Kendra Van Beek Horsemanship

11/22/2024

With so many horse trainers online, how can you possibly know whose method to trust, who to follow, who to learn from, and who to trust with the training of your horses?

Personally, I highly value the availability of knowledge, and some of the most interesting things I’ve learned to implement in my horsemanship were found in self-study, whether that be books or on the internet. It is important, however, to make sure that we are bringing these ideas back to the horse to see how they affect the body and mind.

The first thing that I look at when determining if an online trainer is reputable is the bodies of the horses they have in training. This is easiest to spot in the neck. Good training improves the horses balance and posture, along with behavior. Poor training results in tension, both in the body and mind.

Yes, this is a small piece of the puzzle, and it takes time to change a horses natural or trained tendancies, but I know which of these four necks I would like my horse to develop…do you?

11/15/2024

A few weekends ago, Andy and I had the great privilege to ride under the brilliant Pippa Callanan! Along with showing us the magic of the snaffle and the feel-good releasing effect it can have on the tongue, jaw, and the rest of the body as a direct result (as Andy is displaying in this clip) she lit up our brains with new questions and answers that we have been searching for the better part of two years.

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Like “dressage,” a “bridle-horse” means many different things to many different people. It sure is a blast to explore how these traditions work together to develop horses mental and physical balance

11/12/2024

I’ve never liked headgear on a horse aside from a bridle; but in starting up my body work practice and being around a lot of high-level equines I’ve grown to like them even less. 👎🏻

Tie downs, bonnets, and draw reins all strengthen the wrong muscles in a horse as well as cause major restrictions in their body. 💥

Aside from restricting maximum extension (which directly correlates to stride length and speed) these forms of head gear also

🚫Lock the A/O joint
🚫Create a 5 car pile up in the c-spine
🚫Drop the horse on the forehand
🚫Overload the lumbar spine
🚫Paralyze the pelvis in flexion
🚫Cause continual micro trauma to the body leading to eventual lameness 🩼

I understand why people may turn to a tie down but they are a quick fix to temporary problems. Lack of balance, coordination, or too much speed may seem like a good reason to use restrictive head gear however the better choice would be slowing down and building the horse’s strength slowly. 🐢

If that’s not enough, these tools are often used even more inappropriately than intended. Tie-downs too low on the nose, draw reins with curb bits, and all bonnets should be burned in my nerve-release-practitioner-opinion. 🔥

Heck, even a heavy hand can cause all the problems above.💪🏻

I recently took a tiedown off a horse and was astonished with the decline in his topline health after wearing it for just a few months.

Give me a 🙋🏼‍♀️ in the comments if you wanna read the case study and see the before and after photos. 📸

11/02/2024

Start out refined, become even more refined
Start out exaggerated, make a sloppy mess and have to fix it up

I used to start a bunch of young horses, and thought the best way to make things clear to them was to exaggerate my cues. More often than not, horses figured it out- but it wasn’t until excellent teachers in my path made clear to me how often I was blocking, confusing, and frustrating the horse.

Horses are gracious, and excellent at pattern recognition. Eventually they can figure out anything if you repeat it enough.

But along the way, I came to realize how many bad habits in not just the horse but in myself I had created. Making the leap from greenie to advancing was difficult because my position had developed sloppy habits, and the horses had learned to lean, fall on the forehand, or fishtail the hindquarters around. All areas that took me quite a bit of work to clean up, and created a lot of frustration in the horse as I tried to advance them - suddenly I was saying now don’t lean on a shoulder, don’t fall over your sternum - the very things I had CREATED in the horse I was now trying to block.

It’s not a very fair approach to training - and as I became serious about advancing horses and my own riding, my teachers gave me a stern warning to start my horses as I wanted them to go - not just to seek an easy beginning but a good beginning.

It takes quite a leap sometimes of the imagination with the youngsters to imagine what it can be - especially if you’re used to doing too much. Sometimes you have to offer and trust it will work if you’re not used to expecting it to work, especially if you’ve created in the horse the habit of expecting more exaggerated and loud communication from you.

Sometimes it takes an excellent teacher to knock the obvious into us -
If you always offer lower levels of communication, you’ll always be trapped in this.

So start out refined, and continue refining - or create brace and sloppiness, and live there.

Pictured is Brent haltering a young one for the first time, already layering in higher level concepts , gently and fairly. Not expecting too much, but creating the building blocks for advancement. It wasn’t until I felt this that I could believe it to be true. Just because we haven’t felt it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

“The horse is born with lightness -why kill it and then spend years trying to build it back up? “ -Brent Graef

08/16/2024

Riding is more fun with friends🤪

08/08/2024

WASHINGTON PEEPS!

Catch me while I’m in town later this summer, and unlike Nitro, I promise I’ll be happy to be caught😉

I’ll be doing TWO clinics in Bellingham, info will be posted later this week. Feel free to message me for early sign up!

I’m excited to see both new and familiar faces🤠

07/31/2024

Showing horses how to get along with people, and teaching people how to get along with horses-that’s my jam!

What most folks don’t understand about c**t starting (even some professionals!!😱) is that the horse WANTS to get along with you, but for him the situation is life or death. Once you show him the way, he will grow up in that confidence and softness that we all look for. Trying to force him or hold him when he doesn’t yet know he’s capable of what you’re asking will usually create problems initially, but if it doesn’t you can be sure there will be bigger problems further down the line.

Always send your c**t to a reputable starter, and you will set him up well for the rest of his days🤠

07/02/2024

“Horsemanship is neither slavery nor a partnership; it is a stewardship with great responsibility and great reward.” -Bret Davis, The Started C**t

03/29/2024

Good training doesn’t always look good.
A great life still contains scrapes and tears.
A good ride still contains bobbles and even arguments.
Good trainers get to fix poor education and resistances that’s others already put into that horse, and even if we get a lovely horse from scratch, just like raising teenagers, some days they are going to push your buttons.

The real struggle of the Horseman is to acknowledge that these days are in evitable, but to try to improve and fix them anyways. We must constantly learn and grow and improve while also acknowledging that our current skill set is enough and that we are allowed to push this horse through this temporary difficult spot, and not feel obligated to cry ourselves to sleep at night because of it.

It’s a balance of unapologetically offering the best leadership we can today, while studying our mistakes tonight, so we can do even better tomorrow.

And isn’t that just life?

And if your life is on social media at all, someone else will be studying those mistakes so they can hold them against you in a court of public opinion. This makes the best and most ethical of horse trainers want to remain behind closed doors, which makes it harder for us all to learn and improve, if we can no longer publicly share, or admit the tiniest of mistakes. 

Current society doesn’t give much room for middle ground.  A highly ethical trainer can get slandered with zero proof, while completely unethical trainers are still in business after numerous videos show the systematic abuse.

Anyways, I’ll be here on my property, training horses and students, and doing the best I can, and making a ton of mistakes along the way, and hopefully learning daily so I can keep getting better.

03/12/2024

This week I was blessed with the opportunity to do a clinic in beautiful Costa Rica! I am so passionate about what I do, and it’s extremely rewarding to be able to pass on the knowledge and see it taken to heart.

Thank you to everyone who attended, to Judy and Ericka for setting everything up, and to my many wonderful translators who made this possible☺️🐴

See you all again soon!

03/05/2024

✨Transformation Tuesday✨

This stud c**t went from dull and independent to soft and willing in just a handful of sessions! I’m thankful for owners who are involved in their horses training process, and my heart is so full knowing that they have the tools to continue growing and make a fabulous team. Not all c**ts are this fun and easy going!

02/27/2024

02/19/2024

Change your language to change your mindset

Lately I’ve traded out “I need to get the horse to do XYZ” for “I’m going to teach the horse to do XYZ.” It seems like such a simple and unimportant swap, but heres what I’ve noticed -

1. If the horse doesn’t quite get the right answer, it’s because I didn’t teach them enough tools to get there. This has always been true, it’s just now more obvious.

2. It’s about more than putting them in a position, it’s about giving them the tools to find that on their own.

02/14/2024

In my opinion, standing tied is one of the most important life skills your horse can have. Enjoy this pic of Khalil learning that he can relax tied even when scary stimuli (my flag) are present, and Abby in the background standing tied and saddled to think about what she learned, and observe Khalils session from afar. Horses CAN learn by osmosis😉

02/10/2024

This afternoon I had the privelage of presenting at Skagit County’s 4H Equine Extravaganza! I got my start in my local 4H club, so it was an honor to share my knowledge about bit mechanics with so many young members. We talked all things anatomy, mechanical principles, and got to look at a huge variety of bits. Knowing how your bit functions in your horses mouth is key to unlocking their athletic potential, and these young riders are on their way! 🐴🤠