Most horses have four main gaits: the walk, the trot, the canter (called a lope in Western riding), and the gallop. Within these gaits, horses have a huge variance- horses can be taught to trot or even lope as slow as other horses walk! The speed of each gait depends on many factors. Just like …
Training
Sometimes horses will start becoming difficult to ride into an arena (or any area they’ve typically been ridden or trained in). Often, the horse will start exhibiting behaviors that make it difficult for the rider to get the horse to the arena. These difficult behaviors can range from simply refusing to enter the arena- by …
Although a horse’s bones and joints aren’t mature enough to carry a rider until they are 2 to 3 years old, gentle unmounted training with 1-year-old horses (called yearlings) can help prepare horses for mounted training. If you are raising a young horse to be your next trail, hobby, or show partner, consider investing time …
There are many ways to cue your horse when riding. One of the most popular ways, unique to the Western style of riding developed in the United States, is called neck reining. Neck reining is in some ways the “opposite” of what is called direct rein riding. What is Neck Reining? In direct-rein riding, the …
An ewe neck is a conformation flaw that is typically more related to the conditioning and muscle tone of a horse than it is to skeletal structure, breed standard, or genetics. Because it is a condition of poor muscling, a ewe neck can often be corrected with nutrition and conditioning. In this article, I’ll show …
Bathing your horse is a regular part of caring for your horse, but knowing when it’s too cold to bathe- and how to give a horse a bath if it is very cold outside- is an important part of horse ownership. Mostly winter baths can be avoided, but if you compete in shows during the …
When a horse won’t load in a trailer, it can be a stressful experience for both the horse and handler. In this article, I’ll be discussing the problem and describing specific training interventions you can use right now or gradually over a few days or weeks to get a resistant horse loaded on a trailer …
Just like for human athletes, cooling off your horse after an intense workout is an essential part of horse ownership. For most amateur riders, you won’t need to cool your horse after every ride, but if you’ve had an extreme ride and asked your horse to run, jump, or work intensely, you may need …