I grew up on a dairy farm in the 1960’s. We milked about 100 cows which was quite a big herd in those days. When I was eleven years old, one of my jobs after school was to feed the calves. There were about 20 calves fed by hand from the time they were a … Read more
Over the years, I’ve always read everything I could lay my hands on about horses and horse training. Many authors make horse training sound very complicated. Sometimes I can’t make head nor tail of the complicated explanations of how and why horses do certain things. Countless books and articles talk in depth about the anatomy … Read more
One way to communicate with your horse is to apply pleasantness or withdraw pleasantness. Another way to communicate with your horse is to apply pressure or relieve pressure. When you think about it realistically, these are the only tools we have and the only tools we need, for every training situation. When you use these … Read more
My pet aversion is seeing people chase horses backwards on the ground. The last thing I want any horse to do is move backwards away from me to relieve pressure. Everything you ever want to do with your horse relies on moving forward, not backwards. You must have forward movement to control your horse. Forcing … Read more
Everyone wants to be able to lead their horse calmly alongside. Nobody wants their horse to hang back or rush in front or pull away or run over the top of them. Some trainers say humans have a bubble around them that horses aren’t allowed into. Last time I looked, I didn’t have a bubble … Read more
One of my mates lives in a semi-rural area on the outskirts of Sydney. On a recent visit, my wife and I took a walk around the block from where he lives. The land is split into hobby farms between two and five acres in size. During our two kilometre (1.2 mile) walk, I counted … Read more
If you want to handle horses, you must have good facilities. Horses can always find 100 different ways to injure themselves. If your fences and yards aren’t up to scratch, you can bet your horse will find a way to cut himself or become tangled in something. I’ve seen horse studs spend millions of dollars … Read more
Catching horses has absolutely nothing to do with horse herds, pecking orders, respect or domination. Everyone must remember that it’s not a competition when you go to the paddock to catch your horse. Horses know nothing about winning or losing. Some horses learn to run away when they see someone coming to catch them. This … Read more
Lots of trainers use a forty foot round yard for all their horse training. The main idea seems to be for the trainer to chase the horse around the fence until the horse is tired (and sometimes exhausted). In a round yard, every horse’s natural reaction is to run around the fence when he’s chased. … Read more
When someone has problems with an older horse, they often ask me if they can ‘re-start’ him. I’ve had lots of people say, ‘Can’t I just go back to the beginning and start him all over again?’ Sadly, the answer is no. Unfortunately, no-one can erase a horse’s memory. You can’t tell any horse to … Read more