Amy Allen Horsemanship LLC

27/11/2025

20/11/2025

Today marks one month that Beau has been in training.

His diet is timothy hay, local hay, 1/3 lb Haystacks Special Blend, handful soaked bp, California Trace, loose white salt, and ground flax seed. He had a fungus on his right butt cheek that has gone away and his ligaments have tightened up. Ive done 2 touch up trims and one full trim, he has beautiful feet and Kristi-Lynn Browne was his trimmer, she does excellent work. This shorter trim cycle has brought his feet back under him. His right front center sulcus had deep thrush, and that has improved quite a bit.

When he first came, standing tied, even after work, he could not find peace. He would paw and then stand but anxiously work his lips and tongue, then paw again. Now after work he stands quiet, rests a hind leg and is at peace while I work Max.

Ive exposed him to quite a few things, and allowed him to learn. On the lunge line he has been learning; voice commands, body language aids, focus on me, balance-unity-bending at all three gaits, stop with straightness and back up. Hes also learned; you cant move my feet, ripping the rope out of my hand is not allowed, sudden stops and dragging me are also not allowed. Preparation, timing and feel, help retrain the horse who knows these special tricks. 😉

Work under saddle we are working on go forward when I ask, hes pretty dull to the leg, and hes really good at sudden stops and planting those front feet as well as suddenly going into a trot. Being prepared and consistency helps to retrain him out of these unwanted habits. Ive ridden him all over the pasture, which he enjoys, and a little bit out on the trail. On trail he froze when we turned for home, staring at the brush and if there had been something hiding in the brush and it moved, I'm sure there would have been an exciting race for home, but I was able to get his brain and we calmly walked home. We repeated this again and he froze in the same spot but came back to me quicker and on the way home asked to eat. This showed me he was a bit more relaxed.

This week I started working him in the English saddle. At the higher gaits he was afraid of the stirrups banging on the saddle. In a controlled manner I let him learn. He tried kicking at them, crow hops, and then run, none of those worked so he slowed to a balanced relaxed gait and magically the bouncing stirrups were quieter. 😉
Under saddle we are worked on the same basics that we were doing with western tack; flexions, neck extension, contact, go when asked, shoulder balance, bend/counter bend and backing up. He loves the work and hes a pleasure to work with.

13/11/2025

Every single point of this timeless article is spot on. When the horse is centered they are in balance and have peace. And if you're a dressage rider, dont be turned away by the the western attire, this article fits all disciplines of riding.

What I am looking for when I am riding a horse of any level, a green c**t or an experienced bridle horse, is for him to stay centered underneath me. When I'm riding, I draw an imaginary rectangle around my horse; there is a line in front of his nose, one on each side of...

12/11/2025

Amanda and I enjoying a beautiful sunset ride on Chloe and Max.

11/11/2025

Today's training session with Beau and Sandy. Beau really enjoys being ridden, as long as he has a confident, consistent leader.

10/11/2025

Sandy and Beau's training session today.

06/11/2025

Sandy and Beau

01/11/2025

Training Beau

After our ground work in the arena, near the scary forest and far from his BFF, we worked under saddle. He does join up, want to be with the human, looks to the human for comfort and also learned that when hes afraid, however jumping into my bubble when hes afraid, is not allowed. Hes only tried to do that once since arrival, any other attempts were blocked or redirected. When it's allowed, the human gets hurt, thats why I started working him with the flag right away.

Under saddle, hes really crooked, his leading (near) side is his short side, the offside is his long side. This is very common because we often lead horses only on their left. To create a more balanced (straight) horse, lead on both sides, and then, lead the horse more often on the side that needs it.

Im working on a few things here. Its raining, and hes scared to be in the arena, so I'm working outside and then going a little inside. Its like encouraging a child to dip their toe in the water and they run back up onto the beach because they are afraid. They think about it, that was scary, but fun, I want to try it again, and they run back to the edge of the water and stick in a foot. Rinse repeat until they are confidently in the water. Now to a horse, this isn't fun, this is life or death, because to a horse its about surviving. So I'm riding him part way into the arena, then bending him and riding out of the arena. And I'm doing this on both sides. Because his off side has not had the same amount of work as his near side, he wants to counter bend. He also wants to look for monsters, instead of trusting the human leader. So I'm asking him to bend that offside by lifting my rein and moving his shoulders. I keep repeating this, with a random pattern so he cant tune me out, until he gets softer and more flexible, on both sides.
There are moments where he wants to speed up out of the arena and the wrong answer is to pull back and stop him, I instead lift the inside hand and bend him. This teaches him that he cant move my feet, I move his. Over time he will start to respond (think), instead of react (flight or fight). There are times you will see him swish his tail, that him resisting my idea but thats as far as he goes. Im not forcing him, Im directing his feet. There are moments, where I ride him straight, but if he picks up speed, I dont pull back, I prepare and then bend him.
His mouth is still busy but not chomping as hard as it was when we started.
This is a process and done with correct timing and feel, his confidence and trust grow.


**tstarting

29/10/2025

Training Beau

Sandy worked with her horse today, we started on the ground, after I did a little demo refresher of groundwork. They worked the most on the ground, to build their relationship. Beau needs confident leadership, and more work on the offside than the nearside. He bends nicely on the near side but wants to counter bend, and look for the monsters on the offside. The solution to this is bend the horse in, but move the shoulder out. Beau showed he accepted her good leadership and correct aids, and understand what she was asking. They used the whole arena, going to the not so scary places, which allows the horse the time to let down think and process, then move back into the harder places, in the arena nearer to the forest, and build the trust as he looks to her for leadership and comfort.
His chomping of the bit is all anxiety, and it goes away when he relaxes, which he does.
Before getting on I had Sandy rub, pet all over, and move the saddle stirrups, tap the saddle, etc, all desitizing work, to show us how he feels about it and its not a surprise when she swings a leg over.
Once she was on I had her love on him some more, then do flexions both ways. Flexion to the right is harder for him, it is on the ground also, and he has to move his feet. As she rode him around he revealed his, I'm not going forward, and I'm taking you over to my friend. So I had Sandy prepare him before he got to the spot when he wanted to take over, and ride him more like a green horse that doesnt understand body aids. This helped and she was able to keep him going where she wanted him to go. He will plant his feet and refuse to go in a trailer, lead and going forward under saddle. These are all related. So where do we fix it first?, on the ground.
His backing is nice and soft.
Beau is a sweet boy that has a lot of try.