30/05/2026
4 year old Willow is really coming along and taking everything in her stride. Trailer loading is now spot on, hacking spot on and schooling is coming along nicely. She’s ridden 3 times a week as feel it’s important not to overload a baby brain and days off in between really help them to absorb what they’ve learnt. Times spent with babies, and older horses, should always be spent wisely.
On non-ridden days, I love spending time working in hand or teaching a particular skill or trick whilst on the yard or in the arena. This could be training to be comfortable with a wormer, a spray bottle or to deal with any tacking up/bridle issues or mounting block training all using positive reinforcement/clicker training.
Life with horses isn’t just about what we want or need to fulfil our goals, it’s what they need too and sometimes that’s using riding time for something completely different. There should always be something in it for them no matter what activities we do with our horses and non-ridden days can really help form trusting partnerships when you combine this with rewards.
You may need a whole ‘ridden length session’ to work on something specific, or it may take 2 or 3! So if you aren’t already using positive reinforcement to address an area for improvement, give it a try, just make sure you dedicate that time to your horse 💜
