This is the first of several posts on introducing a young horse to a saddle.
Sebastian and I have been playing a lot with saddle blankets, cinches, bareback pads and saddles over the past month. He’s done great and accepted all of this in stride. In fact, the first time I saddled him, he stood calmly [...]

This weekend was Rosie’s first encounter with a bareback pad. We’ve played with a saddle pad several times and she’s done a great job, so I felt she was ready for the next step. The bareback pad turned out to be a non-event, which was what I had hoped would happen. Even though I know [...]

Rosie and I played with a saddle pad for the second time yesterday. In traditional horse training, many horses will learn to put up with saddling without truly ever accepting the process. Or, through rough handling, they later learn to resent the act of being saddled. I want Rosie to like being saddled and to [...]

This post is part of a series of several posts on cues.
I recently watched one of Alexandra Kurland’s DVDs, Overcoming Fear and the Power of Cues. It was a fascinating look at positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, desensitization, fear and cues.
Learn more about the DVD or purchase it on Alexandra’s website. Horseflix subscribers can also rent [...]