Trainer’s Corner: Do a Pre-Ride Safety Check

Safety Check
Correctly fitting protective headgear is always a good idea for safety while riding.

Pay Attention to Four Crucial Areas It was an ordinary late summer day—dry and warm, the perfect moment to be on horseback. We had been riding daily since mid June and had led almost 1000 kids, ages 8 to 10, out on trail rides. Most of them were first-time riders, …

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Trainer’s Corner: What to Do When Your Horse is Wrong

Horse is Wrong
Photo Courtesy Anna Blake

Affirmative Training Shapes Behavior It started the way it usually starts. Either the horse looked to the side or the rider pulled on her horse’s face. It’s the fundamental disagreement; the rider thinks it’s her right to control the horse and the horse doesn’t like having metal jammed on his …

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Trainer’s Corner: My Journey with “Journey” the Mustang – Part 4

Matt and Journey the Mustang. Photo Courtesy Alayne Blickle.

Competition Day and Beyond At the end of our last article, I’d been out of town judging shows and wishing I had more time to prepare my mustang, Journey, for the upcoming Mustang Mania Trainers Challenge (see the July/August issue). These mustang competitions demand a solid, trusting relationship between horse …

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Trainer’s Corner: My journey with “Journey” the Mustang – Part 3

journey
Matt and Journey the Mustang. Photo Courtesy Alayne Blickle

Competitions and Opportunities Highlight Mustangs’ Qualities At the end of the last article, I’d finally saddled Journey, my formerly wild mustang who I was preparing for a 90-day competition, with a full-sized saddle after starting him with a kid’s saddle. Then life happened, and I had to be gone for …

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Trainer’s Corner: My Journey with “Journey” the Mustang – Part 2

Journey on Arrival. Photo Courtesy Matt Livengood

From BLM Holding to Accepting a Saddle In my first article in this series, I introduced you to Journey, my 4-year-old (formerly) wild mustang. I chose him by looking through photos of available mustangs for a 90-day mustang competition where competitors gentle and then ride wild horses. I brought Journey …

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Trainer’s Corner: My Journey with “Journey” the Mustang – Part 1

Matt and Journey. Photo courtesy Matt Livengood.

What is a Mustang? Mustangs are the wild horses of the American West. When most people think of wild horses, they think of stallions rearing and fighting with a band of mares and foals watching intently. Or maybe they think mustangs are a thing of the past—those great herds of …

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Trainer’s Corner: Seeking Unity

Unity
Photo Courtesy Kim Roe

Step One: Say Hello “We are taught to watch or feel for external changes in the horses we work with but pay little attention to the internal changes. Even when we do look for internal changes in the horse, we often are paying little attention to what is going on …

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Trainer’s Corner: How to Ride a Good Circle

Trainer's Corner: How to Ride a Good Circle
Ideally, a ranch horse will travel with forward movement, ridden with light contact on a relatively loose rein. Image Courtesy Matt Livengood.

Ranch Riding Exercises for Connecting with Your Horse Ranch Riding competitions promote the athletic ability and versatility of a ranch-style horse. As both a judge and a trainer/clinician I’m going to give you a few tips that will help you develop your horse’s ability to work at a forward, working …

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Trainer’s Corner: Prioritizing Balance

Photo Credit: Carrie Harrison

(Photo Caption: Zadiba, a Lusitano gelding owned, trained, and ridden by Cody Harrison, performs shoulder-in with good balance and in self-carriage.) With Balance, Your Horse Can Confidently Fulfill Almost Any Request One of the most fundamental components of training a horse needs to develop is correct balance. If the balance …

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Take Julie Goodnight’s Quiz to Learn your Horse’s Skill Set for Training

Find a Horse’s Present Skills to Set the Right Training Goals for the Future SALIDA, Colorado, May 26, 2022—It’s hard to know where you’re going without knowing where you’ve been—and where you are right now⁠. Nothing is more true when it comes to training horses. Julie Goodnight developed a revealing …

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