Stepping With You Equine Behavior and Training

09/11/2025

09/11/2025

Meet Amari. She is an 8 Y/O mustang from Fox Hog CA. Amari was born in the wiald and was rounded up Via helicopter as a 5 year old. She has had atleast one baby in the wiald. Her owner adopted her from BLM along with another mustang gelding. During the training process with her owner, Amari has picked up a bolting habbit once hooked to the lead line. There is absolutely no stopping her when she bolts.
Upon my 2 day evaluation of her I noticed as soon as a person entered her paddock, she would stop eating and move away from her hay. So that was one thing I would be determined about. Trying to get her more comfortable while people are in the paddock with her. Using food is positive motivation and a stress reliever while training wiald horses. But If a horse is too afraid to eat how can we motivate her to eat? I started by herding her with my body towards her hay. First I started with her taking one step towards her hay and I would walk away from her. One step tured into two, three ect. When she finally got to her hay and started eating it, I left the paddock. I did this several times throughout the day. Each time she got better and better. Now I could walk into the paddock and she would acknowledge me but continued to eat her hay. Once we had that down good, I started desensitizing her to my body moving all around her at a far distance. If she moved I would keep moving around her till she either stopped moving or went over to eat her hay. We did that several times as I got closer and closer to her. Till eventually, she let me go up and touch her side. With lots of breaks in between. The next day she had retained everything from the day before. I walked into her paddock the next morning and she stayed eating her hay. Perfect 👌. I then started desensitizing her with a rope. It went very well. So well that she was trusting me enough to take hay from my hand. Which she has never done before. A great step forward for her. I left the barn with homework for her owner as not to try leading her at all. Just do some desensitizing with the rope. Pulling hay out of hay net and trying to get her to take from the hand.
Its now been about a month since her evaluation. I went to train her today and her owner told me she still doesn't move away from her hay. Amari is also coming right up when her grain is being fed out and will eat with her head low while people are standing a foot from her. Love it!
Our main goal with Amari right now is to halter train her the right way and get her feet done with the vet's assistance in sedation.
Stay tuned!

08/11/2025

Does anyone remember Remy? The OTTB? I started working with him a few years ago. No trainer would work with him once they saw how reactive he was. He would lunge at people in his paddock, sometimes for no reason. I was his last hope for his owner Maddie Cicatelli and for farrier work without sedation. Thank you Jordan Keto for believing in us. We put Remy on an actual balancer not a ration balancer that has super high sugar and protein concentrations. We took him off of thyroid meds. Which he was only on because everyone in the barn was. Then we took him off pain meds for kissing spine. We rehabilitated him and let him adjust. Then added in behavior training. This guy gave us his all. Showed how he would not tolerate anything less then our undivided attention. We listened to him and he gave he us our undivided attention. Remy didn't disappoint!. Fast forward to a few years later and he is thriving ✨️. He can be ridden without meds or any problems. He does get extra vitamins and such in the winter because he can get crabby due to Blanketing and the cold weather. He was a racehorse till the age of 7. That puts alot of physical complications on a horse at a young age. But he is riding well and keeping his owner on point. Got to love the StormCat line! Lol IYKYK.

08/11/2025

Mr. Max giving me kisses 💋 while his farrier Carissa is praising this 18+h beast for being so good for her! I love my life🥰❣️
Can anyone imagine being under an almost 2000lbs horse? Would you trust that they won't hurt someone (accidentally) while doing that? It all comes down to teaching the horse how to focus and balance. Along with patience and good quality training. This boy is the perfect 👌 example..

18/09/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19m17Anz6K/

18/09/2025

Meet Mouse and Quinn.
Mouse is a 21 yo mare who came from a rescue. Her owner didn't know much about her other than she had been a trail horse in the past. She was said to be a QH cross. Her owner Danielle, reached out to me about a year ago. She was having trouble getting Mouse to move undersaddle. Upon her evaluation I noticed we needed to address her diet and nutrition along with getting her to a weight that could comfortably fit a saddle. We went back to the basics with groundwork and light lunging in straight lines (no small tight circles). Danielle also adjusted her diet to add vitamins and minerals. We added stretches and surefoot pads before their exercise routine.
Fast forward about few months and we welcome Quinn to the herd. Quinn is an 18 y/o Suffolk Haflinger cross mare. She came from a lesson barn. Quinn had become ring sour at her current job and she refused to work. Danielle kindly took her over and gave her a soft place to land at home.
Upon Quinn's evaluation, we decided to follow the same diet, exercise and PT protocols as we did for Mouse. Quinn was very shut down and grouchy. We let her express herself as long as she was safe about it. Fast forward several months and this girl is doing amazing. Super happy to come greet anyone with happy ears instead of pinned. She is no longer shut down and looks for direction. Her and Mouse are always asking and looking at us for guidance. Now that Quinn has lost some weight (still more to go). We have gotten a saddle to fit where she is comfortable to be ridden. Both girs are happy to move forward in the ring and on the trail now.
Keep in mind, I worked with these horses and owners 2 times a month. Most of the time horses don't need to be in constant work to be happy. They need their basic needs met (aka..diet, nutrition, medical issues addressed ect...). If a horse needs to be constantly worked "to be happy or well behaved" its becaus they are trying to avoid something else that is physically/medically or mental going on. There's still more work to do with these girls but we are taking it one Step at a time! Great job to Danielle and her family for putting their horses needs first! Happy owners and horses all around 🥰.
Now on to the next task. Trailer loading. Stay tuned!

14/09/2025

Ruby is a 17 h draft cross who is around 6 years old. She was a rescue said to be an Amish horse. Who could ride and drive. Her owner who recently bought a farm loved her at first sight. Rachel never owend a horse before but wanted to have her and the family experience owning horses. So she rescued Ruby and a beautiful, older Morgan mare. The Morgan mare Tilly is amazing with the kiddos. but Ruby needed more TLC and confidence building. After a vet check for Ruby, she was referred to me to help out.
Upon my evaluation, Ruby was very reactive and showed signs of trauma. That also told me there was more going on. We made some headway with training on the ground. Then Ruby had some medical issues that were addressed to no fault of her new owner. A few months later..this girl is doing amazing. Training once a week with good quality training is all some horses need. Ruby is a trooper. Looking forward to future training sessions.

08/07/2025

06/07/2025

Sometimes the crash comes AFTER the stress

You bought a horse that seemed sound, well adjusted and well trained. You get it home and the poor thing is lame and crawling out of its skin.

Were you conned ?

Maybe

But there are two other possibilities

1- the horse was adjusted to a certain routine, manner and frequency of riding, diet, etc and is now struggling outside of that routine that has helped to keep going - now the horse might feel like a border collie in an apartment without enough opportunity for movement.
(lots of articles have been written about this and it’s well worth looking into)

2- the horse was under some form of stress that has now ended and turned into another -
The stress of decompressing.

Brains are wired to keep us alive. Bodies are made to keep going.
Horses are incredible survivors - they can keep going and being pretty athletic under incredible duress. They are wired to not stop and say ouch at every pain and tweak, even with lameness and developing dysfunctions - because they NEED to. They can look sound when they are under stress. All you need to do to understand this is imagine a lion chasing a horse and know they will run until they are caught or free - and if the lion is the training, the lifestyle, the expectation, they will hold together until they can’t anymore .

So then they are purchased and pulled from this intensive lifestyle and now living in the lap of luxury - they have no reason to be stressed, so we think -

Now they face the lengthy decompression period. Compensation mechanisms are falling away and the horse is left naked here. They don’t know what to do. What to expect. Everything is upside down. The compensations that have kept them tight kept them safe too, and now they are wobbly, insecure and naked.

This is where they need HELP, not just supplements and bodywork and kindness. They need time, sure, but they need guidance. Not knowing what to expect can drive a horse half crazy.

They need some form of structure. A stable herd. A stable guiding hand that can clearly show them the new ropes. Not too fast in expectations but don’t wait too long to show them the new ropes either.

Your language is likely very different. Maybe your goals totally upside down from the training they’ve had. You might be changing everything from head to toe, thinking you’re offering a soft landing, which you likely are - but think of the confusion in their upside down experience - help clarify, guide, explain, show, and support.

And of course, continue giving them supports- maybe the gut needs help right away, or some dietary changes. And of course it can take time, but there are some things that can be helped and should be helped right away.

04/07/2025

Haha! More pictures of Crixus who I owend and trained from a yearling to 12 years old. I sold him 4ish years ago to a beginner owner and rider. This horse is absolutely the best Appendix Quarter Horse/Solid Paint ever! He was a non breeding Stallion till the age of 6. He has taught his owner so much! Best sale ever. I get awesome holiday pictures and get a call when they need help with something.