Riding patterns will greatly improve the communication between you and your horse. When you give the horse a specific job to do he will become focused rather than wandering aimlessly around the arena. Patterns are a very important part of training; which keep him listening to you while working on fine-tuning your riding skills. Continue reading Basic Riding Patterns
Every horse should be responsive to all of your aids, but some lazy horses will learn to ignore them. While others will move off, but not at the speed you want. Instead, they will plod along barely picking up their feet. This lesson will teach you how to make your horse listen to your leg, and go forward quickly at the speed you want. Continue reading Teach Your Horse to Be Responsive to Your Leg
In this two part series I’ll continue to describe how horses express their positive emotions through body language and occasional vocalizing. Continue reading Communicating With Horses Part 2
Unlike animals such as dogs and cats, where much of their behavior can be understood by the noises they make, horses communicate almost purely with body language. In this two part series we will first cover how the horse displays negative emotions through his body language. Continue reading Communicating With Horses Part 1
Imagine a dressage rider sitting the trot so well that she appears to be apart of the horse, or a show jumper quietly transitioning his horse from a standstill into a collected canter. Both these riders have put a lot of time and effort into riding their horses correctly. They also have worked with trainers every day and that’s not always possible to do. Here I’ll give you some tips on how you can make big improvements in a small amount of time. Continue reading Connected Riding
The time has come to saddle your young horse for the first time. Through all the preparation you have been doing this lesson should go smoothly. Continue reading First Saddling
This lesson is extremely important as it prepares your horse for the movement and noise of the saddle when he is in motion. Lots of horses are fine with desensitizing when they are standing still, but get worried when you start to desensitize them while they are moving. In this lesson you will teach the horse to accept stimulus while in motion, which will prepare him for your movement in the saddle when being ridden. Continue reading Desensitizing While Lunging
The dream of most riders and horse owners is to have a special bond with their horses. A lot of people also have problems because they want this bond so much that they let the horse do whatever he wants, as the owner wants to be the horse’s friend. But in horsemanship this just doesn’t work. We have to teach the horse rules in order to safely interact with each other. Continue reading Building A Relationship
Imagine getting on a horse and riding for the first time. If you have never ridden before this is may be only a fantasy, or you may have been riding for years and the first time you sat in the saddle is a fond memory. Horseback riding can be a wonderful experience with the right coaching and guidance, but much too often a new rider’s first few experiences on horseback don’t go so well. Many new riders get scared and confused without the proper instruction and they quit riding before they have really gotten a chance to enjoy it. I want to help change that by educating new riders in an easy, effective way that progresses their riding skills quickly. In this series I will be teaching beginning riding for those of you whom may have just gotten into horses or want to start riding soon. Continue reading The Beginning of Horsemanship
Blazing fast times don’t come by simply running the pattern at full speed. Fast times require attention to every step the horse takes. Control is extremely important, as the difference between first and second place come down to fractions of a second. Here are a few exercises to help improve your control during a run and overall improve your times. Continue reading Body Control For Better Barrel Racing