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Talk About Tack: Understanding Bits– Myler

…supposed to be. The reason I’m asking is my horse Montana is in a D-ring snaffle. I have noticed at times him pulling the reins and opening his mouth. Even when I put him in the round pen with saddle and head stall on he does the same thing and…

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Riding Skills: Emergency Stopping Rein

…person and listening to your CD and reading your book Ride with Confidence!, have gone away! I am still riding him in the round pen, but hope to soon feel good enough to ride him in the arena and then beyond! I was wondering if you have a video or…

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Issues From The Saddle: Tossing Head And Bucking

…to respond properly to the bit. I would do this in the round pen with a self-correcting bitting device that teaches the horse to give to pressure from the reins, both vertically (up and down) and laterally (side to side). Once he has learned that when he gives, the pressure…

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Issues From The Ground: Trick Or Treat?

…work on these issues in the round pen, on a lead line or at liberty.

In the round pen you will learn to drive the horse away from you, control the speed of his feet and the direction of his turns. This is not easy if you are not…

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Issues From The Ground: Overwhelming Your Horse

…circle. There are some Q&As on my website that detail my opinion of cantering a horse (unmounted) in a round pen, which is closer to a 20 meter circle. For most young horses and for all un-athletic horses, this is very difficult, even when they are at liberty. A much…

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Horse Behavior: Video Of Fatal Kick

…This is really bothering me. Yesterday I was looking on YouTube for some round pen training ideas. My horses have been off all winter and although they are basically well behaved I need to do more ground work. So I started out in a list of videos about training and…

Back to Basics (Part 1)

…be around, doesn’t happen accidentally. It comes from systematic training, consistent reinforcement and high expectations.

Step One—Control Space My first concern, if I am handling an unruly horse from the ground, is always about me and my space. Does the horse have deference for my space? Will he move…

July 2018 Horse Report

…the round pen for the first time. I’m very specific about what I ask a horse to do in the round pen, so he had to work at understanding what I was asking. Fortunately, he’s smart as a whip and a real thinker. In a few minutes, he was doing…

Begging for Acceptance

…horse, but he is truly and alpha horse, and therefore not an easy nut to crack. Stay tuned to Horse Master, to see the final chapter of Amy and Chief’s story in May, when we reveal the challenging round pen work she did with Chief, that turned their relationship around

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Cantering Help: Bucks At Lope

…bukcing fits daily as we started him. After the first week of surviving the bucking fits in the round pen, we progressed to riding out on the open track, and he bucked every day, but never quite managed to unseat me. At the end of the second week, I said…

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Shut Down

…website that detail my opinion of cantering a horse (unmounted) in a round pen, which is closer to a 20 meter circle. For most young horses and for all un-athletic horses, this is very difficult, even when they are at liberty. A much smaller circle and the interference from the…

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Working Dawn To Dusk/7 Days Per Week

…Leslie walking away from the round pen as Susan gently placed the blanket over Digg’s face to keep the sun off him as he lay prostrate in the middle of the pen. It’s not what you’re thinking, although some guys may disagree. As Leslie said, it’s probably the best day…

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Raise Your Foal Right

…in the three round pens, as I fielded questions from the audience.

When asked what kind of handling a trainer hoped a “colt” would have before coming for training under saddle, we all four agreed that no handling at all was preferred over poor handling or over-handling. This really…

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Issues From The Saddle: When To Start A Colt Under Saddle

…that concern, it probably will not happen.

The problem with starting horses too young is two fold. First, there is physical immaturity and methods such as round penning and longeing are way too physically stressful for his immature muscular-skeletal system. The second problem is mental immaturity (short attention…

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Horse Behavior: Dealing With A Blind Horse

…it is and he best leave them alone?! I’ve seen him literally walk into those horses; could they be cutting him some slack because of his blindness?

2.) Because he is now blind, how will that differ in trying to teach him. For example, I imagine round penning is…

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Issues From The Saddle: How Much Does Conformation Have To Do With Movement

…To improve him, I would work on conditioning him in a round pen, at liberty, in a bitting device that encourages self-carriage. The type of bitting device I use is called an ‘elbow pull,’ or the Goodnight Bitting System. In time (months), with better conditioning, be can improve his self-carriage…

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Conquering Fear

Ask Julie Goodnight:

Question: Ms. Goodnight, I recently read your article regarding fear of horses. I have a unique problem related to fear and hope you can help. I was in the round pen and I was thrown off and I broke a few ribs. I didn’t

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The Different Types Of Bits

…and be soft in the mouth and jaw. Without a rider on board and while working in a round pen, the horse gets an instant release when he places his head in the optimum self-carriage position. With his new learning in place, horses can more quickly understand an educated rider’s…

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Home Again, Home Again

…of the horses. That took about an hour and a half all three mornings. On top of that, I did my regular presentations in the coliseum and round pen, plus Q&A/autograph signings; in-between, I spend my time talking to attendees and answering questions, with the occasional business meeting thrown in…

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Bit Release

sessions before she was working fine in the round pen, doing turns and smooth transition; she was accustomed to packing the bit around in her mouth and used to having the surcingle on and ropes dangling all around her.

In the video, we started teaching her how to respond

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Riding In Wine Country: Horseshoes And Corkscrews

…enough time to head back to the lodge for a much needed cat nap before dinner.

The third day we spent the whole day at a nearby training farm, punching through the lengthy list of things people wanted to work on. I did a round pen demonstration on a…

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Cantering Help: Cross-Cantering

…develops strength to sustain the gait.

Incidentally, I do not like to canter young horses in the round pen or on the longe line (mounted or unmounted), because they do not have sufficient balance to maintain a proper canter stride in that small a circle, and they invariably cross-canter….

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Are Mules More Difficult Than Horses?

…you would use—for instance, chasing a mule around the round pen endlessly will get you nowhere.

Often mules are cussed as being “stubborn,” when in fact, this is simply a matter of their natural behavior. They are more likely than horses to stop and think, or even turn…

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Horses In Confinement

…need, I have to catch them first. I watched the episode of your TV show on [the hard to catch horse] and was thrilled to see my instincts were correct. I’ll be putting up a round pen to start working with them. My question is this: The former owner had…

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Overcoming Fear: Fear Of Being Thrown

Question: Ms. Goodnight,

I recently read your article regarding fear of horses. I have a unique problem:

Recently I was involved in tryouts for a Horse Patrol position in my sector. I work on the U.S. Mexican border. We have excellent instructors. I was in the round

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Riding Skills: Side Reins And Longeing, Is This Abuse?

…reins, although they are very accepted in the Dressage world. For very young horses that we are just starting under saddle, we work them in the round pen for about a week; after that, we just ride them and never longe first. If you have to longe a horse before…

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Issues From The Saddle: Understanding Pressure

…still and let you approach. On the other hand, if you are driving your horse away from you in the round pen, a direct look to his eyes, along with other non-verbal cues, will encourage him to move off and away from you. This is a natural response for a…

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Issues From The Saddle: Must Be In Front On Trail

…the horse both on the ground and in the saddle. I have DVDs on this type of relationship building with the horse: Round Pen Reasoning and Lead Line Leadership (order online or at 800-225-8827).

Your horse must learn that there is certain behavior that is simply not tolerated while…

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Issues From The Saddle: Good On Trail, Bad In The Arena

…beyond a walk for a period of time. By unmanageable I mean that he leans on my hands so much that I can’t slow him down at all and we end up full gallop at a cavaletti or around and around the arena. I have tried many thing such as…

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Issues From The Ground: Why Won’t My Horse Listen To Me?

…me and I’m not sure how assertive I should be to get him to be obedient. How much and what types of pressure should I apply to get him to listen to me? I have watched both the round pen and lead line DVD’s. How can what I have learned…

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Issues From The Ground: Leading A Bridled Horse

…The leader may not need to actually hold the reins, but just walk at the horse’s shoulder. You may need to work in a round pen or do lead-line work with the horse until the horse will follow at your shoulder so that you do not have to actually hang…

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Building A Better Relationship: Should I Sell My Horse?

…foot round pen and can trailer him to an indoor arena that charges $10 to use it if not already booked. I need help setting up a plan and schedule to work Tucker and possibly test the waters out there to sell him, even though I don’t want to.

Episode 222 – Starting Over

Starting Over: Julie Goodnight uses round-pen training to teach an overbearing, bucking Warmblood to respect his leader

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Q&A: Dominant Trail Horse

…to repair this relationship between you and your horse. You’ll have to work at it by doing ground work and changing your impression to the horse both on the ground and in the saddle. For an more in depth review of ground work, check out Round Pen Reasoning and Lead…

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Horse Behavior: Territorial, Hormonal Mare

…will work on is keeping her nose in front of her chest at all times when I am working around her on the ground or riding her. Again, to achieve this you only need consistent and gentle correction. Every time the nose moves away from me, I give a gentle…

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Why Are Horses So Spooky?

…control the horse’s space and must never betray his trust by causing him fear or pain. Once they have accepted the individual (horse or human) as leader, they will be relaxed, compliant, obedient and happy. In natural horsemanship, we use ground work (round pen and lead-line) to control the horse’s…

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Issues From The Saddle: Rearing Horse

…been saddled or ridden. We would do both round pen and lead line work with the horse and take note of any “holes” in his training. We will proceed with saddle training once the horse is solid in his ground work, again taking it one step at a time and…

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Past Performance is No Guarantee of Future Success

…line work from the ground, if you follow a systematic approach like I outline in my From the Ground Up series. If you don’t know how to do effective ground work, get help; enlist the services of a trainer. If you buy a well-trained horse, it is probably worth getting…

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Issues From The Ground: Colt Kicks And Rears While Leading

…manners, learn the basic rules of behavior and learn to respect his boundaries. These rules and boundaries are explained and demonstrated in detail in my groundwork videos, Round Pen Reasoning and Lead Line Leadership. You can order them online at www.JulieGoodnight.com or by calling (800) 225-8827 during business hours.

Ready to Ride: My Philosophy of Colt Starting vs Breaking

Round pen work, lead line work and training the horse to respond properly to bit pressure comes before saddling up and riding.

 

Then we had to find the right horse, the right time and the right place to make the video. Turns out we found the perfect…

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Issues From The Ground: 2 Y/O Gelding Acting Aggressively

…regular training regimen. As for the kind of groundwork he needs, everything you need to know is in my two ground work DVDs, Round Pen Reasoning and Lead Line Leadership. In each 2 hour DVD I work with several young horses of different types (hot blooded, cold blooded) and show…

June 2020 Letter From Julie

…weeks’ worth of horsemanship lessons here. I believe firmly that what goes around comes around, and by offering this free educational content to everyone, we have gotten much in return. So thank you for your kind comments, your thoughtful questions and for sharing our message.

I’ve been working with The

1109: The Lost Episode of Chief

This episode is a continuation of the previous episode, “Control of Life,” and the story of an owner and her struggle to gain the respect of the rescue horse she opened her home to—an older, dominant Morgan named Chief. Goodnight shows his mild-mannered owner important round pen techniques and how…

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Canter Control

…yourself a scaredy cat.

When your horse takes off her herd behavior is over-riding her training and her flight response is triggered. The solution is more training. You’ll need to do a lot of ground work—both round pen and lead line work. Once your horse is totally focused on…

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Building A Better Relationship: Mare Versus Gelding

…with the help of Raian Kaiser, with the T-Tellington Touch method. I have never seen a horse that at 3 yrs could be ridden bareback in the pasture or in the round pen with just a saddle and no bridle go to the complete opposite. I was just sickened at…