Glenrose Stables

26/09/2024

When you buy a horse, the first and foremost consideration must be your safety. Forget about the breeding, the colour, the amount of ribbons and trophies that the horse has won – all these things are pointless if the horse isn’t safe for you to ride. Many people own horses that are dangerous and...

07/07/2024

🐴 Too Many Horses Can’t Cope
Due to bad handling and bad training, thousands of horses never reach their full potential.
Many horses don’t make it past the ‘breaking in’ stage.
Many others are ‘blown up’ by the use of too much pressure and too much force during their training.
These days, trainers everywhere chase horses with flags, ropes and tarps.
Frightened horses are forced to run backwards in the name of horsemanship.
Countless young horses are saddled for the first time and let go to buck.
Some trainers advocate the use of hobbles, straps and ropes to handle a horse’s legs, others say tying a horse down on the ground will ‘cure’ whatever problem you may be having.
These trainers preach a rigid system of horse training where one size fits all.
If things aren’t working out, these trainers say it’s because ‘your horse doesn’t respect you’,
or ‘it’s in his breed’,
he’s ‘claustrophobic”,
he hasn’t been “desensitised’
or he has a ‘medical problem’.
We’re told that horses have different personalities and you must ‘establish yourself as the leader’.
Just because a famous trainer says something or does something, doesn’t mean it’s right.
Everywhere I go, I see horses that have been through this treatment.
Many of these horses are nervous and worried.
They don’t trust people and they’re always ready to kick, buck, strike and rush away.
The fact is, about eighty percent of young horses will adapt to bad initial training.
One way or another, most of them will work out what they’re supposed to do.
Some of these horses will respond better than others, however many will never reach their full potential.
The other twenty percent never get over the trauma of being bucked out and terrified with flags, ropes and tarps.
They’re unreliable as riding horses and are always nervous and worried.
Some are rejected all together.

Learn more here:👇
www.fearfreehorsetraining.com/too-many-horses-can-t-cope/

05/06/2024

How to use your most valuable horse training tool.
Rubbing a horse’s head, neck and around his ears gives him to time to relax.
I show every horse that life is easy and pleasant when he has his head with me.
Rubbing your horse’s head will be the start of a whole new relationship between you and your horse.
Whenever you ask him to do something new or stressful, always follow it with a rub on his head.
Your horse will learn that difficult times don’t go on forever and are always followed by a pleasant experience.
You can use this simple lesson to teach your horse new things.

Here’s how:👇
www.fearfreehorsetraining.com/how-to-use-your-most-valuable-horse-training-tool/

04/06/2024

Everyone who rides or handles horses will have problems at some point.
Everyone has trouble at some stage.
You may have a problem cantering on the correct lead;
you may have a problem making your horse go;
you may have a problem making your horse stop….
The list is endless.
Sometimes, problems develop into something more serious.
Your horse may learn undesirable behaviours and even become dangerous to ride.
He may learn to rear, buck or kick up.
When this happens, it’s only natural to think, (hope), that there must be a quick and easy solution.
People sell all sorts of gear and gadgets that are supposed to help.
Unfortunately for the poor horse, the gadget list is endless too:
A ‘magic’ halter guaranteed to stop your horse running backwards and teach him to load into a trailer.
A ‘magic’ stick and leadrope guaranteed to cure leading problems.
I’ve even seen a ‘gum line’ – a piece of thin rope that puts pressure above a horse’s teeth – which supposedly stops bucking.
There are no magic fixes in horse training.
Horses must always be taught in small increments that they can understand and accept.
Every horse-person must use as little pressure as possible to achieve their desired result.
Never apply severe pressure to any horse at any stage of his training.
Inflicting pain and pressure on horses via contraptions and gadgets is unnecessary and can’t be justified under any circumstance.
There’s a way around every horse, it’s up to us to find it.

Learn more here:👇
www.fearfreehorsetraining.com/book/

31/05/2024

20/05/2024

🐴 How to Overcome Shying
Whenever you ride or work with your horse, he must concentrate on you and what you want.
He should have one ear back ‘listening’ to you at all times.
He should try his hardest to work out what you want him to do.
If his concentration goes onto something flapping on the fence, it means he’s stopped thinking about you and what you want.
And it means you’re no longer in control.
Understanding this is one of the biggest breakthroughs you can make with your horse.
That’s why it’s an integral part of my training.
Never confront your horse with things that worry him.
Instead, you must gain more control and not allow your horse to look at things.
If your horse is worried by something flapping on the fence, keep away from it and don’t expose him to it.
Don’t make a confrontation.
Instead, come back to basics and gain more control.
Ride in an area without any distractions and teach your horse to move correctly in a circle.
Your horse must concentrate on you at all times.

Learn more here:👇
www.fearfreehorsetraining.com/how-to-overcome-shying/

27/03/2024

🐴 HOW SMART IS YOUR HORSE?
Horses are excellent problem solvers.
However, the problems they work on are often very different from the problems that the trainer has in mind.
A worried horse will try and keep as far away from the trainer as possible and will constantly reposition himself to keep away.
Horses are very good at moving away from anything that worries them and they concentrate totally on doing this whenever they’re worried.
Meanwhile, the trainer thinks that they’re teaching the horse to lead or getting him ‘used to’ a flapping flag.
So the ‘intelligent’ human concentrates on one thing, while the horse concentrates on something totally different.
And when the lessons don’t go to plan, the human says that the horse is ‘dumb’ and ‘slow to learn’.

Learn more here:👇
www.fearfreehorsetraining.com/how-smart-is-your-horse/

08/03/2024

THE BUCK STOPS HERE
A couple of friends of mine…
I’ll call them Chris and Macca – because these are their names, looked at a horse to buy the other day.
The mare was eight years old and hadn’t been ridden for two or three months.
Macca saddled the mare, hopped aboard and trotted around.
“Canter her so I can see how she moves”, said Chris.
When Macca gave the mare a kick, she snorted and down went her head.
She bucked hard to the left then propped to the right and Macca landed flat on his back.
The mare raced off down the paddock, bucking and snorting as she went.
Luckily, Macca wasn’t hurt and the mare turned before she hit the fence.
I think it was about this time that Chris decided he wouldn’t be buying her.
Think about this scenario the next time you see your favourite horse guru saddle a young horse for the first time and chase him around as he bucks.
Some of these gurus seem to take great pleasure when a young horse bucks.
Maybe they think it makes an entertaining show for their audience.
‘It don’t matter, he’ll soon get used to it,’ they say,
or ‘He’s got to work it out for himself,’
or, ‘He’ll learn that the saddle is nothing to worry about,’
or ‘Don’t worry, I’m desensitising him to the saddle and girth.’
Funny thing, after being saddled hundreds of times, the mare that Chris and Macca went to look at still hadn’t ‘worked it out for herself.’
At eight years old, she still wasn’t ‘used to the saddle’ and she still wasn’t ‘desensitised.’
Sadly, I’ve seen hundreds of horses like this poor mare.

Read more here:👇
www.fearfreehorsetraining.com/the-buck-stops-here/

14/02/2024

🐴 Too Much Feed and Not Enough Work
Many people don’t realise how much work a horse can do.
And many people don’t even know that they’re overfeeding their horse and not working him enough.
People think it’s kind to feed their horses buckets of grain and all sorts of special mixes, then they ride two or three times a week and wonder why they have problems.
When a horse has been overfed, it can take weeks of work to get the excess energy out of his system.
Some people think that horses can be calmed with drugs and ‘calming pastes’.
I certainly wouldn’t ride any horse that’s been drugged.
And I don’t think it’s fair to drug a horse just because you’re not prepared to put in the time and effort that’s needed to handle and ride him.
Instead of looking for some magic fix, how about feeding your horse appropriately and putting in the hours to train him correctly.
I see many horses that are given far too much feed and not enough work.
If you want to get the most from your horse, you must work with him at least five days a week.
Six days is better still.
Balancing the amount of feed and work that you give a horse plays a large part in every horse’s training.
Many people could save themselves a lot of heartache (and money) by feeding their horse less and working him more.

Learn more here:👇
www.fearfreehorsetraining.com/too-much-feed-and-not-enough-work/

17/05/2023

This mare, She’s a Beauty was trained using a heart monitor and the ClockItRace race Training system for her earlier starts. As you can see she ran well when she was finally sorted with her little issues. Unfortunately this horse was later sent by the owners to another trainer and has never returned to racing, they were warned that she had a mind of her own and needed a very skilled rider.

30/12/2021

A trial a year ago with a Glenrose horse Roullette winning a trial in a smart time close to the track record for 1200m in 1.07.40.