Category Archives: News
Your Noseband Preferences
There are a variety of nosebands on the market at the moment. What do you use, and why? Do you fasten your noseband in the conventional way and how do you measure how tight it should be? Let me know in the comments below.
Riding Roadblocks
I recently put a survey out to riders to find out what was holding them back, the things they were having trouble with and where they felt they could use some help. The most interesting results came from the question about roadblocks. The word cloud below represents the answers given (200+) to the question: “What…
Scared of Ropes
The question: Hey Kate, Quick question for you regarding my stock horse that is afraid of ropes (had a bad start in life prior to ending up at the sales as a young one and then someone did way too much ‘natural horsemanship’/rope work with him). Once caught, he’s fine and you can throw the rope all…
Why Some Horses Just ‘GET IT’
I’ve had a few lesson clients this week that have had wonderfully successful training results – horses that are unrecognisable from one week to the next (or in some cases fortnight, depending upon how often I see them). Here’s what the DIDN’T do differently: Work any harder Work any longer Had more experience than others Rode…
Feel Not Flood
As with anything, there are different ways of achieving all our horse training goals. So how do we know which is best, most suitable for us as riders and best for our particular horse? I think we need to ensure that we present new material to the horse in the calmest and best possible way.…
Member Spotlight – Dione
Kandoo Club Online Training Member, Dione, tells us about her journey with the lovely Bayley. As I think back to the last 12 months I am amazed at how far we have come! In December 2014, I bought my first riding horse in literally 15 years. While I’ve always had horses, I was breeding and…
One Buck Does Not a Bronco Make!
I always say that the main purpose of long-reining is to see if your horse is ‘ready to ride’. With the young horse we can use it assist the horse in the development of top-line to carry the weight of the rider later. With a horse that has been out of work for a time…
How to Optimise Training Outcomes
I had a fabulous clinic last weekend with beautiful horses and advanced riders. On Saturday we worked on ‘give to the bit’ and ‘shoulder control’. Most of this work was done on the ground and then we transferred it to under saddle. The horses each had a two hour session – mostly conducted at walk…
Changing Your Perspective – Take-Home Lesson
I particularly love those ‘light bulb’ moments during a lesson or clinic. The horses have them all the time and you can almost SEE them thinking, ‘oh is that all you want me to do, I can do that, it’s easy’ or ‘oh wow, you mean ALL the pressure will go away if I simply…