Hatts Off Horsemanship

01/29/2023

12/20/2022

If anyone needs some festive lesson ideas, here’s what we are doing this week for Christmas time!

The Christmas Tree Race
use either five barrels or one barrel and four poles in a V shape to make the “tree”. Use ground poles to make the “stand” or “trunk” for your start and stop. Basically it’s the barrel pattern with two firsts and seconds. We added some fun for the horses by putting “ornaments” on the tree. They loved their post-ride treat!

08/01/2022

Not a horse, but let’s talk animal behavior.

It always bugs me when people say animals are “mean”. My first question to them is why? What made that animal have that behavior? Similarly to bitter people or misbehaving children? What happened in their life or that particular scenario that made them act out?
It’s all about solving the mystery that is discovered by dissecting the behavior.

My daughter brings home her hamster from her mother’s house and tells me it’s mean and she doesn’t play with it. The only time she takes it out is by using a towel. She says it bites. Well, once she was home and settled, my husband takes her and holds her with his full fist closed around this little dwarf hamster. She’s entrapped. You can visually see her biting his hand looking for a way out.
She’s not mean. She doesn’t like to be trapped. I held her for over five minutes letting her run over my hands and through my fingers repeatedly. I could feel her try to dig between my fingers with her paws and nudge with her head. If my hands were a little too stiff, she would throw in a bite to make her way through. As long as my hands were opened and my fingers remained light and soft, she was content. My daughter was amazed and asked how I did that. She was afraid to hold her thinking she would get bit. When I showed her that all her pet wanted was space and freedom, she was able to hold and play with her hamster and no longer called her “mean”. She now understood why she had the behavior she did. We will work forward on not being threatening towards her and allowing her to have her space when holding her.

Behavior dissection works with all animals, including humans. You know the saying “everything happens for a reason”? Most behaviors will have a “reason” behind them and they may not always pertain to the current situation.

07/31/2022

Cupid participated in his first walk/trot classes. He handled it like a pro.

07/31/2022

When you have good foundational groundwork, you can go wing your first Showmanship pattern and it not be atrocious.

07/20/2022

07/01/2022

Herd dynamics are a funny thing.
The boys are in the fence, while the girls graze outside the fence.
The grulla is the boss of the herd. One very promiscuous mare is in heat and continues to tease. The buckskin stud c**t dares not to go near her. He looks from afar but shows no sign of excitement. The grulla gelding chased him off once and puts himself between them until the young stud has no interest at all.

05/08/2022

Look at this handsome dude 🤤
As he sheds out he’s turning more roan.

We’re getting better at turning and halting. We learned some things today. We trotted a bit and backed up a few times.

We also learned to ground tie!

04/22/2022

And we have a bit in 🙃
Cupid doesn’t know what to think of it but did well ground driving for his first time! He caught on fairly quickly.
Thank you Darren Moore for doing his teeth and thank you Hall's Handmade Bits for the new bit to start him in!

04/12/2022

Leg and body position is important on a barrel pattern.
When you yank your horses nose around the barrel it throws them off balance. You lose speed when you’re off balance.
I always make sure my horses can turn off seat, leg, and body position to keep them balanced and soft.

04/10/2022

Tarp training begins! With a little extra spookiness from the wind, I’d say he took it pretty well.

04/01/2022

This handsome fella is official. 😎💘

03/20/2022

But can your stud c**t walk calmly in a crowded room with a bunch of tied up mares?
**tstarting

03/10/2022

Cupid’s ground work has been coming along. Here, he is demonstrating figure 8s through barrels.
This was the first time he has ever done this. He is so smart!

Getting a horse to move their feet is important. Having control over their feet ensures safety for you and your horse. It also unlocks a level of respect and trust that your horse has in you as their leader. The use of obstacles makes the footwork intentional and have purpose.

02/20/2022

Cupid enjoyed his first walk to the creek today. The creek is also right by the highway. Traffic didn’t even phase him 🥰

02/14/2022

Wouldn’t load yesterday.
Self loading today.

02/13/2022

I stood in complete shock…

5ft fence. Completely cleared it. He’s not even 2 yet and only like 14.1.

**t

01/30/2022

“Give a horse what he needs, and he will give you his heart in return.”

This went quite better than expected. He has never seen a pad or saddle before. I should have videoed that because he didn’t move a single hoof when saddling. He had no major blow ups or kicks when lunging with the saddle on. I have only sat on him ba****ck twice and asked him to walk off once. He flexes and follows his nose well on the ground but we need to work on it under saddle. He understands leg pressure and moves off it well. His fit at the end makes me laugh.

The trust this horse has given me is something truly exceptional.

01/27/2022

Big steps today for Cupid man! After some ground work today, we played around with mounting and he let me sit on him ba****ck. He was completely relaxed and not tense through his back. We also picked feet today like a good boy!

01/27/2022

Super proud of how this handsome man is coming along. A little rope desensitizing and foot lifting tonight. He stood like a champ to let me lift and hold his feet! Next up, hoof trim 🥴

Oh, he also likes to play soccer with his jolly ball and water buckets 🤷🏼‍♀️

01/14/2022

Took the opportunity to move our feet a bit outside of the pen with greater distractions. This is just the beginning and a short snippet. He is already so smart and thinking about everything!

**t

01/14/2022

15 minutes each day = 91 hours per year

What could you do with an extra 91 hours?

For your horse, that could mean 91 more hours in the saddle. 91 more hours to help your horse develop its full potential.

Committing to an extra 15 minutes per day mirrors the effect of the 1% rule.

At first, 15 minutes a day might not seem noticeable. But over a period of time, the impact of these 15 minutes will begin to surface, as long as you commit to those 15 minutes consistently.

15 minutes every day. 1% every day.