Kaylie Eaves Horsemanship LLC

01/18/2025

✨Practice!✨

I see many students struggle with actually practicing what they learn in lessons. These are the ones who get the most frustrated, progress very slowly, if at all, and then end up quitting or trainer hopping or blaming the horse.

Your lesson instructor can only teach you from where you are, and you won’t get very far if you don’t apply what they teach you in between lessons.

Consistency, practice, trial, and error are all part of growth. If you genuinely want to improve your horsemanship, it takes commitment. It’s your soul responsibility. No one can make you do it.

01/18/2025

✨Phoenix's first trip to the round pen and outdoor arena!✨

I cannot express enough how well minded this boy is! He takes everything in stride and has been the most relaxed training horse I've had come in, in a while. Nothing has phased him.

Phoenix's Next Steps:
✅Trot and canter in-hand, balanced.
✅Steering and stopping under saddle.
✅Obstacles
✅Cross-tying
✅Trailer loading/unloading

Advanced Steps:
⭕️W/T/C under saddle.
⭕️Trails/Obstacles under saddle.

01/17/2025

✨Feature Friday!✨

On Fridays, I will start featuring training horses (past and present) and share their brief story and a photo!

This week's horse is Justice!
Justice is a grade-gaited horse that my friend and client, Carol, got last May. He was underweight, scared of everything, and came from a frustrating situation. He is still building confidence under saddle, but his personality has really started to show! He loves to play and makes cute squeezing and grunting noises when excited. He’s such a sweet boy and has come so far! Look at those dappled!

01/17/2025

Love, love, love reviews like this! ❤️🐦‍🔥❤️👏

01/17/2025

01/17/2025

✨Ride numero dos!✨

Phoenix is such a chill boy! Once his training is further along, this sweet boy will be looking for his forever home! Keep an eye 👁️ out for this personable boy!

01/16/2025

Stop “clinicianing” your horse to death.

Word on the street are these horses are the most dangerous ones out there.

And guess what? They are!!!!!! They are dull, lifeless, spoiled, reactive when they wake up and usually only the most skilled horsemen can fix them with tough love and some enlightenment of what real work is about.

How does this happen? Too much unnecessary handling that bores a horse mentality. It’s rewarding too early for half ass try. It’s not reprimanding when a horse acts out in bad behavior.

One of the best mentors said “less is more” but the wise man did NOT say coddle your horse!

I said what I said.
-Lucia

01/16/2025

✨Chores, six horses worked, and even took a long lunch; all done by 4:30!✨

01/16/2025

✨😍Mahina continues to progress in balancing herself!😍✨

01/16/2025

✨Common Problems with Young Horses✨

One of the most frequent challenges I encounter with young horses is the tendency for handlers to do too much without sufficient awareness. Many believe that if they don’t dive into every aspect of handling—like touching, haltering, and leading—right away, their horse will become unmanageable. However, overdoing it can lead to the opposite effect, where the horse learns to tune out humans, perceiving them as irrelevant.

Interestingly, some of the most challenging horses I've worked with have completely ignored human presence. For them, our behavior and body language hold no significance, which can create dangerous situations.

When I engage with horses, I aim to create clarity and understanding. I focus on being aware of my body language and how it communicates with the horse. This awareness helps bridge the gap between humans and horses, fostering a more respectful and harmonious relationship.

**tstarter

01/15/2025

Yes!
A good rider deficit is definitely at an all-time high. People want horses to be perfect and “bomb-proof,” but it's not reality. Horses are animals with physical and mental health and natural behaviors and instincts to consider. Not machines to do what you want with.

Nyssa has been adopted and returned twice.

Why?

The truth is, we are at a deficit of
Excellent riders, trainers and horse people.

We love horses, even when we don't have the skills they need.

I've been there. I started the rescue as one of those people.

None of us know it all, but take Nyssa,

No horse we have listed gets 1/2 as many inquiries as she does. She's tall, a good age and pretty. We are very candid that she needs an excellent horse "listener" and rider.

Adoption prospects are few for her.

She won't tolerate mistakes. She won't tolerate irritation. She won't tolerate what you don't know.

She has been with multiple trainers in her years we've had her. She rides lovely for them.

They know how to make sure she's comfortable, from her feet to her back to her mouth.

It's a high skill set.

Each time she's come back, it's clear, she's not comfortable. Her back gets sore, her feet, her body.

There are horses that will be irritated and go on, and God bless them, but I kind of wish none would. Then we'd have no choice but to listen better.

And this isn't intended to make anyone feel bad, it's intended to remind everyone we really need to focus on doing better if we are going to own and ride horses.

There are many horses standing, ruined, in sales lots, facing a life of hurt and neglect and abuse because someone thought the horse was the issue and never cared enough to consider they were actually the problem.

01/14/2025

✨Phoenix’s day 2 of school; first ride!✨
He is so chill for a noodlebred!

01/14/2025

✨Chester looks so majestic in the snow!😍✨

01/13/2025

🐦‍🔥Phoenix’s first day at school!🐦‍🔥

01/13/2025

Thank you, Alyx, for being down for a random Sunday fun day of riding our TBs and getting dinner!❤️

01/12/2025

✨This is 100% accurate!✨

Lessons learned long and hard in the horse business as a barn owner..

1. It's easy to fall in love with your customers. They become a family who you spend a lot of time with. However, in the end they will do what's best for themselves. And, for you and them, those paths may not be the same. Prepare to get your heart broken. Keep business and personal relationships separate.

2. People will not always trust in your experience and will second guess you. They will think they know better because they read it in a book, or saw it online. Don't try to be all things to all people. Do what you are good at. Run your barn in a way that you can sleep at night knowing that you did right in your mind by them and their horses. The clients opinion of that may be different than your beliefs, but you have to live with choices that leave you at peace. That may mean confrontation, hard conversations and even asking people to move on for your own peace.

3. Horses are easy 99% of the time. It's the people who come with them that make things complicated.

4. Remember that horses need to be horses.

5. People will always judge you, and have opinions. The better you are, the more haters will have opinions.

6. Success isn't measured by ribbons and show placings. It's measured in happy animals and the quality of their lives.

7. There is always an exception or quirk that doesn't " follow the rules" in horse care. Do what works, not what the books say works.

8. When you get annoyed by seeing somebody's car pull in to the barn, it's time to let that person move on. Your barn should be a happy place. It literally only takes one bad sour apple to ruin the whole atmosphere and dynamic in a barn.

9. Let it go.... if someone moves on don't be upset by it. Ignore what they say. Don't take it personally. Every barn is not a good fit for every person.

10. This is a business. If a person or horse isn't working for you, or the compensation isn't offsetting your cost, it's time for them to go. The exception to this is your retired horses, see #11.

11. Horses only have so many jumps, so many runs, so many rides. Don’t waste your horses. Teach your students they aren’t machines. You owe it to your retired horses to have a safe, comfortable and dignified end. Your schoolies worked for you. When the time comes they can no longer do that, either give them a pleasant retirement, or put them in the ground where you know they are safe. Do not dump them at auctions or onto other people where you are not 100% sure that they will be cared for.

12. There is no shame in euthanasia for a horse owner. Always better a week too early then a second too late. Do not judge anyone for their reasons for doing this.

13. Most clients fall Into two categories. Those who are "high maintenance", open in their opinions and will confront situations head on. The second is the quiet type who will not say a word and will not openly talk with you about their expectations or issues. You have no idea they have a problem until it's too late. The people in between these two are the clients you want. They will be long term and make life easy.

14. Know your worth. KNOW YOUR WORTH. Your time and experience has a monetary value. Don't do things for free, even if you like the person. Every bit of time or effort you give to clients has value. So when you don't value your effort, neither will a client. They will come to expect "freebies", which always leads to resentment from someone.

15. Be honest. It's not always easy. But in this business it takes forever to build reputation and seconds to destroy it.

16. Remember horses are dangerous. Always use your best judgment and air on the side of caution when working with horses and students. Their lives and your own life can change in an instant.

17. Get paid up front. Keep good records. People don't go to the grocery store and ask for food they will pay for next week. Good business practices keep everyone honest and sets boundaries for clients.

18. Normalize passing on price increases. Service industries, especially ones like ours always "feel guilty " when raising prices. You are not there to subsidize someone else's horse habit. Prices have been going up on costs, so should your fees.

19. The buck stops with you. Your employees mistakes fall back to your responsibility. Always verify and check on important care aspects of daily activities.

20. Make time for family and rest. Too many of us get burnt out from the stress of expectations in this industry. In the end, boarders and students come and go. Your family is who you will have left.

Thanks for reading my thoughts. I hope it can help support some of you feeling burnt out, and maybe help some people who are starting out in their journey into this industry.

Written by Rhea Distefano

01/12/2025

🔹The sweetest blue boy💙🔹

Always napping!😴