AHS Horsemanship

30/07/2025

I’ll miss this sweet little filly! 🐴
‘Diamond’ came to me 4 weeks ago as an unhandled rescue. She was very timid and nervous, and it’s been a beautiful journey working with her.
Watching her go from a stressed, shut down, rather depressed little baby, into a very sweet, patient and loyal beautiful filly.
Poor girl had really bad rain scald and greasy heel all throughout her thick coat. How they feel and the care they receive here is of the upmost importance to me. Once she was ready for me to start treating her the scabs lifted revealing lots of inflammation and puss. Didn’t take long before it started clearing up and she began to look and feel so much better. ❤️
During her time here we worked on all the handling basics…
Haltering, leading, feet handling & first trim, float training, basic groundwork and desensitising…
Love working with these babies and watching them develop, so glad I was able to help her 🥰

27/07/2025

Long Reining or Short Reining?


I have been editing a video for my membership group. It demonstrates how I might teach an understanding of the reins to a horse being prepared for starting under saddle. In essence, I start on the ground walking by a horse’s shoulder with the reins held in a riding position. The reins are used to direct the horse much like a rider would from the saddle. I steer left and right, hindquarter yields, forehand yields, leg yields, stop and back up, etc. Pretty much anything I might do with the reins from the saddle on any horse in the first few rides.


But when I was younger and began starting horses, my mentors taught me how to use long reins to teach a response to the reins. I would pass the reins through the rings of a surcingle and attach each rein to the rings of the bit while standing behind the horse. Steering around obstacles and over poles was the main focus of this work for the green horse.


I don’t long rein young, green horses anymore. But since a great many people do use long reins when starting horses, I thought I would explain my reasoning for abandoning them and training with short reins instead.


Let me begin by saying long reining can be beneficial for horses further along in their education. So this is not an anti-long rein rave. These are just my thoughts on the suitability of long reining when starting horses.


LONG REINS

Pros


1. Long reins are excellent for getting horses comfortable with ropes around their bodies and people working behind them.


2. Long reining better prepares a horse for harness work.


Cons


1. Long reins make teaching hindquarter disengagement and forehand yield almost impossible to teach a young horse.


2. If a horse tries to shy, bolt, or panic, long reins can become entangled and often make it difficult to regain control.


3. Long reins are long, and therefore some of the energy a rider applies is absorbed and lost between the hand and the horse’s mouth.


4. If a horse overreacts to the feel of the reins and swings its hindquarters, it can be difficult to straighten and untangle the reins from around the hindquarters. A second trainer standing at the front with a halter and lead rope attached to the horse can minimize this risk.


5. Although teaching horses how to softly gives to the reins requires considerable skill, there is a steeper learning curve to becoming proficient at using them. Many people find them cumbersome to use properly and expertly in the early stages.


SHORT REINS

Pros


1. Short reins make it relatively easy to teach hindquarter disengagement, forehand yields, and basic lateral work.


2. When working with short reins the trainer stands by the shoulder or girth which helps to get the horse used to the bumping and brushing on its side it will experience when carrying a rider.


3. While using short reins the trainer can also prepare a horse to respond to the feel of a rider’s leg by using the stirrup or hand to apply pressure to the ribs to create forwardness.


4. If a horse gets a fright, it is easy to disengage the hindquarters with one rein to regain control.


5. Short reins offer a precise feel and closely mimics the action of the reins when being ridden.


6. Short reins allow a more subtle use of the reins because they are short.


Cons

1. If a horse gets a fright and shies, it could step on the trainer (but this has never actually happened to me).


You might be able to come up with your own pros and cons for choosing to use long reins or short reins. There is no right or wrong approach, but I would be interested to hear your preference and why.

26/07/2025

In some ways it’s disappointing being a trainer who puts the horse first, goes at their pace, does an incredible amount of useful ground work, focuses on biomechanics and correct movement and wants the horse to feel happy and confident.

It’s hard to find clients who not only want the same thing, but realize that doing it correctly takes time.

Everyone is in a race to the show ring to try to beat the other guy.

Every horse I train gets worked with at their pace. 10 minutes here and 15 minutes there and it’s little bits at a time. They get the days off that they need. I never wear them out, drill or over do it. I want them to get it, think about and come back again fresh in the afternoon or the next morning to try the next step for a few minutes. It’s slow and steady building blocks with me.

There’s no fluff and frill. There’s no 5 and 6 year olds practicing Grand Prix movements - that takes years and how many years depends on each individual horse.

There’s no race to the show ring. No competition to see who can climb the levels the fastest.

It’s about building a happy, healthy athlete who feels confident in their body and in their work. Those are the horses who last - physically, mentally and emotionally. Those are the horses that I train and put out into the world.

I wish more people were in it for the right reasons.

The horse first. The date of the show is unimportant.

🌻 © Cara Blanchard

📸 Max & Maxwell: Equestrian Photography

23/07/2025

One of my favourite sayings
"If you act like you've only got fifteen minutes, it'll take all day. Act like you've got all day and it'll take fifteen minutes." ~ Monty Roberts

This horse was anxious and refusing to go anywhere near the float at first. So, we take the float out of the equation and just do normal groundwork around the float pretending it’s not even there. As he gets closer to the float during groundwork take the pressure away and help him feel relaxed. When away from the float put pressure back on and keep feet moving. Pretty soon he’s starting to realise the float is becoming a safe place to be. This increases his curiosity even more and then this happened. He walked right up the ramp by himself and was very interested in checking it all out!

When time is taken and a horse isn’t forced but encouraged, he’s able to make decisions and find the right answer for himself. That’s when confidence is built and it’s far more likely to last...

15/07/2025

Beautiful sunset here tonight 😍

14/07/2025

Beautiful moment this morning. Diamond here for handling (previously unhandled) and the first time she let me come up to her while lying down, always a special moment 🥰
She’s about 7 months old, very timid and nervous, been here about 2 weeks. I love watching them develop and begin to trust ☺️

13/07/2025

YES! 👏

Thought for the day:
I still get asked regularly if I can take a young or green horse to further it’s training.
Often as not the request includes a story about how everything was going ok but then one day outside pressures caused it to act up.
The request is generally to enhance it’s knowledge or change their mindset so that they can handle all types of scenarios and be calmer and better behaved.
Often these requests are never attached to an aside like “can you teach me how I should handle and ride a green or inexperienced horse?”.
The onus is all on the horse to be able to carry (no pun intended) the rider through any situation that may arise and keep them safe.
That is too much responsibility for a young or green horse.
Your horse needs some support and help while it gains experience.
Regardless of your knowledge of horses or riding or a particular discipline you may find a green horse a challenge if you are inexperienced with them.
Many older horses can be much more forgiving of mistakes and have more experience of the world.
It takes more than a stint at a trainers to make an experienced horse.
Often there is a way through but it takes the help of people with the experience. Hands on help.
It also takes a little fortitude and the ability to not make your horse feel trapped with your hands or legs no matter what occurs.
Most of what is called acting up would not have occurred at all if the rider had acted the way the horse needed them to.
The first thing that it takes is the recognition that to ride young or green horses you may need to have yourself trained.

10/07/2025

“Don’t do to much at one time. Do a little bit often.” - Ray Hunt

28/06/2025

A fun day out with Darcy & Ringo at Sydney Mountain Trail 😃 Thanks for having us!
Ringo has been with me for starting under saddle. We had a great time exploring all the fun obstacles, what a great set up they have here 🐴

28/06/2025

A fun day out with Darcy & Ringo at Sydney Mountain Trail 😃 Thanks for having us!
Darcy did amazing, he’s just a yearling, came to me unhandled 4 weeks ago and look at him go 🥰.

24/06/2025

Did you know more than half of all horses may suffer from stomach ulcers.
Although competition horses (sport, racing) are the most prone, this condition has been proven to affect all types of horses and should not be taken lightly.

Recently I had a client that asked her vet if she should look into stomach ulcers and the vet said no, and shrugged it off. Upon my first look of the horse I recommended a scope before I started training with him, as i thought he displayed symptoms and if so I like to be sure before training commences. It turned out the poor horse had stage 3 ulcers (stages are 1-4) and was in quite a lot of pain.

Moral of the story is, even a vet’s advice can unfortunately be wrong sometimes and there is no harm in having the horse scoped to at least check. Most clinics run monthly scoping days where it’s quite cheap, roughly $120. It’s great peace of mind at least. The vets can also determine what types of ulcers they may be, the severity and what medication is best to treat them with.

Symptoms can vary with individual horses as well as the severity, or even be non-existent in the most tolerant or stoic of horses. Symptoms may include poor condition - weight loss, dull coat, changes in behaviour - teeth grinding, grumpiness, sensitivity to grooming, girthiness, reduced performance, reduced appetite ect

I have had many horses come to me that presented with symptoms of ulcers, one horse I had, her symptoms were quite mild, had her scoped, only to find out her stomach was bleeding from stage 4 ulcers. Incredibly bad.

Why are horses prone to stomach ulcers? Because horses are grazers, designed to eat 16 hours a day, their stomachs are constantly producing acid. If the horse has insufficient forage, or goes for over 3 hours without eating, this acid builds up in the stomach and may creates ulcers.

Another cause can be ingesting too many fermentable sugars (starch, glucose in which many store bought feeds unfortunately have) then the pH of the stomach may drop, which degrades the protective mucus layer and leads to ulceration. As far as feed is concerned, all horse should have access to 24/7 forage and small hard feeds that are low in sugars and starch. It is also encouraged to make sure your horse has eaten before working. So to prevent acid splash in the stomach. Hay is the best for this.

Unfortunately there are still non-nutritional causes. Stress is huge one, from things such transport, intensive training, weaning, being stalled, medication, pregnancy, isolation from other horses and separation anxiety etc.

Once horses develop ulcers the only way to treat them is with vet prescribed medication. Supplements may help but unfortunately ulcers will never fully heal without it.
It’s common for horses to go years without ever being diagnosed or treated…