919-428-3209

There’s Always a Warning

As I reach between my shoulder blades, I can still feel the results of a missed warning— “a shot across the bow”— from a few weeks ago in the Netherlands.  I’ve replayed the video a few times for friends to show that the missed signal will always develop into something bigger! In my daily activities of working with horses both from the ground and under-saddle, I don’t know of a time the horse didn’t give me a clue of what might happen next if I didn’t take their concerns with some level of importance.  Horses are no different than people

Read More

Whoa! Stopping in Five, Four, Three, Two and One

Unless you have a lazy horse, you probably had to put a good deal of effort into developing a good stop on your equine. If he stops, that is…! What I often see in clinics and lessons are riders that allow their horses to take their time stopping…it might take them a quarter of the arena before they get their horses stopped. Dribbling is for basketball—not riding! With that being said lets take a look at what happens with the horse when we ask for the stop. From the horse's perspective, we too often pick up aggressively when we ask for

Read More