Years and years of riding horses have taught me that you really only need two things to, as a rider, get your horse to do stuff: (1) a plan and (2) escalation of pressure.
Approaching and Moving Around a Horse Tied to a Rail
Navigating horses safely is humongously important, mostly because the consequences of not being safe can be catastrophic. There are two risky areas in particular: (1) when you are approaching a horse and (2) when you are walking behind a horse.
Using Your Voice
When working with horses, you have four basic aids: legs, weight, hands, and voice. Of these aids, voice is often overlooked or forgotten—maybe because people are embarrassed or think it sounds silly, or maybe because people just plain forget most of the time. Truth is, a lot people spend much of their time around horses without ever making a sound. And if you think about it, they’re …
Saddling a Horse: Western Saddle
No matter what kind of saddle you’re using, remember to go through your saddling checklist: Pads eat horses (or at least horses think they do). So don’t just swing it all over the place. Keep it close to your body and place it carefully on your horse’s back. Be gentle. Don’t just throw, plop, or slap a saddle on. Place the …
Introducing Your Horse to Stuff: Umbrellas
Along the lines of Letting Things Take as Much Time as They Need to Take are the essentials of desensitizing your horse to crazy scary things—basically anything your horse hasn’t seen or experienced before. Let’s use umbrellas as a starting point for jumping into the wonderful wild world of introducing your horse to the unfamiliar and helping him see them as harmless things that won’t …
The Truth about Horses and Water
How much water should a horse drink? Depending on who you talk to, horses should drink anywhere from 5–12 gallons of water per day. And, since a horse’s stomach can only hold 2–3 gallons of water or food at any given moment, that amount is spread out over the course of the day. So, taking an average of 8.5 gallons a day, with …
Simple Horse Bridling
Bridling a horse can be pretty painless, but there are a few things you should always keep in mind: Prepare and figure out your bridle before you approach your horse. It’s like homework. Get it done before you go to hand it in. Never bridle a horse while he’s tied to something. If something unexpected happens and the horse pulls …
Mounting and Dismounting, or How to Get On and Off a Horse
I see it all the time, people mounting in a way that makes their hose scared or uncomfortable and puts them (the rider) in danger. When getting on or off a horse, there are a bazillion options of where to put and organize your body parts. But keep these rules in mind when deciding how to do it: Here are the rules I …
How to Swing Up on a Horse – With a Saddle
DON’T DO THIS. But if you want to, this is how you can. But… DON’T DO IT. Below is a brief how-to. Stop laughing and press play.
On Relationships & Shoveling Poop REPOST
The following seems fitting after the post Letting Things Take as Much Time as They Need to Take. Think of it as real-world proof that everything takes time. But even more important is what happens after that time has been taken. On Relationships & Shoveling Poop addresses that end—taking your time is worth it. Caro’s relationship with her horse (after time and effort) has become …
Letting Things Take as Much Time as They Need to Take
Patience is key. When you work with horses, you have to remember that to do it right, it takes time. Slow down. Watch and listen. Remember that weeks, months, and years should be your time frame, not seconds, minutes, or even days. Take Buster here. He doesn’t like bridling. Don’t know why. Maybe someone wasn’t very nice to him, …
Circles, Let Us Count the Ways
Here’s the deal. If you work with horses, circles are your friend. Use them. Abuse them. Incorporate them into every activity you can. If something isn’t working, circle. And when you get dizzy, keep on goin’. What is a circle? A circle is round-ish. Depending on what you’re doing, you may be in the center of the circle or on top …
The Importance of Not Taking It Personally
The Rule:When you’re working with horses, you’re not allowed to take anything personally. Why? There are a lot of reasons. First and foremost: horses are horses. They are not people, so when they do things, they do them for horse reasons, not people reasons. We, as humans, have all kinds of reasons why we do what we do. Sometimes we do …
You Can’t Do This Enough
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All About Hooves
Let me tell ya, picking a horse’s hooves is one incredibly important thing to do. And you can’t do it enough. Those feet are your only connection with the ground when you’re on your horse’s back so take good care of ’em. Doesn’t mater if your horse has shoes or is barefoot one of the most important things to …
My Approach
My Approach is the hardest definition I’ve had to produce yet. The short and sweet is that My Approach is Natural Horsemanship with an emphasis on the school of “I’m open to new ideas.” I wish I could say I believe in whatever works, but when I take a hard look into myself, I have a few beliefs that outweigh this idea. First and foremost, I …