Clifford Horsemanship

08/20/2025

Laminitis and founder

08/07/2025

07/21/2025

A reader writes: “What do you think of the current prices being fetched by good, safe horses…?”

***

People love to say, “That's ridiculous. At that price, I’ll just do it myself!” To which I can’t help thinking, fill your boots, baby. Nobody’s standing in your way.

Those scary rides, come hell or high water and no end of vile weather, are gonna cost you. Add to this, the years of dedication and knowledge that go into the further schooling that instills pride in this horse’s job.

Behind every experienced horse is at least one person who didn't think about it, or talk about it. They just went and did it. That's worth something, to me.

I happen to be one of those people who believes that the legit good, safe horse is going to have held down some sort of job in his lifetime. Nobody learns about life by just showing up for meals. Being filled with possibility is not enough to keep the average child, or ageing rider, safe in the saddle.

We need to realize that what is costing us money is the quality of this horse’s actual education, not his prospects or his ‘promise’. I think we sometimes forget that.

You don't have to buy somebody's youngster or 'old c**t' who is priced in the realm of a good, working horse. People will try that but you don't have to play along. Let's bat around a few figures, while we're talking the price of horses.

Let’s say that a ten-year-old horse has, for the whole of his working life, only been ridden for an hour each week. That’s precious little actual riding but we’ll use it to make a point.

For maybe seven years, our imaginary horse has had fifty-two hours’ of actual riding. Let’s say that the person who is doing the riding is worth $15 per hour. That's not much but we now have $5,460 invested in this horse who has only been ridden an absolute bare minimum. He’s probably not going to be very well-educated at this rate, so let’s bump him up to being ridden two, or maybe three times, each week, instead.

That’s more like it. Our horse is not exactly rocketing into the working world but he’s being saddled and ‘inconvenienced’ fairly regularly. Often enough to maybe begin to be considered safe for the average rider.

Suddenly, our fairly ordinary horse has from $10,920 to $16,380 worth of man-hours invested in him… and we haven’t even factored in what he cost to purchase initially, or what he costs to feed, to have his feet and teeth done, all this while.

This is purely regular maintenance, mind, without needing any emergency vet care because our sale horse put his leg through a fence!

Horses are expensive—and getting more so, with every year—just like our houses and cars and groceries. Because of such things as real estate values and monthly board costs, horses are fast becoming a luxury item, even if we may mightily wish it wasn’t so.

While we absolutely want to, few of us ‘need’ to own our own horses, unless we require them to earn a living, which is probably a real minority in the pool of today’s horse owners.

When people complain about the price of safe horses, I can only shake my head.

I’m not talking about the six-figure futurity star or the sale-topping ranch horse at $50,000. I’m picturing an uncomplicated fellow who will allow a person to take lessons and enjoy a day on the trails. What is this horse actually worth to the average would-be horse(wo)man?

Because if we can’t do what is required to make a safe and experienced horse ourselves, we have to be willing to pay fairly for somebody else to do it.

Don’t we?

03/30/2025

Mind Full vs. Mindful

03/26/2025

No matter what, set the horse up for success with anyone they may meet in life

I've sure been seeing (and hearing) a lot of bickering lately among horse professionals. Moaning about how one method is wrong, and the next method is right. Makes my head ache to listen to it actually, so I strive to tune it out and keep doing my own thing. I hold a hard and fast rule that I ride and train by that makes things easier for me;

When I have a horse sent to me that has been ridden before, I don't play into the worst case scenario right away. I allow the horse to show me where he's at and what he knows. You see, I don't immediately assume I am a better horseman or a more knowledgeable trainer than the last person who rode that horse. I don't jump to the conclusion that they did a bad job just because the new horse doesn't act like horses do who are accustomed to my everyday program. Like the old saying goes, there are a thousand ways to skin a cat...well, there are at least that many ways to train a horse.

I hear a lot of disparaging remarks dismissing other trainers work from horse people who should know better. I hear chatter about restarts and holes in the foundation, and how one c**t was cowboyed while another was snuck around. It makes me shake my head.

At times I feel that the worker bees in the hive of the horse industry these days need to get hungry. They need to starve a little and figure out just what they'd be willing to throw their leg over in the name of putting food on the table. Stop staring with a judgemental eye over the round pen fence at the other guy, and simply concentrate on riding the horses in your string.

When I started riding for a living, I just wanted to get on as many horses as I could. First of all that is how I fed myself, second of all, that is how I got educated. I learned fairly quickly that I didn't know everything, and it's the one lesson that has stuck through all these years. So dam straight, these shiney faced, well fed horse trainers who have never rode what they had to, in order to get to the point in their career where they get to ride what they want to, arrogantly dismissing the thirty, or sixty, or ninety days of work put into a c**t before it ends up in their supposedly capable hands, annoys the heck out of me!

I've heard so called horsemen whine that one was hobble broke, and whine because it wasn't hobble broke. Mutter because they'd been started in a snaffle bit, or never bitted, only ridden in a halter. Bitch because they'd been pushed into a lope on the first ride, or bitch because they hadn't. Ridden in the arena and pressured far too much...or simply hacked down the ditch and never pressured at all. Good Lord, I've heard it all.

I've got an idea in my head that I can do my job without maligning the next guy. Crazy right? I figure that we are all working toward the same thing...building broke horses...so it's ok if you do it wearing a purple dinosaur suit and I do it roping critters out on the range. My horse might snort and blow at your odd apparel, but I'd put that on his good, common horse sense, not my lack of training ability. Same if your horse questioned the sensibility of roping a cow out on open ground...🤷

Have a good day folks. ☺️

Pictured below; a few of my string. Shoofly, Cash, and the tips of Dirty and Stylin's ears. ♥️

03/13/2025

That time when your horse isn’t quite right, but you don’t know why…
The small trainer notices.

Who’s going to spend two hours with your two year-old every day to make sure they get a solid foundation?
The small trainer.

What about the horse who doesn’t have the strongest maternal lines?
It’s the small trainer that gives them a chance.

You’ve never done it before, but wanna give it a try?
The small trainer won’t judge you.

Who’s going to take an extra 30 minutes to make sure that turn is in a perfect place to end on?
The small trainer.

Who’s going to walk through the barn at 10 o’clock at night and lay eyes on your pride and joy themselves?
The small trainer.

Who’s going to do their very best to make your dreams affordable?
The small trainer.

Who will keep your horse liking their job?
The small trainer.

Who will try every trick in the book to pull every ounce of talent out of your horse?
The small trainer.

Don’t underestimate the small trainer.

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📸Shannon Anderson Photography

02/21/2025

Do what they need, not treat them like they’re all the same.

I often get asked, what’s your training style? What’s your philosophy? So here it is.

There is no one size fits all. There is no “this works for every horse” I find it so odd when I see trainers say they do the same thing with every horse. You can get away with this a little more if all the horses you are working are yearlings that have never been touched (still debatable) but if you are working with horses that have past baggage or have been handled differently the same program is just not going to work for them.

I am huge on lunging a horse and teaching them how to lunge properly, at times I’m big on getting their energy out so I have their brain (I know this is controversial) BUT I have a horse in training right now that I do not believe in lunging her. Maybe in the future… but right now all it does is activate the flight part of her brain. We might lunge at a walk but no more and to be honest I rarely even do that.

I try to watch my horses reactions and how they handle situations and I’ve found with her lunging makes her go backwards in training. Instead I have a completely different program. For her a loud person doesn’t make a quiet horse. If I throw bags at her and make things chaotic she retreats, right now she needs things to be calm and consistent to build confidence and then I can add a little more at a time but just taking her out and making her “deal with it” has turned her into a flighty, snorty, untrustworthy horse.

Now this horse is super rare, most training horses I have I get them out and expose them to as much as possible but you have to read your horse and this isn’t the first horse I’ve gotten into training like this. It may be from her past, maybe if she was started differently it would be a different story. But I have learned with horses like her predictability and calm situations help her progress.

If you watched me work with her you might think I’m a different style trainer then I am. But the truth is I don’t have a “style” every horse has a style and it’s my job to read it and go from there to help them progress the best they can while they are here.

Pc: .photography

02/03/2025

Knowing how much your horse weighs is useful in determining how much daily feed is needed. Also, dewormers and other medications are designed to be dispensed at specific levels relative to a horse’s weight. Unfortunately, most horse owners do not have easy access to a set of scales and must often resort to visual evaluation for estimating weight. A simple formula to help you more accurately estimate your horse's weight.

10/07/2024

"New Home Syndrome"🤓

I am coining this term to bring recognition, respect, and understanding to what happens to horses when they move homes. This situation involves removing them from an environment and set of routines they have become familiar with, and placing them somewhere completely different with new people and different ways of doing things.

Why call it a syndrome?

Well, really it is! A syndrome is a term used to describe a set of symptoms that consistently occur together and can be tied to certain factors such as infections, genetic predispositions, conditions, or environmental influences. It is also used when the exact cause of the symptoms is not fully understood or when it is not connected with a well-defined disease. In this case, "New Home Syndrome" is connected to a horse being placed in a new home where its entire world changes, leading to psychological and physiological impacts. While it might be transient, the ramifications can be significant for both the horse and anyone handling or riding it.

Let me explain...

Think about how good it feels to get home after a busy day. How comfortable your favourite clothes are, how well you sleep in your own bed compared to a strange bed, and how you can really relax at home. This is because home is safe and familiar. At home, the part of you that keeps an eye out for potential danger turns down to a low setting. It does this because home is your safe place (and if it is not, this blog will also explain why a lack of a safe place is detrimental).

Therefore, the first symptom of horses experiencing "New Home Syndrome" is being unsettled, prone to anxiety, or difficult behaviour. If you have owned them before you moved them, you struggle to recognise your horse, feeling as if your horse has been replaced by a frustrating version. If the horse is new to you, you might wonder if you were conned, if the horse was drugged when you rode it, or if you were lied to about the horse's true nature.

A horse with "New Home Syndrome" will be a stressed version of itself, on high alert, with a drastically reduced ability to cope. Horses don't handle change like humans do. If you appreciate the comfort of your own home and how you can relax there, you should be able to understand what the horse is experiencing.

Respecting that horses interpret and process their environments differently from us helps in understanding why your horse is being frustrating and recognising that there is a good chance you were not lied to or that the horse was not drugged.

Horses have survived through evolution by being highly aware of their environments. Change is a significant challenge for them because they notice the slightest differences, not just visually but also through sound, smell, feel, and other senses. Humans generalise and categorise, making it easy for us to navigate familiar environments like shopping centres. Horses do not generalise in the same way; everything new is different to them, and they need proof of safety before they can habituate and feel secure. When their entire world changes, it is deeply stressful.

They struggle to sleep until they feel safe, leading to sleep deprivation and increased difficulty.

But there is more...

Not only do you find comfort in your home environment and your nervous system downregulates, but you also find comfort in routines. Routines are habits, and habits are easy. When a routine changes or something has to be navigated differently, things get difficult. For example, my local supermarket is undergoing renovations. After four years of shopping there, it is extremely frustrating to have to work out where everything is now. Every day it gets moved due to the store being refitted section by section. This annoyance is shared by other shoppers and even the staff.

So, consider the horse. Not only are they confronted with the challenge of figuring out whether they are safe in all aspects of their new home while being sleep deprived, but every single routine and encounter is different. Then, their owner or new owner starts getting critical and concerned because the horse suddenly seems untrained or difficult. The horse they thought they owned or bought is not meeting their expectations, leading to conflict, resistance, explosiveness, hypersensitivity, and frustration.

The horse acts as if it knows little because it is stressed and because the routines and habits it has learned have disappeared. If you are a new human for the horse, you feel, move, and communicate differently from what it is used to. The way you hold the reins, your body movements in the saddle, the position of your leg – every single routine of communication between horse and person is now different. I explain to people that when you get a new horse, you have to imprint yourself and your way of communicating onto the horse. You have to introduce yourself and take the time to spell out your cues so that they get to know you.

Therefore, when you move a horse to a new home or get a new horse, your horse will go through a phase called "New Home Syndrome," and it will be significant for them. Appreciating this helps them get through it because they are incredible and can succeed. The more you understand and help the horse learn it is safe in its new environment and navigate the new routines and habits you introduce, the faster "New Home Syndrome" will pass.
"New Home Syndrome" will be prevalent in a horse’s life until they have learned to trust the safety of the environment (and all that entails) and the humans they meet and interact with. With strategic and understanding approaches, this may take weeks, and their nervous systems will start downgrading their high alert status. However, for some horses, it can take a couple of years to fully feel at ease in their new home.

So, next time you move your horse or acquire a new horse and it starts behaving erratically or being difficult, it is not being "stupid", you might not have been lied to or the horse "drugged" - your horse is just experiencing an episode of understandable "New Home Syndrome." And you can help this.❤

I would be grateful if you could please share, this reality for horses needs to be better appreciated ❤
‼️When I say SHARE that does not mean plagiarise my work…it is seriously not cool to copy and paste these words and make out you have written it yourself‼️

04/27/2024

It’s been a beautiful week to get some trail miles! If you need any assistance getting your horse trail ready, let us know!