeastern Idaho. His family used their horses for working cattle, hunting and roping. “The horsemanship I grew up with was the old Western mentality of the John Wayne movies, where if a horse was giving you trouble, you bit his ear, hopped on him and hoped for […]
Question: I just tried to put the first ride on one of my mustang mares, but after I mounted and did flexing (both of which she stood still for), she suddenly bolted around the roundpen until I flew off. I have been practicing all the groundwork in the Colt Starting Series every day for the […]
One Last Ride: Join Us for the Final Walkabout Tour
After 24 years of traveling the country and empowering horsemen at Walkabout Tours, we’re closing a chapter in Downunder Horsemanship’s history. Our final tour stop will take place September 6 and 7 in Waterloo, Iowa, at the National Cattle Congress Fairgrounds. Along with tours coming to an end, we’ll also be retiring Big Blue, our […]
Rachel was born and raised in Spain, in a small region that is nestled in the Pyrenees Mountain range. Her parents are missionaries, and the family lived on an old farm that came with three Arabian horses. The horses weren’t trained, but they captivated Rachel who was born loving everything to do with horses. “My […]
Training Tip: Take Your Horse’s Backing to the Next Level
In the Fundamentals Series, we teach our horses four methods of backing up on the ground. Each method of backing is designed to teach the horse a different concept and is important to building a solid foundation. You’ll often hear me say that the better you can get a horse to back up, the more […]
At every Walkabout Tour stop, we’re proud to partner with our featured sponsor, Ritchie Industries, to spotlight a local non-profit through our Ritchie Charity Ball Toss. This initiative has become a highlight of the tour and a fun way for our community of horsemen to give back. Here’s how it works: We team up with […]
Adam got his start in the equine industry after he graduated high school. He’d always been interested in horses, but he’d only ever ridden friends’ horses a handful of times. When he saw an opportunity to work at a performance horse ranch in Oklahoma, he took it. The farm, located just east of Oklahoma City, […]
Training Tip: Doing Rollbacks on the Fence With a Blind Horse
Question: I had just completed the Intermediate groundwork with my mare and things were going great. Unfortunately, she got an illness that caused her to go blind rather quickly. Her confidence was shot.