There is a lot of debate about when is the right time to start a horse. I will talk about my personal opinion, but I recognize that other people have different views. The following “schedule” is mine, for an ideal world. Not everyone would send their horse this young for training. Horses are usually fully … Read More Read More The post When Should I Start a Horse? appeared first on Eclectic Horsemanship ..read more

We all get into ruts sometimes. If you are bored of riding the perimeter of the arena, here are some serpentine exercises to keep time in the arena interesting and progressive. These serpentine exercises will especially help horses who are rushy, anxious, and who have trouble with lope transitions. For the sake of description I … Read More Read More The post Serpentine Exercises appeared first on Eclectic Horsemanship ..read more

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It might not seem like a big deal, but having your horse stand still and wait is extremely important, especially while you are mounting. If every time you are half mounted they walk off, even if you stop them when you’re half mounted, it can lead to a bigger problem like an eventual runaway. Before … Read More Read More The post Mounting Solutions appeared first on Eclectic Horsemanship ..read more

This post will list and describe some some signs of relaxation and stress. It is important to know what signs to look for in our horses so we know when to take stimuli away if we are desensitizing them, or even just to know how they are feeling. Two, three or more of these signs … Read More Read More The post Signs of Relaxation and Stress appeared first on Eclectic Horsemanship ..read more

A stereotypy is a repeated action that seems to have no purpose. Stable vices are stereotypies. Vices develop from the horse being stressed, usually because of boredom, lack of exercise, being confined to a stall, or other possible explanations. Below is a list of common stable vices, and brief descriptions of what they look like. … Read More Read More The post Stable Vices appeared first on Eclectic Horsemanship ..read more

It can be hard to know whether you are on the correct diagonal when you first start riding. It’s important to know the footfall of the horse so you know exactly which diagonal is moving when. When you are on the correct diagonal you are posting when the outside front leg and inside hind leg … Read More Read More The post Are You on the Correct Diagonal? appeared first on Eclectic Horsemanship ..read more

Horses have five gaits; walk, jog, lope, gallop, and back up. Of course gaited horses may vary from this, but this post will only discuss the footfall of non gaited horses. It is important to know where and what our horses feet are doing so we can time things such as lope transitions and do … Read More Read More The post Footfall of Gaits appeared first on Eclectic Horsemanship ..read more

Bridling is a problem that a lot of horses have. Maybe they throw their head up to avoid the bit, back up, or block you. Sometimes it’s because they are head shy, meaning they don’t want to be touched on the head or face for a number of reasons. In a case like that you … Read More Read More The post Bridling Solutions appeared first on Eclectic Horsemanship ..read more

Nearly everything we do with our horses in some way or another is desensitization; because they are prey animals, they are naturally wary of everything. So we have to train (desensitize) them to do the things we need them to do. We use desensitization to get an array of different results, from accepting a saddle … Read More Read More The post Methods of Desensitization appeared first on Eclectic Horsemanship ..read more