Julie working with a horse on a leadline

Plugging the Holes in Your Horse’s Training

…and the rider is green, or vice versa). However, if both are lacking in skills, you should consider separate training with an expert in the discipline. Have the horse and rider had enough practice to own their skills, and experience performing those skills in different locations? Horses are quite location-specific

View of an arena through a horse's ears.

Horse Goals or Bust Part 7: It’s Go Time!

…Reviewing the Golden Moments may help.

We’re not in Kansas Anymore

Riding in unfamiliar situations can be challenging, and horses often act differently than they do at home. Horses are very location-specific in what they learn and how they act.

If your plans involve…

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Good Horse Gone Bad

…these are the benefits he gets from the herd.

Horses are also very context- or location-specific in their training, meaning that leaving their home, herd and normal routine and relocating to a new place can be very confusing, disorienting and stressful to a horse. Unless he is a well-traveled,…

Slower is Faster with Horses

location-specific in what they learn, having to perform the skill in many various locations requires a lot of time and effort. You can train a horse to perform to a very high level at home and practice for years, then take him somewhere else to perform, only to have him…

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Issues From The Saddle: Spooky Horse

…something scary to happen. Also, horses are very location-specific in the way they behave—associating a certain place with their behavior, so it is no surprise the way your horse is acting. Most every arena has a “scary” place in it and typically it is as far away from the gate…

View from behind horse's ears of treed hills and mountain range.

The Making of a Trail Horse, Part 3

…the Same Away from Home and in New Environments: The ability to perform skills in new places and in different situations, is something a horse learns over time and through varied experiences. Horses are location-specific in what they learn (they associate their behavior and actions with a place). Learning new…

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Riding A Spooky Horse

…will be expecting something scary to happen. Also, horses are very location-specific in the way they behave—associating a certain place with their behavior, so it is no surprise the way your horse is acting. Most every arena has a “scary” place in it and typically it is as far away…

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Seasoned Horses

…that stabling her in an unknown environment would heighten her stress and could bring on a bout of colic. Can you please give me advise how to approach this problem? Kind regards, Willem South Africa

Answer: Willem, For horses, training is very place (or location) specific. A horse…

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Teach Your Horse To Lower His Head

…horse generalized in his training takes a lot of time and experience. Horses are very location specific in their training. They tend to associate a specific place with their action or behavior. That is why horses will tend to act up in the same place of the arena. To use…

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Issues From The Saddle: Headset For Shows

Horses are very location specific in their training. They tend to associate a specific place with their action or behavior. That is why horses will tend to act up in the same place of the arena. To use this tendency to our advantage, when I am training a new

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Fix A Grass Grabber

…comes to grass-grabbing on the trail, adhere to an age-old training principle that applies to all animals even humans: Find the amount of pressure that motivates change.

Whatever your gelding is doing at a specific moment is what he’s most motivated to do; in your case, he’s motivated to…

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Stand Statue Still

…is best to place the foot in a specific location when you set it down, but never try to force the foot down. This technique is explained thoroughly and demonstrated on my video, Lead Line Leadership. You can also find out more about collection and many other riding skills at…

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Issues From The Ground: Won’t Stand For Farrier

…it down gently, slowly giving back control to the horse, never dropping his foot out from under him. It is best to place the foot in a specific location when you set it down, but never try to force the foot down.

As you do ground work teaching the…

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Horse Behavior: Seasoning A Horse For Shows

…place (or location) specific. A horse learns to perform a certain skill in a certain place and when you ask the horse for the same thing in a different place, at first he may not know what to do. Scientifically, there are four stages of learning for all animals, humans…

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Habitual Behavior Of Horses

…a correction; or worse, they inadvertently reward the behavior by letting the horse get what he wants. Remember, horses tend to be location specific in their behavior and this means that they will tend to act up in the same place or circumstance every time. As soon as you detect…

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Well Behaved: Sensing His Environment

…I’ve lived in the mountains of Colorado for years—often in very windy locations. Until I put up an indoor arena, I lost many training days because of the wind. When the wind is blowing hard, you’re not going to accomplish anything positive in training. If it’s really windy, it’s often…