Neil Davies
One of my grandfather’s favourite sayings was ‘Work beats the best of them, man or beast’. He firmly believed that if you were having trouble with a horse or a man, the best thing to do was to work them to the point of exhaustion. When I was a kid, Billy Wilkie was another old … Read more
People often say “but my horse doesn’t like having his head rubbed”. I know this is true in many cases. No horse likes having his head rubbed when he’s first handled. Every horse will be worried when your hand first comes near his head and ears. If a horse doesn’t like having his head rubbed, … Read more
We’re often told that horses are mimics and will copy whatever their ‘leader’ does. I’ve seen trainers run along in a trotting motion when they want a horse to trot alongside them. Even better, when they want the horse to canter, I’ve seen trainers skip along pretending to canter, thinking that the horse will copy … Read more
When a horse is frightened, his first means of defence is to run away. When a frightened horse is cornered and can’t escape, he’ll instinctively defend himself by kicking, striking, biting or bucking. These aren’t signs of aggression, they’re simply signs that a horse is frightened and can see no other way out of the … Read more
Horse training isn’t complicated. Your horse concentrates on three simple things, every time you ride or handle him. When you concentrate on the same three things, you’re thinking on the same level as your horse. Understanding this is the key to horse training. Every movement you teach every horse comes back to these three things. … Read more
When I handle their horses, people often say ‘It’s ok for you, you have a special gift.’ This isn’t true. I wasn’t born with any gift for handling horses. I know what I know from a lifetime of riding and handling thousands of different horses. Every horse taught me something and a lot of owners … Read more
When I was about fourteen, one of my chores after school was to exercise our racehorse. My father always said, ‘Just sit quietly and canter him up the hill. Don’t take hold of him. He’ll pull if you take a firm grip and you won’t be able to hold him.’ I can remember the horse … Read more
I’ve lost count of the amount of people who say things like, ‘I’ve tried your method but it didn’t work. Usually I just take a little bit of training from here and a little bit from there and I use whatever works for me.’ I hate to disillusion everyone but it’s not ‘my method’. I … Read more
There are a few key words that we should all think about every time we train our horses. First and foremost is confidence – a word that should be heard far more often in the horse world. Confidence is one of the most valuable traits that your horse can have in you. Confidence is defined … Read more
My wife Christine has been a music teacher ever since she left school. She’s taught hundreds of people to play piano, keyboard, piano accordion and organ. I’d never had much interest in learning a musical instrument until a couple of years ago when Chris arrived home with a $25 tremolo harmonica. I picked it up … Read more