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Guest Blog: My Top 3 Lessons From The Julie Goodnight Yoga & Riding Retreat

By Amy Herdy I’m going to be brutally honest here: I was a fan of clinician Julie Goodnight before attending her ”Women’s Riding and Yoga Retreats and Ranch Riding Weekend at C Lazy U Ranch” in Granby, Colorado.

My First Day On The Job, By Eddies Pick

My name is Eddies Pick and I come from a long line of working horses. In this, the third year of my life, things have really changed for me. It seems like only yesterday I

Is Saddle Fit More Important to the Horse or the Rider?

I’ve just recently returned from a great clinic. It was a great group of riders and horses and I enjoyed working with all of them. We had green horses, finished horses, novices and experts, a

Preventing Herd-Bound Behavior

Horses are instinctively herd-bound. It’s one of seven categories of instinctive behavior in horses and it is known as gregarious behavior. A desire to be with others. BTW, the other categories of instinctive behavior in

Adversarial Relationships with Horses

I see it all the time at clinics, expos and at TV shoots. Sometimes it’s between untrained horses and inexperienced riders/handlers—a constant battle of the wills; but sometimes the opposite is true—often I see experienced

Ready to Ride: My Philosophy of Colt Starting vs Breaking

I like to talk about starting a young horse under saddle—what we used to refer to, crassly, as “breaking” a horse. It is a good sign for the state-of-the-horse-union that this term has fallen out of

Horse is Terrified of Being Mounted

Hello Julie, I have a 4 yr old registered paint gelding, Zippo Pine Bar bred, tall and gorgeous that I have had for just over a year!!! But, he is terrified of being mounted. I

Winter Riding Goals

I love the meditative state we get into, my horse and I, riding round and round in the endless monotony of the indoor arena. Nowhere to go, nothing to look at, no distractions, no surprises.

Horses in the Cold: We Blanket for Our Needs, Not Theirs

It was 6 below zero this morning. Relatively warm by some standards, when you compare it to 25 below, which our neighbors had. That’s why our valley is known as “the Banana Belt of Colorado.”

Take off Halters for Turnout

A few days ago, I was driving home from my last trip of the year, relishing the thought of being home for eight weekends in a row. As I drove through South Park (yes, there

Differences Between Horse Training and Dog Training

In almost every clinic I do, we start with ground work to help establish a productive relationship between horse and human—to develop respect, obedience, focus, communication and control. Frequently, someone will remark that training horses

Behind the Scenes: Prepping the Ranch for a Horse Master TV Shoot

Many years ago, a dear friend of mine told me that if I was going to keep up the pace I had set in my career, I should take a big fat red marker and

Why One Rein Is Better Than Two

This is the heart of clinic season for me and I have been on the road almost every weekend—WA,CA, OH, CO, MA. They were all great clinics with interesting people and horses. This weekend I

Bucket List

Starting last week, new episodes of Horse Master airing for the next nine weeks, which were filmed in Queen Creek Arizona back in January. As usual, I was happy with how all the episodes turned

A Smile In The Face Of Adversity

Last week I was a presenter at Equine Affaire in Columbus OH. In case youve never been to this expo, it is huge with hundreds of vendors, every kind of junk food imaginable (and some

Heads Up! A Report From The Helmet Symposium

Tucked away in a corner of the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in South Florida’s elite horse capital, a small but impressive group of equestrians, physicians, researchers, manufacturers and organizational leaders gathered to discuss the

Sunny California

I’ve just returned from southern California and a fabulous weekend at Equine Affaire. We had beautiful weather, good crowds and I met and talked to tons of really nice people. I was busy all weekend

Eight More Episodes “In The Can”

I just returned from a week in Queen Creek AZ (just outside Phoenix), for a Horse Master shoot. We taped nine episodes of the TV show in just four days at the Horseshoe Park &

What’s Your Pet Peeve?

About ten years ago, as I was walking through my barnyard, I came across a stray piece of baling string on the ground and it prompted me to start a new column, “Pet Peeves Around

Starting Fresh

I love New Years Day even more than Christmas. Last night we “celebrated” in our sane and civilized way, which allowed us to be tucked into bed by 10p. Rich worked all day, ending the

Do You Wear A Helmet?

It’s hard to believe that the holidays are almost over. That means I’ll be back on the road again soon, heading to Wellington, Florida next weekend for the first “Helmet Symposium.” It’s a big summit

Burn Out In Therapy Horses

Recently I was a speaker at the NARHA annual convention, which conveniently for me, was in Denver this year. That means I didn’t have to get on a plane to go somewhere for the first

Shooting a TV Show

Lots of people have asked me about how we make the TV show and since right now we are in the midst of it, I thought I’d write about what’s on my mind. We’ve long

Why Are Julie Goodnight Clinic Riders So Nervous?

I know from what people tell me—either before or after the clinic—that they were very nervous to ride with me. This always surprises me, although I’ve heard it enough to know it is a common

Never Say Never

Horses have taught me a lot in the past 50 years. In particular, I have learned that there are three things to keep in mind when it comes to horses: Never say never. Never say

Should You Be Around Your Horse While He’s Eating?

When I am at clinics and expos (about 35 weekends a year), I spend a lot of time talking to people about their horses and the problems they have, trying to offer advice about how

Home Again Home Again

Jigety jig. I can’t believe it’s finally over! The fall expo season has been hectic for me, with many weekend trips plus a three-week marathon in Kentucky for the world equestrian games. I have been

Horses Are A Journey

… not a destination. That was the title of a keynote speech I gave at CHA’s International Conference recently, in Lake City FL. CHA’s annual conference always has a ton of hands-on horse activities and

Riding & Yoga Retreat

We had an awesome Yoga & Riding Retreat at the C Lazy U Ranch in Granby, Colorado last fall. There were about thirty women altogether, for four days of riding lessons, trail riding, yoga

The World Equestrian Games

You know you’ve been gone from home too long when your own dogs growl at you and you can’t even find the silverware drawer in your own kitchen. That’s what my homecoming was like after

An Ominous Anniversary

Today (from 2010) is the last day of the hardest year of my life (at least I hope it is my last hard year). One year ago today, I received that late-night phone call that

Only The Best For My Horse

I’ll admit, I am very picky when it comes to my personal horse, Dually. While I am fully aware that horses are tough and adaptable animals that do not need stalls, bedding and blankies for

Bitter Taste

Recently I taught a clinic with about 30 4H kids. Surprisingly, they were all mounted on pretty decent horses and most of the kids had appropriate tack and rode reasonably well. They were all good

Mustang Mascot

This week, one of my favorite episodes is playing on Horse Master. It features a 4 y/o Mustang and his owner who participated in the Mustang Challenge. He’s a really cool horse—very classic looking Calvary

Time To Weigh In

I have been struggling with the “Five Pound Challenge” here lately. What about you? I am still gaining and losing the same five pounds. Since I love to eat and drink AND I love to

Have An Emergency Plan – Colic

The other night, about dinner time, I got a call from one of my dear friends, Lucy. She was distraught and needed advice on how to deal with her severely colicking horse; we talked it

July 10th Is National Helmet Awareness Day

I have long been a supporter of wearing helmets while riding and I have done my best to use my influence to set a good example in the horse industry. Unlike other so called “adventure

Western Posting The Trot

In every horsemanship clinic I teach, I start the mounted session by assessing all the riders in terms of their control, their riding position and skill and their authority over the horse. To do this,

5-Pound Challenge– Back by Popular Demand!

See the Facebook Discussion Group about this blog posting: http://tinyurl.com/5poundchallenge During a recent trip to the beach, I had cause to don my bathing suit (a rarity for horse us trainers—our white legs and farmer’s

In Command And Control

I am in the midst of clinic season—a clinic almost most every weekend through the end of June. It’s the most popular season for clinics as people gear-up for the summer riding season and look

QuarterFest and Tennessee Tornadoes

Holy cow. What a weekend! It started with a beautiful day on Friday—lots of riders and spectators, many great clinics indoors and out. But Saturday and Sunday where a totally different story with tornados, torrential

In The Horse Business

One of the questions I dread the most is when a polite stranger on a plane asks me, “What do you do for a living?” Usually, the question was preceded by an inquiry about whether

My First Horse

Although I grew up with horses and we had many over the years, my first true love of a horse was a grade Morgan mare named Minnie. She was the most beautiful horse in the

Horse Master Now Airs in the UK

My Horse Master TV show started airing in England and Ireland on RFD-TV’s cousin, Rural TV. They are opening with the popular surf episode where I train a warm-blood to go into the surf—it was

What Is “Fresh” For Your Horse?

I had a great week at home and now am travelling once again, this time headed to Tallahassee FL for a Horse Master shoot. Getting home on Sunday last week mean I actually was home

Kentucky: The Horse Capital Of The World

I am on the way home from Lexington, Kentucky, where I spent the weekend at the National Youth Horse Leader’s Symposium, an annual conference put on by the American Youth Horse Council, whose mission is

Helicopter Skiing In Telluride

A few years ago we went on a skiing adventure in Telluride, Colorado, my brother, husband a group of our friends. It was my first trip to the high mountain ski town, even though I’ve lived

Police Horses From Honolulu– Follow-Up

After much heartache and aggravation, the Honolulu police horses are finally headed to their retirement home on the big island of Hawaii. Dedicated and hard working officers have been reassigned to new posts but they

Houston, Texas Horse Master Shoot

We were taping the show about 40 miles north of Houston at a beautiful center with a covered arena (we needed it) and a rehabilitative center. Our show topics were learning the cues and training a

Finding The Perfect Horse

As spring approaches, I am getting an increasing number of inquiries from people looking for a new horse. So it is with no small amount of forethought that this week’s episode of Horse Master features a