Develop a Solid Foundation

Why is it So Important in Horsemanship?

Outside of feel, a horse responds only through instinct. Developing boundaries and learning to communicate with your horse through positive reinforcement, shapes the foundation of your relationship. Our step-by-step process will deepen the mutual trust between you and your horse, and it will help both of you get the most out of your riding experience.

What are some of the things that start to show up in my horse as we develop a better foundation? And what am I actually learning to do to get there?

1. You will learn how to get the horse’s mind focused on you at all times.
2. Because you will have learned to get control of his mind, you will have control of his feet.
3. You will learn to get control of your horse’s head and neck and help him learn to be soft and supple, free of resistance, which makes him more operational.
4. You will learn how to teach your horse how to move all parts of his body, such as head and neck, shoulders, ribs, and hind quarters, with no resistance. You will become more balanced and learn about center riding and all about proper seat, hand, leg, and body position.
5. Your horse will learn to respond to you with little to no effort on your part.
6. Your horse and you will learn about collection and in frame [Balanced, athletic]. Learn maneuvers like rate and speed control. You will also learn stopping with your seat and backing, turn arounds, and much more.
7. You and your horse learn to become working as one.
8. As your fundamentals improve, you and your horse are better suited to pursue your discipline of choice. Barrels, roping, reining, trail riding, and horsemanship horse shows, etc.
9. Once a solid foundation is achieved, or in the works, you will have developed a program that can be relied on in the future with other horses you should own.
10. Most important, you create in your horse a willingness to stay with you in times of confusion or fear, as the horse will look to you for that feel of reassurance. All your time spent working together has formed a bond and a trust. You now are starting to go along with your horse and your horse is going with you.

More about the Program

In our description of a horse with the solid fundamentals, we must understand that this process does not happen overnight. It takes time.  Many hours and patience, consistency, and repetition are required. There is absolutely no expected timeline in our lesson program to get there. We believe that any participant that should choose to learn and put the time and effort into the fundamentals of making their own horse a more willing equine partner, will find it much more rewarding, for them and their horse. We realize there is no one-size-fits-all for each individual and the horse they ride. But more often than not, there is always some kind of disconnect or a hole of some kind in the fundamentals.