Alternative Horsemanship™ the Remote Horse Coach Articles and Advice Blog: 2025

Horse Skills: Tying a Rope Halter Knot

Rope Halter Typing & Fitting Tips

Most people using this type of halter are not tying the knot correctly. If incorrectly tightened, the halter slips and loosens after a short while. This can become dangerous if the bottom section gets "stuck" around the horse's jaw and he panics.

Horse Rider Tips: Resetting Breath

Tips for Resetting your Breathing and Releasing Tension at the Halt

Without realizing it, many riders hold their breath quite frequently when interacting with or riding the horse.

Heavy Horse Behavior Help

It is all connected

[Photo Credit: The Equine Documentalist]

This is a great visual example of the "strings" I often talk about throughout the horse's body. The trickle-down effect of how one body part influences another, even if literally at the other end of the horse's body.

I've used the analogy of the string on a dog food bag; you start pulling one end, and the whole thing unravels.

When people tell me about a horse that is heavy on the bit, resistant in the backing, difficult to hold a canter or lope lead, etc., there are usually multiple other factors contributing to the unwanted physical behaviors.

Every week I receive 20-30 "Ask the Trainer requests"... From unwanted trail behavior/lack of manners to groundwork issues to equipment suggestions to feeding options, etc. from around the world. People often expect a "step by step" or "cut and dry" answer. Their focus is on the unwanted physical action without considering the horse's mental or emotional status.

Why are you doing "that"?...

Catching the horse that way...

Grooming the horse in that place...

Mounting on that side...

Leading on that side...

Starting the ride in that direction...

Working on that specific movement...

I’ve never had an “English” language conversation with a horse, but over the years I feel that I’ve found some degree of a “common language” with which I use to communicate with them. I explain to students there is no “one” way to do things, and I always tell people “take what you like, leave what you don’t” from any learning situation. I finished reading a horse blog the other day and realized that in this day and age I don’t think you can participate in any aspect of the horse world without hearing the word “pressure” in reference to communicating with the horse.

Horse Riding Tips: Letting Go of Physical Tension

Riding Tips - Letting go of Physical Tension

A rider's physical tightness usually starts with clenched seat bones. This tension creates rigidity that travels up the spine between their shoulder blades, into their neck and shoulders, down the upper and then forearm, ending with gripping in their fingers on the reins.

Horse Skills Help- Human Anticipation

In my recent remote coaching sessions working with students across multiple continents, the latest discussion has been about the human's anticipation and how it directly affects the horse.

A common challenge many equine enthusiasts face is struggling with the anticipation of "what will happen" when with their horse.

There is a fine line of being aware of your surroundings, and things that are occurring at the moment, but to also not fixate on these and the potential outcome.

Join Alternative Horsemanship™ the Remote Horse Coach in the March 8th, 2025, Horse Skills: Releasing the Grip Livestream. The event will focus on recognizing triggers leading to unintentional gripping by the human in unmounted and mounted scenarios. It will offer insight into re-setting one's focus and physical behaviors to change patterns in the interaction.

If you miss the LIVE event, please visit the LIVESTREAM REPLAY page to view all livestreams filmed in the current month.

Horse Hoof Handling Skills Livestream Replay

Taught by Alternative Horsemanship™ the Remote Horse Coach

The focus will be on:
Assess Horse Behavior
Address Tension
Raise Body Awareness
Develop Adaptable Communication

Click the post link 🔗. Paid event. Replay will be available during the month of March.

If you miss the live event, the replay can be found in the Livestream Replay category on the Video Catalog.

Decreasing Stress: Horse Trailer Unloading Skills and Tips

The Unloading of the Horse

Here are some things I've noticed over the decades of watching horses unload.

Frequently, especially if the loading of the horse was stressful or concerning (for both human and horse,) when folks arrive somewhere they tend to want to rush when unloading and "hurry" to get the horse to the new stall or pasture.

If during prior interactions with the horse a common language of communication has been established, the equine will have the availability to "hear" and address what the handler is asking of them, irrelevant of the location.

20 Horse Health Questions every Equine Owner should be Asing

20 Horse Health Tips, Questions & Assessment

Below are some basic questions to ask in regard to your horse’s health.

I suggest keeping a horse health journal making note of diet changes, farrier care, odd behaviors, etc. It can be used as a future reference point to learn from and find what works best for the horse.

Taking pictures from both profiles, front, and rear every six months can also be a good reference.

For those who experience dramatic seasons and environmental changes and for those who have had the same horse(s) for a long time, patterns often occur out of convenience in the horse’s maintenance program.

Unwanted Horse Behavior: Eliminating the Bracy

Horse Help- Improving your Equine Communication- Eliminating the Brace

Have you ever felt the horse:

Heavy on the lead rope- "dragging" the horse around?

Loading or unloading a horse from the trailer/lorry that you couldn’t “stop” or “move him” to a different place from what he was offering?

The horse would not move out of your personal space when working from the ground?

The horse was resistant to transitions whether being worked from the ground or in the saddle?

The horse is pushing, leaning, heavy, or dragging on the bit/bridle?

When trying to turn in one direction the horse slowly “leaking” the opposite way?

When trying to ride a straight line the horse is constantly “throwing” or “locking up” his shoulder or hip towards the opposite way from which you are traveling?

Picking up the reins and feeling a general “lethargic” response from your horse?

Horse Riding Skills: Indirect vs Direct Rein- More than Mechanics

Rein usage- The Indirect vs Direct Rein Practice

What you'll need:

Chair, desk/table, string ( or something similar such as baling twine, clip-on reins, etc.), strainer/pot with two handles, something slightly heavy- box of rocks, etc.

Attach the "reins" to the handles of the pot or strainer.

Place the box or weighted object in the middle between the pot and where you are sitting- with it resting against the pot.

Sit in the chair with your forearms resting on the table, and hold the reins as you would when you ride with your thumbs up.

The pot is your horse's head. The weighted box is his neck.

Indirect rein:

Starting with your hands parallel to one another, draw the right rein in towards the "middle" (or your left).

Watch the pot's right handle over-rotate to the right and then it will start to move back towards the box.

Imagine if this was the horse; his head would be overturning towards the right and then his neck would be shortening towards his right shoulder. The pressure from his head pushing into his neck would cause a diagonal weight onto his left shoulder, causing him to compensate by moving his right hind leg up under his stomach, and stepping towards his left side to maintain balance.

Horse Training Help- Tying the Equine

In this horse learning episode of the Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series, join Alternative Horsemanship™, the Remote Horse Coach, as she delves into the critical topic of teaching the horse to tie. Discover effective techniques that educate horses in a way that builds his confidence and readiness for learning. This episode addresses the shortcomings of traditional training methods that often instill fear and teach the equine to have defensive behaviors. Gain valuable insights to enhance your horsemanship skills and create a more positive training environment.

Unwanted Horse Behavior and Sleep Deprivation

When we say "horse" the initial image in our mind is that of the horse galloping through a field, or some other majestic movement. But there's also the aspect of considering the horse's mental and emotional state, and how that will affect his ability to learn and willingness to participate with humans.

Horse Mirroring Behavior

Sharing a short video of a neighbor's horse mirroring what the client's horse I was working with was experiencing during her session. The more we raise awareness of the horse's mental and emotional state, the more relevant addressing their subtle, reasonable feedback becomes.

The Uncomfortable Topics: Money, Horses, and Future Planning

Looking at the books... The number of established, long-time equine professionals shutting down their businesses is occurring at an alarming rate. Many who are continuing to operate have taken massive income cuts in their attempt to keep prices the same for clients. Many professionals are having to work second jobs to cover horse business expenses.

For anyone who missed February's live events:

Why is my Horse doing that?

Horse Skills: Defining Boundaries without Anger

Please use this LINK to access the videos.

Please note: After a livestream has ended, the original link to it will not work. To view or replay any previous livestream filmed in the current month, you must view them in the Livestream Replay page on The Remote Horse Coach video catalog through the link shared above.

Improving Horse Skills- the Check-In

I often encounter people who are surprised or overwhelmed by their horse's responses. There tends to be a major gap in the human's perception of when/what/how things have occurred rather than an understanding of all the ongoing, continuous equine communication that was ignored, overlooked, or criticized and how the animal's feedback would "tell" the person what behaviors were coming next.

In trying to help people become more aware and considerate of what the horse was experiencing during human interactions, I came up with the idea of the "check-in."

Let me preface this post by saying I am NOT any of the following: veterinarian, equine nutritionist, equine dentist, farrier, equine chiropractor, equine naturopath or any other medical-related equine professional.

What I am is an equine professional who sees/handles hundreds of horses a year of varying ages and breeds, with differing degrees of training and exposure/experience in both competitive and pleasure disciplines.

Developing the Horse's Confidence

Confidence- just because a horse is going through the motions of "doing things" and is "learning" does not mean that he is gaining confidence and feeling secure from his experiences.

The horse may "quietly" tolerate a situation a few or even many times before he starts to show more obvious signs of stress, insecurity, or fear about what is being presented if he is being coerced to physically comply.

A great example is the famous "wet saddle blankets" theory. Does a horse learn better though numerous physical repetition? If the person is solely focused on the physical movement/tolerance of the horse, without assessing the quality of his mental availability- or willingness- and the softness of his movement, they may not realize that repeating something is actually making things worse for the horse and teaching him to be defensive in the future.

Reading Horse Behavior- What do you see?

Do you assess the horse's behavior after the session?

This horse whose past is not completely clear has experienced enough aggressive training that he is highly defensive toward people. He would appear very "sweet" (as long as you had a treat) and come over and impose to be caught... But once he realized there was no food, he'd leave and avoid all human interaction. If he was troubled on the lead rope, he'd either stop and lock up or bolt off. This is after the second session out in the field. I find a lot of folks want to "see" the immediate warm-and-fuzzy moments with the horse, without seeing the horse learn to work through their anticipation and old coping/default behavioral patterns. This is a good opportunity to practice reading the horse's behavior.

If you're curious about in-depth horse behavior (which is the foundation to every quality equine partnership) please visit The Remote Horse Coach video catalog and click the "Horse Behavior" category at the top of the page.

Pain in Horses- Unwanted Equine Behaviors

Pain - the Unacknowledged Frequent Contributor to Unwanted Equine Behaviors

Many horses and humans live with pain to varying degrees on a daily basis. If you've ever been injured or have ongoing pain, think about the all-consuming feeling and emotional state the pain triggered in you.

Horses don't "just" pin their ears when you saddle, get tight or twitch their skin when you touch them, and move away every time you go to mount. If the horse is showing concern, tension, or defensive, please, BEFORE you focus on the "training" first start with your horse's behavior, and assess it for potential pain or discomfort.

Learning Horse Skills or Tasks Dear Sam: Horse Help

Are you having problems with your horse's behavior? Trying to learn horse skills but getting unwanted equine responses?

Watch this horse learning video in the Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series by Alternative Horsemanship™ The Remote Horse Coach that addresses commonly misunderstood and overlooked aspects of learning the horse skills needed to help create long-term changes in the horse's behavior leading to reasonable and safe interactions.

Watch HERE

4 Tips to Improve your Horse Skills

Are you breathing?

When people focus, they tend to hold their breath. Talk. Tell your horse what you are doing (literally, it also helps you keep track.) Sing to him or whistle. Anything!

Patterns

What's your pattern?

As folks beginning the new year, it is a great time to revisit assessing one's self-awareness to recognize where perhaps unintentional interactions negatively contribute to the horse's behavior and responses.

Reminder to join me in this horse learning livestream that will include a 12-minute video of examples of imposing human behaviors and learning to recognize defensive horse responses.

January 11, 2025 9am pdt Livestream REGISTER HERE

If you are unable to attend the live version, or missed last week's Horse Facial Feedback, you can replay all livestreams HERE

Reminder: after the live version has ended, it may take up to 12 hours before it appears in the Livestream Replays category.

Horse Training: Are you teaching fear?

Horse Training Problems and Unwanted Equine Behavior. Are you teaching the horse to be fearful?

In this horse learning video Alternative Horsemanship the Remote Horse Coach discusses how often in the horse training process people weaponize their groundwork creating unwanted responses in the horse.

Subscribe on Alternative Horsemanship YT to watch new Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship coaching videos.

Click the link to watch.

Horse Owners - Are you preparing your horse?

Horses & Emergencies

Horse Tips to Interrupt the Hurry in Your Equine Time

The simplest synopsis I offer students regarding time with their horse is that five minutes of quality communication has far more short and long-term value to the equine, than chaotic longer, "dutiful" by-the-clock sessions.

Learn Horse Behavior to Build Trust

Learn to build a horse's trust. Can you recognize the horse's communication?

Join Alternative Horsemanship™ while she is working in South America with a fearful Marchador horse in the latest equine behavior video teaching insight to develop your horse skills building the animal's trust and try.

Want to learn horse behavior? Join The Remote Horse Coach in the Reading the Horse 7-Part Equine Behavior Course

All Learning Links

Developing a Fulfilling Equine Experience

Mindset Motivation

I often share this quote as I work to help educate folks to be more supportive of their horses.

Horse Behavior Webinar Replay

Did you miss the Facial Feedback webinar?

You can watch it now and all future REPLAYS on the Alternative Horsemanship the Remote Horse Coach video catalog.

Learning Horse Skills

Horse Skills: Refining your Feel to improve your Communication

A major challenge for many horse enthusiasts is that there is SO much to learn in terms of understanding horse behavior and communication, never mind refining self-awareness, and then combining that with trying to learn how to offer a "common language" to communicate with the animal.
Of the many horse-related skills to learn, the concept of "following a feel" can be incredibly challenging. In many interactions, people focus on how a horse is moving, without acknowledging that "how" the human is asking will influence the outcome.