Channel Archives: Learn

I remember the first time I read the statistic: I was more likely to get seriously injured riding my horse than I was riding my motorcycle. At first I rejoiced,...

You love your horse more than anything and want to do what’s right to help him live a healthy, happy life. But horses are accident-prone, and not even bubble wrap...

In my last article, you might have noticed that I continued north while True spun away from a Killer Bird and went south. On young horses, these things happen in...

“If women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.” If you’re Canadian and of a certain age, then you know where I’m going with this. Red...

While practicing his basic walk-trot-canter, True, my three-year-old Warmblood gelding, is captivated by new sights, sounds, and scents. He was transfixed by his first bicycle and his first child. In...

The one thing you can assuredly find in a barn is a bucket load of binder twine, also known as baling twine, baler twine, baler string, hay twine, hay string...

Young horses are notorious for trotting clumsily into a canter. It’s hard for them to balance the weight of a rider and still get all those feet in the right...

The question of “social license”—acceptance or approval granted to a particular group from the community at large—is all over the equestrian sphere at the moment. When our sports involve another...

Baby season is upon us, so I thought a post about the mare-foal bond would be suitable. The first thing we need to understand about the relationship between a mare...

My discovery ride also flagged my three-year-old Warmblood True’s inconsistent trot pace. Fast, slow, medium, whoops way too fast, and so on. This is a very common problem in young...

Horses’ teeth have always confused me. There is no definitive tooth count, many of the teeth have strange names, some have no discernible purpose and one type is untrustworthy. So,...

We’re not talking about grooming a horse here. Or priming a young person to take over the family business. We’re talking about the other kind of grooming.  The predatory tactic...

Flies are more than a nuisance—these insects can transmit diseases, cause bacterial infections and trigger equine allergic dermatitis. They also leave behind parasitic larvae that can fester into painful, difficult-to-treat...

A couple months ago, I described my first discovery ride on my three-year-old Warmblood True. He had only just arrived and, in that ride, he displayed a few basic needs...

I work at an animal shelter a few days a week and the other day one of the cats came back from the vet after he’d been neutered. I’m aware...

On with the Discovery Test in the round pen from last week… My second round pen peeve is the whoa. Here, my three-year-old Warmblood True fails my test. Some youngsters...

I saw a mural the other day and I’m not going to lie it was a poor rendition of what I can only assume the artist thought was the essence...

I usually start young horses with the round pen before transferring that knowledge to the longe line. Like the “Discovery Ride” described in an earlier post, my first round pen...

I know I keep banging on about horse-related expressions and words that have made their way into everyday language, but it fascinates me. I had a list of words I...

By now in this weekly column, you might think I never ride my young horse! I do, almost every day, but it is important in brain-based horsemanship to establish a...