Riding is hard. If it were easy, everyone would be experts. Getting on the back of a large flight animal takes some bravery. Sometimes we have to be braver than we want to be. Horses can only respond to the information they are receiving. That includes our emotions. Sometimes we have to be more persistent than we want to be. Horses will challenge us when they feel confused, insecure or our request is hard. There will be days when we have to push past and through the r

Our attitude has a pretty big outcome on a session with our horse. Monday wasn’t good for most of my horses. Tuesday it stormed, so I opted not to work them because I didn’t want the storms to create a repeat of Monday.

Yesterday was a tough day. The horses had a week off due to my anniversary and lesson schedule. I moved some horses and cows around to utilize our grass better. I had one of 4 horses act like they had a brain.

How often should I ride?

Fear can paralyze us. We are afraid to make a mistake, so we don’t try something new. We are afraid to look like a beginner, so we don’t try something new. We are afraid of the amount of work a new skill will take for us to master, so we don’t try something new. We are afraid to have people watch us, so we don’t try something new. We are afraid to mess up our horse, so we don’t try something new.

Go slow but hurry. We heard this multiple times at the Brent Graef clinic. It seems like a contradictory statement. It is actually wise advice.

Tarrin’s Tips and Tricks

I just spent an amazing six days with Brent and Kris Graef at a young horse handling clinic. Brent is an incredible horseman and teacher. Kris is a gifted horseman and instructor. I feel

Training Tips

Training Video

Your horse can’t be “on” everyday.

I attended my 4th or 5th whole horse dissection last weekend. I have dissected horses from 4yrs old to 25yrs old. All had been ridden. The common thing among all of them was the joint damage.

One common thing I hear from students is, I ran out of time. Trust me I get it! The problem with horses is that they do need time and consistency. That doesn’t mean you have to work them an hour everyday (unless you have competition or distance riding goals). It does mean you need to be intentional in your daily interactions.

I’ve been training horses for close to 30 years. Every 5 years I reflect on my previous 5. If I can’t look back and see areas I’ve improved, then I need to stop. So far it hasn’t happened. Looking back, it’s easy to see how about 60% of my wrecks could likely have been avoided. I can see how much I’ve learned in just the last 5 years. I put a lot of time and money into continuing my education every year. There is always something new to learn. As a trainer, my horses often

Train with chaos. I find that too many of us train in “sterile” environments. There is no clutter. Everything is quiet. We make sure there is nothing that will spook our horse. We obey barn rules like no running, no jumping, hang up the hose, etc. We act completely shocked when we haul our horse away from their sterilized environment and they get overwhelmed and anxious in a new environment with chaos.

End of year Freebie. Yes, a day late Don’t live in the past while you are working your horse. Leave the past in the past. If your horse had a good session yesterday, remember it fondly but don’t compare today’s session to it. You will only get frustrated if they don’t reach that level again. Meet the horse where they are that day. If your horse had a bad session yesterday, forget about it. Don’t walk into today’s session expecting the same problems as yesterday or you will ge

Yes a day late. Sometimes life just gets busy.

Expose your horse don’t flood your horse. Sometimes seeing the difference in these concepts can be hard.

Don’t be afraid of going backwards in your training. Some days we need to step back and practice some basics. While this can seem like failure or backsliding, ultimately it is what will propel you forward.

Here are some general guidelines that can help you when working with your horse.