First I will answer a couple of questions about my training methods.

1. Q. Why don't you just get your horse out and lounge it.

A. I like my horses to be Willing and Happy to do the job at hand. I think it is very inconsiderate on my part to catch him one day out of the blue and say OK run for 20 min, Have I taught him anything...no...except that I might come out sometime and make him run for 20 min. I have seen lots of people do this and truly I think it is cruel and inhumane.

2. Q. Do you ever just lounge your horse.

A. Yes I do lounge him, First I warm up with a Lot of Transitions: Walk, Stop, Turn, Walk Trot, Stop, Turn. When I feel that his Muscles and ligaments are warm I then ask him to lope some, then Trot and walk again. Then after all that I will free lounge at the Trot for about 5 or 10 min, and lope about the same. Letting him relax at the trot and lope and get into a rhythm.Then I will do More Transitions, work on Backing and just walking to cool off.

I love Beginner and Novice Riders. They work so hard with the love of their life (horse). They put in long hrs. grooming, picking feet, Reading and Taking Lessons from Trainers, and More Hrs Grooming and Practicing everything they have learned about horsemanship.

The only bad thing about them is that when they get bad advice they don't have the confidence to say No I don't want to do that to my horse. Don't let "friends" or " other Trainers" talk you into doing something that you are not comfortable with. Make it a habit that when someone gives you advice that you take at least 24 hrs. to think it over, do some research and decide if you are willing to give their Idea a try.

When you take a horse to a trainer Please call and see when they will be working your horse and stop by to watch, you can learn a lot from watching and save yourself some heart ache if it doesn't seem to be working out between the trainer, your horse, and your Idea of what you want your horse to do.