Train Your Own Horse with Stacy Westfall

Today we are talking about Riding with Confidence and my guest is Barbra Schulte. She is a Hall of Fame rider and a performance coach. I looked through my emails and asked her questions about fear of cantering, fear of messing my horse up, fear of making a fool of myself when I ride, and more. Listen to the podcast to hear here advice.

Episode 80: Today, I'm answering two questions, both of these involve the idea of riding different disciplines. The first question discusses ethics, showing, and competition. And the second question is more about how to handle the apparent contradictions between some disciplines and their cue systems.

Intentions matter. Today, I’m talking about your intentions when training your horse, and your horses intentions. I’ll talk about what constitutes a good intention and a bad intention and remind you to keep in mind that sometimes your horse is just asking a question in your conversation.

It’s important to be aware of your own intentions when working with your horse. You also need to be aware of what your horses intentions actually are. Are you teaching your horse that it’s ok to step towards you? Are you accidently allowing your horse to act more dominant? Being aware of your intentions and your horses intentions is important. It’s actually very freeing once you understand that intentions matter.

Show Notes

[02:02] At some recent clinics, I've had some horses experimenting with bad intentions. When you have a horse who truly means to dominate that is a bad intention.

[02:23] He could also have a bad intention when he attacks another horse. Instead of using good or bad, we can also say healthy or unhealthy. For Simplicity, I'm going to use good and bad.

[02:48] If you had a really aggressive stallion who wanted to dominate you, we would label that as bad intentions.

[03:08] On the other extreme, we have horses that are sweet and easy to get along with.

[03:10] But there are a lot of horses between those two extremes.

[03:27] When people are backing away from their horse, sometimes the horse will step boldly towards them. When a horse does this they could be asking a question that the handler doesn't recognize. The horses intentions could shift from boldly stepping with confidence to boldly coming towards them to dominate.

[05:01] I've seen horses that aren't normally dominant stumble onto the fact that the handler is kind of awkward with the tools.

[06:07] This will perfectly fit into a place for a horse to move a human and that's where we're going to label this a bad intention.

[07:06] Intention matters. When I'm watching people and horses, I'm watching whether the horse intended to move the person or if it was an accident.

[07:37] If you suspect your horse is trying to control you, those are things you need to look out for. You may even want to set up a video to see what is going on.

[08:27] Oftentimes horses have good intentions. They may be trying something new and just be making a mistake. How you handle a horse with good intentions matters.

[10:11] If your horse is swearing at you, that is one of the clearest indications that his intentions aren't good.

[11:24] A lot of times people who come to the clinics are concerned that they are asking too much of their horse. Very rarely this is the case.

[11:50] Most people who are worried about over-correcting are usually the people who aren't doing enough.

[12:05] A lot of people are worried about abusing their horse.

[14:15] The person who's worried about overdoing it is likely the one who isn't overdoing it.

[14:28] It's very freeing to know that my intentions matter and that my horses intentions matter.

Links and Resources:

Stacy Westfall YouTube

I’m explaining something that was a game-changer for me and my horse. When I share this topic with people at clinics, I see an instant change in them and their horse. Did you know that your horse is always asking you questions? Watching horses in the wild, you see them ask each other questions about leadership. They also do the same thing with you.

The good news is that once you understand that a change in your horses body language is him asking you a questions, you can answer those questions and even have conversations with your horse. Horses questions progress with their training levels, and this is where things really begin to get fun.

Show Notes

[01:28] Your horse asks you questions with body language. The questions can look like things like a break of gait, diving in, pulling out, or reversing direction.

[01:43] A lot of questions are happening when the horses are doing different things with their bodies.

[01:54] Around the age of four, children ask about 73 questions a day.

[02:07] Horses also ask a lot of questions, and it can feel overwhelming to people.

[03:42] Sometimes people think after training, horses aren't going to have any questions, but they do.

[04:18] Keep in mind that the quality of your horses questions change as the training level changes.

[04:32] Number one: Your horse is going to ask questions about leadership.

[04:40] Number two: These questions will reveal his temperament.

[04:48] Number three: The questions he asks are going to reveal his training level.

[05:25] When a horse offers to bite you, it's asking the question of what if I bite you.

[06:22] Their questions also reveal a lot about their temperament.

[08:23] Think about horse training as a bell curve. Put elementary school on one side and college on the other. It's like climbing a mountain.

[09:26] Questions in the beginning will be more challenging. Somewhere along the line when things get more advanced, your horses become really fun.

[14:17] Playing a game of hot or colder requires you and the horse to have a conversation.

[15:46] The coolest things happen when you and the horse are having a conversation.

[16:22] Instead of everybody feeling like it's right or wrong or good or bad, it's just a conversation. Things get so fun when you and the horse have this type of awareness in your bodies.

[17:13] In the beginning, horses will have big questions that you need to have big answers to.

[17:44] Any areas that you don't have answers for will be the areas your horse has the most questions about.

Links and Resources:

Stacy Westfall YouTube

In this episode, Stacy Westfall opens with an update on her current horses, and then introduces the main topic of how to train for something ‘before you need it.’ Stacy discusses her approach to training Ember, a highly athletic and sensitive young horse she describes as "a lot of horse." Using the analogy of a sports car versus a luxury car, she explains how different horses require different handling while still aiming for a balanced "middle" response. Stacy emphasizes the importance of not denying a horse's natural characteristics but rather working with them constructively. She focuses particularly on the challenge of transitioning from loose rein to contact, especially during spook situations. To prevent secondary spooking (when a horse reacts to the rider's response to the initial spook), Stacy practices hundreds of take-hold-and-release exercises during each ride. The episode concludes with encouragement for riders who discover training gaps after problems arise, comparing preparation to fire drills - ideally practiced before needed, but still valuable to learn from past experiences.