Train Your Own Horse with Stacy Westfall

It's a bold statement to say there are two simple cues that fix most issues. When I say most issues I mean things like bucking, rearing, head tossing, and a lot of the issues that we experienced under saddle. You might wonder how it's possible that two simple cues can fix most of those issues? In this episode, I explain the first two cues that I teach a horse when I'm riding them under a saddle. I...

Timing is everything when it comes to horse training. I don't want to put any pressure on you, but you need really good timing.  Your timing may never be perfect, but it can always be improved. In a future episode, I will also talk about how in the beginning, your timing is everything and then once the horse picks up more responsibility your timing is less important. This is such a great topic, be...

Before we begin I want to clear up something about last week's podcast. I randomly mentioned something going on with Popcorn's ear. He has a papilloma virus or ear plaque, but it's improving dramatically. In this episode, I'm going to explain the first communication I developed during groundwork. I'm also going to talk about the difference between leading versus drawing. In my final segment with D...

A big part of training is establishing communication in a safe way. In this episode, I share three reasons why you should do groundwork. I share how to safely work with horses at different stages and one of the biggest aspects of communication which is reading body language. I also introduce a new segment with equine veterinarian Dr. Monty McInturff.    Over the years, I've spent a lot of time wit...

Welcome to Season 4 where it's all about the horse's body. In this episode, I'm going to give you three tips to use when reading your horse's body language. I also answer a listener question, and I share a new segment that's coming up in future podcasts. If you remember from Season 1, I used the four square model to break down the concepts and divide them into the rider's mind, the rider's body, t...

I am answering a listener question about repetition and learned helplessness which was a response to my newsletter. The definition of learned helplessness from Google is a condition in which a person suffers from a sense of powerlessness, arising from a traumatic event or persistent failure to succeed. It is thought to be one of the underlying causes of depression. So the definition is somewhere b...

In this episode, I'm answering a listener question about peaking a horse for a show. The question is how do you keep your horse from peaking before you go to the show? The listener is a week away from a cowboy obstacle racing show. She exercised her mare yesterday, and the mare was spot ready. She doesn't want to overtrain her horse if the horse is at its peak. To answer this question, I ask some...

Is your horse's behavior caused by mental issues or training issues? Today, I have a listener question from Italy. The listener has a 10-year-old gelding that is still exhibiting the same behavior or training problems that he had when she got him at four and a half years old.  She is wondering if some horses have trauma that makes it impossible to fix certain issues. I'll be answering this questio...

This week I'm answering a listener question. First, I'm going to answer with the theory, and then I'm going to teach you all how to become a detective. The listener wants to know if she can 'untrain' the horse's desire to run full speed during mounted shooting competitions. She wants the horse to slow down or give her more control. Some of the questions I ask incluse: Is the trigger only at shows...

Let's talk about the idea of correcting a horse for behavior that we don't like. I'm going to share three examples of corrections, a different way to think about corrections, and a story to help you remember it all. How smooth are your corrections? If your horse anticipates your correction, does it make him better or does it make him worse? I'm going to share some examples of corrections that I wa...

How do you treat your horse when he makes a mistake? In this episode, I'm going to share three common ways I see riders react to their horse making a mistake and why that matters. I'm going to talk about the rider not actually recognizing a mistake because of their own lack of clarity. How some riders view their horse through rose colored glasses and incapable of making a mistake, and the harsher...

How do you know if your training routine is dead? Last week, I talked about how horses can "learn how to learn." This week, I'm going to take that concept a little further and explain how I use training cycles to influence the horse both physically and mentally. In episode 25, I talked about anticipation in a positive and negative way, and "the horse anticipating the end of the ride." Some people...

How horses learn and why it matters is an interesting topic that we will be talking about today. Horses are really interesting, because they are excellent at detecting patterns. They look for patterns when they are speaking and communicating with other horses, and if you observe horses in the field, you will see a lot of questions being asked and answered. When horses learn to communicate with hum...

Intentions matter. Today, I'm talking about your intentions when training your horse, and your horses intentions. I'll talk about what constitutes a good intention and a bad intention and remind you to keep in mind that sometimes your horse is just asking a question in your conversation. It's important to be aware of your own intentions when working with your horse. You also need to be aware of wh...

Anticipation is one of those ideas that is a double-edged sword. Is it a friend or Foe? At first glance, people think of anticipation as negative, I think it might be more positive to think of it as something we can balance on the teeter-totter. Sometimes, I call it trying too hard. I want to help you guys think out of the box and not label things in a negative way. When we label anticipation as t...

This podcast is in response to a listener question. She asks, "what do you mean by a creative horse?" This is a great topic as we continue our season on the horses mind. I'm very specific when I describe horses. I may say a horse has questions. or a horse is creative. I don't want to describe a horse in a way that will pass judgement such as calling it a problem horse. A creative horse can be a ho...

I'm explaining something that was a game-changer for me and my horse. When I share this topic with people at clinics, I see an instant change in them and their horse. Did you know that your horse is always asking you questions? Watching horses in the wild, you see them ask each other questions about leadership. They also do the same thing with you. The good news is that once you understand that a...

Welcome to season 3 where we are going to talk about the horses mind. There are two things I'm going to talk about today. The first one is that you might just be underestimating your horse. The second thing I'm going to talk about is moving beyond the prey predator model. Do you think you underestimate your horses mental capabilities? As a kid, I remember people talking about horses mental abiliti...

It's time to wrap up season two on the rider's body. I covered a lot of ground on the last two seasons. We talked about the rider's mind and the rider's body. I'm even more excited about the next two seasons which are all about the horse. I play a preview of some of the questions I'll be answering and share how you can ask your questions. The riders body is consistently the weakest link that I see...

Riders will need to use different riding aids differently as a horse progresses through the different grade levels. In episode 6, I compared the horses progression to the progression of kindergarten, grade school, high school, and college. As the horse and rider progresses, the use of different aids is layered on. We always start with the basics. If the basics aren't down, it's a good idea to go b...

When being a balanced rider, you have aids that can assist you. These include your right hand, left hand, right leg, and left leg. Today, I'm talking about these rider's aids. Do you know which one of your aids is the weakest? Do you know which one of your aides you are over using?   Last week, I talked about the rider's aids and the rider's willingness to use those aids. When you understand how t...

Today, I'm talking about how the rider's mind and the rider's body are both equally required for improvement. I'll be talking about balancing your aids and your mindset. A listener asks about allowing something to flow and making something happen. This is all about balancing. You need to have a mindset where you can back up the requests you make. I explore this topic with listener emails, my own e...

Today, I'm talking about active and passive riding. Do you know if you are doing too much or not enough when riding? A rider who doesn't know how to ride may be in a defensive position and not doing enough. A rider using all available aids may be doing too much and making the horse unhappy. In this episode, I talk about these concepts and finding the neutral middle ground using active tension. I a...

Today, I share my experience of three different riding styles. People often ask me if I ride Western or English. I actually ride and compete in Western, English, and bareback. I first learned to ride Western. Then I moved on to bareback, because I was too small to put the saddle on my pony. I dreamt of getting an English saddle like the ones I saw on TV. I got one for Christmas, and then I was doi...

Last week, I talked about how time and repetition will create a feedback loop that you can modify. This week, I'm going to expand on the concept of the feedback loop and share three ways to get riding feedback for continued improvement. There are pros and cons to each method. You need to weigh out which method is the best for you and which methods you can combine for the best results. The three me...