Natalie Pittenger Training & Bodywork

04/29/2025

This past weekend we got to attend a roping clinic and had an absolute blast. I’m so proud of Stitch and how he handled the roping dummy and cows.

It’s been said a bunch, but it is hard to learn new things as an adult. Making the transition from barrel racing to ranch has been hard for me, but seeing the transformation in my horse has been worth the struggle. We have a long way to go but I’m enjoying the process.

04/13/2025

A HUGE thank you to the staff at Stable Minds for hosting this mini clinic. It’s so fun to help people how to improve their relationship with the horses in their lives.

The staff at Stable Minds got to work with horsemanship trainer, Natalie Pittenger Training & Bodywork today. Just a refresher to help us communicate better with our equine partners in our sessions. Thankful to have such an amazing trainer working with our 2 and 4 legged therapists!

01/20/2025

HORSES IN TRAINING…

You pay that hefty training bill for the month.

You look to have you horse in training as little as possible so it doesn’t break the bank.

You’re disappointed when after 30 days or 60 days or 90 days, there’s still more work to be done or the goal hasn’t been met. Worse yet, it looks good, you take the horse home and it unravels piece by piece. All that money “wasted”.

When you pay a trainer, that money isn’t paying for a result, it’s paying for someone’s skilled effort.

At least for me, when someone gets unhappy that their horse “isn’t fixed yet”, or comes “untrained” after it’s been home a while, makes the task of training horses for other people, discouraging. Discouraging because the efforts are being made, usually my best efforts that are filled with compassion, determination and lots of ruminating on how to fix complex issues a horse may have. Their disappointment becomes my failure basically. I know that’s not an actual truth but it’s never rewarding when someone is disappointed due to their own expectations.

Training a horse is NOT like being a mechanic on a car. Its not a tune up, it’s not the simple replacement of a part. It’s an animal with thoughts, feelings, emotions, habits, talents, etc. You don’t just program them, tune them up or replace a faulty part and send it back good as new.

You arent paying for results to happen within your timeline, you are paying for the time it takes to reach a desired result. The more complicated the project, the bigger the investment. The more baggage a horse has, the more effort it takes to unravel the mess. The bigger the goal, the greater the investment.

People send their horses to certain trainers because they want the outcome that trainer proves they can achieve. The problem is, people want that result in the shortest time frame possible because time, again, is money. It takes the time it takes to create the vision and time costs money. People who have a diy mentality, value the effort so much more when they themselves invest their own energy into a horse rather than just paying for it. I really feel that those who do it themselves, come to appreciate the efforts it takes far more than those who sign the check.

Be nice to your trainers, they work hard. :)

Credit goes to:
Katy Negranti Performance Horsemanship https://www.facebook.com/share/1BPC3yLZYx/

01/02/2025

New year means new merch!

Check out Natalie Pittenger Training & Bodywork on Bonfire and shop official merchandise today! Featuring limited edition custom apparel, printed with care in the USA just for you.

12/31/2024

A deep and heartfelt thank you to all of my amazing clients for trusting me with your horse(s) this past year. I said ‘hello’ to some good horses and had to let some great ones go back home. No matter how much I try, I still get far too attached to them all and they take a little piece of my heart with them when they leave.

12/12/2024

Some helpful tips to keep our equine friends safe ❄️🥶❄️

10/15/2024

👏👏👏👏👏

08/26/2024

I know with the heat the last thing we are thinking about is buying more sweatshirts/ hoodies for the fall and winter season. But, if you are, please check out the NPTB online store and consider ordering yourself a new sweatshirt or t-shirt!

Buy merchandise from NPTB Gear. Featuring Black Premium Unisex Tees, professionally printed in the USA.

07/17/2024

It was such an honor to help these horses feel their best! Thank you HorsePower Therapeutic Riding for having me out!

Our horses received massage therapy from Natalie Pittenger Training & Bodywork covered by our program's Animal Partner Fund this past month!

Our herd LOVED Natalie's equine-specific techniques and we are so grateful to her care of our partners to ensure they are feeling their best for their important roles here at HorsePower.

02/14/2024

I’m very excited to welcome Tiana to the family! She has already started giving lessons and is quickly becoming a favorite.

12/12/2023

As horse trainers we don’t get to pick and choose what baggage horses come to us with. Sometimes even the most simple things, like walking through a door, require a gentle approach. Just because it seems easy to us doesn’t mean that the horse will see things the same way. We must always show kindness, compassion, and empathy for the horse; even in the simplest of things.

11/09/2023

Feelings are such a tricky thing. We as humans are meant to experience a wide range of emotions as we go through life. The key is to feel the emotion but not let it dictate your response to the situation. Stress can lead to impulse buying at the grocery store, anger can lead to yelling at a friend/ spouse, excitement can lead to overlooking an important detail. A mark of a mature human is one who sticks to the plan and doesn’t get swept into the ever changing roller coaster of emotions.