horse communication – green to 100

Training or Testing?

I was listening to a podcast recently where Stacey Westfall discussed the differences between testing and training (she uses the word teaching interchangably for training). Stacey was talking about the process of learning vs the process of showing what has been learned. Anyone who rides a horse has to do some amount of at leastContinue reading “Training or Testing?”

Equine Shabbat?

This season I am committed to offering Khaleesi as much choice as she can possibly have, as is my habit: to the very edge and sometimes probably over the edge depending on where you’re looking at it from. I am also committed to approaching this season differently than I have in the past such as:Continue reading “Equine Shabbat?”

…. And GO!

Below is an excerpt from my Hope Horsemanship August Clinic update. This portion focuses on what Khaleesi & I worked on that I believe will make our endurance riding more successful over time. Currently Iva & I are planning to head to Big South Fork the weekend of September 10 for a 55 mile rideContinue reading “…. And GO!”

The Skies I’m Under

This blog was drafted on August 3 just before the Emily Kemp Clinic. It was left unfinished in the whirlwind of clinic and aftermath until today. The clinic was a wonderful success and an update including some near future plans will follow shortly. And hold me fast, hold me fast‘Cause I’m a hopeless wandererI willContinue reading “The Skies I’m Under”

Six Feet Over the Line

I am beyond pleased to report that the Blackhorse Ride this weekend brought celebration and success and the mare I’ve poured so much into greatly outperformed my hopes and expectations. Oddly enough I felt unusually unsure of myself while loading my horse onto the trailer and hitting the road on Friday morning. In fact IContinue reading “Six Feet Over the Line”

How to teach your horse to spook: training on the trail

I’ve heard people talk about training on the trail before. In the past I think it’s been more of a way of saying: we don’t need to do circles in an arena to have a well trained horse. The “training on the trail” I’ve seen has been pretty large scale need-based, like making sure aContinue reading “How to teach your horse to spook: training on the trail”

Happy New Year 2021

Hello friends! I am excited to share some news about my new venture Hope Horsemanship. It’s been in the making for a few months and the website is officially live with a new blog as well. I will continue to write here especially as I have hopes for a real ride season with Khaleesi whoContinue reading “Happy New Year 2021”

The Right Result

Joyce Meyer has a saying: if you keep doing the right things, eventually you will get a right result. The right things are usually not the easy things. The right things come with resistance, struggle and doubt. But if you hang in there I believe what Joyce says is true, the right result will come.Continue reading “The Right Result”

First 5 videos

It’s been fun creating the first mini-series in video for starting the day connected. I’ve learned a fair amount already about the video-audio process and they will continue to improve in quality as I go forward. There are a couple ways to find the videos in one place. First is the link to my WordPressContinue reading “First 5 videos”

Leading for connection

Here is the second video in my new series! Each step of the process with your horse will bring you more connected or less depending on how you do it. When leading your horse in- or out- it’s important to be clear and expect excellence in leading as this will set the tone for theContinue reading “Leading for connection”