Human Calming Signals: Help Your Horse to Take Your Cue
You think it's a simple task you're asking your horse to do. You use an affirmative approach, not willing to...
Do You Have Coyote Eyes? How to Look Without Looking
Can you tell when someone's looking at you? Or maybe a child in a waiting room, or it could be...
Peaceful Persistence, a Horse Training Manifesto
What does "not conceding" mean? Oh, I can't wait to bray about this, says this trainer whose spirit animal...
Legacy: We’re Riding for the Next Horse
Driving home through northern Colorado yesterday, I passed the Berthoud off-ramp. Otherwise known as the Grandfather Horse off-ramp. I've only...
Bhim: Through Life Drama and Training Plateaus
It's been six months now since starting Bhim's Training Diary online. But time is a fluid thing for a horse....
Training Tip: Improving Your Eye
Sometimes we look back at how we kept horses as kids, and it seemed so simple then. None of them...
Affirmative Training is Fine, But What-if…
A few years back, a pretty well-known trainer made a statement about using force with horses. Flat out, the...
Calming Signals: What Are You Really Afraid Of?
What are you afraid of? Maybe this question. Take a breath and check your shoulders. Are they down where they...
Nube: We Cheat at Trailer Training
Nube was a beanpole of a yearling. If he and Ernest weren’t trying to get me bucked off a horse…...
Worried About Everything? Protection From the Unexpected
"Want to go on a trail ride with me? The last time I was out, my friend's horse slid into...
Nube: An Iberian Stall Toy for the Donkeys
Daryl, Daryl, and their other brother, Daryl. In the first months after coming to our farm,...
“How do I stop my horse from doing this?”
"How do I stop my horse from doing this?" An oversimplified version of the most common question a horse trainer...
Letting Go of Shame and Blame. Do It for Your Horse.
Nope. Not me. I was allergic to this color, but Hannah dressed for success from the...
Nube: When He Came Home
I was forty-nine years old with gray hair, calloused banged-up fingers, and chronic lameness in my left foot. He was...
What To Do When You’ve Tried Everything
"I tried everything," my client says. This isn't something that I hear once in a long while. It's a time-honored...
Problem Solved: Space to Breathe.
I'm walking next to you and I'm talking loudly. I am so close that you feel the heat of my...
Affirmative Training: The Opposite of Dominance Isn’t What You’d Think
Sitting in a horse pen is the easiest thing in the world. I might even like to cook if I...
Cleaning Out the Toolbox
If it weren't for manure frozen into the ice, we'd have no traction at all and it's only the eleventh...
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