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
In every aspect of training, what you want to do must always be more important to your horse than whatever he wants to do. The only way you can ‘fix’ any problem is for your horse to think it’s more important to do what you want than whatever he wants. Your horse must concentrate wholly … 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
Many times I’ve seen someone take the rug off their horse and leave it on the arena fence while they ride. When they trot around the arena, the horse takes fright of his own rug and shies as he goes past. Trainers often say ‘He’s gotta get used to it. Let him stop and look … Read more
Horse-back riding conjures up images of a loving relationship between you and a horse, with the two of you cantering off into the sunset in harmonious rapture. People often have visions of horse-back riding where their horse loves to carry them around and obeys every command smoothly and gracefully. Unfortunately, the reality is often very … Read more
Your timing is critical in every aspect of horse training. If you’re even a few seconds early or late with your timing, your horse won’t understand what you want and he won’t respond as you think he should. Horses learn only from the immediate result they get. You must correct your horse by making things … Read more
In my grandfather’s day, horses had to earn their keep. A horse eating his head off out in the paddock wasn’t much use to anyone. Not many people could afford to keep a horse as a pet or just to ride on Sunday. Grandfather managed ‘Abbotsford’ at Picton, about 60 miles south west of Sydney. … Read more
When I was about 14, people often sent ponies to us to be ‘broken in’. I got the job done on weekends and after school, with my father’s help. Looking back, we took a pretty crude approach. For the first few days, we put the girth and mouthing gear on and left the pony in … Read more
People always ask me how to overcome horse problems or does my book cover this or that specific issue. Here are some examples: My horse: Doesn’t trust people, Is herd bound, Is barn sour, Bites when I do up the girth, Has head-tossing syndrome, Shies or Rears, Kicks and Bites, Pulls back, Bucks, Won’t back … Read more
Walk into any saddlery and you’ll see many different types of bits. There are hundreds of different types of snaffle bits – all shapes and sizes, smooth metal, rough metal, twisted wire etc etc. There are hundreds of different types of curb bits – short shanks, long shanks, spoons in the horse’s mouth, nose pieces … Read more