How-To Guides are articles that explain how to perform simple exercises with your horses using step-by-step instructions. These guides will help you build a solid partnership with your horse drawing from a variety of Natural Horsemanship and Classical Dressage training techniques. They can be great resources to remind you of exercises you have forgotten as well as to expand your equestrian tool box.
You are always encouraged to seek professional help when in doubt. These guides are not a substitute to training and instruction from equine professionals.
We get it, all horses spook. Is there anything we can do to help our horses (and ourselves!) through a spook except just hanging on for dear life? To answer that question, yes! There are a ton of things that we can do to help prevent, or at least minimize, Read more
Has the winter weather gotten you down? If you aren’t fortunate enough to have access to an indoor arena, winter can mean months of not riding or working with your horse. Today I have compiled a list of my top 3 exercises to do when the footing is not good Read more
Recently I’ve been working with a few horses who have some rather serious issues. Most of these issues occur when the horses are stressed or put in unfamiliar situations. This has really gotten me thinking about the coping mechanisms horses develop and how we can help horses cope better. Horses Read more
It seems there are as many philosophies on tying horses as there are horsemen. Opinions vary from those that think every horse needs to know how to tie to a solid post to those that never tie. I think there is a middle ground. Safety Concerns When Tying First off, Read more
I’ve had several people ask me when they need to do groundwork before they ride and when they can just get on and I’ve found myself having a lot of difficulty answering this question. Although to most people’s eyes I often “just get on”, in my opinion that isn’t possible Read more
One of the most common complaints I get from owners is that they cannot get their horse to stand still at the mounting block. Either the horse walks right past it, walks off as they put their foot in the stirrup, or doesn’t wait for them to get fully positioned Read more
Lowering your horse’s head is a great way to help your horse relax, give to pressure, and focus on you. It is one of the most basic elements of horsemanship that anyone can learn, but many people have never been taught. I use this exercise any time I am first Read more