I changed the format! I want to thank the first 8,500 Readers who helped make this blog very successful in the short time we’ve been on the web. Thank you kindly to everyone!
I also added a new section: Horse Industry Business. Now you can ask me questions about your horse business, from marketing, advertising, promotion and publicity and web applications.
Are you struggling with training your horse? Wondering what feeds work best? Ask specific questions to a panel of top Trainers, Practitioners and Clinicians on training, general care, feed and nutrition. Click on this title and leave us a reply/question, or go to Horseman’s U.com and use the email link on the right hand side. We look forward to hearing from you!
April Reeves, Clinician, Instructor, Trainer – Level 3 English: Flat/Dressage/Hunter/Jumper, Level 3 Western: Flat/Reining – visit ‘About April’ to learn more.
To view Video On Demand go to Video: Horseman’s U.com, where you’ll find clips from Pro Trainers DVD’s, ‘juicy’ training information, interviews with top Clinicians and more!
“Wow, what an amazing response. I learned so much. Thank you.” Ken Zelez
Visit April Reeves Horse Training Chronicles Real People. Real Life.
These are true account experiences on training in the real world - a valuable opportunity for you to take away training tips and techniques for your next colt.
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Question: How long does it take to get visitors and what is the difference between sites and blogs?
It will take time for your new website to build a visitor (traffic) base. No website gets instant recognition and numbers, even if you submit the site to the Search Engines (see below) and post (add stuff) daily. Expect to take 6 months before you see any substantial visitor numbers coming in (see below).
Why? Because websites are found by visitors organically at the beginning. That means, visitors come across your site in a keyword search or a link from another site. There are ways to increase traffic fairly quickly, but be prepared to do the work.
Here’s how sites and blogs work:
How do I Get My Horse To Pick Up the Correct Canter Lead Every Time?
Jane Savoie and 'Moshi'
Do you struggle getting your horse to pick up one of his canter leads? If so, here are some tips and exercises to help you with this all too common problem.
The first exercise is done completely in the walk. It’s great rider coordination exercise. You’ll practice positioning your horse alternately for the left lead and then switch to the right lead after
a few strides.
Let’s say you decided to pick up left lead:
Question: Can you give me an outline of one of your typical rides? I just want some kind of idea of what you do with the horse, what you try to do yourself, and how long you took. Oh, also what you were trying to achieve. Thanks, Mandy.
Answer from April Reeves: I will give you a day in the life of a somewhat green Andalusian that is going very nicely (Mya) and has no real issues. She already has 100 days on her. She is not being worked for anything in particular, just as a pleasure and trail horse. This is just Grade 2 foundation work. I will put links in to find the exercises in case you are not familiar with them. The writing is short, more of a guideline.
Groundwork:
- Follow, stop, back, trot off, stop, back, turn sharp, back… Does the horse respond quickly? Obedient? Politely? Groundwork link
- Sending exercise to test if horse is fresh or ready. I will ride right away if the horse feels right. No spooking, must have both eyes on me. I don’t mind the horse having energy. I do mind if the horse is not ‘with me’. 5 minutes or more.
Always teach your horse to move forward obediently
Question: My mare whom I’ve had about 3 yrs, she is 8, was abused, was flipped over because of being backed up aggressively by some asshole trainer, among other things, well when I try to take her down the road, she stops and refuses to go forward when she gets around the corner. I thought it was because she didn’t want to leave my gelding. So we took them both and she still kept stopping. But we did get to the end of the road. So if I take her by herself, she refuses to go forward, she will back up even into shrubs and trees. What should I do?
Answer from April Reeves: I worked on a mare that did exactly the same thing. I’ll explain how I worked with her.
It’s About Moving Forward
First, we addressed the backing up. After taking this mare out for the first time and almost landing in the ditch, we went back home to the outdoor ring and had a lesson on how to move forward the instant I asked. Doing more backing is not the cure for this style of behavior.
Jane Savoie and Moshi
Answer by Jane Savoie: People often ask me to explain the difference between “running” and “lengthenings”. In fact, in this article I’m also going to describe the difference between running, lengthenings, medium gaits, and extended gaits.
1. Running- When you ask your horse to lengthen his strides and frame, and you hear his tempo (the rate of the repetition of the rhythm) get QUICKER, he’s not lengthening. He’s just running.
2. Lengthenings- In a good lengthening, your horse lengthens his stride and frame to the utmost he can at this relatively early stage of training (around 1st Level) WHILE staying in the same rhythm and tempo. He ends up covering more ground with each stride.
Question: A lesson student did not pay for the last 3 lessons. I still have to pay for the instructors. How can I recoup the money? Should I send a legal letter or collection agency after her? Do you think I will benefit by going after her?
Answer from April Reeves: I have a policy and I don’t move from it. People pay me the day they take the lesson, or they prepay for lessons. There are no exceptions.
The problem in the horse industry is that most people are afraid to lose business. Freebies or unpaid services are always going to end up a loss. If you are truly a professional, you get paid for the services you offer, and that attitude transforms into loyal customers.
This bit, in the wrong hands, is abuse
Question: Hello I have an 8 yr. old reg. quarter horse and he is the most wonderful, trustworthy horse ever!. But the problem is throughout training him (since he was 2) I have had problems with his listening to a bit or hackamore. I have everything from a snaffle to a severe curve bit. Same for the hack – I have a hack that has a metal band and a snaffle bit on it and he does listen but I hate it! I feel like it is abuse :(. Im at my wits-end its to the point that I don’t want to ride him sometimes and will pick one of our other horses. I need some new advice if you could help me I would love it. Thank-you
Answer from April Reeves, Horseman’s U.com: You have good gut instincts, as the harder the bit, the tougher the horse is going to be, and some of the equipment you have is abusive, even in light hands. There are very few harsher bits that have any purpose being near a horse, and they must have some result that is acquired without heavy handling.
Horses that do not respond to tougher bits and equipment are not bad or insensitive. They are a result of improper training.
Problem is, humans resort to harder bits because they don’t want to take the time to train the horse properly. The horse just gets use to the pain and pressure, which causes the bit to stop working, so the human seeks a harder bit, and so the evil process proliferates. Some humans don’t care about the horse’s well being either. This is life.
Whenever you get a tough mouthed horse, lower the harshness on the bit – find the softest one on the market and use it. Why? Horses will fight pain. They will become resistant and irritated, and that always plays out in “bad” behavior (human’s interpretation). The behavior is not bad to the horse: he’s just trying to protect himself. When you take the pain away, you give the horse a chance to work for you. A happy horse free of pain is a horse that will work harder, learn faster and bond with you better.
Question: We have a colt pony that is approx. 18 months old. He ran the pasture with our 2 geldings and mare for the last 10 months. He is starting to act like a stud naturally. We plan on gelding him. But in the mean time how do we keep him from getting so hot headed around the mare. We have built a wood fenced area for him because when we pasture him separately he just walks through or jumps the fence to get to the mare.
We tried to pasture him with one of the other geldings and they just constantly bite and harass each other. (they also do this when they are all together) Is this just playing or him trying to be the boss because he is a colt? They remove chunks of hair and skin.
He is becoming hard to handle, throwing his head, pawing the ground and getting pushy.
I know it comes down to training, but I don’t want to do the wrong thing and make him worse. Any advice would be very helpful.
Answer from April Reeves, Horseman’s U.com: Your attempts to alter your colt’s behavior by changing his surroundings and pasture buddies will not work in any way, shape or form.
Colts (uncastrated males) have a deeper sense of ‘being’ in this world than a gelding does, simply because he has hormones that a gelding doesn’t. It’s that simple, yet we humans still try to ‘correct’ these bad and unwanted behaviors as if the horse was able to communicate like a human. They can’t.
Good straight legs
Question: I have a 4-year-old, 17HH Dutch Warmblood mare that’s got an odd angle to her back legs. When she stands, there is a straight line from hip to hock, but then it dives in. I want to use her for jumping, but something tells me (gut instinct) that those back legs may not take the work involved. Everyone at the barn tells me that her legs are big so there is no problem, and that I should be riding her by now. What do you think? Can I breed her?
Also, what exercises can I do to strengthen them without having to go over fences?
Answer from April Reeves: Good instincts. This appearance of a sharp angled hock is called ‘camped out’ or ‘sickle hocked’. If you were to stand the mare so that her back legs had a vertical line from top of hock to bottom of pastern, you would find that line would be pushed out behind the point of the hip. Some sickle hocked horses just stand with their back legs up and under, and some (camped out) stand with their back legs out. Sickle hocked horses tend to have too much angle to their hock joints, while ‘camped out’ back legs sit back from the hip line, with the angle more pronounced through the gaskin.
Question: I had a question about building stalls, I don’t have a huge barn but its a pretty good size so I wanted to know what would be the smallest but safest size stall to build. I have four horses and we just moved and this barn doesn’t have them already built so we were going to but I just don’t want to make them too small. They would only be stalled at night and turned out in the day.
Also I have a four-year-old gelding who has never really been ridden but we’ve had him since he was born and is just as gentle and respectful as he can be. When we get on him he just stands still. I know he just doesn’t know what ‘giddy up’ means yet but how do I teach him that? What about lunging him - how do I get him to go in a circle and not backwards? Thanks
Answer from April Reeves, Horseman’s U.com: In regards to the stalls, the smallest I would put a horse in (under 16 hands high) would be 10 by 10 feet. At 16 hands, 11 by 11 or 12 by 12 (best). A horse must be able to move around in a circle, and when a stall is too small, the horse ends up rotating on his hindquarters. Any repetitive movement to the joints and skeleton will eventually end up in pain and discomfort, leading to an unrideable horse. The horse also is not a cave dweller, so the larger the stall, the better mind you will have on your horse. I’m not an advocate of the tie stall – I think they are cruel. Horses should be able to lie down where they choose and move around.
Question: I have a problem when I tack up my horse, Thea. Bridling she is fine, placing the saddle on her is fine, but doing up the girth is not. She turns around to bite you so I have to either have someone holding her or I have a long rein one side that I can pull on. After the girth is done up she pulls back and does a mini jump in the air. She doesn’t have a sore back and I’m sure her saddle is ok [vet confirmed], I think its just behavior. How can I resolve it?
Answer: Answer from April Reeves, Horseman’s U.com: Good for you Mel – you’ve diagnosed the problem correctly. Most people never get there. Just so you know – the solution is easy.
I have rehabbed hundreds of horses with this problem, and I will tell you that the horse never gets to the place where he’s happy to be cinched up. What we are going to do is to alleviate the discomfort for the horse, get the horse to accept the process with obedience, and learn something new about training horses.
Question: Hi, I have a colt 17 mths, I have recently purchased who is sweet and friendly until it comes to feed time, when he becomes very bad tempered. He barges me out of the way with his shoulder with his ears back, and turns his rear to me and kicks out, he has got me once and it hurt. I am now scared of him, which I know is what he wants. If I smack him with the carrot stick it makes him more angry and he reverses to me to kick. If I keep him on a lead short enough so he can’t reach me I can’t drive him away. I don’t know what to do.
I have rehabbed nervous horses before very successfully but I have never dealt with a dominant confident colt before. He shows these tendencies when I ask him to move away, I think because he has had no education before and doesn’t understand what I am asking.
What should I be expecting of a 17 month old?
Please tell me what I should do. This is usually only round feed time, rest of the time he is sweet and follows me round and is starting to see me as his friend. I have owned him a week. Thanks.
Answer from April Reeves: To start off, what anyone should expect from a 17-month colt is respect and obedience, especially from a colt (uncastrated male) as they have all their hormones and are just about ready to discover them.
Question: I bought a 4yr old tbx gelding 3 months ago and am concerned by his behavior. He was initially very stubborn to lunge (he would rear and refuse to go out on a circle) but I managed to get him going well within a week or two. He was very friendly and easy to handle on the ground. Then I began to ride him (he was only backed at this point). He has been riding really well and learning quickly. I’ve been careful to praise him a lot and have not had much need to scold him. Then suddenly he changed. I rode him and he refused to go forwards, instead cowkicking and bucking whenever I put my leg on. He’s also started to kick out violently when asked to move over in his stable! Out of the stable, he will move over fine! The only changes I have made are bringing him in overnight and feeding him! please help! Im scared of my 17hh youngster!
Answer from April Reeves, Horseman’s U.com: I’ll be honest: this is a problem for a professional that is not scared. From here, it will take a very firm hand, and a very brave heart.
Question: Hi there like you I have a reputation for riding and re-training horses that are deemed dangerous untrainable or non ridable however I have just bought a lovely ex-racehorse who is terrified of life. He has been completely checked over from head to toe and there is nothing physically wrong with him however he trembles if he sees his tack, rears when being bridled and has progressed to rearing and going over with his current rider. I am bringing him home tomorrow and plan on riding him as he was great when I tried him out. He did try to rear but got a good boot and a slap on the bum with my stick and sent fowards and then he went lovely.
I believe he just needs a firm hand but am concerned for his well-being mentally as his tack terrifies him and his rearing has already broken bones of his previous rider.
It would be great if you could give me your insight as to the possible cause of his fears and how you would rectify the situation.
He will not be sold on as I believe he has had a rough enough life, so I expect him to work, and after an initial tantrum was a well behaved, well balanced horse. Thanks for your time.
Answer from April Reeves, Horseman’s U.com: When you get a horse like this, unless you dig and ask questions you will never know the history that made the horse what he is today. On the other hand, does it matter?
read more…
Question: My horse is mean at feeding time. She pins her ears back and lunges at the hay in my hands. Yesterday she bit me. I can’t even put grain in her stall any more without her attacking me. Help.
Answer from April Reeves, Horseman’s U.com: First, let’s understand the psychology behind why a horse reacts this way.
Question: I have a Quarab mare and one main bad habit she has, is that she is herd bound. The people we got her from kept her out in the pasture with 6 other horses all the time and so now she doesn’t like it when I take my miniature horse away. She doesn’t usually care when I separate her from my miniature horse, but she cannot stand me taking my miniature horse away. I have been working with her on it, taking my mini horse away and walking her back and taking her farther and walking back, just so Twinkle (my horse) knows I will bring Sophie (mini horse) back.
We have a fence up and Twinkle is separated from Sophie but they can still talk and see each other. We had to recently put up a hot wire fence as well because Twinkle was leaning on the fence and trying to walk it, getting her legs stuck in the fence, which it is also good because she doesn’t freak out, she waits patiently for us to get her untied. I was wondering if there is any possible way I can get her to stop being herd bound? She is getting better but I still worry about the fence and her getting hurt.
I also have recently started riding her english. I want to be able to do cross-country and show jumping with her and if we work hard enough, possibly learn some dressage techniques. One bad thing, is that the previous owners galloped her a lot, so a lot of times she wants to run, run, run, or she doesn’t listen to my leg commands. If I ask her to trot, she will either burst into a gallop or trot for a second then go faster. I would like for her to be a better horse for English. She can be impatient and doesn’t listen well to “whoa” or only a “walk” or “trot” command. I will be getting a new English bit because the one I have for her does not work, she doesn’t respect it, but I would love for her to be a better well-behaved horse. I wasn’t sure if I could help get her to listen to my commands and whether or not I can train her to only trot when asked.
Is there a way I can train her myself, or is a professional trainer a better idea? We don’t have a lot of money for a professional trainer, but her and I having a great bond through english riding and my dream of jumping to happen.
Answer from April Reeves, Horseman’s U.com: I first want to address the fence issue. No fence should allow a horse to get tangled. Although your horse is quiet about it right now, it’s a matter of time when that changes, and you lose the horse from serious leg injuries. I have a saying, “that horse never died before”.
Question: I’m a little confused about the timing for changing bits. I have been using an O ring snaffle for almost 2 years. My gelding is 5. He knows basic stuff – stop, forward, turns and I can ride him on the road and trails. I may want to show him some day and I know I can’t ride him in a snaffle for western. How do I transition into a harder bit? When do I do that?
Answer from April Reeves: Thanks for the good question. I suspect lots of riders are at this crossroad.
If you never plan to show your horse, I see no real reason to move into any bit with shanks.
Question: Can I use a chain on my horse? When I lead him, he pulls his head down to eat anything on the ground. It’s killing my arms to try and pull him up all the time. He leads with his head on the ground sniffing for food.
Answer from April Reeves: In my world, a chain is a way of saying “I’m not willing to take the time and learn the proper way, so just give me a quick solution”. The other problem with them, is that once the chain comes off, the horse usually reverts back to old behavior. They know the difference. They’re not stupid.
Western draped rein
Question: What are the differences between rein aids in Western and English? I have a western horse that I want to teach English. Will he get confused with the two different styles?
Answer from April Reeves: In my world, there are no differences in the basic rein aids. The only difference is the amount of contact you have, as you move up into higher level disciplines. In the dressage and hunter/jumper world, you have connection (contact, on the bit) with a straight line from bit to elbow, and from ½ to 2 pounds of weight in each hand. As you move into collection, the aids may be the same, but the feel changes.
Question: I have a feeding/nutrition questions regarding a 6 year old Arab gelding. He is out 24/7 and brought in for feedings. His rations this winter was: 1/2 scoop of sweet feed with 2 pounds Triple Crown Safe Starch for breakfast, then they are turned back out where free choice grass/timothy/alfalfa hay. I bring him in to feed in the evenings where he gets 2 more pounds of the Safe Starch with 6-10 alfalfa cubes, and 10-12 dry ounces of rice bran which I then moisten, a capful of soy oil (for the omega threes), and cup (8 oz exactly) of sweet feed mixed together. Once I am done with him he is turned back out for more hay.
Question: Can you integrate Natural Horsemanship into jumper training? I read your dressage article on blending them, but I have an 8 yr old hunter – Dutch Warmblood – thoroughbred cross mare who continues to spook at fences at shows. She’s not what you would call hot, but has lots of get-up-and-go. What Natural Horsemanship exercises or training can I start on to get my mare less spooky with more even tempo? I have tried all the traditional methods with little to no success. She also tends to walk over me too when I lead her. Thank you April.
Answer from April Reeves: Of course you can integrate NH into your program! In fact, hunter/jumper is one area of traditional training that really gets a boost and solid foundation from NH. All my H/J students go through this basic foundation before advancing into fence work. There is no technique or method in particular that works with hunter/jumpers better than dressage horses: the methods are universal to all disciplines.
Question: My horse breaks into the canter from the trot all the time. Why would she do this and how can I keep her in the trot? I ride hunt seat and flat – English. I have tried to bring her back to the trot but she just keeps breaking.
Answer from April Reeves: While you can simply continue to ask the horse to go back to the trot, this will not solve the problem, as you are only compensating for an underlying problem. It’s like taking drugs when your stomach hurts. Just find out what caused the painful stomach!
Several causes could be:
Blue cobalt salt block
Question: When we went to buy my new horse a salt block there were so many choices! I was told the brown one was best, then a customer in the store told me to buy the red one, so I didn’t buy anything! And they have blue and white ones too!! Help! Are the colors poisonous?
Answer from April Reeves: In my opinion, the perfect salt block for horses does not exist yet (hint to equine feed manufacturers – form one from sea salt please).
Question: What’s the difference between Hunter Under Saddle class and a Hunter Pleasure class? I have a nice half thoroughbred that I want to show in hunter flat classes but I’m not sure which she may be best suited for.
Answer from April Reeves: Let’s start with Hunter-Under-Saddle (HUS). This class is judged primarily on the horse’s way of going (movement), type or conformation, and last their manners.
Question: My coach wants me to smack my horse when he misbehaves. He is starting to get bucky and wants to run now. She says I don’t smack him hard enough or at the right time. Yesterday when I used the crop, he shot a hind leg out and kicked the side of the arena, breaking the wall and hurting his leg. What is your opinion of this? It doesn’t feel right to me but I pay for these lessons and feel I should take the advice.
Answer from April Reeves: I need to know what you are hitting him for.
Question: Sorry, he drops his head down to the ground too far. Sometimes he gets resistant and won’t move forward very well. He trots slow and lifts himself to buck now. He also takes hold of the bit and I have no feeling of his mouth, so he goes where he wants.
Cowboy and April - The first groundwork day.
Question: How much is too much in regards to training? How often should you continue to ask a horse to do something before the horse gets fed up and quits or becomes anxious? We have a “trainer” (I say this lightly) at our barn who does the same maneuvers over and over again for up to half an hour or more. Her horses are nasty, edgy and nervous. I don’t claim to be any great horse trainer, but it makes sense to me that maybe those training methods are being overdone. What is your take on this sort of thing?
Answer from April Reeves: Hah, I get horses in who are edgy, nasty and nervous, and it’s my job to get them back to happy, useful and safe. It’s all in the eye of the trainer as to what is appropriate.
There is also common sense here, although common sense isn’t that common. In my world there is no need for repetition that is so drawn out it no longer gets the result you need (notice I didn’t say ‘want’). That simply borders on abuse, which turns the horse into nasty, edgy and nervous.
Question: I board my horse and I see her and ride one to three days a week. My horse was professionally trained when I got her 2 years ago, but I’m noticing she is forgetting everything.
I have tried various training methods but nothing is really working. I try something different each day, hoping that she will catch onto something. Is she just not that smart?
What can I do to bring her back? What are the secrets to keeping a horse remembering?
Answer from April Reeves: Ah yes, the magic ‘secrets’ that no one knows about. However, if you look deep within you will find that you already know those secrets.
There are 3 of them, and they are not very secret at all.
Question: I have an Arabian mare that will trot so fast! I tried your circling routine, but she is not getting it, although she did slow down to a fairly fast trot from a race trot, and she does go the same speed now without me nagging her. Is there anything else I can do, along with the circling, to help her understand I want her to go slower? I don’t want to use the reins. Thank you so much!
Answer from April Reeves: I do have another little exercise that you can use to get her slower. I do find the odd horse (and it’s usually an Arabian) that trots like their tail is on fire. This exercise is a big help.
read more…
Question: We have a 4-year-old Andalusian cross filly who trips a lot when being ridden. The other day she went right down on her head. What can we do to prevent this? We are taking her away to be evaluated.
Answer from April Reeves: This question was from my area so I went to watch the filly.
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Question: My 6 year old Oldenburg over-jumps everything then lands in a big heap with a grunt. These are 18″ to 2′ jumps. On occasion when she jumps correctly she is lovely and talented, but has this over jumping quirk that manifests itself especially over a new fence. We have changed fences, flowers, coolers, etc without long term success. Help please!
Answer from April Reeves, Horseman’s U.com: Many horses jump too high when learning. There are many reasons for this:
