One way to communicate with your horse is to apply pleasantness or withdraw pleasantness. Another way to communicate with your horse is to apply pressure or relieve pressure. When you think about it realistically, these are the only tools we have and the only tools we need, for every training situation. When you use these … Read more
Training horses isn’t easy. When you set out to train a horse, the plain fact is that you’re going to have problems at some point. Different problems will arise at different stages with different horses. No two horses have the same experiences and handling. Every horse will react slightly differently in any given situation. You … Read more
When you work with your horse, you must be very careful which behaviours you reward. It’s very easy to reward undesirable behaviours without even knowing that you’ve done so. At a recent campdraft, I watched a lady trotting her horse around in the warm-up area. When her horse slowed down to look at a garbage … Read more
The first thing I do with every horse is go to him and rub his head. I teach him that life is easy and pleasant when he has his head with me. This is the most important thing you can teach any horse. Next, I teach her to stand and keep her head with me … Read more
Many horse trainers make lots of money selling all sorts of gadgets and widgets. You can buy ‘special’ lasso ropes to catch your horse and ‘special’ halters to make him ‘respect’ you. There are the ‘special’ sticks with magic powers, all sorts of bridles to solve all sorts of problems and halters to ‘cure’ a … Read more
Over the years, I’ve always read everything I could lay my hands on about horses and horse training. Many authors make horse training sound very complicated. Sometimes I can’t make head nor tail of the complicated explanations of how and why horses do certain things. Countless books and articles talk in depth about the anatomy … 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
Every horse person puts human values onto horses in some way, shape or form. We think some horses are better than others and some are prettier than others. We become attached to our horses and then we think that they love us back. We think our horses love to work for us and enjoy competing … Read more
Many people have horse problems and lots of people think there’ll be a magic fix for their particular issue. Here are some examples: ‘My horse used to be perfect but now he kicks up, bucks, rears, runs home (you name it). How can I overcome this?’ If only it were that simple. If your horse … Read more
When you buy a horse, the first and foremost consideration must be your safety. Forget about the breeding, the colour, the amount of ribbons and trophies that the horse has won – all these things are pointless if the horse isn’t safe for you to ride. Many people own horses that are dangerous and unsuitable … Read more