Did you know while not only being an absolute blast, doing obstacles can help build trust and confidence between you and your horse.
Are you thinking, there’s no way my horse would go near that, I’d be a goner, we’re not ready for that? Then this is THE PERFECT opportunity for you to gain that confidence and trust in yourself and your horse! Let’s conquer that fear while you’re under professional guidance!
OR
Are you on the other end of the spectrum thinking, my horse would do all of those, easy peasy, no problem. Then this is also the PERFECT opportunity for you!! I challenge you to come out, and I will guarantee to find and help you through at least one obstacle you and your horse struggle with, or a hole in you or your horse’s foundation that I can help you work on. If not, I will refund you 100% of the clinic fee.
Things this clinic may help with:
-Trailer loading issues
-Focus issues for horse or rider
-Lack of confidence on trail
-Buddy Sourness and barn sourness
-General Disobedience
-Lack of motivation/willingness
-Pushiness on the ground, or hard headed-ness under saddle
-So much more!!
Come join me in Sturgeon Bay, WI on August 31 for my Building Confidence and Connection with Obstacles clinic at Geitner Homestead Equine Campground! There are over 70 obstacles for us to work with!
Clinic is Saturday August 31 starting at 9am. $125 per horse/rider. Auditors are welcome for $15/person. Camping is also available for the weekend - stay the night and enjoy the many miles of trails they have in beautiful Door County while you’re here!
Please call/text Ava (920)495-1865 or facebook message me to reserve your spot! Limited spots available to ensure everyone can get the individualized attention they need in addition to group work!
Echo
Echo is coming along beautifully in her gentling and will be available within ~2-4 weeks! Please message me asap if you are seriously interested in her, so we can get the reassignment process going!
She’s going to be a hard one to let go! She’s 12 yo, 15hh and STOCKY, from South Steens, OR, and has been tracked and photographed her entire life in the wild!
$1500 training fee plus $25 BLM reassignment. Will need BLM approved application for a gentled mustang (5ft 20x20 pen or a 12x12 stall)
Did you know your horse should be able to back up under saddle, as easily, quickly and smoothly as they can walk forward?
The energy for the back up should come from your body, your mouth, or whatever cue you personally use to move your horse forward (some people use voice commands, “Walk on, Back Up” some people cluck/kiss, some people squeeze or kick, a combination of those etc), those can all be used as your energy to back your horse up!
See-sawing or pulling your horse back every step of the way with your reins is just going to make your horse not like backing up.
This is a newer client, learning to use her energy to stop and back her horse up(and teaching the horse to respond to her energy and stay soft in the process), versus using the reins as her go to. We want our horses to enjoy their job, we don’t want them to dread backing up because we’re hanging on their mouth every step!
I LOVE seeing slack in the reins as a horse backs up!
Look who’s coming along so nicely!😍 his first canter in the indoor, and look at how soft that stop is! This ride brought happy tears to my eyes, we’ve made it over our bump and are figuring this whole thing out! Super excited for Vegas with this cool dude! #wildtomild #mustangchallenge2024 #mustangchampions
Love the natural talent this guy has! 😍
I’ve been so horrible about being consistent with updates, but we are officially at Ride #5 today!! Second ride outside, first ride with another horse (after we went out for a short trail ride alone, we had another horse join us for another lap around the field)! He did GREAT!
It’s so nice to finally feel him relaxing and releasing some tension! Yesterday (ride #4) and today (ride #5) I’ve really started to feel him getting comfortable, and starting to enjoy this whole riding thing versus being tense and on edge, wondering what the heck this lady is doing on my back.
A few weeks ago we had our first “sit” then we had a bit of a regression (which with how reactive and sensitive he is, I totally expected to happen). After lots of time, patience, trial and error, we officially had our first “real” ride tonight! 🥳 I couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come, now that everything has started to click for my “Cha Cha” boy! Over the next few weeks, I’ll post more about what we worked on leading up to this point, but for now, enjoy this exciting moment for us!
▪️
▪️
I’ve discovered that Sriracha’s learning style is completely backwards from how I would normally go about starting a colt, but it seems to be what’s working best for him! It’s hard to explain unless you’ve seen him/worked with him, but once I changed my approach and started doing this backwards technique we’ve made leaps and bounds.
He seems to be on edge about new things no matter how many times you do something, until he knows why you’re doing it and that the outcome isn’t going to kill him.
MOST horses, you’d want the little things perfected before moving on to the next step, but with him, every time one tiny thing changes, it seems you’re having to start from scratch. He seems to be opposite of the norm. You honestly just kinda gotta go all in then backtrack and perfect the little things, and he learns so quick doing it this way. I think practicing and practicing and practicing the little things over and over almost gives him more anxiety and anticipation, which causes him to regress or not fully engage in the session. Jumping all in, then back tracking to critique the little things seems to keep him engaged and learning the whole time, and he learns quick! (I’ve spent HOURS on the little things with him, and every time I just say screw it and jump ahead a step, it’s like everything I had been trying to show him finally clicks together)
Fiona getting some love!❤️
With how nice the weather’s been lately, I may pull her from winter turnout and finish gentling her sooner than I planned! She is available!
Olivia and Divot had their first “real” ride today! 🥳
Pretty darn exciting day!! 🥰 Sriracha had his first sit!
This guy has really pushed me and been a huge challenge to progress. He’s definitely nothing like any domestic horse I’ve ever worked with, and has been one of the hardest, most sensitive, skiddish mustangs I’ve gotten. We’ve been working SO hard, and this is a HUGE step this is for us! Knowing he was a stallion in the wild for over 3 years before being captured makes me appreciate things like this even more!
Looking forward to bringing this guy to Vegas! ❤️
Ohhhhh the process 😅❤️
The first day he HAD to get in the trailer to be moved so I pushed him a little harder than I normally would. After he was moved and settled in, I parked the trailer in his run, so he got used to it being there and open. That first day just having the trailer parked there, you could see him thinking about jumping the fence, luckily he didn’t 😅 I let it sit there empty for about a week, then started working with him on loading again! The first time he jumped in with me out of curiosity then realized what was going on and panicked, then I worked on getting him comfortable in the trailer without me in it, then went back to leading him in with me in the trailer! Obviously this is just clips from pieces and parts of the process but it’s cool to see!
First cinched up saddling!
When you give your horse the tools to succeed, the first saddling shouldn’t be a rodeo
24 days ago I moved Sriracha to a facility with an indoor arena so I could work with him in all weather. 23 days ago, I started consistently working with Sriracha. 17 days ago he let me brush his mane for the first time, but was shaking while I did it. 10 days ago I force fed him like 20 treats until he learned to like them. 8 days ago he learned if he was scared he could bolt and pull the rope out of my hand, so every time he got nervous, he would turn and run, and I couldn’t hold on. 7 days ago, I took a step back and just hung out with him, and let him have some wins. Yesterday he started “grooming me” while I was petting him🥰 and today, he let me set the saddle on his back for the first time, no bolting, no bucking, no funny business🥳
My crazy whacko man is coming around and using that brain❤️ what a journey it’s been so far, and I can’t wait to keep working with him until July when we head to Vegas!
Learning about cinching up! Getting him used to me reaching under him, as well as the feeling of the rope tightening around his belly!
Something important to notice for those of you wanting to learn about training -
Notice how the very last time I do it, he acts almost frozen, and after I back off he doesn’t lick and chew right away. This is something super important to pay attention to when teaching a horse especially a reactive horse or a horse with past trauma. When they get frozen they will tune you out and they may do what you ask, but they aren’t processing or thinking through it, they’re just sort of shutting down and submitting to it. Any time a horse feels sticky or frozen, the best thing you can do is get them to move their feet any direction, even just one step. Notice how I ask him to come forward and immediately after he unfreezes and starts licking and chewing? This is so important to make sure they are learning and comprehending as you go and not just shutting down!
These two have been taking lessons roughly once a week! Check out their progress in under three months 😍
My job is to help you gain confidence while learning to communicate with your horse better, and understand the why, and reasoning behind your cues!
Great work you two!💕
