Assessing your tack—in terms of its condition, fit to the horse, and appropriateness for the horse’s discipline and level of training—should be ongoing, but doing a thorough assessment should happen at least once a year.
Resources for Resources for Desensitizing “Cinchy” Horses
Q: How tight should I tighten my horse’s cinch—and what is the right process. I don’t want to hurt my horse and I want to make sure he never becomes cinchy. –Pam Friend, via e-mail
Question: I work as a therapeutic riding instructor at a facility that has about 20+ horses. We have all types of horse behavior issues that creep up before we know it. I’ve seen a gelding
When you saddle your horse, secure your horse saddle’s points of attachment in the proper order to keep the saddle in place. If your horse takes a step when the saddle isn’t properly secured, he
Is your trail horse cinchy? That is, does he act up when you saddle him, even before you reach for the cinch or girth? (Generally the term “cinch” is used for a Western saddle and
Dear Julie, My friends and I have a problem with our saddles rolling over to the side when we get on. My horse in particular has a flat broad back with wide withers. Any suggestions?
Dear Julie, My new gelding has started lying down when I put his saddle on. When I first had him on his two-week trial, he was in poor physical condition—his ribs showed. He had been
While shooting a Horse Master episode on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts I was introduced to a woman, Vickie Thurber, who had an accident with her young pinto eventing horse and wanted help introducing “Poco” to
Question Category: Issues from the Saddle Question: I ran across your website while searching for an answer for a behavior problem with my daughter’s 7 year old quarter horse mare. We have owned this mare
Question Category: Issues from the Saddle Question: Julie, I hope you can help me with my horse. He is a 15 y/o gelding, I ride him hunt seat. He gets very irritated when I girth
Question Category: Issues from the Ground Question: Hello Julie, I recently purchased a 13 yr QH mare about six months ago. I had been riding her for about eight months with an additional two-month lease.
Question Category: Issues from the Ground Question: Desensitizing a Horse to Scary Stimuli Answer: These days, with military actions and war consistently in the headlines, thoughts of aggression and war are far too close at
Question Category: Talk about Tack Question: Dear Julie, My friends and I have a problem with our saddles rolling over to the side when we get on. My horse in particular has a flat broad
Good Day! Recently on Horse Master is an episode filmed in LA about a driving pony who was deathly afraid of anything plastic—bags, tarps and the like. Her owner, a very competent horsewoman who I