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Monday 8am - 6pm Tuesday 8am - 6pm Wednesday 8am - 6pm Thursday 8am - 6pm Friday 8am - 6pm Saturday 8am - 2pm

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Nicole Shoup Horsemanship

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Millersburg, OH
Nicole Shoup Horsemanship

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Nicole Shoup Horsemanship, Horse Trainer, Millersburg, OH.

03/03/2025

Should you give your horse hand-fed treats?

Yes, no, maybe, it depends!

Let's first understand positive reinforcement. +R is a form of operant conditioning that is used to train a desirable behavior in the horse (or any animal).

It means when the horse produces the desirable behavior, it is reinforced by ADDING a reward. The reinforcer can be scratches, food, or other. It is most commonly practiced with food. Horses can be rewarded with any style of treat, pellet, or food in general.

Now that you understand +R, let's discuss general treat giving.

Owners give treats to reward the horse and it feels good to give the horse a "treat."

What owners often forget or don't realize is that the exact moment that you give the treat is the exact behavior you rewarded the horse for. This behavior is commonly a horse that is leaning, pushing, or searching for the treat.

Horses that are leaning, pushing, and searching are learning really bad habits that effect their manners and their balance. It is not fair to feed a horse treats without consideration of what you are rewarding. Because the next thing that happens is the owner/handler then corrects the horse for doing the exact thing he just got rewarded for!!!

Often times when the horse is treat hunting they are not in a receptive mindset to the feel of you and your tools. They can become one track minded and persistent. This isn't the mental space that I want my horse in.

I do not recommend hand feeding treats unless you have very specific timing, are fair to the horse, and or are an educated horse person practicing +R. I also do not recommend carrying treats in your pockets. Please consider your safety if your horse is a pushy treat taker.

If you want to give a treat to your horse, putting it in their feed bowl is also sufficient 🙂

Photo from Horse Illustrated

02/25/2025

Horse training in a nutshell.

If horses have a quirk, issue, problem....think of it as a crack in the foundation. You can keep plastering over that crack with round pens, obedience, desensitization, etc. That may cover the surface of that crack, long enough to sell the house. But the problem is still there. There's just enough stuff thrown on top of that crack to fool a lot of people. But one day, that crack is going to be an even bigger problem when it really opens up.

It takes time to repair something properly, and in the horse, that could be months or years because these quirks, issues, problems with the horse, are deeply engrained in their nervous system. Dominance type training isn't going to fix that, it's just going to cover it up. As consumers, we have to be realistic in our expectations, and what we ask trainers do, and realize while it might not look like much is happening with slow work, it really is the only long term solution.

02/20/2025

When a horse has had 3+ months off, it is considered completely de-trained from a conditioning standpoint. The re-conditioning process should follow a 1:1 ratio with the number of weeks spent progressively conditioning equal to the number of weeks taken off.

The challenge here is that, depending how we go about the conditioning, we sometimes create a turbo charged engine on a weak frame. If we over-prioritize metabolic gains over strength development, the fitness journey takes many detours. In this early season, each horse requires a unique balance of stability, strength, and cardio. If you're feeling a little lost and need help, my 10-Week Horse Fitness Schedule leads you through a day-by-day buildup.

Link to buy in the comments below.

02/17/2025

Lesson clients- this one is for you!

Introducing a loyalty reward system! 🎉🤗

I have wanted to find a way to reward the frequent lesson client. You all are such a huge part of this business. I am so thankful!

Take 10 lessons (or 10 hrs) and get the 10th one 50% off!

Lessons already taken in 2025 still count- just update your card when you get it! 🕺

If you’re interested in lessons when the weather breaks- send a PM!

02/11/2025

We did another podcast!

Ep. 74 discusses:
- Things to consider when buying a horse, especially a first horse
- Building confidence in new riders
- Mental tricks and strategies for anxiety or people who are too much in their head
- The upcoming Best Horse Practices Summit, of which me and Daniel (Dauphin Horsemanship) are both board members and he’ll be presenting at
- Nicole's Horsemanship classes at Ohio State ATI Equine Center

What should we talk about at the next Q&A???

Link in the comments to listen!

02/08/2025

I've never considered what's on my horsey bucket list until yesterday.

Riding a Fjord! ✅️

What's on your horsey bucket list??

02/06/2025

Mid-week motivation ❤️🕺

(Saved from Grace Keeton)

02/04/2025

What emoji do you use the most when texting about your horse?? 🕺💃🤩

01/31/2025

There's a warm snap happening in Ohio and I'm sure a lot of us are itching to trail ride our horses (I did yesterday!). Here are some things to consider before heading out on the trails-

1. Double check your saddle fit and make sure your pad is as clean as possible. Horses bodies can change through the winter by losing or gaining. Do a quick once over and be sure everything is in working order.

2. The duration and terrain of your trail ride should be considered. Horses that have been stalled, standing around a round bale, or in small dry lots without much room to move, will have lower fitness and stiffer joints. Consider a gradual trail ride instead of a multi hour and multi terrain ride. You will decrease your risk of injury and are less likely to sour your horse.

3. Some horses can come out of the pasture and be right where your left them while others might be a little more anxious. Be open to what they offer and work with them.

4. Anxiety and adrenaline can over power soreness and pain. Remember, horses are masters at hiding their pain (prey animal instinct). Consider the horses that would just go and go and go on that first trail ride of the spring. What is fueling them? How do they get around the next day? Building muscle will cause soreness but muscle should be built systematically over time.

5. Some horses can maintain some level of fitness in the pasture. This is to your advantage, but don't forget they aren't hanging out in the pasture carrying weight around. A couple rides getting warmed up to carrying a rider can make a big difference for the future.

6. Make sure their feet are trimmed and balanced. Nothing worse and more dangerous than tripping around on the trails with long toes!

Have fun everybody. Spring is coming soon!

01/28/2025

It's a gorgeous morning out there! The farrier is coming today and the driveways are too icy to haul to the barn. So, today we are trimming at home.

My horses were over at the pasture so it took me 1.5 hrs to catch 1 at a time and walk them over back to my house.

It's a little hike through the woods and then down to the driveway and up the hill. The first trip sucked but then after that my body warmed up and it was easier.

It was a great training opportunity for each one to connect with me and stay with me even when their desire to get back to each other was strong.

Something I noticed was how the last 2 horses went much quicker because of what I was thinking about. I was reminded this AM of a couple things when we have tasks that are hard to do.

1. Picture exactly how well it could go. Breathe deep into your belly and one foot after the other, start going.

2. If you're nervous, singing helps! I may have started singing "everybody was Kung fu fightinnnggg," when we turned them out on Saturday. It was absolute chaos but singing that song made me laugh and kept me breathing.

3. Don't think about how hard it is. Think about something else. It makes the time go much quicker and you might feel more rewarded at the end.

4. Every opportunity with your horse is a good opportunity to learn. Cherish it and give yourself time to complete the task with quality.

Now to take a moment and then get 4 horses trimmed! 🙌

01/23/2025

Earlier this month I started teaching 1 course (Horsemanship & Equitation)@ Ohio State ATI Equine Center ! I love everything I do and this is a perfect part-time opportunity through the "off," season! ❤️

Lessons are continuing as normal with some scheduling adjustments.

I will start training horses again this spring.

Haul-in lessons will start in May.

If you're interested in any of my services- send me a PM. The training horse application will be in the comments!

01/21/2025

If you didn't know, I am a board member for the Best Horse Practices Summit which is a conference for all horse people! Every Summit is very special as it brings together like-minded horse people in an intimate setting. There is no hiding from the clinicians here!

The next Summit is coming up this spring April 5-6th in SANTA FE, NM. I have never been to NM so I AM EXCITED.

We have 4 outstanding presenters lined up-

Katrin Silva Dressage
Jec Aristotle Ballou
Dauphin Horsemanship
True West Horsemanship

They will be collaborating together for 8 incredible presentations. Here’s a little preview of some of the presentations.

Katrin and Jec - Seat, Positions, Frames.
- Together they will be doing a demonstration around how our seat effects the horse, related to lift, collection, and extension.

Jec and Daniel – High RPMs!
- What are the mental and physical aspects of riding fast?

Ben and Daniel – Practical Groundwork.
- What does good ground work really look like?

Ben and Katrin – Dressage versus Vaquero.
- Finding common ground and common goals between these esteemed traditions.

Katrin and Daniel – Contact.
- What is contact, especially when considering the differences between Western and English riding? When is it appropriate to be in contact?

Ben and Daniel- One Handed Classical Riding
- The two discuss proper preparation and transition from two-handed riding.

*Please note that these presentations are subject to change, but we strive to give you an idea of how these two, fun-filled, educational days will unfold. More details to come!*

If you haven’t registered already we encourage you to do so as registration is filling up fast!

PLEASE SHARE! ANYONE IN THE COUNTRY CAN ATTEND!!! (Which is one of the coolest parts!)

01/20/2025

I knew putting a loose bale with no ring and no netting was risky- but why does it look like it exploded and half is already gone! 😆 We did this so they could eat more hay with the cold weather and have a soft place to lay down.

I could pay $6 a straw bale just to have to clean it up or put a round bale on frozen ground that they can eat and sleep in. Plus, I get my rounds at a great price.

This will be a good experiment with how long it takes them to eat it.

Stay warm everybody! A cold day isn't so bad when the sun is shining 🌞

01/11/2025

Picking pens when there is freezing temps means 2 tools are required! A metal hay fork can break piles up so then the plastic fork can scoop. Duraforks are the best! I had some off brand ones that brokes like 4 tines.

01/08/2025

We are loving this temperature and snow! The mud is frozen, there's snow on the ground, and it keeps snowing these big beautiful flakes!

The mud craters are hard for the horses to travel over, but the area in front of the shed here is woodchips. It froze nice and flat and is kind of spongy.

I also love when there is snow on the ground because the horses stay clean! Their coats are all perfectly puffed up and free of sticky mud.

They get a 24/7 netted round bale, and couple flakes of loose 2nd cut, a hydrated meal with their supplements, and temp controlled water!

How are you and your horses doing in this weather?

01/03/2025

One of my first priorities for a horse is to help them learn how to go freely forward with a calm confidence. It's something they're born with but often disrupted and ruined by people handling.

The basis of all riding is rhythm and relaxation. A horse moving freely forward will be in a relaxed rhythm with an easily adjustable tempo. This is a horse that is more pleasant to ride and can be focused on where they're going. It depends on the horse for how long it takes to achieve this.

Achieving freely forward movement isn't like one day you're crossing a finish line and then it's completed like a module in a course. It's something we revisit and a skill that gets practiced. With a basic establishment of moving forward, we can incorporate the layers of suppling and contact. Later visiting impulsion and collection. I like to look at the training pyramid as a foundational framework to training and I visit more than one tier multiple times per horse per session.

If we don't have forward moving energy, we can expect the horse to go flat when in a concentrated exercise.

For example- if my horse comes into the arena and is wiggly on the line. Dropping the shoulders left and right, trying to bite, or any combination of nervous behaviors, I will be immediately looking for relaxation through forward movement. Because the horse is not calm, not forward, and not rhythmic, they are difficult to handle and hard to ride. The exercises I do is often a combo of being close to the horse, further away, straight lines, turns and half circles.

Once the horse finds the freely forward movement, then I can move onto something else. Making the turns a little more precise, working with footfalls around a log, halts and backing. It depends on the horse- but often times too much concentration out of the gate without enough freedom to move can make the horse more likely to burst at the seams.

A more educated horse can spend far less time moving freely forward before the rider can move onto more balancing exercises. These exercises still require forward energy and they will also calm the horse.

I don't wish to ride any horses that don't know how to take a deep breath and be calm on the ground first. When mounted, it's also extremely important that they learn how to breathe and be calm. But they cannot be what we do not offer.

01/01/2025

NSH will be bringing new offerings in 2025!
We are excited to continue to evolve the business and adapt. 🎊

We will be implementing a couple of new things:
- Lesson client rewards system ✅️
- Rewards for repeat training clients📝
- Haul-in lessons 🕺🐴
- Virtual learning💻
- And more!

🌟 We will be offering training client spots and lesson student opportunities. We do not provide lesson horses at this time.

If you're interested in our services for 2025, please send us a message!

Address

Millersburg, OH

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 6pm
Tuesday	8am - 6pm
Wednesday	8am - 6pm
Thursday	8am - 6pm
Friday	8am - 6pm
Saturday	8am - 2pm

Telephone

+13305758193

Website

facebook.com

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Videos

Building foundations with new riders! #equinecollege #horsemanship #ridinghorses

Drive the hills and the valleys on a rainy day with me in #amishcountry

This is such a good feeling when the rider gets in rhythm with the horse 😍😍😍

Phew, the bridle rack is back together! It's the little things that can make you stand out as an employable person and a future professional! #horsemanship #equinecollege #horsebusiness #horsetraining #horseriding Ohio State ATI Equine Center

What's wrong with this picture??? Everything! (Mess made by me so we could learn how to fix it up). #horsemanship #learningtoride #horsemanshipinstructor #horses

Practicing technique without the horse is just as important as with the horse! #horsemanship

Just a little trendy transformation from last fall ❤️ #horsetraining #horsemanship #horsenutrition #equinefitness #gypsyvanner #gyspsycross #crossbred

2025 vibes knowing that there is a lot coming!

2024 was an amazing year. I expect 2025 to be nothing less of a wonderful year! #horsetrainer #horsemanship #horsetraining

Merry Christmas to all of our clients, followers, and supporters of NSH! We hope you have a joyful holiday season ✨️

Cooler weather = a little dehydrated hahaha

Would ya look at that #trailerloading #horses #horsemanship #horsetraining