Contemporary Horsemanship Podcast

I wanted to cover some safety issues with leaving halters on horses. Horses are large prey animals and will react violently to being stuck on something when the horse realizes that he is trapped. We can’t change a horse’s natural instinct, but we can help set up a safe environment.

Before you start ground driving your horse there are a few things to make sure that your horse knows first. Ground driving can look easy but there is a lot of desensitization, rein management, and skill that goes into it. In this episode, I cover all of those important details to make sure you both stay safe and successful.

In this episode I explore all of the reasons why training a horse by using traditional training or natural horsemanship techniques to load in the trailer don’t always work. The root of both of these ways to train horses is negative reinforcement. By using negative reinforcement you are putting pressure on the horse. When using this technique you have to be really careful not to put too much pressu...

At some piont in time your lead rope will probably fall on the ground, and when it does you want your horse to stop and not react if he were to step on it. The goal with this exercise is to teach the horse that the rope isn’t scary and to give to pressure just in case this happens. It is also a good desensitization lesson for a horse that is fearful of ropes.

Some times we get so caught up with training, riding, or showing that we forget how beneficial it is to just spend time with them. Exercises such as taking your horse on a walk, siting near him while he eats, hand grazing, etc. are great for building a bond with your horse. These and other ways to just be with your horse are great for teaching him that it isn’t always time to work when you show up...

I’m giving a quick overview of bridling issues that I see pretty often. Most of the time bridle issues can be caused by an ill fitting bridle, bit, or mouth pain. Once those basics are ruled out, make sure the horse isn’t worried about being away from the herd. After all of this has been taken care of, use positive reinforcement training to start building good associations with being bridled.

Horses can become worried easily in wash racks or by being sprayed with the hose at bathing time. By taking the right training steps and making the whole process some thing your horse wants to do you won’t have nearly has much frustration. Also, make sure that the water isn’t too hot or cold depending on the season.

As I was watching a horse show recently on tv and I heard the commentator incorrectly describing horse behavior. This bothered me because what they were saying was just not true. If we truly want to understand and be partners with our horses we must accurately understand what they are saying to us. We all can benefit from reading our horses better and more accurately providing for their needs.

Using clicker training, I will go over the process of teaching a horse how to be dewormed. Deworming can be a stressful time for horses and their care takers. A lot of horses don’t like being dewormed and most people just want to get it done with because it is for the benefit of the horse. With some understanding and breaking down the process of desensitizing, your horse can learn to be dewormed i...

When using natural horsemanship or traditional training techniques we can be chasing our horses and we don’t even realize that we are doing it most of the time. I’ll cover why we should stop using chasing and pressure to lunge, ride, and train our horses. And discuss better training options so that our horses are calmer, braver, and safer.

I’m sharing my thoughts on what I think horse training competitions can change and improve on.

Instead of doing a episode on training or behavior with notes, I wanted to use my driving time for something productive and do an episode just on thoughts and ideas about shows. I also talk about timelines when it comes to training horses. My take is to slow down and enjoy the ride and maybe do some online horse shows.

I’m going to talk about what a shut down horse is, what causes a horse to do this, and how to prevent it. Resources for this episode include: How to Tell if Your Horse is Shut Down, article by Katie Boniface. What is Learned Helplessness and How it Can Make a Horse Shut Down, article by The Whole Horse.com. The Willing Equine Blog by Adele Shaw.

The third episode in the equine body language series is about how to spot a calm, happy horse. This body language may not be as easy to notice as the worried or mad body language but it is equally important. When you see a horse show these behaviors you know you are moving in the right direction with your training.

Probably some of the most frustrating behaviors for riders and trainers are displayed by scared horses. In this episode I will talk about some common behaviors you will see in horses who are worried, scared, or panicked. Being able to read when a horse is scared is important so that you can take steps to calm your horse down and then carry on with your riding or training.

In this episode, I’ll talk about some common equine body language and what it means. I’ll stick to just general angry, frustrated, and aggressive body language in this episode and try to describe it the best I can without being able to see a picture of the behavior. Hopefully this will help you understand what your horse is telling you so you both can communicate better.

There can be a lot of confusion between the two main types of reinforcements that are commonly used when training horses. I explain the basic concepts and how they affect the horse mentally and physically.

In this episode I’ll be explaining how to teach your horse how to lower his head on the ground using negative reinforcement. There are two main exercises I use to teach this. I then go over some common issues and how to continue with the lesson under saddle.

I am discussing the training of teaching a horse how to lower the head on cue using positive reinforcement.

This episode will discuss ways to teach your horse to stand still using positive reinforcement. Starting in protective contact and then building up the amount of time the horse can stand still. Then change positions, and take the horse out of protective contact. Add a cue to this behavior and start practicing in different locations.

Yielding the hindquarters on the ground will get the horse more maneuverable when tacking up, grooming, and trailer loading. In this episode I will be talking about training this lesson with R-. I do have another episode where I talk about this same exercise using R+. You can also mix the two if you’d like. Teaching the horse yielding the hindquarters on the ground will help him understand what yo...

This episode is about training the horse to stand still in default. Default is what I want my horse to do when I haven’t asked him to do anything else. His default position would be to stand still and wait. This lesson is also good for teaching the horse to stand out of your space, prepare for ground tying, and grooming or tacking up without being tied. The R- stands for negative reinforcement, wh...

This is a summary of my training philosophy. I cover training theories, horse care, common problems, and problem solving. With this episode you can get an idea if this podcast is right for you and your horse.

In this episode I am discussing how to train the hindquarter yield on the ground using clicker training. I am splitting each lesson up into how to train the behavior with clicker training and negative reinforcement (natural horsemanship) into their own episodes. Starting on the ground, the horse will learn to move his hindquarters over on cue. Once this is established, you can start transferring i...

Training a horse to touch a target will allow you to train all kinds of behaviors without chasing or putting pressure on the horse. I’m covering what kind of target to use, how to train the targeting behavior, solving common problems, and where to go from here.