82 Articles

Lindsay Grice, how horses learn, horse's brain, horses social animals, horses safe herd, horse survival, equine neocortex, understanding horses, how horses perceive world, fright-flight response, horse brain

Without a doubt, an awareness of the way horses learn has helped me to train more efficiently, effectively, and safely. Like a detective, I approach issues by asking the question, “Why might this be happening?” I look for clues and go through my mental Rolodex of equine behaviour facts to solve the puzzle.

5 Ways to Beat Horse Show Nerves

By Lindsay Grice - Although confidence improves the more often you show, it is helpful to take an honest look at the source of your nerves (what’s the worst thing that could happen, and would it really be that bad?), and block out the distractions.

Choosing the Right Bit for Your Horse

By Lindsay Grice - As the conformation of every horse’s mouth will vary, it’s helpful, once you’ve determined the family or general type of bit, to try it for a few days to see how your horse responds. Unfortunately, this can become an expensive process and most horse owners have quite a collection of “experiments” at the bottom of their tack boxes.

Above all else, a carrier must first be a “horse person.” It’s one thing to be a good driver, but that is of little comfort if someone lacks the confidence and understanding to properly care for your horse. This type of experience is not always easy to detect, but there are a few traits that typify a seasoned handler.

By Lindsay Grice - Knowing what diagonal and lead you’re on is a matter of feeling the rhythm and footfalls of your horse. Knowing which foot hits the ground when puts a rider in tune with his horse. He is more able to influence his horse’s movement if he times his aids according to the rhythm of the strides.

Horse Shopping? 5 Keys to Success

By Lindsay Grice - When I have a client who is looking for a horse, I often need to remind her to shop with her head and not her heart. Colour, cuteness, or a fancy pedigree must take second place to other more basic qualities: temperament, tolerance, training, talent, and soundness.

When we interact with our horses there is a dialog between us. Because horses have a physical language it is sometimes difficult to understand how our horse is communicating with us. When we handle a horse it is important to take their gestures into consideration.

Horses “live what they learn and learn what they live,” said the late Ray Hunt. It means that a horse will accept what he is taught and if it is consistent he will develop life habits. It also means that much of what a horse learns does not come from a trainer but from basic, everyday handling.

Making the Broke Horse

By Lindsay Grice - Broke. Finished. Made. The term for a horse with all the kinks ironed out differs across disciplines, but the concept is the same. This is an educated horse who knows his job. This is an experienced horse; he’s had his education tested out in various environments.

Karen L. Weslowski, horse-related accidents, equine insurance coverage, horse training concerns, horse care, Occupiers Liability Legislation, horse insurance

For riding coaches and horse trainers, horse-related accidents are often not a matter of “if”, but “when.” Given the dangers associated with equine activities, accidents such as falls are inevitable. Although coaches and trainers should ultimately be focused on offering the very best services possible, they must also be aware of the importance of risk-management and protecting themselves from legal risks.

By Will Clinging - By being aware of our mental outlook, emotional state and physical well being, we can become more aware of our horses. There is a lot more that goes into training a horse than just physical exercises and maneuvers.

Points on Praise for Horses

By Lindsay Grice - You’ll find that in the course of training your horses, you’ll be essentially asking them questions, and making it difficult to make the wrong choice, and easy and pleasurable to make the right choice. The challenge for a horse trainer is to find the perfect balance of pressure and reward for each individual horse.

By Will Clinging - Problem horses are not generally born problem horses; they have been taught to be problem horses! There are certainly a few exceptions but as a rule, they behave they way they do because of the handling they get, or lack of handling as the case may be.

fell pony breed profile, characteristics fell pony, markings fell pony, fell pony hair coat

If history was written on the back of a horse as inscribed at Kentucky’s Horse Park, then the history of Britain and its transportation system was written on the back of a Fell pony. By any definition, these versatile equines have been doing their fair share of heavy lifting for thousands of years.

understanding horse feet, understanding the equine foot, horse anatomy, equine anatomy, will Clinging, understanding horse’s natural instincts

All of these things, tangible and intangible, share a common element: they are stress factors that affect the horse mentally and physically. The horse’s ability to cope with stress will either speed up or slow down the training process.

By Caitlin MacDonald - Many regard the Miniature Horse as an oddity or as a novelty. When a person first encounters a Miniature Horse, he will often exclaim one of two things: “Look at the cute little pony!” or “What do you DO with them?”

horse round pen training, horse penning practices, equine flight instinct, teaching horse ground manners, horse round pen mental awareness

There is much debate about round pens and their use. I believe most of the debate stems from the misuse of the round pen rather than good round penning practices. The round pen is a valuable training tool if used correctly.

Understanding Processed Feeds for Horses

By Kentucky Equine Research - In the world of feeds and feeding, processing has become a dirty word among horsemen. The impression that any type of processing is counterproductive, detrimental, or ill-advised is a disturbing trend.

horse fencing, installing electric horse fencing, finishing horse fence, choosing electrical fence, setting electrical fence tension

Your fencing project is ready to be finished off with the fabricating material. This can be done with traditional wood rails, but popular options these days are tensioned materials such as polymer coated wire, vinyl rail, wire mesh, or electric due to their low maintenance requirements, ease of installation, and economical cost. One thing these products have in common is the need to be installed and tensioned properly in order to be both safe and effective.

John Ferris, ferris fencing, planning fencing horses, farm fences, horse paddock planning

The containment of your horse is a very important and serious business, and doing the job right the first time is worth every bit of effort and expense you lay out. When planning your fencing project, try to eliminate as many potential problems as possible and keep the safety of the horse uppermost in mind.

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