Salty Horse Ranch

02/03/2025

We played with all the yearlings today!!

02/03/2025

Brilliant!!

A recipe for liberty 🤔

- 3 cups of patience ⏳
- 2 cups of observation 👀
- 1 cup of action ❤️

Do less, watch more, mainly wait.

The biggest mistake iv made as a horseman is always assuming I needed to know another way to ask a question.

Training horses is all about communication. As is any conversation between two people.

It doesn’t matter how brilliant your question is if you ask it at the wrong time. Very few people will stay engaged with a conversation where the other person is just waiting for their turn to speak without truly listening. And everybody hates being interrupted or having their train of thought disrupted while processing what’s been said in order to answer correctly.

We know these things like we know the sky is blue. We navigate the subtle nuance of communication everyday.

It’s no different with horses.

Very often the reason our training doesn’t deliver the results we desire is not that we are asking for a movement incorrectly or poorly applying a methodology of horsemanship during the active asking portion of interaction.

We rush. We concentrate on ourselves and on how we felt. We fail to hear the other side of the conversation.

Let’s break it down 💪

3 Cups of Patience ⏳

Journey before destination. Fall in love with the process and treat the achievements that appear along the way with surprised wonderment.

I’m sure you like me don’t instantly master new skills. I like to take a pause once given information to process before acting. In my experience horses are the same.

Wait after giving signals to allow time for delayed or unsure responses from your horse.

Pause and praise between attempts even when we see minimal or no progress.

Your horse doesn’t know nor care that it was your 2025 goal to achieve liberty circles in canter by the 1st of March. They will progress in their own time, it’s your job to make the most of that time.

And above all to make sure your horse feels they are being given the time to flourish

Give it ten minutes and it will take an hour.

Give it an hour and it will take ten minutes.

2 Cups of Observation 👀

You most likely are asking for spanish walk correctly but are you moving slowly enough with your signals to genuinely see the effects they have on your horses mind and body?

Do you watch your horse intently when asking them for a movement or is your focus internal on your body and how you feel?

The more we watch, the more we learn.

In this instance take things slowly genuinely means move your arms, legs and aids (whip, rope, flag) SLOWLY. This gives you more time and a better chance to notice the flick of the ear, that slight tilt in the rib cage or the change in their breathing.

Every interaction with our horse is a chance to observe and gather information. Things don’t have to go the way we planned for us to learn valuable lessons about our horse and how they interact with and respond to the world around them.

Rush and you’ll miss it. Miss it and miss out on connection.

1 Cup of Action ❤️

Of course you need to know where to point at, when to step and how to best utilise your aids.

No one is pretending you can teach a flying change or a bow without knowing the process or the method ( www.benatkinsonmethod.com I would recommend 😉) but let’s link this back to the idea of communication and conversation.

The method we learn to train our horse is the equivalent of a child learning to speak. First it’s sounds, then words and finally sentences.

But the conversations that leave us feeling connected with others are so much more. They’re bolstered by empathy and emotion.

A person we can spend all night talking to knows when to back off or avoid a topic we aren’t ready for. Equally they know when to push to help us grow or discover aspects of ourselves we never knew existed.

By harmonising our method (action) with a hunger to listen (observe) and a default setting to take things slowly (patience) we can achieve anything 🙏

Photography credit to JShpicture

01/30/2025

We would also like you to know that here at the farm both Doug and I are well-versed in equine behavior and horsemanship and all of the techniques to be used prior to any kind of force. We employ clicker training and sometimes just a little extra entertainment while we finish changing your bandage! ♥️

01/30/2025

It’s bandage change morning! We currently have three horses that are recovering from surgery or injuries that need hind leg bandage changes!
Please feel free to reach out to us if you or someone you know needs a place for rehab rehabilitation after surgeries or injuries. We handle everything from the initial Injury or surgery all the way to getting your horse back under Saddle and back in performance shape.
You can feel confident every day that your horse has veterinary supervision. With our unique background we have competition experience in most disciplines from ranch riding to show Jumping to dressage and eventing. You can feel confident when you send your horse here that we can help you navigate the best path back to full performance! 
We work with your veterinarian and farrier to make sure their plan is successfully and consistently implemented for you and your Equine partner.

01/23/2025

I just came across this page and had not heard of this facility before. They also offer the same services that we do and if we are full you could always reach out to them and they are up closer Tryon Hospital.
I am sharing this post because people often laugh at how often I drag our arena. It is critical for Horses in rehabilitation and just going back under Saddle or even hand walking to have a well groomed surface. We do not currently have a Beamer set up so we use other modalities of bodywork on all of the rehab rehabilitation horses and of course grooming grooming grooming!
Often times people ask me if I can show them some basic bodywork techniques to help their horse. But what I wish everybody would realize is that taking a good curry comb and curing your horse for 10 minutes is something that we no longer do very much and it is critical and will do quite a bit for loosening up your horses fascia! You may think that you curry for 10 minutes but I would encourage you to challenge yourself to setting a timer for five minutes on one side and curry the whole time and setting another timer for five minutes and currying the whole side your horse will thank you for it I promise! 


Here at Harvey Equine we take steps to have a safe and successful tack walk/ride! 🐴🌟

01/21/2025

Sometimes the best thing to do is…..

Nothing ♥️

01/15/2025

I don’t think that competition is the end I’ll be all to owning horses but I think that if you were going to work with competition Horses you had better understand and have ridden this!!

“ if you have not been in the competition pen, you have no idea what it means to make that horse do it NOW.”

01/13/2025

For those of you that may be newer to our business I have actually been doing videos for eight years. I started out making small videos like this one and I am working on uploading them to a channel on YouTube
This is one of my favorites because the question always gets asked about how long you should ride your horse and often times when giving a riding lesson I may have accomplished what I needed to with the Horse And rider in 35 minutes but they paid for an hour. But don’t overwork your horse! Pick one thing make it a little bit better today and then let him go back to doing what he likes to do best which is hanging out and eating! Have a great day!

01/11/2025

Why trainers PUSH horses TOO FAST

Klaus Balkenhol explains, "Although breeders have created a better horse, the market has created a demand for a stronger, healthier, more powerful horse. It's easier to sell a horse that looks like a carefully developed eight-year-old, and not like a three- or four-year-old just beginning his career. If you force it, you can get a three-year-old to physically look like a developed eight-year-old. Too many colts remain stallions which, if approved, promise breeders higher prices as three-year-olds. Now 250 to 300 young stallions are presented each year, when only 40 or 50 will be approved.

Few breeders have the sense to geld the yearling stallions and leave them on the pasture to mature naturally. Instead, yearling stallions are brought into a stall, fed too much grain, and at three, look like six- or seven-year-olds. They have muscle mass, but not enough bone structure to support it. They look mature from the outside but aren't . . . and when started to work, degeneration sets in. Competitions also create pressure to push horses too fast as competitions are now scheduled throughout the year without any breaks."

Common Mistakes In Pushing Too Fast
Tightening the noseband: "A horse resists by sticking out his tongue. Tightening the noseband too much puts pressure on the nose and on the poll. If it is necessary to tighten the noseband very tightly, then something has gone very wrong in the basic training of the horse. The horse cannot be relaxed, the first step on the training scale," warns Klaus.

Specializing too early: "Drilling every day in the indoor arena is too intense for the young horse. It's very important, especially in the first two years of training, not to specialize the young horse. Training should include a variety of activities, including trail riding, which is good for the mind as well as building strength with hill work. It should include jumping, either free or low jumps under saddle, including small natural obstacles on the trail, and cavaletti. A variety of work will allow the horse to stay mentally fresh and to enjoy his work. Only when the horse is happy can dressage become art."

Not checking tack frequently: "Saddle and tack need to be checked constantly for proper fit and adjusted as the horse's body changes with growth, and as his fitness improves with the training. If the noseband gets too low, for example, and the skin between the noseband and the bit is rubbed and becomes sore, this causes the horse discomfort and loss of relaxation. Regularly check for sharp edges and bit problems in the horse's mouth and teeth."

Working too long: "The goal of our training is to build the horse's mind and his muscles. Suppleness and relaxation require adequate muscle strength. strengthening requires both contraction and relaxation. Blood flow and oxygenation occur when the muscle relaxes. If the muscle is kept in a constant state of contraction, it loses power and strength, and actually becomes smaller. Frequent rest periods, especially for a young horse at a free walk on a long rein, are necessary. The rest periods are not for a rider's fatigue, but to allow the horse to stretch and relax his muscles. The rest breaks will give you a completely new horse. This is the systematic gymnasticizing of the horse."

Riding when the horseman is tense: "Horses are particularly sensitive to the rider's mood. A rider shouldn't ride if she is under undue stress or doesn't have the time to ride. If the rider has a bad day, give the horse a rest day or go for a relaxing trail ride; don't work in the arena. The horse mirrors the rider's mood."

Not praising the horse enough: "The horse must perform from joy, not subservience. Praising a horse frequently with voice, a gentle pat, or relaxing the reins is very important to keep the horse interested and willing. If the horse offers piaffe, for instance, because he's excited, praise him for it. You shouldn't stop the lesson at that point nor make a big deal out of it. If you don't want piaffe, quietly urge him forward into trot, but you should NEVER punish him for offering the piaffe. - Klaus Blakenhol
📸 Kim Kupec

01/09/2025

I was asked a pertinent question by a client yesterday and it jogged my memory a bit and many of you should also be willing to ask people in the Equine industry for a list of their credentials and licenses!

But anyway the client asked what got me started and how did I learn what I’m doing today.
I really had to think about it, I have been a very fortunate individual that I was born into horses and I have been blessed to be in the right place at the right time to ride with some very notable names prior to even being 10 years old.
But my pivot point I would have to say happened in 2012. I was helping to set up the Western Dressage association of North Carolina (WDAA) and was asked if I would ride in a symposium with renowned Veterinarian and dressage master Gerd Heuschmann. I rode with him as the first rider to represent Western Dressage with him. I have lots of funny recollections of the training days prior to the symposium and his questions about why I needed a western saddle 😂 I was riding “Justa Gun Swinger” who is 23 years old this year and had retired from the Cutting pen as a pretty decent money earner. Gunner was quick and “squirrel-ly” and far from a dressage horse. But in that clinic for the first time I was truly in introduced to classical dressage and it’s physical therapy benefits for every horse not just ones that you plan to compete in the dressage ring.

For 5 years after that I rode with Gerd a couple of times a year whenever he was in the area. And the In 2017 Doug and I hosted him for a full symposium at our farm including using Doug’s horse Pete as the painted horse to demonstrate muscles and how they move as the horse moves.
It it was a great symposium because we also had a good friend Pam bring up a full horse skeleton and many of the bones from her bone room (also a great place to visit in Aiken!)

The two books that I am posting pictures of, written by Gerd, are books that I feel anybody should read from cover to cover and revisit all the time. The information in it will help you to understand how the horse works physically and what you can do to help your horse further.
I have several mentors in the body work arenas for horses and slowly but surely over the last few years I have been booking my hours with different clinicians. And what I have found is that I have a unique knack for being able to sit on a horse and ride and feel imbalances in the horses body. That couples with the fact that I have ridden and train horses across many disciplines and many breeds. Also helps that from a young age I have an involved in breeding and starting horses. But anyway this would be where I would say my pivotal point was that got me started on this journey of education I’m learning for the betterment of the horse.

This is also good timing because Gerd will be in the Charlotte area within the next few weeks and I will be attending his lecture and hopefully riding with him. I have included a picture that has the information for the two people you should be reaching out to if you are interested in attending. 

01/09/2025

We hosted Dan James (Double Dan Horsemanship) for our first International Liberty Horse Association Clinic in April of 2021.  and I will tell you it was not what I thought it would be at all and it made significant changes to the way Doug and I train horses. Since then we have participated in educational clinics both here and in Kentucky with Dan to pursue our education in this area.
We have by no means made a speedy ascent to the top of the liberty world but every day we are using it making huge impacts on the horses that we rehabilitate and train.
You don’t have to go on to be a great liberty competitor to see the value in the techniques that Dan is passing on.
In a couple of weeks we will offer an intro to liberty clinic here at our farm where you will use our horses. We will hope to follow that up with you bringing your own horse! Please don’t worry about not having a round pen to work in we will show you the techniques that you can do at home using the resources that you have!

🎉✨ Happy New Year! ✨🎉

As we head into 2025, we want to thank YOU—our incredible community—for making this past year unforgettable. 🐴💖 Here’s to new goals, exciting plans, and celebrating the beauty of Liberty together in the year ahead! 🌟

What’s your New Year’s Liberty resolution for you and your horse? 📝🐎 Drop it in the comments! ⬇️

🥂🎆

01/06/2025

We got a lot going on down here! Lol and apparently the best is yet to come so this is a quick precursor for the upcoming weeks videos! Lol

01/05/2025

The week ahead will be a trying week for those taking care of horses. I know that many of my northern friends may laugh because they don’t think that this is bad. But this is again my reminder to make sure that your horses are getting electrolytes because they do not like to drink in this weather. Please also remember that your horses muscles are colder than they usually are so even if you have an indoor arena take your time in your warm-up to reduce injuries.
Unfortunately this is the time of year that I see people take their cold and frisky horse out and let it gallop around on the end of a lunge line to wear it out.
I would like to encourage you to take this time in the winter to learn some groundwork exercises so that you can more efficiently gain a hold of your horses feet and mind before riding and without galloping around .

There is a very important organ in your horse’s body called “fascia” in this weather you could take the time to go read about the function of that special organ and then challenge yourself to think about how it’s function might be impacted by cold weather 😘
I will even give you a link to a woman’s page that does a great job with With nice easy Laymans terms to help you with equine anatomy. You’re welcome!
https://www.horsesinsideout.com/post/fascinating-fascia

01/04/2025

Here at the Salty horse ranch we focus on breeding and raising our own quarter horses and secondly we offer medical and rehab rehabilitation Boarding. Our hope is honestly you never need us because if you need us something bad has happened. But if you do need us one of the things that we really focus on is returning your horse back to you in better condition than it came. I’m not saying your horse was in bad condition but while they’re here they do get groundwork training, some basics of liberty training And every horse is different so we focus on finding the least disruptive technique to treat your horse. We do not hire any staff so every single day it is myself or my husband Doug or our daughter Carter that is handling these horses. Horses love consistency and that includes consistency in handling. And that is right down to stall cleaning. Stall cleaning is an excellent time to work on some Basics of groundwork!

01/03/2025

It is no secret that it is a complete and total blessing for me to spend almost every single day following my passion and getting to spend it with my two girls!

One of my only regrets is that three years ago when we helped Carter start her first horse “Boone” 11 years old, that I didn’t video every day. Looking back on it I think I somewhat took for granted that getting Horses started is just something that we do and something she needed to learn. But in that I don’t think I realized what an opportunity it was for me to watch her grow.

I am not making that mistake with letting Charlee start her first horse which will be Moose. 🫎 Moose with be 2 in April this gives me a chance to take time to show Charley how to start Horses correctly. Every horse is different and I think this one will be special.

So in that, here is session 2 and we are glad to have you along in this journey and hopefully it will be a fun and possibly funny journey and maybe we all learn a little something !