Mark Dewsbery Horsemanship

23/06/2025

Understanding The Horse:
Working with horses takes understanding them. When you understand them you can give them what they need. The hard part is to understand them.
We need to take time being students of horses rather then focusing on what we can get them to do. When we have a better understanding our relationship with that animal will no doubt improve. This in my opinion is the hardest thing for us to do as humans. What we want might not always be what they want!
I find myself asking all the time “Whats in it for my horse”.
They don’t know right from wrong, they feel uncomfortable or they feel good. They also feel this in us.
I have a golden rule in training, that is when I come across a problem, something the horse maybe stuck on, rather than getting frustrated I take one step back to the last thing they got right and just work away at that. Next time I ask for what they were stuck on they just sail through it.
To be understanding we must have knowledge. I have spent lots of time not studying trainers but instead studying horses, their body language and their psychology.
I’ve also watched hundreds of bloopers over the years of people get thrown from their horse or horses in general just “misbehaving”. Two things I have learnt: 1) Nearly every horse that has thrown someone (or misbehaved in some way) was telling the rider well in advance, yet the rider does not pickup on the signals. This leads onto number two. 2) Continually held pressure leads to the horse having no other option but to act out, to try and escape the pressure. That pressure maybe mental or physical.
The more you know about something the more understanding of the situation you have.
The more I can understand why a horse is doing what it is doing the better my ability to work on that. It's this knowledge that changes our perception of the entire situation in which we are working. Always try to be a student of those you lead whether it be horses or people. The better you know them the better you can lead.

Happy Trails :)

17/06/2025

Softness:
Softness comes not from the pull, but is the result of a response to an ask. Typically the more you pull on your horse the more they will want to pull back against you. If you want a soft horse you need soft slow hands and timing is everything.
You teach softness through asking and waiting for the horse to figure out the answer and rewarding the horse with a release when it gives the correct response. The more immediate the release the faster the horse will learn and the softer they will become.
Remember they learn from the release of pressure NOT the pressure.
Be clear with your signals and know what you are asking your horse and how they should respond. You can’t correct them if you do not know the answer yourself or the response they should give to your question.
An example might be I’m standing still on my horse and I pull on the right rein, they bend their head and move off to the right. But if I have not put any leg on then moving off is the wrong answer. So this needs correcting because the right answer was just to bend your head.
As we advance the horse more we can compartmentalise each question more and more. Our questions become more subtle and in turn our releases become faster thus creating a softer more responsive horse.

Happy Trails :)

12/06/2025

The Confused Horse:
Everything we do with our horse matters. As people we create a lot of issues with our horses simply because we are not aware of what we are doing. While not paying attention we give mixed signals to our horse, add and take away pressure with no purpose or meaning because we have no idea we are even doing it. This is where we start to lose the horse.
They begin to ignore us because there is no clear signals or right answers. Then we pay attention, ask for something but we don’t get the answer we had maybe the day before or the hour before so we blame the horse.
Ask yourself how many times have you been sitting on your horse pulling and releasing on the reins, moving in your saddle while unknowingly sending signals to your horse with no way for the horse to figure out what you were asking. I see this so often with people standing around with their horse on the lead rope, the horse pleasing itself what it does because the rider is ignoring the horse, they then go to ask for something and wonder why the horse puts a block in.
It now doesn't take long (especially the young horse) before the horse stops looking for direction and starts blocking you out. This is subtle to start with but then grows and grows until the horse is told IT’S misbehaving.
Your horse is never just along for the ride, they are always looking to you for guidance, clear signals and communication to save “confusion”

Happy Trails :)

10/06/2025

Love watching the horses on the scratching pole and saves a lot of brushing in the spring. Some like Brandy are head and neck scratches other's back up to it and really give their butts a good scratch. It's the simple things in live right 😊🙏

09/06/2025

Do you trust your horse?
For many people this is hard to do. But most people want their horse to trust them! Always remember to be trusted you must also trust and respect must come before trust.
I always trust a horse to control itself, if it loses control I can correct and bring them back to a place they can relax but if I try to pressure them to be under control problems arise quickly.
If a horse cannot walk, trot and canter on a loose rein I don't consider them broke. When they can this shows that the horse is under control.
I ride a lot of horses that come to me for training that if I let them go they would just run off. It's important we work on this from day one under-saddle and yes thats where trust and respect comes in.
When the horse can control itself then you can work on training rather than worrying about how to control your horse. You also will be riding with more confidence in yourself and in your horse, thus again creates trust.

Happy Trails :)

28/05/2025

These guys are the best and understand what a horse needs, competitive prices and plus stack it in your shed. Highly recommended.

27/05/2025

20/05/2025

“The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast and you miss all that you are travelling for”