I wrote about this on Facebook briefly earlier this week and I thought it really warranted it’s own article. To me the little things will always and forever be the most important, yet time and time again they are what is overlooked. When I teach I spend most of my Read more
When I’m working with horses and riders one topic that comes up almost every single lesson is boundaries. In fact with most “problem” horses you can track the roots of the issue to a lack of boundaries, unclear boundaries, or confusing boundaries. It seems that most of the horse world Read more
I seem to be on a bit of a trend here with blogs on training philosophy. I think it’s because I’ve become a lot more clear on a few topics recently and really wanted to share them. This week I wanted to discuss the difference between giving your horse an Read more
Most horse owners rarely think about their horse’s fitness level or try to actively improve it. Most of us just go about our ride working on training the horse to do his job. However, most of the training we are doing is asking the horse to carry himself better, which Read more
Everyone has heard the saying, “when one door shuts another door opens”. Although almost everyone is familiar with this saying, most of us have trouble putting it into practice. After all, it can be really hard to look at disappointment in a positive light. With horses we are constantly needing Read more
When we think of working a horse we automatically think of movement and physical exercise. Many equestrians lament not being able to work their horses in the winter do to weather. While not everyone has an indoor arena to ride in, there are plenty of other ways in which we Read more
It is pretty well accepted that equestrians should be the leaders in their relationships with horses. However, the term “leader” means a lot of different things to different people, making it easily misunderstood. As with governments, there are many different ways in which we can be leaders to our horses. Read more
It seems to me in this whole world of horses everyone is always rushing. We hurry to tack up, to get on, to finish our ride, to get to the show, to get home, to… What’s the point? Why do we even bother riding if that’s how we really feel? Read more
“…anything forced is not beautiful.” ~Xenephon, The Art of Horsemanship “I try to feel what the horse is feeling and operate from where the horse is.” ~Tom Dorrance For the last five years I have been struggling with the term “natural horsemanship”. When I was writing about my training style Read more