Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Murphy this week as his health failed him in his old age. He joined mine and Rachel’s herd in 2004 as a rescue, who was due to be put to sleep because of physical and behavioural issues that his owners did not feel able to address. We took him […]
From Aggressive Rescue Pony to Trick Training Superstar: Tribute to Murphy Read More »
Despooking exercises for your horse should be calm, positive and fun for both of you. The aim is to build your horse’s confidence, calmness and connection with you no matter what you encounter – from giant spiders to fluttering ghosts (or from umbrellas to plastic bags in the real world!). This video features clips from
3 Top Tips to Despook Your Horse: Calm, Positive and Fun Training Read More »
This exercise is great to build your horse’s confidence over a wide range of fences, no matter what types of fillers you’ll encounter! I’m working with India on generalising her confidence to jump first time, even as the jump changes and I add spooky objects around it. We’ve spent loads of time prior to this
De-Spooking Your Horse Over Jumps Read More »
Along with all the more ‘serious’ stuff I do with my horses, I love to teach tricks. They’re just a lot of fun and they make me smile. Because they’re easy, stand-alone behaviours, my horses seem to love them, too. They become something we just love to do together. For that reason, they become an
Trick Training: How to Teach ‘Catch’ Read More »
I love working with all the different characters in my herd and making their training as fun as possible. This compilation shows me working on liberty loading with my horses, building their joy and confidence around the horse box. It’s fun to get creative like this but finding the fun in your training (for both
Liberty Loading Fun Read More »
If your horse knows a behaviour on the ground, it’s a simple process to transfer it to the saddle; you don’t need to teach it again from scratch. The basic steps are: 1. Think about cues you can use both on the ground and in the saddle to help your horse understand what you’re asking
Transferring a Cue from the Ground to the Saddle: Rein-Back Read More »
When thinking about training steps, we tend to think in, well, steps. You complete step 1 and then progress to step 2 and so on. This is logical for our human brains but isn’t actually the best way to train our horses (or ourselves!). The problem with progressing in steps is that you repeat the
How to Make Steady Progress With Your Horse Read More »
Lunging is a great exercise for your horse that I use regularly for: > Teaching horses to remain calm and focused in faster movement > Building strong voice cues for transitions > Creating motivation for forwards movement > Staying connected at greater distances and higher energy > Shaping a horse’s movement to be balanced and
Why and How to Lunge Your Horse Read More »
I have practiced Pilates for many years now after discovering the benefits after a serious riding accident in which I badly damaged the soft tissue in my neck. My body became very stiff and I was carrying a lot of tension because of the inactivity, the feeling was awful as I was only 21 but
Pilates Alignment for Riders Read More »
Rowan used to be very head high, tight in the back and toss her head a lot in movement. I used the target to teach her to stretch and lengthen through her spine and now we’re beginning to use it to teach her to change her balance to a more collected position, too. When working
Using the Target to Change Your Horse’s Balance Read More »
In this podcast interview, Hannah talks in-depth about Connection Training with host, Amy Frost. She discusses working on the trust between you and your horse using a range of connection training techniques. Hannah explains how target practice’ can help reduce your horse spooking when hacking, training advice for horses that push you around, why specific
Hannah explains Connection Training on HorseHour Read More »
Leonara is a spooky mare. And once she gets a fright, she is highly reluctant to try again at that place or with the thing that scared her. She does take a lot of comfort from people, though, and can be helped to work through her fears. Claire Waldron, Manager of the Connection Training Centre,
Empowering Your Horse Read More »
