Art Under Saddle - Training, Lessons, Corrections, Horsemanship

09/04/2025

Yes yes yes!
It’s all about balance 🤌🏼

08/24/2025

Sign me up!

This quote means so much to me right now…

It came up on my memories this morning, from a few years ago, and it was one of those moments where something resonates even deeper the second time around.

In the positive reinforcement community, we often hear, ‘effective is not enough,’ and while that can be misapplied in a way where we fail to progress at all, for fear of inciting any measure of stress, it’s very much ‘food for thought.’

Is effective enough?

Do the ends justify the means?

Should we really have to ride ugly, to get ‘pretty?’

Last year, a colleague and mentor gave me a bit of a wakeup call with this that made me dive even further into my application of classical and biomechanically correct work in my horsemanship.

This year, my work is getting so quiet, so uneventful, that, to a certain extent, it no longer has the appeal to observers.

The slow, deliberate walk work for rhythm and straightness, the subtle swinging of the inside hind to set up correct poll and rotational releases, so that I can get a single effortless step of a truly biomechanically correct haunches-in, which is the entire point of the exercise…

Big deal.

So much more impressive to crank a horse into incorrect rotation, and pretzel them into a huge display of the movement. To prove we can?

Been there, done that. My pretzeling days are over.

Visiting with a colleague yesterday about the challenge of presenting ‘quiet’ horsemanship and a quiet teaching style in an industry of loud voices talking up effective methods, the solution wasn’t really clear.

In an industry of bright and shiny quick fixes, how do we sell good horsemanship?

‘Simple, but not easy.

Pretty damn boring.

Oh, and one more thing…
It’s not the horse who’s the problem, it’s you.

You’re going to be working on yourself every day for the rest of your life.
Your mind, your body, your emotions.’

Sold. Sign me up. 😅

08/12/2025

They actually don’t need us as much as we think and hope they would.
Clear directions, support and stay outta their way!

When I was younger, I had a lot of challenging horses serve me a lot of humble pie.

Any time I’d get a little too cocky, they were there to remind me I still had a lot to learn.

But in a way, they also fed my ego…

After all, I got to take so much credit for their mental and physical transformations!

As I mature, I’m starting to experience that it’s the talented ones who can humble us the most, if we let them.

When we realize the best thing we can do is stay the heck out of their way.

When we realize how little they need us.

But let me tell you, getting to step back and watch them thrive in their own glory is more rewarding than any hard-earned ‘win’ with a challenging horse.

I love how this guy has intuitively transferred all his knowledge of balance from the halter and hackamore into the snaffle the past few days.

It’s been almost effortless, and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that he’s gathering information from working the slack of the rein, hindquarters to shoulders, which is a very similar feeling to ridden cues, and not having to rely solely on the headgear.

This is why I prioritize working back to front in my riding and my groundwork.

Applying French principles like descente de main and the weight of the rein has crept into all of my horsemanship, and I cultivate it in my lunging and advanced double lunging by utilizing corners, so that they can start to work their own drape, especially when I’m introducing new ideas or new equipment.

It’s little things like this that set them up to navigate something new so they don’t need us.

08/11/2025

Ladies and gentlemen, with great sorrow…here is what’s setting the tone for success and what’s winning in the “higher end” of our horse industry.

08/10/2025

It’s all about balance

In an effort to be kind, we run the risk of being too soft, lenient, or giving them too much freedom to choose their way of going. In doing so, we run the risk of also being unclear which can also cause the horse stress.

Creating boundaries, whether for safety, or gentle guiding aids, create clarity and motivation. I like to think of it as guiding a small child by the hand through a large crowd of people. I have intent, and clarity. It's fair, but clear that this is where we are going.

I know when I'm doing something for someone, I like for the person that I'm helping to say, "this is what I need you to do". For example, if I came over and said, "I know you're overwhelmed, what do you need help with?", and you reply "anything", it would make me feel a lot better if you just said, "washing the dishes would be a great start".

This is not bossy, it's clear, and helpful information that leads to productivity. This is what being clear with our cues and aids brings to our horsemanship.

07/28/2025

07/25/2025

Reflecting the energy of the pull into the energy of the flag can create a mirroring effect. An effect which a horse can attune with and then learn to govern through becoming softer, and staying more in touch.
That is, if the handler can do so first with good feel and timing.

07/20/2025

07/17/2025

07/11/2025

Less is more 😉

Mel Robbin’s viral ‘Let Them’ theory works with horses, too.

Leaking toward the gate?

LET THEM.

Distracted and wanting to look to the outside of the circle?

LET THEM.

And then LET US…

Set up better patterns of anticipation around the gate. And better associations with being with us.

Work on counterbending…

“First you go with the horse, then the horse goes with you, then you go together.”

… Until our idea becomes their idea, and the ‘right’ thing becomes easy.

Pic of Tait and Relic, because they fit the aesthetic. 😁

(This is all just modernized Stoicism, of course, but ‘Let Them’ sounds so much cooler!)

07/08/2025

Bitless - not an impossible fallacy.

Just requires you to take the time, as the risks can be a lot higher with the generic ways of corner cutting.

Transitioning horses to bitless is not as big of a deal as many people think.

Take racehorses, for example.

Many are started under saddle in a bit and then proceed to do their entire racing career bitted.

Racehorses are also trained to run into the bridle and take a “hold.”

This can make them more likely to run off, particularly with riders who pull back and take a hold back instead of giving and taking with the reins.

They also tend to retire as high strung horses in need of let down time and retraining.

That said — I’ve transitioned every single OTTB I’ve retrained off of the racetrack to bitless with ease.

Many within their first ride or first couple of rides.

Take the pictured mare, for example.

Harlow finished racing as a very sensitive and hot headed horse. She was quite reactive and difficult to handle.

When she was actively training as a racehorse, she often trained in an elevator gag bit.

This left her with poll sensitivity and a relatively dull mouth due to how much pressure she was experiencing.

She also had a head tossing issue because of her poll sensitivity.

Bringing her back into work after time off was a process because she was so flighty and explosive.

A lot of it was groundwork and, to be honest, that is what made the most of a difference in her behaviour.

If I had just gone with the “ride her through it” mentality, I would likely still have a very stressed horse.

The slow and steady work where the priority was to help her regulate and relax — not to get exercise — was what changed her the most.

Now, she goes way better bitless than she does in a bit.

While she can go nicely in a bit, she is obviously more tense in one and will occasionally teeth grind, a habit she has had from the racetrack that manifests when she is very stressed.

There is a clear difference in her behaviour bitless, at least in part due to never having negative experiences with bitless to associate with.

All of this is to say the following:

Virtually any horse can go bitless if you put the time in and if you provide species appropriate care like adequate turnout to reduce baseline level of stress.

You don’t have to go bitless, but you also don’t have to make excuses that imply that it is some sort of training impossibility for some horses.

It is the same as teaching them anything else and all of that takes time.

For a lot of horses, it can result in an immediate reduction in anxiety and I’ve found this especially true with ex-racehorses.

Even if I transition them back to a bit again, restarting them bitless is often my preference because it almost always immediately relaxes them and creates a new association with rides.

Bits don’t have to be the go to for every horse.

Let’s normalize having more options than immediately diverting to use of bits just because they’re more popularized.

Options are a great thing.

Moving away from the fear based mindset that perpetuate the idea that we need coercive control with horses is important.

People should not be making equipment choices based on fear.

Ultimately, equipment is not what keeps us safe, what keeps us safe is handling horses in a manner that allows them to be emotionally regulated and not perpetually in fight or flight mode .