Train Your Own Horse with Stacy Westfall

Apr 27, 2022

What would you do if your horse started to lie down while you were riding?
Here are some reasons a horse might try to lay down when riding:

• Horse is interested in rolling in water, mud or sand.
• Horse is itchy from sweat or bugs.
• Horse is colicky.
• Horse has discovered that laying down is rewarded.

In this episode, I...

Apr 20, 2022

A listener calls in, “My question is about how to create forward without creating negative tension.” This starts a discussion on how riders often bring tension to the session, including both their worry about causing tension AND in their cue system application. I discuss how my cue system changes between colt...

Apr 13, 2022

A listener asks a question about her mare, who at first appears, “…very good and calm, until she's worked out what it is we're doing and starts to anticipate.”  The answer involves understanding the riders' role in both the calm and the anticipation, identifying how anticipation can look different between hot and...

Apr 6, 2022

A listener asks a question about the different levels of contact between dressage and reining. On the surface this seems like a question about a horse accepting the change between the two…but I took the answer much deeper than that. 
I explain how the rider's opinion of contact changes the horse's experience, and two...