The Basic Horse

11/23/2025

How do you like to start your training sessions?

Me: relaxed and connected ❤️

Let your horses speak to you. Listen in every single step. Don't take anything for granted. Take your time with them. It isn't a race. It's a relationship. Build it like it matters.

11/19/2025

How many separate things do you see in this short video? How many of those are actually much, much deeper in context when broken down?

Are the basics really basic, or are they a simplification of a life's worth of work, training and trust?

What do you think is the most important basic thing for your horse to know?

10/23/2025

❤️
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One of the Most Offensive Things a Client Ever Told Me.

It is the hallmark of being professional that often times, you have to bite your tongue, or be calm and quiet in the face of inappropriate behaviour. Thankfully, for the last two years, the folks I have been lucky to work with and work for, have enabled me to be 100% myself. And even solicit my total honest, and unmasked self. They call THAT professional, not the masked politeness that often befalls us all in a working setting.

But before I got that lucky, I was once sitting on a zoom with someone who said something that for me- was wildly, wildly offensive -despite the fact they meant it with good intentions.

"I booked with you because I kept wondering why this guy who appeared to know so much about training, riding and biomechanics, chose to just trail ride."

Framed, of course, in the common mainstream assumption that those that can't do much with horses, trail ride. Or, that lower level horses trail ride. Or that preparing for a trail ride is somehow a lowly endeavour.

I spent about 12 years working in trail riding for the public environments. At various different levels. One employer I had used to only "rescue" horses, meaning not spend more than 1000€ on a horse which in Spain only buys you problem horses. Another would drop a minimum 8000€ on well bred youngsters. The latter once lamented that when they visited breeders and mentioned they run a trail riding outfit, would be shown the horses in the back, with weak spines, minimal bone, poor head set. And she would instead insist on the quality of breeding that they hold Dressage horses in regard for, because her horses work harder and in greater demand than any sport horse could dream of.

What this client said was offensive to me, because they were an intelligent, talented and kind-hearted person making an enormous difference in their local community with advanced, empathic training. And yet, they demonstrated a profound prejudice and ignorance about one of the most difficult jobs you can ever ask a horse to do.

Trail Riding a fit, properly prepared, happy and aware horse is one of the highest expressions of quality training in my humble opinion. Requiring them to be as fit as a sport horse. As calm as a paddock puff. Adaptable as a Police Horse. As agile as a Working Equitation mount. As powerful as an Eventer. As collected as a Dressage horse. Yet be able to do all this with both connection to their rider and independence in their skills, while their rider relaxes and takes in the scenery.

Some of the most impressive feats of training I have ever seen, have been out on the mountain, in the forest.

Not in the arena.

09/14/2025

Something interesting I've been able to study the past few years is red tips on the horses' mane.

When I first learned trimming, I was told it was due to iron:copper:zinc being out of balance. Specifically, iron being way too high. Being that I studied equine nutrition in college courses and also on my own, this made sense when looking at hay tests. Iron was usually 50x higher than copper and zinc. I was taught that it should be 10:1:3 OR in the case of metabolic horses 4:1:3 was even better. The tests I did on hay over the years always showed iron way up there with almost no copper or zinc.

Now, what I find interesting is that when you look at photos of feral horses (mustangs) they typically have super black manes. They aren't bleached out, fried and red. But no one is out there making sure they get their daily dose of copper and zinc to balance out that iron... I even found one study that followed a wild herd along the east coast. The tests on the forage they ate came back exactly the same and the study even said that they expected to see issues from the low copper and zinc, but there were none found.

Ok, back to domestics. Why are we seeing so many horses with red/orange, damaged hair?

I started trying to balance my horses diet and feed high quality minerals starting in May of 2014. Over the years I've tried nearly ALL of them out there that are good quality.

California Trace and Trace Plus
Vermont Blend
Arizona Copper Complete
Dynamite Specialty Products

I even made my own blend with everything others didn't have, perfectly balanced to their hay. It didnt change a darn thing with his hair.

His hair was orange from 2inches off the base of the mane all the way down for basically 10 years.

2 years after moving to Wyoming from Illinois, he now has a dark mane. When I moved here I stopped doing all the herbs, minerals, mixing feeds, etc. I threw out a Redmond salt block (they've always had this), white salt block, filtered water (they've also always had filtered water) and either pasture or grass hay. The hay I've tested here, tests exactly the same as Illinois. Same higher iron and really low copper and zinc. Yet, somehow, his mane has totally changed color. Finally.

I believe maybe it was the humidity, sweating and crazy high temps (lots of sun exposure) that actually cause the damage to the mane. NOT high iron- because that is the same in both locations. I also dont believe it's the uv rays alone, because I am at 6200' altitude here and the sun is much much stronger and burns things much faster here than in Illinois at 600' elevation.

Interesting right? What do you think? Have you seen these changes moving to or from a high humidity and heat area, causing them to sweat even when just standing around?

Check out the photos below to see what I mean!

Sidenote: his mane has also become thicker and longer in wyoming and his legs used to also bleach out to a brownish orange color, but now they stay coal black with zero supplementation. Crazy right?

07/12/2025

Barefoot or shod.... which foot is healthier (and why) and which do you think was shod versus barefoot?

Hint: It's the same hoof on the same horse at different times.

06/29/2025

Can you tell me which of these horses has a healthier chest?

You may be thinking what the heck does the chest have to do with anything??! Isn't it just genetic??

Yes and no. Its true we won't get a super wide chest on a Tennessee walker no matter how much work we do, but between two similarly built horses, there can be massive differences as seen here in these photos!

Who has the stronger chest? What else can a weak/strong chest affect?

06/20/2025

Good info!

05/25/2025

How to become your farrier's favorite client in 5 easy steps....

When we find a good farrier, we want to keep them as long as possible. So what can we do to make sure they don't decide our stop isn't suitable for them? Here's a list below to follow. I promise your farrier will thank you and appreciate your efforts!

1. Be on time
- don't allow them to show up to an empty barn, no horses pulled up, you running behind, etc. They have very busy schedules, and they are not responsible for our time management.

2. Have your horse's legs and hooves clean
-don't pull up a muddy horse and expect them to be able to hold on to the legs or see what they are doing. The mud also ruins their tools. Be considerate and wipe the legs and hooves down with a dry cloth and allow them to stand in a dry area long enough for the mud to dry out. If you need to hose them off, please make sure you can also get them reasonably dry before they need to work on them.

3. Pick out those hooves
-we should be doing this at least weekly anyway. Don't be a stranger to your horses' hooves. Know the structures, keep them clean and treat anything the farrier tells you is an issue. It will really impress them the next time they come to trim when all that thrush is gone!

4. Work with your horses
-none of us have any excuse for poorly behaved horses. If they are that bad, we should be hiring someone to help us with their training OR doing the work ourselves. We should never expect a farrier to risk their life, physical health or livelihood for our lack of training.

5. Pay them at the time of service
-they pay out of pocket for all the tools, gas, vehicle and supplies to show up at your door, provide a service and make your life easy. The least we can do is pay them right when they get done to show we appreciate them and respect their work.

Now get out there and start practicing! Use hoof boots, soaker boots, buckets, noisy bags, and whatever else you can think of to make your horse stand still and respectfully for the farrier. Tie them up. Work with them so that they understand when they are tied, they are doing a job, and certain things are expected. Make them comfortable with the whole process. Spend 20 minutes picking up their hooves and tapping on the hoof. Pick them out. Soak the hooves. Do ALL the things!

You won't regret it ❤️

This boy stood patiently for 3 hours while we had a spa day for his hoofies.

04/03/2025

I've spent the better part of my working career working on and with horses.

Since February 2011, I have worked with them daily. From February 2011- December 2014 I raised, trained, bred and sold Standardbred race horses. We had around 80 head on average to care for daily, including stallions, broodmares and foals up to yearlings. One summer we had 150. I did not have ANY horse experience before this, and pretty much got thrown to the wolves taking that job- which is exactly what put me on the fast track to really understanding them. I didn't have time to watch and learn how to handle stallions. It was do it right or get seriously injured, so I figured it out very quickly.

Same with the broodmares. We had a few over the years that came in and were absolutely out for blood. They would grab you by the arm, shoulder or neck- whatever they could latch onto- and throw you. Some would've happily stomped us to death. You could never be unaware of how you approached or went into a stall, how you caught them, lead them (there are very specific parameters of what spot you can be in to not get bit, kicked or run over) or handled them if they did get a bit crazy.

We halter broke the foals and that was the best part for me. It was so interesting to see the little things click in their mind when they "got it" and it prompted me to become softer and softer in my cues and asks. How light and subtle could I be to get them to understand? How could I persuade a being the same weight as me or larger of what i was saying? It's amazing how willing they are to interact and do these weird things you ask. In fact, most of them found it fun and WANTED to be next to you and do more things with you.

If you think about it, to be a true horseman, one who really has magic, they have to learn a silent language. One that is mostly body cues and discreet contact. The quieter they are, the more response they get. The better they are, the more willing of a partner the horse is. Isn't that amazing?

From March 2015- June 2022 I embarked on the journey of taking care of hooves. The amount of knowledge I gained by doing that was even more vast than training them. You see, training them myself I got first contact. I got to set the tone. I got to do it the easy way. Working on other people's horses meant working with other people's problems masking the horse itself. I ended up learning a lot more about the people than the horses, but it also forced me to learn how to listen to the even quieter voice from the horse. The one that had been silenced, the one who pushed through pain for years, the one who just couldn't stand because they hurt so bad, the one who lashed out because they were never heard..... I could evaluate a new horse on the spot within 20 minutes and tell you what body issues they had, their personality type, their preferences and so on.

It actually got so overwhelming dealing with all of the issues owners can cause that I quit. It was too much for my heart and body to take. I was being punished physically for things I didn't even do to those horses.... one day I'll publish something recounting all the crazy stuff that happened in barns where I was hired to work.... but that's a very long book.

For now, I'm so thankful to look back and see everything I learned over the span of 14 years and know that is why I had the guts to buy Luna. That is why I understand her and don't fear her. That is why she will excel beyond what many would imagine. That is why I'm confident in her before she even knows anything. That is why she is calm around me. That is why she will trust me.

The thousands of horses I have touched before her have made me softer, wiser and better. She will have everything she needs because the horses before her didn't.

04/01/2025

Day 2 with Luna - the feral bucking stock horse

The plan with this new girl is the same plan I executed with my two boys, who were basically wild as well. All 3 have done the exact same thing, which is pretty interesting.

The story always goes, "They are wild, can't be caught, spooky, whatever." We get them on the trailer fairly easy, and they are quiet as a church mouse the whole ride home. I open the back doors to the trailer, expecting an explosive exit, and they just stand like a statue wondering what to do next. Within 3 weeks, I was able to halter and pick up hooves on both Buck and Fabio and that was not with daily training. That was just me being around and sitting with them. In that 3 weeks, I never tried approaching them. I allowed them to choose what they wanted.

I find the softer you can be with horses, and the more body language you can use, the faster they understand. The smaller the cue, the softer and quicker the response. It's really quite fun seeing just how LITTLE you can do and how extremely smart and perceptive they are.

This girl has all those same qualities the boys do- curious, watchy, wants to be involved, nervous because she just doesn't know, not mean because she's is scared, very intelligent.

Those qualities make a very sensitive horse- which I absolutely adore. They are very willing to please, yet retain their own personality and quirks as long as you allow it. It should be allowed BTW. We don't want dull, lifeless, desensitized horses..... we want intelligent creatures who trust us but are still hyper aware of what's going on around them- yet they choose you.

I want and educated and willing partner. We all should ❤️