Train Your Own Horse with Stacy Westfall

Today, I'm talking with  Molly Wagner about getting started as a professional in the horse industry.  Together, we are going to tackle two voicemails that came in. Some of the topics we discuss include: What can I do to gain reputation and experience? The challenge of family and work goals. Gaining confidence, making mistakes, learning on the job, equine careers outside of training…and more!

Today I'm talking with Lynn Palm about western dressage.  Lynn literally wrote the book on the subject of western dressage. She competes, judges, and teaches people about the sport. In this conversation, we discuss the step by step nature of the dressage tests, how the tests lead to balance in horse and rider…and more!

How much does it cost to own a horse? It is not an easy question to answer because there are so many variables but today's guest, Nicole Ross of HorseRookie.com has a unique solution. She began sharing 'What I spend on my horse: Monthly Expense Report' each month on her website. She explains what she spent, why...and even what was 'well-spent' and what she might regret. Nicole also shares tips on...

Why is change hard? Why do we 'want' to change…but find it challenging? Today Ginny Telego explains a model for change that involves recognizing several necessary steps:  Awareness, Desire to change, How to change, Ability, Reinforcement.  We discuss the resistance to change, the desire to quit and the topic of being bucked off and spooking horses!

Getting into horses or returning to horses later in life can be a challenge but can also contain many hidden blessings. My guest today, Suzi Vlietstra, shares her experience of returning to horses at age 57. In her words, "So here I am, an older and wider rider hoping to recapture some of the equine magic." and another quote, "I was now a very adult rider with some unfamiliar fears..." We discuss...

Does clicker training work with horses? Won't they just start looking for treats all the time? In this podcast, I'm talking with Mustang Maddy about clicker training horses. We discuss positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, staying safe, mental barriers to trying new training techniques and more. She outlines the steps she uses to safely introduce the clickers and hand feeding. She also s...

Is it possible to get started in reining and fully train your own horse from start to show? Today's guest says 'yes' and he has the track record to prove it. Today, I would introduce you to my husband and my coach, Jesse Westfall. Over the years Jesse has helped many people get started in reining and he specializes in helping people who want to train their own horse.  Listen as we discuss the proc...

Today we are talking about Riding with Confidence and my guest is Barbra Schulte. She is a Hall of Fame rider and a performance coach. I looked through my emails and asked her questions about fear of cantering, fear of messing my horse up, fear of making a fool of myself when I ride, and more. Listen to the podcast to hear here advice.

Episode 81: Today's question is about teaching horses to pony or the art of leading one horse while riding another. Ponying can be a great way to exercise two horses at once as well as a way to expose a younger or less experienced horse to more of the world without riding.  This podcast lists things to consider regarding the horse you will be riding as well as the horse you will be leading or pony...

Episode 80: Today, I'm answering two questions, both of these involve the idea of riding different disciplines. The first question discusses ethics, showing, and competition. And the second question is more about how to handle the apparent contradictions between some disciplines and their cue systems.

Episode 79: Answering two questions in this episode! Question 1: My horse wants to run and play at the beginning of lunging. It takes a long time to get her to walk. Should I accept this or change it? How would I change it? Question 2: My horse has been recovering from an injury. I would like to go back and improve his groundwork but I'm not sure if lunging is the best thing right now while he is...

Episode 78: A listener called in a question about training her first two-year-old. She is struggling to find the balance between quality vs quantity and also a concern of causing boredom during the training process. Stacy explains her views on finding a balance between quality and quantity beginning with the idea that quality always matters and quantity is often part of 'seasoning' a horse.  Stacy...

Episode 77: How does planning help set your horse up for success? How do the layers of training build into a more refined cue system? These topics and more come up as I answer the two following questions.  Question 1: I loved the pattern you shared on Episode 70, Riding Circles within Circles. I felt a huge difference in my horses and myself within 10 minutes...Are there any other patterns you can...

Episode 76: Today I'm answering three questions that I think are all related. One is about a horse that pops his head up when he steps on the lead rope, another is about ground tying and the final one is about tying with patience. When a horse steps on the lead rope while grazing, some will step off the rope without missing a bite...while others will pop their heads up almost as if they are surpri...

Episode 75: Q&A: Ranch riding, ranch trail…the horror! How to better prepare for the transition from home to show.  Preparing a horse for rider nerves. Practice the pattern or don't practice the pattern? The battle with anticipation. Q&A: While I was riding through a gate on horseback, my horse reached over with his nose and TOUCHED the electric fence.  Now I have issues opening the gate…HELP!

Episode 74: Have you ever had a reason that stopped you from riding? Maybe you were injured? Maybe your horse was injured?  I find that when I look back there have been many reasons that I have missed time or gone 'off schedule' for a number of unplanned reasons. For some of us, this is happening now with the pandemic. When 'big' things happen in my life I try to see how they might remind me of sm...

Ep 73: Listen as a caller describes how she changed her lunging experience in a matter of days. Stacy outlines the steps that made this 'leap' in learning possible. Hazel calls in and asks how to get her school horse to respect her space more. Stacy gives her three different suggestions. Amy has questions about how to get her ranch horse to 'wait' a bit more during the trail obstacle phase. Stacy...

Ep 72: Question: You referenced lunging in your podcast and videos. I was hoping you could talk more about it. Perhaps elaborate on how you go about it and what you're looking for and feeling for from the horse? Answer includes: Why lunge at all? Where it comes in useful. How to use it to teach rhythm. Why lunging has a bad reputation. Why people struggle to learn to lunge (or avoid it). How the l...

Ep 71: How are you doing? Before you answer that question, I'd like you to pretend that you are a horse. What's the first image that comes to mind? An Arabian? A racehorse? An overworked driving horse? During this podcast, I share with you my idea that maybe it is helpful if we view our situations from a slightly different angle.  It is also interesting to sometimes use the horse training techniqu...

Episode 70: Question: After warming up and we're beginning to work, I have a really hard time keeping his gait consistent, usually start out slow and easy. But as we continue on, he has a tendency to increase his speed and will tense up and occasionally throw his head. Whenever I ask for a change of gait, especially downward transitions in, it most often happens during the lope. It also happens wh...

Episode 69: Question: "I was wondering how you keep your motivation for riding your own horses when you are training other people's horses. I feel like I have to have a lot of motivation for everyone else's horses to keep them going and keep them working towards their goals. But I have a lot of trouble working my horses."   Answer: There are many ways too look at this. Here are a few to consider....

Episode 68: How to teach your horse to spook, in three easy steps! 1) start with a horse with lack of experience or holes in the training 2) try not rock the boat… 3) when the horse has doubts, reduce the pressure or request Thanks for humoring me there.  Sometimes when I'm thinking about a subject…I try to consider all angles and this time, I decide that telling this story backward would be inter...

Episode 67: Can training horses to do tricks like rearing, bowing or lying down cause problems? I answer this question by using examples of six different horses to illustrate my answer...which is sometimes yes and sometimes no. I also explain how I decide which horses are better candidates than others...and how timing does matter.  I discuss a comment left on the show notes of the last podcast and...

Episode 66: Today I answer two listener questions. Question #1- "My question for you is how you can tell when your horse is ready to go on its first trail ride. What kind of skills do you like to have in the arena? And then what do you practice on the first trail? Right. How do you know when to call it quits and what are your goals on your first time going out?" Question #2- "My question is about...

Episode 65: What is a tipping point in horse training? Why does it matter? How would it help with spooking? In today's episode, I discuss the idea of tipping points and how they impact my outlook on training. I see smaller tipping points where the small day after day lessons finally result in a bigger change. I also see larger tipping points, where clusters of training ideas come together to form...