The story of how a horse goes from a second chance pony, into an inspirational life changing horse.

http://horsecarezone.com/navaras-story/navaras-story-part-3-time-for-change-just-the-beginning/

 

Navara's story. Tell me what you think so far. I hope you enjoy

Back in February, I started training a 5 yr old paint mare.  She is owned by Very old friends of mine - who used to live locally, then they moved to Virginia, but we stayed in touch.  Then they came west again, to Arizona.  Last year they wanted to send Two horses to me, but their barn was struck with Strangles, so no one could go anywhere, then the roof on their home got damaged and all money went to that - so fianlly, Reggie and Rainey came to me in February.  Reggie was a 6 yr old morgan…

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I finally got around to working my mare with some groundwork Saturday afternoon. First I got her all cleaned up and then took her out to eat some grass. Seems like this spring I am so far behind with what I normally do with her.This winter has been difficult with all the rotten weather. I still work and sometimes finding the time to get out to the barn to work her, gets away from me. I board her at a small farm about 3 miles from home. I do go out almost everyday and help put out or bring in…

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Well, my little Maggie, she's quite a challenge. She bucks, she kicks, she throws herself around. She's very talented, but a difficult ride. My trainer and I have been working with her diligently and she's greatly improved, but she still has some issues.



So, my trainer's father came over from Germany to do some driving clinics, he's a professional 4 in hand driver, very very experienced. He's also breaking some of the horses at the barn to drive. We thought we'd see if there was… Continue

So, we've been working with little Maggie on the longe line, with sliding side reins, then she moved on to long lining, which is tough and requires quite a bit of finesse. So, last night, I gave it a try. It's way harder than it looks, lemme tell ya! But, you can see immediately what you've messed up. And, conveniently, you tend to do the same things wrong on the ground that you do in the saddle. So, I get to see what the impact of what I do is, there's no cheating…

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"My name is Briana. I’m training a 2-year old mare and she does not know her ground manners. What do I do and how do I teach her good ground manners"? Thank you for asking these questions. This is a very widely researched topic. There are many… Continue

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All horses have magnets –the gate to the arena, the barn, other horses, his buddies back at the barn, the trailer, etc. They all involve the horse wanting to be somewhere other than where he is, doing something other than what he is doing. The simplest solution is to make the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy. Meaning you make being…

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Horses have a natural instinct to pull and push against pressure – not give and soften to it. So every opportunity you get, teach your horse to soften to pressure. You always want your horse thinking of how he can give and soften to pressure, rather than thinking of how he can…

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I once heard Chris Irwin state in a clinic that the only real difference between groundwork and riding is that you are in a different location with respect to your horse. His point was that you can establish the relationship you want with your horse before getting into the saddle.

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I have a saying: Two eyes are always better than two heels. If I want to teach you something, I need you to give me your eyes and your attention. If you’re looking out the window and staring at the people walking on the sidewalk or the cars going by on the street,… Continue

To clarify a bit on last week's post because we received some questions: The only way the horse is allowed into your personal hula hoop space is if you invite him in. And you’ll only invite him into that four foot circle if you know you can get him out of it. Think of how you want your neighbors to treat you. You might like your neighbors, but you never want them to just barge into your house. You always want them to walk up to the door, knock and ask to come…

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The safety category of respect refers to your personal hula… Continue

When horses feel safe, comfortable and have enough food and water to sustain them, their next need is stimulation. Your horse needs to be stimulated both physically and mentally on a daily basis. As with many other things when working with horses, you need to… Continue