Training Tips:

1. Spend undemanding time with your horse. The most important game you will play!

2. There are only three parts to the language with the horse: Friendly, steady pressure and rhythmic pressure.

3. The respect and partnership begins from the moment you catch them. Get permission to approach, touch them in their favorite spots, and take a moment to say hi. When putting the halter on ask for them to drop the head into the halter. If they ‘give’ you their head they are saying it’s ok to catch me and put the halter on. Small things lead to bigger things. Showing your horse the courtesy and respect will reap rewards for you later.

4. Protect your herd of two. You are your horse’s fearless leader. It is your responsibility to keep other horses out of your horse’s space. You provide the safety, comfort and play for your horse.

5. Don’t move your feet – unless you absolutely have to in order to win. Do not allow your horse to move your feet – who moves who is the winner and every horse plays this game!

6. Be your horses fearless leader, become the alpha horse.

7. Be VERY consistent – know what you want and how you want it. Always ask for it the same way every time!!

8. Horses are easy to train! Make the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy!

9. Learn how to use the tools and how to read your horses thoughts – for you to be his leader you have to know what he is going to do before he does!

10. In order to work out a partnership you need to have a language, you need to build on this language. You must have respect and equal communication. Learn to respect your horses as much as you demand respect from your horse

1. Natural Horsemanship can be learned by horse lovers of all ages. There is no magical age at which to begin. An understanding of the natural behaviour of horses is all that is necessary to begin.

2. Patience and persistence – Leaders do not lose their patience. Unlimited patience and persistence will earn your horses trust and respect. Use a soft touch and a ton of patience and understanding. When things go wrong or your horse gets confused, slow down and keep it friendly. A horse can only have dignity if he is confident, curious and sensitive

3. Learn to turn frustration into fascination. When something is going wrong – break it down, analyse it and then recombine.

4. How does the hierarchy of the herd operate? Who is the Alpha horse of the herd? When one underling steps out of bounds with a dominant horse, how does that dominant horse react or act? How does your own horse behave in the pasture with other horses? Is it the dominant one or is it submissive? Having this knowledge will help establish the framework for your training with your own horses.

5. Learn to be firm with a horse like a horse is with another horse, but without the horse hating you for it. If your phases are correct the horse will understand because you spoke his language.

1. Natural Horsemanship - Is the art of training, riding and working with horses in a manner which works WITH the horse's behaviour, instincts and personality.

2. Learn to read your horse: are they right brain (fearful and unconfident – needs consistency when training) or are they left brain (confident and dominant needs variety when training) Understand your horse’s thresholds; know when your horse reaches a threshold. Stop read the intensity, retreat, approach, and retreat as necessary.

3. Allow your horse to make a mistake – then correct. They need to work out what it is that they did (or didn’t do) If you ‘nag’ them they will never learn what or why something they are doing is wrong.

4. Be firm and assertive but never angry or aggressive. Always use phases to firmness – Ask – Tell – Promise – Deliver

5. Apply pressure to motivate and release to teach. Reward the slightest try no mater what.

6. If a horse can respond to a fly landing on him then try not to use more than that amount of subtle pressure to get a response at the start – see how little it takes to get what you desire. If you need to increase the pressure until you get a response BUT always start back as light as you can! It will amaze you as to how light and responsive a horse can get!!

7. The horse will give you the answers and they will question you to see if you are sure or not. So you need to give them confidence as well as a purpose and meaning behind everything you ask them to do and this will make a BIG difference in your communication.

8. As you work with your horse, see how much of this is your horse’s idea or how much if it is all your idea and if the horse is forced into it. If they are not forced into it you will see a great willing attitude in the horse, if they are forced you could see a flare up or just a very poor and slow performance.

9. Adjust to fit the situation! (Ray Hunt) Horses have no concept of time and tasks to be performed like we do. I have found this one statement help me with all horses in all situations. You must deal with what is being presented to you at that moment – even if that is not what you wanted to ‘work’ on.

10. If the horseman is alert, aware and in a learning frame of mind, the horse can be the same! The more you deal with your problems, and the more determined you are to get something done and the more interesting it is for you to work at it – Naturally the more you will learn to respect and understand the horse and the more the horse will share your enthusiasm in whatever it is that you ask them to do.

1. There are a number of renowned trainers who practice the art of Natural Horsemanship; John Lyons, Pat Parelli, Buck Brannaman, Tom Dorrance, Linda Tellington-Jones, Monty Roberts and others. Each one of these trainers has their own style and practices. However, all practice within the same parameters. You can learn something from every one of these trainers and I encourage you to do so!

2. Learn to be specific; a specific question should equal a specific answer. A general question will only get a general answer. The horse will only be as good as you ask of them.

3. Learn to ride for a response, it starts with the nose and ends with the feet.

4. The strongest lead rope is in the horses mind. Learn to get the respect from the horse, once they respect you they will follow your guidance anywhere.

5. The bridle is not to be used for more control. It is to be used for more clarity.

6. A key to working for higher levels of refinement in any discipline is to not ask for more than the horse is willing to give. You need to work on getting the horse to want to give more. You cannot make or force this to happen without losing the heart and try in your horse.

7. If the rider is alert, aware and in a learning frame of mind, the horse can be the same.

8. The more you deal with your problems, the more determined you are to get something done and the more interesting it is for you to work at it naturally, the more you’re going to learn to respect and understand the horse. It is up to the individual.

9. The horse can do anything you want him to. Horses can also do this to the best of their ability. You just need to be determined enough and put the time into communicating your wishes.

10. In your own mind you must have a picture of what you want from the horse, because you are the leader and you are asking them to follow you. It is like dancing with your horse on the ground or riding, you want your body to and his body to become one.

1. The rider needs to learn to make a lot of adjustments so that the horse can understand. If they do not understand something try asking the ‘question’ different.

2. Don’t focus on what the horse is doing wrong. The rider / handler will usually end up scolding the horse frequently rather than focusing on teaching the horse what is right. The horse just becomes afraid of doing the wrong thing and the problem will lead to more problems.

3. To fix problems people always look for more equipment and fast solutions. If you look to teaching the horse new ways of rounding, rating speed, softening the mouth etc the horse will have a positive solution that will be fun for both rider and horse. Figure out a behaviour you would like the horse to learn rather than focusing on what you don’t want them doing. You will only need simple equipment and consistency in your training to see great progress.


4. When tackling ‘problems’ do them in order of importance; your number one priority should be safety; yours and the horses. The second priority is to control the direction of movement – get them to move the feet, consistently and in the direction you want them to go. The third step is to control the speed and direction of the horse. The forth step is control / or monitor the elevation of the head (a low head is a horse that is relaxed and thinking). This is applicable to round penning, ground work, leading a horse, and riding a horse.

5. For a horse that tosses the head, speeds up at each gait, and does not stop well a great exercise is to work on asking for a bend with one rein until the elevation of the horses head drops (thinking and softening at this time). Each time the horse speeds up, tosses the head etc you bend until they are soft. You may end up going into a small circle or a serpentine manoeuvre that is fine, rather than force a horse to do what you want we want them to have the same idea as yours…pretty soon they will realize that the behaviour that they are doing means they have to work a little harder i.e. bending. Pretty soon they will take on the responsibility of trotting slow, hold the head nice and will stop much better with two reins. A tip for success with this is to change directions each time you ask for the bend and ride on a loose rein so that the asking for bend is a very obvious consequence for the action. This may take a few rides to sort out but it has a profound effect on the horse – you are giving them a choice. After some work you will be able to pick up the inside rein on the rail and they will soften and slow down immediately – you will have a ‘relax and soften’ cue. The horse does not want to do a small circle every time they speed up or toss their head etc. With consistency and patience you will cure many behaviours you do not want. I have done this with a full cheek snaffle, loose rind snaffle and a rope halter. Personally I found the full cheek to work the best but they all worked.

1. Remember when you want to correct a horses behaviour there is no such concept as punishment to the horse. In the herd, if a horse is yielded out of his space by another horse, he doesn't go away and stew on this for 10-15 minutes and come back mad and kick the other horse. If a horse is bitten by another horse he doesn't go get a group of his friends and come back to "teach the other horse a lesson". This is a human thing, we do this - horses don't! If there's going to be a confrontation, it's immediate and going to happen at the moment of conflict. Learn to correct behaviours quickly and effectively without being angry.

2. The horse doesn't understand speech, but does read body language better than we ever will. Make sure you are very aware of what your body language is telling your horse. Your horse picks up on your attitude. If you are having a bad day you are probably sending a message to your horse through your posture, tone of voice, movement, etc. Your anger, whether inwardly or outwardly expressed - will be picked up by your horse.

3. If the horse isn't responding to an aid or cue it's likely the rider's or handler’s fault. How can you correct a horse for something you do wrong? Or doing what you asked - even inadvertently? Learn to watch what your body is doing. Your horse will appreciate the openness in your communication. Take time out to work out what went wrong with your cue and ask the question differently. The horse will tell you where he is at mentally. Learn to work with them on their level. Work him with things he understands.

4. The more horses you can work with, the more horses you can be around, and the more different people you can watch and see things happen, the more you will learn. You can learn something from anyone even if it is to be sure that’s not the way you want to do it.

5. Make sure there is purpose and a meaning behind everything you ask your horse to do. Encourage their mind to be involved, they love to have a job to do and to have responsibilities. Horses are living breathing beings and appreciate that you give them a chance to think for themselves. Let them work out a situation or cue – don’t force it. Before you know it whenever you ask them something it becomes their idea to try hard and figure out what you want, this is when you have a partnership.

1. The horse will not learn to be particular unless the rider or handler is particular. Make sure your cues are consistent and you know what you are looking for.

2. Feel is an important concept to master when owning, riding or training a horse. You need to learn to distinguish when your horse has responded and how to reward this. A ‘feel’ means you have the ability to tell when a change has happened with the horse, and then adjust and reward the horse accordingly. Feel can be difficult to learn to recognize but persevere the results are worth it. You want to do as little as possible but as much as it takes to get a response - so always start with what you want to end up with – use as little pressure as you can then amplify until you get a try. When you feel the try – stop asking. The horse will then try harder and harder for you and the cues will become less and less.

3. If you have problems working something out with your horse such as side passing or opening a gate which takes many cues – if you feel the horse is giving you to many answers minimize the question. For example, they walk to far forward – fix that, then ask to side pass again, if they back up to much get them forward and then start over. It can look seamless if you have your feel and timing right, but it is the pause in cues that you are giving that rewards the horse for answering your commands. This will prevent them from getting over excited and giving you 40 answers for one question…

4. Try to ride black and white. When you give half hearted signals the horse does not know what you want and even if they do and don’t respond they learn that they can evade your cues more and more. If I want a stop I use my phases but by the 4th phase (ask, tell promise – deliver) that horse HAS stopped, cantered, backed up whatever I was looking for. If you are very grey in what you ask the horse may start ‘filling in’ they may think they know what you want and offer you something totally different then you asked…most often people get mad or upset when the horse does this. If you take on the responsibility to give out very clear cues and communicate effectively you will not have this problem.

5. There are a series of rules that you must apply with everything you do with your horse. First is the safety of you and the horse, the next is to control the direction of the horse’s movement and the third is to control the speed. All other refinement such as rounding and collection cannot be achieved until these three things have been met. I see a lot of people very heavy on the horse’s mouth trying to slow them down and make them round at the same time. All that occurs is a brace in the horses mind and body. Using horse psychology try to think of how you can cause the horse to slow down or ‘self regulate speed’. If the horse is going to fast don’t pull back – circle. The circles can be small or large, or turn it into a cloverleaf pattern until that horse slows down then go back to straight lines. Eventually the horse will regulate their speed and know it is their responsibility to maintain control mentally and physically. Once the horse accepts this responsibility it becomes very easy to train them for far higher levels of performance. This process takes time but you will no longer need a bigger bit or stronger arms to ‘control’ your horse.

Key points on Horse Behaviour

1. Horse behavior is best understood from the perspective that horses are prey animals with a well-developed fight-or-flight instinct. Their first response to a threat is to flee, although they are known to stand their ground and defend themselves or their offspring in cases where flight is not possible, such as when a foal would be threatened.

2. Horses are highly social herd animals that prefer to live in a group. Like all creatures, equine social behavior developed to help the species survive.

3. Being "herd-bound" occurs while a horse is being separated from the herd and this is usually while being handled by a human. Through proper training, horses can learn to be comfortable away from other horses, often because they learn to trust a human handler, essentially ranking humans as a dominant member of a "herd." It then becomes a herd of two.

4. Survival dictates that the herd members ultimately cooperate and stick together. As with many animals that live in large groups, establishment of a stable hierarchy or "pecking order" is important to smooth group functioning.

5. The leader of a wild or feral herd is the alpha or dominant mare, commonly known as the "boss mare" or "lead mare." She is usually one of the more mature animals, responsible for the overall safety of the herd, familiar with the terrain and resources available. She takes the lead when the herd travels, determines the best route, when to move from one place to another, and claims the right to drink first from watering holes and stake out the best location for grazing. This is who we want to learn from – this is our role model.

6. Horses communicate in various ways, including vocalizations such as nickering, squealing or whinnying; touch, through mutual grooming or nuzzling; smell; and body language. Body language is the predominant means of communication. Horses use ear position, neck and head height, movement, and foot stomping or tail swishing to communicate with each other. Discipline is also maintained in the herd first through body language and gestures, then, if needed, through physical contact such as biting, kicking, nudging, or other means of forcing a misbehaving herd member to move. In most cases, the animal that successfully causes another to move is dominant, whether is uses just body language or adds physical means.

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