Articles: Training Tip

Do you ever run into the problem of not having enough time to spend with your horse? It's something that can plague all of us. We wish we had more time to go out and spend time with the horses. Perhaps the weather has kept us inside, or late working hours brings us home too late to spend much time with the horses. It's a very common complaint I hear from a lot of folks. When this happens, does it seem like your horse becomes resentful of you? When you approach him, he'll turn and walk away or pin his ears at you?


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If you've followed Natural Horsemanship for any length of time, you've likely often heard a thousand references to "gaining your horse's respect". Getting your horse respectful on the ground and under saddle. How a respectful horse is one that is not going to spook, buck, bolt, bite or kick you. How a respectful horse makes for a better partnership and relationship with your horse. How trust is built on respect. But what does that mean?


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Do you have a horse that likes to rush downhill? This can get unnerving on steep hills on the trail. Here are some tips to solve this problem. I have been riding my mare a lot in the recent weeks, and a big majority of this has been some pretty steep mountain side riding. She is doing really well for the majority of everything I have asked, but there is one issue I have a question on. When going downhill, she wants to trot. This mare NEVER wants to go faster than she has to. Now, my thought was that she is still weak in her hind end and so she doesn't yet have the muscles to keep us slow.. but I wanted to have an outside opinion.. She wants to start trotting down some inclines that really spook me, and she really NEEDS to walk! Should I just keep doing what we are doing and perhaps just go around some of these inclines if possible? On the road its not such a big deal, I can get her attention and keep her slow.- Nichole via Facebook


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Keep in mind that this article is not designed to teach you how to start a colt. It is designed to ensure that you're aware of what needs to be done and in what order. This helps when you already know what you're supposed to do but a good refresher will help make sure you aren't missing anything. Be sure to seek professional assistance from a Natural Horsemanship trainer for starting a colt. The tips below should line up with your trainers philosophy for starting colts. If they believe the best way to start a colt is to "ride out some of the bucking", you should seek another trainer. When starting a colt, the #1 most important thing to consider throughout the process is your safety. Don't try to be a hero, and don't ride out any bucks. Get all of that out on the ground so that by the time you do get in the saddle, your horse is already broke to ride. Second, don't be in a hurry or rush anything. Take all the time you need to. While starting colts can be done in a couple of days, it's best to spread it out over a couple of weeks. Third, make it a great and fun experience for you and your horse. Never end on a bad note, always end on a positive. Your horse will look forward to the next time you work with him. Fourth, groundwork can not be stressed enough. There is a saying that the more times you hit the ground, the better your groundwork becomes. You'll get to see all of the hot buttons and deal with them from the ground and in a safe manner. Groundwork is where respect and eventually trust is established. Respect is gained by moving the horse's feet forwards, backwards, left and right and always rewarding the slightest try.


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Trailering your horse can be a challenge. Does your horse like to play games with you? Drag the human away from the trailer. Do a backwards somersault upon exiting the trailer at high speed. Break all the human's halters and trailer ties. Dent the top of the trailer roof with my head! Load in the trailer at home, and suddenly forget how to load on the return trip. Act like I've never seen the trailer before in my life. There MUST be a MONSTER in there! My human is in a hurry and is late for a show, I'll dance around the trailer entrance for a while. If you put me in that trailer, I'll never come back out!! Does that sound familiar? For a lot of people, it is very common and it can get so bad as to keep us and our horses home. But we shouldn't be home! We should be out there in the wild blue yonder... okay, well at least be a rider amongst the purple sage. Get out there and ride with your horse. Trailering issues should not stop you. You shouldn't have to spend 2-3 hours trying to load your horse. Or even more than 2 and a half minutes loading your horse. And you should be able to get your horse to calmly back out of the trailer, not turn into a reverse rocket engine and create burn marks all the way out into the parking area where your horse emerges from a backflip after breaking another nylon halter. That's why we're here to help. Here are some tips and exercises that will help your furry friend become a trailer loading expert, load himself, and relax when he is in the trailer.


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When someone says that their horse runs off out of control with them, the first thing we think of is the rider pulling desperately back on the reins and the horse running with his head up and mouth wide open. It's impossible to physically force your horse to do what he doesn't want to do - in this case, stop and remain calm. Instead of trying to "out-muscle" your horse you need to "outthink" him.


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What is the trick to successful trailer loading? How do we get our horses to crave the trailer and love hauling. How do we get our horses to load from 65 yards away? This post talks about the tricks and techniques that we use to load our horses and how you can use them as well. Today we have two trailer loading questions from Facebook This question is from Julie:


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In this video, Dennis Reis demonstrates how to do teach basic laterally yielding from the ground as well as common beginner mistakes. Teaching the lateral yield from the ground can be the first-step to teaching the sidepass both on the ground and in the saddle. Learning how to laterally yield your horse will give you better body control and the horse will learn those yields from the saddle much faster.


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Every moment that I spend working with my horse, I work on teaching him to yield one of his five body parts. One of the most common exercises I like to use is the sidepass and halfpass (also called two-tracking). These are great exercises that teach your horse how to yield off of leg pressure. In this article, Clinton Anderson shows us how to teach our horse to sidepass. I usually teach this exercise on the ground along a fence at first, and then move to the saddle and follow these steps.


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In our previous article on spooky horses, we talked about some suggestions for things you can do to de-spook and desensitize your horse. In this Video, Clinton Anderson talks about desensitizing your horse to plastic bags and why you want to use plastic bags to desensitize your horse.


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