Hai friends! Today I'm going to talk about how I train my horses! Here's a little bit about me and my horse background.

I've been riding for 12 years, competed in XC, Dressage, and Hunter Jumper for 8 years. I did a few national level shows but mainly stuck to state or local. I have a few months of western pleasure training under my belt, and some working equitation. I currently ride and volunteer at my barn which does western and hunt seat. I am training 4 horses with them, two from start and two I am working on foundational work they were never taught.

I've trained a few dozen horses now, some from start, some just finished. My best work is a mare who was Sired by a Olympic Dressage Stallion over in Denmark and came to the states at 3 years old, and with my trainer we shaped her into a great dressage horse! <3 I miss her! shes competing with her owner down in Florida now :D

I'm a very firm believer in horse first training and riding and taking your time with everything. A rushed horse is a messy horse with issues. Foundations are key!

Me and my first horse who I rode for about 6 years and competed with! Chance was a TB AQH cross! he was started as a barrel racer and we retrained him for XC!

My western pleasure and dressage project the barns OTTB Moose! He's a very smart and hardworking horse :D

(I love chestnuts as you can tell XD)

I use a combination of treat/clicker training, natural horsemanship, and common sense! No one technique will work for any horse, I find combining different methods creates a well rounded horse.

>Patience!!!! This is a slow process and you need to be consistent for it to stick, and keep practicing the basics! Before every ride even years into working with a horse I will practice basics before I get on or try new groundwork! It gives a seasoned horse easy wins to build confidence and a new horse consistency and routine!

>Treats of varying value! high value treats for new things, low value for things you've practiced so they don't get too fat XD

>gear i.e. Lead line, halter (ALWAYS USE A BREAKAWAY HALTER!!), poles, barrels, anything new you want to introduce them to

The first things you need to train your horse to do;

-lowering head for halter

-walking quietly beside you

-stopping when asked

-backing up when asked

-moving when asked

-yielding to pressure 

-knowing their 3 buttons

-standing quietly

-tying and ground tying

-recall

These are the very important foundations you need before you do ANYTHING else. 

Standing! This is the MOST important skill a horse can have in my opinion, if you can help your horse stand quietly you open the door for so much more! It also helps keep them and you safe and prevent accidents! especially if the horse is around kids they MUST know how to stand quietly. One accidental step can end in a pissed off parent threatening to sue because her dumb kid decided to stand directly under the horse.

Ryan Rose Horsemanship on youtube has amazing videos showing how he trains horses. His methods are firm but kind to the horse and put horse and safety first!

I use an identical training method to him for teaching a horse to stand quietly and ground tie!

Using poles and obstacles to force a horse to slow down and think about standing still really helps them I also try to make moving when not asked "uncomfortable" by lifting up on the lead and making them back up or do lateral movement left and right for a minute. They quickly learn standing still = treats and moving when not asked = spin in a circle for a minute and do extra hard work.

Always try this out in an arena first or a closed barn if you're practicing standing in the aisle!!

Moose picked it up in about three days and now we are onto ground tying which he is picking up fast, it's as simple as reward when still and spin when they take a few steps. 

Horses yield to pressure pretty easily if you establish you're the one in charge and all you need to do for that is be firm and continue to ask and apply pressure until they yield, then simply release and reward. They naturally drive each other in the heard as the heard leader will apply pressure with their body language to ask a horse to move, humans can do that too. All I do is put my arms out to look larger, move behind the drive line, click my tongue, and if they don't yield I may swing the rope a bit or give them a tap with the rope. Most horses, even green ones yield to this pretty easily as you're speaking in a language they understand.

Always accompany everything you train with a verbal command, horses can learn words and tones! I use low tones for slowing queues and high tones for movement queues, the difference helps create a clear command that a horse wont misinterpret. This is really important to take into account bc if your horse tries something and is wrong, do not PUNISH your horse. many times they are figuring out what you are asking. Simply move, rotate and reset them to try again, and reward the behavior you want quickly as possible. Hence why I like a clicker, as once they are trained to it, they know it means what they did is right. it's a lot clearer and quicker than saying "good" or giving a treat (sometimes they get stuck in my pouch ok!)

These basic, reward and 'extra work' principles can be applied to just about anything you try to teach a horse. Want them to walk nice but they keep over taking you? make them stop back up and spin for a bit. Tell them to halt, reward for a quiet stand and ask to walk. Repeat until they realize slowing down is their only option to getting where they want to go.

The use of obstacles like poles also can force a horse to slow down when walking with you and reward them for slow careful steps.

I'll have more to add on our buttons, yielding, and haltering soon! I want to get some footage of me teaching moose to leg yield bc turns out no one ever taught him it seem! I'm finding out he knows some things but not other basic things (i.e. he has no recall, no tying, and used to wiggle like crazy when being saddled or brushed)