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Approaching from Behind
My new three-year-old Dutch Warmblood True cross-ties well in the barn and likes to be groomed. But even after a few weeks, he’s still nervous about his position. Which, I must admit, is not ideal....
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Names of Fame
There are a lot of crazy horse names in this world and racehorses, for some reason, seem to have a monopoly on some of the strangest. There is a good chance that the most noted one is Hoof Hearted. No...
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Pick Up Those Feet
As long as it’s a calm day at the barn, my three-year-old Dutch Warmblood True naps through most of his grooming, eyes half shut while I brush. But lifting the feet is a common problem in young...
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Ask the Ethologist: Do Horses Have the Capacity to Show Off for Humans?
Question: I read in one of your interviews that horses don’t have the capacity to show off. But they do have a capacity for fear. Can you talk a little more about that difference, and how we know they...
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The Crupper, the Cribber and the Canter
I became familiar with the crupper when I was five because my fiendish pony Winsome needed one. She also required side reins as I lacked the necessary power to prevent her from eating grass instead of...
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The Discovery Ride
As you can see from my Horse Network posts so far, new baby horses offer a million details to consider. We’ve talked about catching, tying, settling in, approaching from behind, and lifting feet. And...
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The Myth of the Moody Mare
You’ve probably heard the phrases: “she’s just being moody,” “that’s classic mare behavior,” “you caught her on one of those days.” They’re typically used to explain unwanted behaviors in mares, such...
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Pains, Sprains and Other Curious Names
Some of the names given to common blemishes and limb ailments our horses acquire due to wear and tear, conformation faults and/or hereditary misfortune are odd, as is everything in the horse world. We...
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The Free Burn
Spring. It’s been windy here, and my Dutch Warmblood True is presently in a small paddock while the spring grass gets a good healthy start. What this means in three-year-old horse language is that he...
View ArticleCan You Spot the Signs of Dental Pain in Your Horse?
Horses are stoic animals, especially when it comes to dental pain. They often show us only minor signs of discomfort, which can quite commonly show up as behavioral problems. For example, one horse...
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The Single Most Important Thing You Can Do to Improve Your Riding
It’s a universally accepted truth that every equestrian wants to improve their riding. We all want to feel confident in the saddle, have a horse that responds to our aids and to enjoy our relationship...
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The #HorseWordNerd Writing Process
Last week I wrote about the hocks and subsequent ailments thereof. Whilst researching the words I came across a passage from Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew in which he lists several horse-related...
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Spring Play
I wasn’t sure what to write about today. The topics are endless, and my three-year-old Warmblood True throws something new into the mix at almost every ride. This morning while we were working, he...
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Can Horses Experience ‘Flow’?
Intrinsic motivation is an ongoing discussion within the horse training community, particularly among positive reinforcement-based trainers. The idea that horses can experience intrinsic motivations...
View Article3 Exercises for Better Balance Over Jumps with Kyle Gambino
One of the most important things that I have learned as a trainer and competitor is that success in the sport really comes down to strong flatwork. As competitors, not just riders, we need to be able...
View ArticleWhat is Setoning?
This week I’ll do away with discussing my higgledy-piggledy process of how these posts are created and focus, instead, on this setoning business I discovered last week. The word seton stems from the...
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Canter Balance
Last week, I promised to explain the importance of canter balance in training young horses. Imagine throwing 10 to 15% of your body weight up on top of your shoulders. If you weigh 150 pounds, that...
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How FLAIR® Equine Nasal Strips Work
Listen to the rhythmic breathing of a horse at the canter or feel the heaving sides of a horse blowing after a heavy work out and you’ll have a sense of the vast quantities of air that moves through...
View ArticleShakespeare’s Hay Day
Never in a million years would I have thought I would voluntarily take on a Shakespeare quote to decode. Yet here I am, several decades from the perils of high school English doing just that. This...
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Too Busy to Ride?
Whew! There was a moment just before the release of Horse Brain, Human Brain when I thought my work on the book was done. Instead, it was released three weeks early during the worldwide covid-19...
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