MNR Horsemanship

12/01/2025

"There is a way to train a horse where when you get done, you've got the horse on his own ground. A good horse will figure things out on his own. You can see what's in his heart. He won't do one thing while you're watching him an another when you ain't. He's all of a piece. When you get a horse to that place, you can't hardly get him to do something he knows is wrong. He'll fight you over it. And if you mistreat him, it just about kills him. A good horse has justice in his heart. I've seen it." ~Cormac McCarthy from "Cities of the Plain" Photo by Lily Womack.

12/01/2025

***Do not bargain shop for a trainer.***

Do not send your best c**t off to the “best deal.”

It WILL NOT end up a good deal. It WILL cost you significantly more money.

Pick a trainer you admire. Do your research. See if you think you can ride behind them or if it’s a marketable finished product, depending on your goals.

11/01/2025

“He was never able to replicate himself during a long career at stud, but became known as a prolific sire of broodmares. Secretariat, proud and vital well into his dotage, died in the fall of 1989 at Claiborne Farm, in Kentucky, his Triple Crown records intact, as is his place in history 40 years later..” My favorite photo of Red in Retirement… “Finally, this is my favorite shot of Secretariat at stud. When we approached the fence, he went over and picked up a large branch and brought it over, defying me to try pull it out of his mouth. I felt like I was playing fetch with a dog.” - Steve Haskin

10/01/2025

❄️❄️❄️

10/01/2025

“These ones that are bothered, when you put pressure on them they go away in their mind to where they are safe. They can follow the mechanics but they can’t follow the feel.

I have to put the feel back into him by making our relationship more important than his fear.

This is important because in times of uncertainty and unpredictable circumstance’s, mechanics will fail when put in place of trust.” - Matt Robertson

10/01/2025

Wow…

We all think we know what is going on in the industry we love, but after serving as the chair of the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association Horse Welfare Commission for the past year, now I do know, and I can’t un-ring that bell. I was sickened, as anyone would be, to hear of some of the atrocities commit...

09/01/2025

08/01/2025

08/01/2025

The Importance of Collection

08/01/2025

Very interesting!

08/01/2025

Have you ever seen a stallion fall in love with his own reflection? Shofar with his striking looks thinks he is Narcissus incarnate 🤣

07/01/2025

There is a reason, I think, that horsemanship is so hard to teach, and that is because it's truly an art and not a science.

You can go to school for art. You can learn from masters of a particular art form. You can study the chemical composition of your medium and learn about how those mediums behave in different circumstances. You can learn about the history of your art, how it originated and how it's evolved. You can study trends and dabble in different methodologies.

But no matter what, in order to become an artist, you have to experience it. You have obsess over it. You have to go to bed thinking about it and get up thinking about it. You have to become a little bit consumed by it. It drives your passion and your curiosity. You have to dedicate a part of your soul to its inception, creation and development. In some ways, you have to get to the point where you cannot separate yourself from it, as it has become a part of you and you of it.

I have received requests in the past asking me to write more about specific techniques, "how-to's", if you will. I will admit I struggle with this because it feels to me kind of like someone asking me how to have a conversation. I can give you a very general framework, but a conversation is intimate and personal. To write one for someone else would seem to me to be a request to boil down everything that is beautiful and awe-inspiring about horsemanship into base mechanical elements: important, but ultimately in my experience not AS important as the energy, flow and feeling of what is happening between the horse and the human.

Yes, you need a basic skillset to be an artist. You need to know how to hold the brush. You need to know how to choose a canvas. You need to know a thing or two about how your medium behaves and how to bring out the best in it.

But what ultimately creates art is the person behind the tools and the feeling within them. And since no teacher can create this for you, we simply have to try and set up scenarios and allow space and spark inspiration for people to go seek it within themselves.

05/01/2025

For everyone asking, here are the details for the next The Balanced Horse Project road trip coming to SC!

🚗🐴 BHP STEP RESET: January Drive-By Tour! 🐴🚗

South Carolina, here we come! On January 17th, Patricia Cleveland and Frank Frazier are hitting the road from Alabama to Iva, SC, and we’re making stops along the way to help horses and their humans.

If your horse is:
✅ Struggling to halt straight
✅ Heavy on the forehand (downhill)
✅ Crooked or favoring one side
✅ Unable to collect properly

The STEP RESET Training Method gets to the root of the problem, creating lasting balance and harmony for you and your horse.

✨ Cost and details are available on our Events page or by request.
✨ Bookings close January 9th!

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to transform your horse’s training while we’re on the move. Limited spots available, so book now!

05/01/2025

wow!