Never stop learning

For me, a big part of a horse getting broke is being able to ride them off of my feet. This is something that take consistency over many training sessions (think months & years) to perfect. Whether the horse is young & just starting out or older but hasn’t been trained off of your feet, I start them out the same way. First, I just want them to understand that if I squeeze my calves that means to come back to me. In the beginning it may take more than a calf squeeze, you will probably use your feet/spurs to squeeze and then pull them to a stop with your hands. After repeating this exercise several times, your horse may start to slow down or even stop when you come in with your feet. As the horse progresses, I begin to get lighter with my cues while still expecting the same result. Now, this doesn’t mean that every time I close my legs I want my horse to stop, but they are starting to understand the concept of bringing their body back to me when I cue them with my legs. This is just the very beginning of their understanding of how to ride more off my leg cues, rather than everything coming from my hands.

I often get asked when is the right time to move a green horse to a different bridle or training aid. While this can be a tricky question, it really comes down to knowing your horse. Getting them comfortable at each stage of training can take a varying amount of time depending on the horse and sometimes it takes some trial and error to find out what they are ready for. In this video, I talk a bit about stepping your green horse up into a leverage bit for the first time from a snaffle. The first time I use a bit with leverage, I will usually start with something that is pretty mild so it isn’t too intimidating for them. I really like this “baby correction” that is shown in this video. It is very light weight, has a low port, and short shank so it is pretty soft on their mouth. The first time you put a leverage bit on your horse they will be introduced to new pressure points that the snaffle does not touch- the chin & the pole. It may take them a little bit of time to get used to this new feeling, so make sure to be patient and forgiving for the first couple rides. You will find out quickly if this is a transition that your horse is ready for- but more than likely if you have taught them how to be soft & accepting of pressure in a snaffle, then this shouldn’t be too big of a step for them. You might even find out that they like the correction better than a snaffle, so don’t be afraid to play around with bits to see what your horse likes best.

It is pretty common for a green horse to want to use your hands as a balance point for their body. They might also to understand the concept of bringing their body back to you when you pick up your hands. Both of these things lead to a horse that is heavy on the forehand and pulling on the bridle. It can be easy to get into a battle of tug of war with the horse, but no one is really winning in that fight. So how do we teach our horse to balance their body on their own and not lean on our hands? I like to do this by moving them laterally off of my hand and leg. They may be rather resistive at first, especially if they are accustomed to being able to pull on your hands. But after some time & consistency, they will learn that leaning on your hands will lead to more work. As I tried to demonstrate in this video, I worked on moving the horse around at both the trot and lope when he would get heavy in my hands. I am working towards a horse that can be ridden on a draped rein, so I want to teach him how to carry his body on his own.

As a continuation of the previous video on how to work on transitioning your green horse into the jog/trot, this video will be going over working on the lope transition. Once again, we are looking for our horse to use their hind end to step up into this transition rather than lifting or running into the lope. Sometimes when our horse is very green, it might be a bit of a struggle to get them into the lope at all. But as the horse becomes more broke, learns your cues & how to use their body, we can begin to focus on this transition more. I like to teach my horses how to set themselves up for the lope before departing into that gate. They should move their hip over and begin to step up with their inside back leg, taking that first step into the lope with the hind end engaged. Again, this is something that takes time for them to understand but I focus on these principles from the very beginning. Hopefully this video will give you some takeaways to work on with your horse at home!

Finding creative ways to set up your trail poles at home can be difficult. I sometimes find myself getting stuck in a rut of what obstacles to set up, so I like to set up something a little bit different that you might not necessarily see at a horse show. This obstacle is a great example of something that can be practiced multiple different ways, at different gates, and doesn’t require that many poles. This obstacle is set using 12 ft poles and each space is set at either 6 ft or 12 ft so that everything can be practiced at either the trot or the lope. You could even practice these poles at a walk if you wanted - but take into consideration that 6 ft might be a somewhat awkward distance for your horse, so I aim for either 3 small steps or 2 larger steps in each space. I elevated some of my poles for a bit of added difficulty, but you can also just practice with ground poles.

Try this obstacle the next time you need a little bit of creativity in your trail routine!

It is very common for your horse to begin anticipating the lead change, especially when it comes to a Western Riding pattern. All Western Riding patterns, within AQHA, will consist of two parts - the line & the crossovers. The line can be an area where your horse may begin to surge, anticipate, or lose connection with you as the rider. This video goes over one method of schooling your horse to help prevent anticipation down the line.

There can be many ways to go about this, but the method I am using here is to stop the horse off my leg cues and back him up when he begins to surge forward or anticipate. I try to stop him off of my leg/foot cue first to reinforce the idea of him coming back when my leg squeezes rather than getting too forward. If they won’t stop off your foot cue alone, then you can come in with your hand to pull them down into a stop & back. I don’t ever say the word “woah” when I am schooling in this manner. That is because I am trying to encourage the horse to think about coming back to my aids, rather than just stopping. This method may not work on all horses, so I will go over in another video some other ways to deal with anticipation to the lead change.

I love how a horse looks when it is freshly clipped and ready to leave for a show. Everyone has their own little routine when it comes to clipping, so I thought I would show you mine. When it comes to grooming and how a horse looks before going to a show, I am pretty picky. I like for all guard hairs on their face, as well as the bridle path, to be clipped with a 40 blade. I think this gives the cleanest look possible and I will touch up these areas at the show as needed. Under the jaw I will use a 10 blade to trim the longer hairs so I don’t leave obvious clipper tracks. For their legs- I will use a 10 blade on all non-white legs & a 40 blade on any socks or stockings. I think clipping the white hair closer makes it easier to touchup with spray without making it look cakey. However, if I am going to a smaller weekend show, I will usually clip their white with a 10 blade and only touch it up with spray at the show if I really have to. I will also use the 10 blade to go around and touch up any long hairs they might have on other areas such as their hocks.

I hope you found this video of my routine helpful!

When I am training a green horse, I like to think about my end goal for that horse so I can begin teaching them skills in a way that will move us toward that outcome. Focusing on how my horse transitions from one gate to another is very important to me. Any event I end up showing them in in the future will have upward and downward transitions. So, I like to begin teaching them how to move between gates in a smooth and collected manner. In this video we are just talking about moving up into the trot, both from the walk and the stop. I like my horses to round their back and step up into the trot from behind, rather than using their momentum or lifting their front end into the trot. This is all part of teaching your green horse to understand collection and holding their body on their own.