Tips for Improving Horse Skills & Refining Aids

I teach three stages of communication with the horse to help equine enthusiasts learn how to slow down, be mentally present, refine the quality of their skills, improve their timing, and create interaction that has value to the horse. To do this, I break down the communication offered to the equine into beginning, middle, and end stages.

Improving your Horse Sense- Understanding Equine Behavior

The Three A's

Assess(ment)- Of the horse to evaluate the mental availability, emotional state, and physical softness. Assessing is a foundational key to building a partnership with your horse because it gives the human a "starting point" of what needs to be addressed to help the horse.

Horse Skills Tips - Misconceptions of a Circle

One of the most misused "techniques" I have found is how people present asking the horse to move around a circle.

Horsemanship: Reviewing The Release

As with everything, there are many interpretations when it comes to the terminology associated with horses. I try to be clear and precise in the words that I'm offering, but there still can be a gray area in the human student's understanding. This often comes from their level of awareness, background, and unintentional anticipation/expectation of their mind "getting ahead" of wherever they are currently at with their horse.

Ponying the Horse Tips

 Ponying the Horse- Continuing Quality Conversations

I find when ponying, many folks focus on getting the ponied horse to follow the movement of the ridden one.  This can create mindless movement in the ponied horse and contributes to what seems to willingly compliance (as long as nothing specific is asked of him) but he is not thoughtful, mentally directable, or physically adaptable. 

Human Emotions Sabotaging Equine Partnerships

I've had many comments over the years about how I seem to never lose patience with the horse during moments that for most people would trigger a rollercoaster of emotions... such as in the scenarios of when a horse:
Resists being caught
Difficult to Trailer Load
Bolts when Led
Won't stand quietly tied
Avoidant towards the farrier
Has excessive movement when tacked or mounted
Is sensitive about fly spray or bathing
Is buddy or "barn" sour

The Human Horse Learning Journey

 I never thought when I chose to work professionally with horses and help educate their owners that I'd be "taking on"...

The human emotional chaos

Horse Skills: The Check- In Learning to Acknowledge the Equine to stop Guessing

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. 

Honesty of Horse Conversations by Alternative Horsemanship the Remote Horse Coach

One of the things that keeps me “motivated” in working with horses is their honesty. The interaction is not about whether I "like" what their behavior is telling me, but rather recognizing they are offering real-time feedback as to what they are mentally, emotionally, and physically experiencing.

Tips for Improving Horse Skills

Tips for Resetting Your Breathing and Releasing Tension at the Halt
(Mounted or Unmounted)

Only when realizing it, many riders hold their breath quite frequently when interacting with or riding the horse.
This Unintentional simple act creates continuous containment of the horse due to the rigidity the human then carries in their body causing constant chaos, and miscommunication with the horse.

Tips for Improving Horse Skills, Time Perceptions & Decreasing Unwanted Behaviors

 Dear Sam: Horse Help Horsemanship Series
Horse Tips: Problem Behaviors and Learning Opportunities

Achieve Horse Goals: Tips for Building Trust and Improving Horse Skills by the Remote Horse Coach

Horse Rider Mindset Motivation

Mindset Motivation
I often share this quote as I work to educate folks to be more supportive of the horse.

So much of what dictates the quality and success along the horsemanship journey is based on the openness of the human putting themselves "out there" to be present. 

No critique or judgment towards themself. 

Letting go of comparing oneself with what "others" are doing. 

Improving Horse Skills: Mis Perceptions of the Halt

 Mis Perceptions of the Halt

Many humans view the halt as a physical yielding or obedient behavior. There is little or no concept of the difference between the feet not moving versus a horse mentally present, physically soft and balanced when asked to stand.

Horse Behavior Help: Task Accomplishment or Quality Communication

What does the mounting block, walking out a gate, loading into a horse trailer, crossing over a tarp, or passing through a stream have in common?

None of them are about the actual task. Instead, they can all reflect if there is Quality and intentional, specific communication or if one is lacking having the tools to communicate with the horse. They are Opportunities to refine first engaging and directing the horse's focus, then asking for adaptable movement.

Horse Skills & Tips: Mindful vs Mind Full

Mind Full vs Mindful

For people who are new to my teaching and training theories, there are many questions, followed by a great deal of pondering and brooding as folks start to question “the way they’ve always done things” with their horses.

An introspective assessment, rather than seeking “answers” by imitating others, frequently leads people to an uncomfortable stage as revelations about themselves, their behaviors, and patterns during interactions with horses become apparent.

Horse Skills & Tips: The Unloading of the Horse

Frequently, especially if loading the horse was stressful or concerning for both the human and the equine, when folks arrive somewhere they tend to rush during the unloading and "hurry" to get the horse to the stall or pasture.
The point of the prior interactions with a horse is to increase their availability to "hear" and address what the handler is asking of them, irrelevant of the familiarity of a location. 

Horse Skills - Refining Understanding of Pressure

Horses, Humans, and Pressure

When we work with a horse we primarily use two forms of pressure to communicate, physical (the lead rope attached to the halter, the rein, the leg, the seat, etc.) or spatial (not touching the horse but being able to influence his brain and movement.) Vocal commands are a third, less common form of pressure.
A horse’s natural response to human pressure is to flee from it, become defensive towards it, or physically “challenge” it, which causes him to be unable to “hear” the person. The horse needs to learn that pressure offered by a person can be similar to feedback he'd receive from interacting with other horses.

Author Quote: Unknown

Horses "Following a Feel"

 "Following a Feel"

Those words had no value to me in my initial years of riding (groundwork was nonexistent.) I interacted with the horse offering unintentional, continuous tension- on the lead rope, on the rein, in my leg, etc. There was never a pause, time for mental processing, recognizing separating directing the thought from movement, adaptability in my aids or any conscious release of pressure towards the horse (other than during a jump.)

Connecting the Groundwork with Horseback Riding

Connecting Groundwork and Riding

One of the challenges in offering instruction is to communicate clearly with students AND horses. As I overhear, read, or watch many “horse training” sessions/clinics I find that there’s a general lack of “connection” in the student’s ability to understand how the “here and now,” especially in how the quality of their groundwork is, relates to their future ride.