My Soapbox for Equestrian Writings
While I’ve always thought of the one rein stop as an emergency brake (Installing an emergency brake: How to perform a one rein stop), I had a lesson recently with a trainer who suggested that I use it on Freedom as a way of recapturing his attention. Kind of a horsey time out. It started […]
Read MoreI’ve never thought about training my horse to ride in my car. I’d have a hard time fitting Freedom into my Sequoia unless I could convince him to stick his head out the sun roof. Patches, however, seems to relish sitting in his owners’ convertible. He has a blissful expression on his face as he […]
Read MoreAs I mentioned in my post about catching horses, I don’t generally feed treats or hand feed much of anything. Certainly, there are exceptions to the rule. I’ve been known to use bribes to load a recalcitrant horse. I’ve used grain when the horses got loose. And this spring I used treats to teach my […]
Read MoreRight now I have a horse that is so people oriented that you can’t get him to leave you alone. It doesn’t matter how large the field; he’s in your pocket. If you try to chase him off he just turns around and stares at you in disbelief. However, I have had horses in the […]
Read MoreMy TB, Freedom, is a great horse in many ways. But one of his major “holes” is that he is very difficult to load on a trailer alone. He’s resistant to loading even a the best of times. It’s funny because he’s not scared of the trailer. He plants his feet on the loading ramp […]
Read MoreOne of my trainers used to say that you train your horse every time you ride it, so be careful about what you do (and don’t do). We’ve all probably now that horses seem to learn bad habits much faster than they learn good ones, so that means you must be doubly cautious. Recently I’ve […]
Read MoreAfter looking at all the photos of the Blue Mustang, it struck me that for many people, the most common image of a rearing horse (other than a wild stallion) is that of the Levade, a movement where a horse rears up at a 45% angle and then holds the pose for several seconds. It […]
Read MoreMost of the time your horse (hopefully) stops on cue. You increase the contact on your reins and simultaneously ask your horse to slow by stopping his forward motion with resistance from your seat. On rare occasions, you may need more stopping power. It could be that your horse has bolted or started bucking, or […]
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