Freezing rain and ice-slick roads confine us to the farm tonight… and there is no place we’d rather be! Mark and I play with the horses well after dark. I trim Grace’s hooves and start teaching her a new trick, and we all marvel at how well Dolly’s hoof is healing. I flash between enjoying [...]

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You remember the story of belling the cat. We were handed a similar scenario… The challenge: To put a flymask on a horse who is not halter-trained and is known to be headshy. The solution: Clicker Training to the rescue! Crockett is an Appy gelding, part of the PMU rescue herd we are currently helping [...]

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Kathy made my day today!  During a break in her lesson she told me she’s taken up walking at the mall.  Today she walked two miles.  More importantly, she confided, “I kept thinking about what we’ve been practicing in our riding lessons.  I keep reminding myself to breathe, and put on my cloak!” For people [...]

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Breakthrough day for June!  This formerly stiff-as-a-board but quick-as-a-whip little mare learned to release to the pressure of the bit.  We’re not talking turn or tuck her head.  We are talking release negative tension throughout her entire body. This elementary lesson is June’s first step towards losgelassenheit. …Before you say “gesundheit” let’s pull our dictionary! [...]

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“Horse Training Success” is running a training tips contest.  We just submitted this entry: I love all the posts that include training with treats! Do you know they actually funded a study in France which “scientifically proved” that horses learn faster when they receive food rewards? Hahaha, horsemen since the dawn of time could have [...]

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The Horse Whisperer. Both history and the pop culture notion of natural horsemanship paint an image of the silent, mystical horseman whose mere presence calms the wildest equine outlaw. By using skills invisible to the average human, the horse whisperer inspires the most savage horse to willingly submit and perform any feat. People attributed this [...]

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WOW! I would be speechless but the words tumble over each other in their hurry to get out. Stormy was AMAZING tonight. She could have been the poster pony for natural horsemanship! Now what made that training session extraordinary in my mind was this: through no fault of her own, Stormy’s training has been backburnered [...]

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I had the horse trailer hooked up and loaded by the time Mark got home from work. We grabbed the horses and a chilled bottle of Monavie and headed down the road to meet Scott and Noel at the Antietam battlefield for an afternoon trail ride. I brought Lucy. We believe so firmly in building [...]

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Now, we know that natural horsemanship is based on common sense. Clinicians out there who claim their own Mysterious Mustang Mojo or promote their expensive, instant fix wunderproducts give natural horse training methods a bad rap. We found this hilarious spoof on just such a “trainer.” Enjoy!    

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Like any young horse in training, Wally the Warmblood has his good days. He has his not-so-good days and he has those frustrating, tear-out-your-hair days when he seems to forget how to put one foot in front of the other, much less do so with suppleness, impulsion and cheerful submission. Today was like no other. [...]

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