Schooling the young horse

04/08/2025

Well Im pushing 60s and pushing 40s got some wisdom here !

Maybe I've been in this business too long, or maybe I've grown a little cynical over the years, but I have to say this; quit trying to be friends with your badly mannered horses. Quit trying to work out a relationship with a four footed partner who doesn't respect you. It really doesn't take much effort on your part to nip bad behavior in the bud, you just have to do it. Just like that kid you see having a melt down in the supermarket...he really isn't borderline autistic, misunderstood or poorly treated, he's just a brat, and the only dose of "ritalin" that he needs is a swat in the britches.

So, there's that. Reason #1 why I didn't have kids. 🤷

Back to your crowhopping, pulling back, pushy, hard to catch, unhalter broke, twelve hundred pound, four footed toddler that you want your trainer to whisper gently into good manners. Well folks, it doesn't (hardly ever) work that way. Have you ever hung around and watched a herd of horses? Well I do, all the time, and dam straight, there is a hierarchy and it's a tough one. The lines are drawn, and held, with no doubts as to who the boss is.

So here, in my world, there too is a hierarchy. It's pretty black and white, and new horses figure it out very quickly because it makes sense. They know where they stand all the time.

I've been training horses all my life and it's how I've learned to do things that creates a content and gentle herd which moves toward me when they see me approach, not away. You see, I've learned to judge my own performance by the way the horses react to my presence. I don't over think how I treat them when they are misbehaving. I don't let my conscience tell me I shouldn't have driven that one back because he pushed into my space, or I should have looked the other way when that one kicked his tail lightly as I passed behind him. Everything horses do around you, means something. It might not mean anything to you, but it does to them. So pay attention and don't let the bleeding heart, live-in-peace-with-all-Gods-creatures group that spout off on the internet these days judging honest to God horse trainers who are actually making a living working horses, get you doubting what you already know. When you are dealing with other people's 1200 pound problems, you can get hurt in a second. One second can change your life. All because somebody in that horse's world didn't have the know how, or the balls, to be a boss before they were a "friend."

Training horses isn't like Snow White sitting in the woods with little birdies perching on her, and wild forest animals hanging about. It's a tough job, and a grind, and sometimes it's learning huge life lessons from one misunderstood head toss to the next snort, in the space of a stride. So the simplest way you can make your horse trainer's life easier? Safer? Learn when it's ok to swat your toddler in the britches. 😏

Have a good day folks. 😊

Pictured below; a hitching rail full of happy, hard working toddlers.

04/08/2025

Whorlology is very interesting.

03/31/2025

Thoracic sling

When we see pictures describing the thoracic sling we often only visualise that we only have to work a small group of muscles to achieve the "lift" and when I think of whole horse for me my first question is why ??? is there something going on somewhere else for the horse to not be able to achieve an equilibrium, is there a dysfunction somewhere else that means the horse cannot achieve the activation and stabilisation that is needed for a harmonious movement.

When we think whole horse we think of the structures below, above, behind and in front each one playing a crucial part like cogs on a chain if one link is broken all will begin to fail, if your horse has a soft underneck then how will it find strength to support the missing structures above, remember a body working in harmony will have a smooth line from head to tail each structure playing its part yet we so very rarely see it

So when I get asked about the thoracic sling for me i can't just visualise or compartmentalise the horses body if we achieve what we desire in the front it may come at a price to the hindend if we are not looking, if we just focus on the hind end we may miss a failing front end, and if we only focus on the back then we are missing the most important aspect of the job we do which is whole horse

Again this is only my thoughts and my ideas I am not saying I am right or wrong just what I observe xx

03/24/2025

We must be aware of and really develop feel in our hands . Great explanation

Two very different hands.

In so many riders I see, the right hand is grippy and solid and the left hand is ‘give-y’ and lazy. Going left it usually works out ok... the left hand bends, then gives, and the right hand receives. What can be done with the right hand, is. The right hand wants to do as much as it can while the left inside hand is happy to give responsibility over to the right hand. So inside leg to outside rein connection happens easy. To the right, the rider rides completely off the right rein and the left rein does nothing. It’s lazy! If the rider does try to put the horse on the outside rein he hates it because the rider has never used an outside rein that direction- at all! The greedy grippy right inside hand wants to hog it all and the outside hand lays down for a nap.
If working on walk pirouette or a western turn around, going left is harder because the busy grippy right hand tried to take it over and messes things all up! It blocks the bend, and it blocks the inside front foot from reaching left.

I’ve found giving these “personalities” to each hand helps riders become more aware of their natural inclination so they can improve it!

Sometimes one hand is stretchy and friendly and the other is rigid and inhospitable. Whatever it is, become aware of it so you can work towards teaching both hands to be stretchy, alive, resolute, and forward thinking.

03/23/2025

Congratulations to my daughter and grand daughter at the Horse Show today ! Sharifa and Luna took home 2 Champion baskets English and Western Riding classes Thank You Alana and all who volunteered today

03/22/2025

Routine equine dentistry is an often overlooked aspect of preventative care that can significantly impact your horse's welfare and performance. Horses have specialized teeth adapted to continuous grazing. Unlike human teeth, horse teeth erupt throughout their life and can become imbalanced if they a

03/21/2025

Tails tell a story

I thought I would add a little more in

Often tails are forgotten when we look at the horse we may pull them, or use them as an access point for other parts of the horse but often tails and how they sit in line with the rest of the body can indicate other things which may be happening

Anatomy

The tailbones are called the COCCYGEAL and on average there are 15-18 bones which begin at the end of the sacral bone, the first two are located internally and often the little triangle above the tail will indicate where these are or by moving the tail up and down you can usually feel where the sacrum begins as this is not as mobile as the tailbones
The tail can move up and down and side to side, it has muscles which can help with posture (slow twitch) and movement (fast twitch).
Even though there is no spinal cord here it still contains many nerves and also many soft tissue connections which reach further forward along the horse
Tails are great for communication we can tell alot by the tails movement and not just when riding, fly swatting and balance
If we look at the connection between the big ligaments that are effective between the tail and sacroiliac joints then we often find restriction in either will have an effect on the other and also a more global effect

A tail should feel like there is some resistance then relax when we work on it a bit like goldilocks and the three bears it should not feel to rigid nor to relaxed it should be just right 😁

I think of the tail as a rudder of the ship its used for balance, can indicate how your horse is feeling and we often only think of diagonals with a compensation pattern a straight line from right to left or vice versa when often when we look its usually a zig zag pattern as the horse tries to find a more normal pattern throughout the body sort of trying to right itself at each junction and more often than not if we have a tail off to one side the zig zag pattern of compensation will end up with the head favouring the same side that the tail is sat

Tail off to one side

Often this usually happens way before your therapist comes to work with your horse and its already a deep established pattern throughout your horses body, remember the tail and sacrum are interlinked so usually I come across this if the horse has had some strain around the pelvic area, maybe the horse had a slip or a fall as a youngster and that is why it is so hard to correct it as its usually been a long standing issue and a pattern is ingrained into the body, it's now the horses normal crooked tails are still not well documented as to the whys
So it's important if you see your youngster slip in the field to get it checked, often the bony landmarks hit the ground and you can see its all connected and mostly what I see is the Tuber Coxae that is most affected is the nearside and most tails I see are always favouring to the left side

Tail rigid and stiff

Again for me this may be an indicator that the horse is trying not to move things too much in this area think of the rudder of the ship if it is stuck in one position often intricate movements are hard, the horse is usually ok in straight lines but may struggle with schooling moves, again do not just think of the tail as a single entity you have to think of the connections and muscles in the tail can have connections further up the back

Clamped down tail

This is usually the polar opposite of the rigid tail but again is the horse trying to keep the area as still as possible often the engine is switched off in these horses so they often struggle to power their hind end as the easiest way I explain it to clients is pull your knickers up your bum and then try to run, it's not so easy

Different breeds will have different tail carriages, and different personalities will have different tail carriages as well but we must remember the tail is an indicator of the mobility of your horses spine, and the health of the soft tissue, a non-moving tail is trying to protect an area and like I say we come in much later so there may be no pain but a restriction and it's important we do the work in small parts to allow the horse to adjust and reset

We also have to think of the huge fascial sheets across the horse and the effects of fascial restrictions and patterns throughout the body remember we have to work on the whole horse even if we think it’s a hind end or front end or middle part of the horse for the connections of the tail go much further than the tail bones, think of the top of the tail in a little fascial pop sock

We often only think of steering is a front-end issue but if the rudder fails then the steering will never be right the tail should be able to move with the body counterbalancing the body and we have to work with what we have in front of us, often the owners have done all the vet checks and we are just trying to bring more balance to the body without it having to work so hard

02/25/2025

Simple diagrams of body language. Change it as you need to. Sometimes if a horse is over excited I will choose the middle pose to signify I am not a threat. I. Watching their feet . If they hesitate Ill take the right position very quickly and then go to the left. None are right or wrong. Never lift the whip in the middle pose.

02/23/2025

The New Generation of rider at 4-H Cleavers at Josh and Julie Budgells Lightning and Saphfyre are former graduates of my training. Im still petite enough to train great ponies. Saphfyre is almost 25 . Her teeth look perfect though long, shes always been a chub. Hundreds of people of all ages and abilities have ridden on her. Its a treasure of a pony who can move in a way to balance her rider.

02/23/2025

Yes horsemanship has changed . Common sense use to be the common denominator . Now its as indivisible as a prime number. Common sense is something you learn from your interactions with horses. Its about paying attention and being present in the moment. Many riders and instructors get caught up in overthinking and second guessing everything . Tune into your horse and Be present in the moment.