RS Training and Trimming - Ruth Schroder, Equine Hoofcare Practitioner

03/03/2026

Good one 👍

Understanding why so many riders are fearful today and why we see inappropriate solutions, like riders drugging horses, needs to be understood. My take on the cause of today's epidemic of rider fear is poor instruction. The gap is that riding students are not being taught anything about the authentic nature of horses.

Instead, trainers and barn owners are pandering to students with trendy romanticized ideas that anthropomorphize horses. Specifically, what is not being taught is that horses, being herd animals, need leadership. Horses need to know where they are in the herd pecking order and that if a rider does not lead, the horse assumes that they must lead the "herd" of the horse and rider. The horse takes on the leadership role, and the rider feels out of control, which is true when the horse is the leader.

This confusion over leadership leads to an incorrect belief that horses are unpredictable when by nature horses are far more predictable than humans. Students just have to understand the horse's priorities and patterns. Riders who anthropomorphize their horses have the false belief that horses think and feel a lot like people do and they don't.

Students therefore expect horses to provide human like responses to their actions, which of course they don't. And when horses respond to rider's confusing commands, imbalances and inappropriate use of the aids or cues in the way horses do, the riders become fearful due to the horse's non human like responses that seem unpredictable or uncontrollable, when they are not.

Safer, fear free riding comes when a rider has a true sense of the horse's nature. Once a rider understands horses as they truly are, their horses seem quite predictable to riding students.

What I am explaining here is that horsemanship, that includes accurate understanding of the nature of horses and much more, needs to be taught from the beginning of lessons. The Disneyfied best friend partner idea of horses has to be opposed. Leadership must be taught and then it must be explained to students that partnership is possible with horses only after leadership is established.

Made up fanciful ideas of horse behavior make horses appear unpredictable and scary to uneducated riders when they are only being themselves as horses. I regularly explain that today riding lessons are focused on WHAT to do when riding. There is almost no instruction that addresses WHY horses respond in different ways and WHY we must accommodate their authentic nature.

Yes, we must also teach WHAT is involved in correct riding. We must teach skills like defensive riding, emergency dismount and other countermeasures that can redirect unwanted or potentially dangerous horse behavior. Because horses often respond to stimulus that they experience as threats, such as a plastic bag blowing across a field, riders must be in the leadership role to help the horse overcome their fears. We must include WHY horses' perceptions as prey animals are different from our own in order to help them get past their authentic responses.

Armed with information about authentic horse behaviors we put the student into the "knowledge is power" context when riding. Then, if we additionally teach defensive riding skills, we can produce confident students who are prepared for their horse to act predictably even if a behavior seems unpredictable at first.

If we leave students to their fearful fantasies and do not teach the WHYs, we do students a great disservice. If we allow students to maintain their illusions about horses that deny their authenticity, we allow them to feel like there is a "monster under their bed" that can pop out from under the bed at any time. Simply stated, we overcome fear with reality.

29/09/2025

Key facts 👌 🔑 🌟

Thought for the day:
If your horse displays habitual unwanted behaviours rather than responding to a request from us the way forward is not always the way we would like it to be.
Here is an example.
If we ask a horse to move and it props and tosses it’s head or braces on our legs or runs backwards etc we should keep asking and add some incentive.
If we stop asking (release pressure) we are in effect training the unwanted behaviour using the same technique that we can use to train the behaviours we want.
Some points to remember.
This is not always easy for us or the horse.
It’s rarely a pretty process on a horse with a bad habit.
It can take quite a bit to change something that has become a strong habit.
Ridden unwanted habits cannot always be changed from the ground although it helps if we make sure our set up on the ground is good.
Well set up young horses that have no pre conceived ideas about being ridden may test these behaviours but don’t continue to display them providing we don’t quit asking.
When you start to continue the ask to change the habit often the horse will try the evasion harder to get his release so things may get worse before they get better.
Sometimes we have to be stubborn and always we have to be consistent.
Things don’t always appear to others how we would like them to.
We don’t want to punish the horse but making it more comfortable wont create a new habit.
The flip side is when you do get even a little of the change you are after do everything in your power to make the horse comfortable.
Catch the problem in it’s infancy and your horse and you will never have to sort out these misunderstandings.
Sometimes it can be as simple as a redirection but not always.
Problems in older horses often teach us much more than training young horses.
Remember if your horse runs to the gate or another horse etc and you stop riding your making a much bigger issue to work out later.
It’s just how things are.

08/08/2025

I totally agree! 🌟

19/05/2025

What is the real risk to horse teeth and overall horse health from wearing a grazing muzzle? How does it compare to an at-risk (laminitic, obese, or metabolic) horse not wearing a grazing muzzle at all?

Most grazing muzzles don't have any negative effects on your horse's teeth. However, metal muzzles or slow feeders may cause damage in addition to excessive wear, chips, or fractures. There are also a few brands of grazing muzzles on the market made from a thick, hard plastic that can cause abnormal wear to the incisors. Many of the hard plastic grazing muzzles now offer softer inserts to minimize this type of damage.

The attrition that we appreciate to the incisors does have the potential to result in an exposed pulp, which could then result in pulpits or a tooth root infection. However, this is rarely the case. Generally, the teeth are able to repair themselves, by sealing off any exposed pulp, at a rate equal to or more rapid than the wearing process. This ultimately means that most of the cases that we see of abnormal wear to incisors from grazing muzzles is primarily cosmetic.

The risk of laminitis, on the other hand, is very real and the results can be catastrophic. Not wearing a grazing muzzle for even a few hours for a horse with EMS (equine metabolic syndrome) or PPID (Cushing's) can be problematic. Always follow your veterinarian's recommendations when managing your horse's metabolic issues, as these can and sometimes do have deadly complications.

If you have questions or concerns on if your equine should be wearing a grazing muzzle, contact your veterinarian.

Thank you to the Horse Owner Education Committee for providing this information.

12/01/2025

WHEN IS A HORSE NO LONGER A GREEN HORSE?

During a lesson at a clinic, I was once asked, “When is a horse no longer a green horse?”

It’s a good question and worth thinking about. The reason it is a matter that deserves consideration is that we tend to think of horses in terms of green or educated, novice or advanced. We use these terms to describe the degree of education of a horse and whether we like it or not, it can influence how we approach a horse’s handling and training.

There was some discussion about when a horse is no longer a green horse among the clinic participants and fence sitters.

One person said that when a horse is broken in, it is no longer green. Another person thought that when the basics are established, a horse is no longer green. Somebody mentioned when a horse is ready for competition and yet another suggested after a certain number of rides.

It is clear that there is no obvious and definitive meaning to when is a horse no longer green. There are many views.

A while back an Aussie trainer in the US called Warwick Schiller asked me when did I think a horse could be described as being broken in. I joked that when the owner had run out of money a horse was broken in. However, in truth, my real definition is a little less clear. I told him, “A horse is broken in when I can put a schmuck on it and expect things will be ok.”

By that definition, there are an awful lot of horses being ridden for years that are not broken in. I use this definition because it relates to the mindset and comfort of a horse about being ridden. Being broken in is not about what a horse can do when ridden, but what a horse feels about being ridden. A horse that has no trouble inside it about being ridden will learn to tolerate a schmuck rider. But a horse with trouble inside has its survival instinct closer to the surface and is less likely to tolerate bad riding.

If I take that same attitude to the question of when is a horse no longer a green horse, it’s a little easier to define green-ness.

It’s not hard to argue that a horse is green (novice) at anything it does not know or do well. A horse may not be green in regard to some aspects of its work, but when learning new things, it must be the colour of a tree frog.

If we consider that in training we are always teaching a horse new things, we could reason that every horse is green at something. Therefore, there is no such thing as a horse that is not green.

I think this is a good definition to have because it reminds us to be absolutely clear in everything we do with a horse. It encourages patience when a horse makes a mistake. It encourages compassion and empathy when a horse experiences trouble.

However, the downside of this is if we think of a horse as always being green, we can fall into the trap of never trying to push the boundaries of comfort. In order for a horse to learn and become a better riding horse we need to push the comfort zone into the uncomfortable zone. The comfort zone is not an area where much learning takes place. But if we can avoid that trap, thinking of a horse as always being green is unlikely to ever be a mistake.

Of course, it can be argued that there are different shades of green. It probably comes down to a personal view of where each of us considers the line of demarcation exists between novice and educated.

For me, I think a horse can be performing at an advanced level, but still be considered green. For instance, a horse that can spin correctly according to the standards of reining competition or a polo horse that is playing at international level or a show jumper that is clearing 1.6m. These horses may be highly educated in their field, yet still not be solid in the basics of being a riding horse. I can recall seeing a Grand Prix dressage horse cantering out of control sideways through the gate of the arena when the judge approached with the blue ribbon in hand. To me, that horse was green because despite being highly trained to perform dressage movements, it was not well-trained to be a riding horse.

Now to turn our attention from the horse to the rider, when is a rider no longer a novice rider? Can we apply the same standard or definition to riders as we might to horses? Is there such a thing as an educated rider?

It seems to me that, like a horse, a rider is always a work in progress. Neither a horse nor a rider is ever finished learning. If this is true, then maybe there is no such thing as a rider that is not green. What do you think?

12/08/2024

Hiya,
Unfortunately my services will not be available for a little while as I will be away until mid November.
Please feel free to contact me in the meantime for any questions though, I might be able to help with a referral, or from a distance 👍🙂

01/06/2024

Time to share again..

Do you know how to do a body condition score?
Obesity and laminitis related to equine metabolic syndrome is one of the most common issues we see.
Familiarise yourself with an ideal body condition- it’s much slimmer than most people think!
We use the Henneke BCS scale- all horses should be around BCS 3-6, but the vast majority we see are 7-9.
It is far riskier to be slightly overweight than slightly thin.

This video gives more in depth information (with a slightly different scale used)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zih1jT_pUgQ

19/04/2024

Love it love love love it! It is the KEY! 🥳

"A young rider was lunging a horse when an old rider came close. After having observed him, the old man asked the boy: And the boy answered Yes. So the old man closed his own hand into a fist and said to him: Then the boy used his strength in any way possible by pinching, hitting, pulling, pushing...but he just couldn't open the hand. So he finally asked the old man:

27/03/2024

Learn more about the symptoms of EMS/IR and how to manage them here: https://bit.ly/2OspeWl.

01/02/2024

This has been such a long time coming and will hopefully be a great step forward to making those fantastic facilities in Bundaberg much more widely accessible and used! 🐴🏇❤️

Hey, equestrians, trainers, clinicians, judges, associations, and affiliates! We need your voice to make a change in Bundaberg's Recreational Precinct Undercover Arena and Equestrian Facilities. Your feedback and suggestions are crucial to improving the Bundaberg Recreational Precinct facility's usa...