Utilizing our hands as targets is easy to teach and obviously convenient. In addition, pairing it with their name becomes is an easy way to teach a recall.
As we begin training we often teach behaviors with our horses at liberty. This gives them a choice and provides us with a lot of information. But how do we move from liberty work to utilizing equipment while still giving our horses a voice? In this lesson I will discuss the different ways to...
It is important to be sure that our horses understand and chose to focus on the things that we have taught them, even in new and distracting situations. I discuss ways to strengthen your horses focus and build reliability with your training.
Techniques for helping the spooky horse to focus under saddle. The key is that it is the horse’s choice to redirect his attention back to working with his rider. Often times we utilize equipment that controls a physical response, but the horses can remain in the same internal, emotionally...
In this lesson, I discuss equine body language, facial expressions and the importance of recognizing when our horses go over threshold. These observations give us important information that we can use to improve our training. Our horses’ emotions are an important part of our relationship...
Using positive reinforcement we can teach our horses to not only stand quietly, but to actually look forward to the clipping process. We will utilize systematic desensitization and counterconditioning. They sound like big words but it is a simple and useful tool to have in your toolbox for lots...
