Listening to your horse means being able to read what he’s saying through his body language. Horses express fear, joy, confidence, anxiety, confusion and frustration through movements and actions – when you watch for these behavioural signs and respond to them, you start to open up the conversation between you and your horse. Even though […]
Horses Saying “Yes” and “No” – How to Read Your Horse’s Emotions Read More »
Some clicker trained horses can get into the habit of stopping dead when they hear the click or their marker. From a trot or canter, this can cause the horse to slam on the brakes, bracing and hollowing as they stop. This can cause problems for the horse physically and is uncomfortable to ride. In
Prevent Your Horse Stopping Abruptly When You Click Read More »
This Pattern is from our Gymnastic Groundwork Home Study Course and gives you a taster of some of the exercises included in that Course. Patterns are progressive and non-competitive. They are designed to give you focus, guidance and the chance to put all of the exercises you’re learning together. They should be fun, too! As
Gymnastic Groundwork Pattern – Pedestal, Poles, Circles, Collection, Flexions Read More »
This doesn’t have to be complicated! Leg yield is the first lateral movement I teach in-hand or ridden and it’s a great way of introducing the concept of going forwards and sideways to your horse. I aim to make this (and all of my lessons) as simple and straightforward as possible for you and your
Leg Yield: How to Teach In-hand Lateral Work Using Clicker Training and a Target Read More »
I really enjoyed chatting to Glenys from Horse Chats recently and she had some great questions for me (like, “Can you give our listeners one thing they can do today with their horse that sums up your training philosophy?”). If you want to hear a little more about my equine history, teachers and philosophy, this
Hannah on Horse Chats Podcast Read More »
All of these exercises are designed to improve your horse’s co-ordination as he learns how to navigate different objects and terrain. The sensory feedback improves proprioception and you’ll find your horse becomes more aware of his feet and body through these exercises. Of course, it’s not just about the physical benefits; all of our training
Teaching your horse to move their shoulders over is a great exercise to encourage your horse to take more weight on the hindquarters and lighten the shoulders as they have to do this in order to be able to step across with their shoulders. It also builds body awareness and builds into many other exercises,
How to Teach Your Horse to Move their Shoulders Over 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 »
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