Versatile Horsemanship LLC

12/26/2023

Check out part 1 of my new series on YouTube, Meet the horses!

In Part 1 of Meet the Horses, I will introduce you to a spicy mini named Dude. If you enjoyed this video and would like to learn more about horses and real ...

12/04/2023

Pretty sure I’m “haaaaaayyyy lady!”

11/26/2023

For anyone looking for a great gift for a horse lover. Our Black Friday sale ends tonight (11/26) at midnight.

Here are the details!

11 Lessons for $500 (that's $105 savings)! This package applies to private, semi-private, and group lessons with any instructor. To purchase this package online, simply book a lesson and the option to purchase the package will pop up. If you don't want to book a lesson at this time or would prefer to pay with cash or check, simply give me a call and I will set it up for you.

25% off all 30 minute pony rides and introduction to horses lessons! You’ll need a link to get this deal, it will be posted in the comments.

20% off all Versatile Horsemanship Merch! We have several items in stock and will take orders!

Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions and thank you for supporting my small business!

~ Brandi

11/23/2023

Black Friday sale for our pony rides and Introduction to horses lesson!

Here’s the link!

25% Off Pony Rides and Our Introduction to Horses Lesson!

11/19/2023

One of my favorite things on the schedule right now are pony rides. If you or your child just want to sit on a horse and go for a relaxing ride. Check out our pony rides!

Versatile Horsemanship - Education & Training in Negaunee, MI. Schedule your appointment with Versatile Horsemanship through Schedulicity today.

11/10/2023

Calling all horse lovers… if you or your child have been wanting to get involved with horses, now is the time.

We have one opening for either a pony ride or introduction to horses lesson this Sunday. And it’s available at a discounted price!

Signing up is easy, Here’s the link

Versatile Horsemanship - Education & Training in Negaunee, MI. Schedule your appointment with Versatile Horsemanship through Schedulicity today.

05/12/2023

Tack sale at our barn Saturday May 13th from 11am-2pm. So many great items for sale, including a lot of Mother’s Day gifts. Come shop/sell and Bring your friends!

01/30/2023

Crew neck sweatshirts and tees just arrived. They are so soft and the colors are gorgeous 😍

What color do you think we should do next?

01/06/2023

Super cool page for model horse lovers!

https://www.facebook.com/rogueriverstudios?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Custom Painted and Rebuilt Model Horses and Model Horse Repairs by Meghan Namaste

12/31/2022

Just some cute little munchkins letting you know that today is the last day to get in on the December lesson special 😍

12/28/2022

Sharing this for students at our barn. If you’re not already using the Schedulicity app for booking lessons, give it a try! It makes booking lessons super quick and easy. Plus, now there’s a feature that offers a discount for last minute openings! Simply go to the app, click on “special offers” and see if there’s a deal available first before you book a lesson. How neat is that!

Also only a couple days left to get the December special. Buy 10 lessons and get one free! You can buy online or let me know and I can get you set up. ~ Brandi

12/18/2022

I’m not sure who’s happier, me or them. They are always at my side. Love all of my pups ♥️

12/15/2022

We have openings for lessons during the holidays. Here’s the link to our schedule.

Founded by Brandi Rolling in 2008, Versatile Horsemanship, LLC, is family owned and operated full-service horse-and-rider training and education facility. She offers everything from one-on-one, private lessons to semi-private and group sessions year-round.

11/30/2022

Name one thing that should be in an equine first aid kit.

11/27/2022

Manzer in his truest form.. anyone want to come brush him? 😂

11/26/2022

Here’s an update on our herd of horses, ponies, mules, and a donkey!

I’m this video I’ll give you an updated tour of our herd. If you enjoyed this video and would like to learn more about horses and real life in the barn, I in...

11/19/2022

I recently added a pony mule to my herd. He was in desperate need of some dental work. Here’s a video of some pretty extreme tartar removal.

In this video you'll see an extreme amount of tartar removed from a mule's canine teeth.

07/12/2022

When I first met Sally she had some serious struggles with trailer loading. Being patient and consistent is what brought her this far. Love this mule!

06/26/2022

We have a few openings for horse camp this summer. Register online at www.versatilehorsemanship.net

06/26/2022

Such a beautiful night ❤️

06/23/2022

The littles will always make me giggle

06/03/2022

Everything comes with a price

A sensitive horse is going to be sensitive to both light aids AND your accidental aids and mistakes

A quiet school horse is going to give you room to fumble with your hands and legs, and they are also likely to ignore them when you mean to use them.

It isn’t fair to want the reward without the price. It isn’t fair to take from a horse without giving- and it all comes down to working on ourselves: our expectations, riding abilities, mindset, and awareness. You can’t have a perfectly performing horse without putting in your own work. A horse is not a computer or a robot- they rise to, or fall to, the level of the horseman.

Photo by Melinda Yelvington

05/31/2022

Why rope halters?????
The knots are NOT for hitting facial nerves!!!!! They just give the halter shape. Otherwise it would just be a piece of rope. I don’t know who started the idea that rope halters are somehow harsh and specifically designed to hit nerves but that is absolutely incorrect.

The true beauty of a rope halter is that when you are not pulling on it it is barely even there. It IS the lightest halter you can use!!! But the real magic is that if I am facing the horse and I lift my right hand out to my right the horse can feel the fiador knot move slightly to his left and he can follow that feel and yield his shoulders to his left. We do this demonstration with people with their eyes shut holding onto the crown of a rope halter and then the crown of a flat stable halter. The flat stable halter does not transmit the feel until we actually PULL on it. Where if you have a rope halter, with the rope tied in and no snap, you can move that fiador knot a quarter of an inch and the horse can feel it. It does not hurt, and it is not sharp but they can simply feel one side of the halter coming into slightly more contact and the other side of the halter move away. If you vibrate the rope just a tiny little bit the horse can feel the vibration transmit from the rope into the rope halter. All the metal hardware, the heavy snap, the light weight lead rope, and the wide web halter just do not transmit those tiny little pre-cues.

We use the rope halter because when in neutral it is barely there, and if we give the tiniest cue, the horse can feel it, but if we need to escalate we can!
In a flat stable halter it takes a lot more pressure for the horse to initially feel anything, and if we have to escalate the pressure is dispersed over a wider area so we can’t escalate as much.

You can relate this to leg cues. If you have a horse that is seriously behind the leg and old enough to know better, ideally you would just barely lay the hair down with your calf as your first aid, and then escalate hard and fast to make them learn to appreciate and pay attention and be responsive to the light calf! The stable halter equivalent would be if your first leg aid was a medium hard bump but the hardest you could do is just a slightly harder bump. If your horse is naturally a little on the dull side they would start to ignore that pretty quickly!!!

Once someone learns to use a rope halter correctly I’ve never seen them want to use anything else. The people who do not like the feel of a rope halter are the ones that try to use it the same way they have always used their flat stable halter, and surprise surprise- it doesn’t work.

05/28/2022

Shadows, leaves, a ray of sunshine… hazards of the job 😂

05/26/2022

Dixie is a yearling Belgian who is with me for a month of training. In this video she is learning how to be a good citizen for the farrier. This type of work will also come in handy if she should ever get a leg tangled up in anything. Learning how to give to pressure helps keep our horses (and their humans) safe.

05/25/2022

Ok folks, is your horse a #1 or a #2?

05/24/2022

Ohnah walked away from her hay and chose to come stand by me, then followed me all over the pasture. That’s the best compliment my horse could ever give me and it made my day ❤️

05/23/2022

Just some adorable traveling pony pics. Bear and Lucky were happy to share a stall in the trailer 😍

05/17/2022

My training horses enjoying their feed in the trailer. I frequently load horses in the trailer, feed them, and unload. It makes going in the trailer a normal part of their day so there’s a lot less stress on days that I do plan to haul them somewhere.