Blake McCusker Horsemanship.

22/07/2025

So many people just ain’t willing to put the hard work in with these horses, want the rewards but don’t want the graft it takes to get it.

Long steady miles, sweaty saddle cloths, and strict boundaries makes a good horse….

Everybody wants a good horse.
But not everybody wants to become the kind of person that makes a horse good.

In today’s world, people expect fast results.

Instant gratification.
Swipe, click, scroll, done.

People expect success to be delivered like an Amazon Prime Order:
fast, easy, and with a smile.

They want to turn their feral horse into a “finished horse” without ever putting in the hours it takes to truly understand one in the first place.

Here’s the thing…
Mastery isn’t downloadable.
A reciprocal relationship can’t be rushed. It is build over time and it comes with highs and lows.

What took others years of learning, failing, watching, refining, people now want handed to them in a weekend clinic, a 10-minute video, a one time exercise, a one-sentence answer or because they bought a course.

The shortcuts people chase are often detours that lead them right back to where they started, just more frustrated this time.

They want the feel, but not the feedback.
They want the bond, but not the humility.
They want the horse to change, but they don’t want to change themselves.

No one can hand you the timing, the feel, the quiet, calm and consistent leadership it takes.

It can’t be downloaded or bought.

You earn that, you develop it, with every consistent rep and step. With patience. With clarity. Through being a lifetime student of the horse.

By showing up on the days it’s hard, boring, frustrating or humbling.

Put in the work.
Put in the hours.
Because Your horse
deserves that version of You.

18/04/2025

⭐️Move slowly but hurry up⭐️

When I was a kid, I spent all my time out in fields and yards , messing about with horses. Wasn’t one bit interested in school, made my poor mums life misery trying to get me to go, it wasn’t for me, horses and earning a few quid was all I wanted to do.

My mum and step dad would generally keep around 30-40 horses at anytime, my mum had a bit of a riding school, she’d have kids up around the place teaching them how to ride..He’d have 15 or 20 big cob mares in foal, a couple stallions and whatever else came along, all on chains and tethers all through the winters, he wasn’t quite as domesticated as my mum lol.

We’d be a couple hours in a morning moving cobs on tethers, feeding and lugging water to them, then the same at night, usually in the dark because we weren’t allowed to be there most the time.. will sound alien to a lot of people , but that’s just how it was. It was hard graft, I remember it well, fond memories but I wouldn’t want it anymore 🤣

They’d be breaking horses, buying and selling a few, you get the picture.

Now the old man as I’ll call him, was quite a unique fella really, the type you’d apologise to rather than argue the toss! If you know what I mean 🤣 He was a good horseman in his own way, looking back, too brave and game for his own good really, didn’t know how or when to take a backward step, man… I seen him in some bad situations with horses, upside down and smashed to pieces! And the same without horses come to think of it 🤣
But there’s a reason I’m explaining all this, stay with me☝️

I was his sidekick, we’d be working horses or at anything else we needed to do, if he said jump I’d say how high! that’s just how it was. When we’d pull up to a field, I was out running to open the gate before the wheels of the jeep had even stopped, if we were fixing fences and he needed a wire staple, I’d be on my toes, double time to get it before I got roared at ! I think they call it child abuse these days 🤔😂(it’s a joke)

But to give you an example, if we were trimming feet, getting ropes on youngsters, putting one in the cart for the first time, anything that you needed to be switched on and not jumping about spooking the horses, he’d say ‘here son! fetch me that halter ,or put the trace on that side…. MOVE SLOWLY BUT FU***NG HURRY UP!’

What he meant was , move swiftly but smoothly ,so not to spook the horse.

He’s been dead a long time now but do you know, not a week goes by, especially when I’m on my own with a horse, where things and quotes he told me come into my head… strange really 🤔

That one came to me this afternoon when I was out on the stallion, we were working him and putting him into situations and my little lad said to me, ‘jeez dad , your brave doing that with him, do you think he’s ready for that?’

I explained to him, that with horses, be slow and smooth but do it quickly! Don’t spend too much time going over old ground, on the edge of comfort is where success begins , ride with confidence and push them forward. The quote , go slowly but hurry up, fits well when breaking and training horses.

This was falcon today, coming towards the end of his 3rd week here since I started him, another week he’ll be more than ready to go home.. he’s been a pleasure!

16/04/2025

🤔Education is not the learning of facts but training the mind to think🤔

‘Albert Einstein’

This quote I think about a lot to be honest, especially when im working with horses. Anyone that’s watched me work or my videos will know that I try to train the horses mind, not get into a physical fight with it, which is very easy to do, especially for me…

Not many like to admit it but, keeping your composure is one of the hardest things to do when breaking/training horses, without doubt the best asset you can have around a horse is to be 100% in control of your emotions.

What I mean by that is…

Don’t lose your temper

Don’t be walked all over

Don’t be overly sympathetic

Don’t be overly forceful

Don’t let your ego take over

You get the point ?

Be at one calm and confident level no matter what!

Back to the original point, how many people are just drilling things with there horse, we’ve all seen a million times over? The list goes on and on and on! But do they really understand or know why there doing these things? To what end?
Or are they just doing what they were told to do, what they saw there parents, teachers doing?

What makes me think I’m any different?
Well… I did all of the above for a LONG time, doing what I watched as a kid but not really understanding WHY I was doing it, what benefit it really had on the horse. Well truth is, most of it had little benefit , they were working in spite of me not with me… did I get the job done? Yes.. was the results as fast or as good as I do now? 100% no!!

These days I concentrate on training the horse to think and understand what I want… things happen very fast and for the most part , very easy at my yard nowadays.

Food for thought 😉

11/04/2025

⭐️⭐️Falcon⭐️⭐️

First time on the stallion this evening.

11/04/2025

This mornings work, 15 yearlings to get wormed.

This was the first 3 of them, they didn’t all go this smoothly but wasn’t so bad considering they’ve barely had hands on them, mostly!

When I walk away with no broken fingers or toes … it’s a good day 🤣

08/04/2025

03/04/2025

⭐️⭐️Falcon⭐️⭐️

Short clip of the stallion this evening, big change from the video a couple of days ago. Learning the benefit of standing still and doing nothing, he wouldn’t let me twirl the rope 10 feet away from him in the last video without exploding, already today he’s accepting this, I won’t move forward until he’s perfect at this.

Standing still, calm and relaxed is the foundation of everything!

It’s unreal how fast a horse learns what you want of them when it’s presented in a clear way they understand, it doesn’t take long at all, small steps and build on it.

Your much better spending 5 minutes doing the right work than weeks of work the horse really doesn’t understand.

‘Don’t count the time, make the time count’ 🤙

01/04/2025

⭐️⭐️Falcon⭐️⭐️

4 year old Andulsian stallion

Just came in to get started

What a beautiful horse!

I’m gonna enjoy this!

23/03/2025

⭐️⭐️Circus trick or not?⭐️⭐️

Lying your horse down and why?

22/03/2025

⭐️⭐️Respond not react⭐️⭐️

Lots of young horses when put under any pressure struggle to cope with it, they react not respond….

I like my horses to totally understand everything I’m asking them, if I ask them a question I want them to know the answer.

I do these sort of exercises with them, keeping them off my hands and legs, sort of tying them in a knot and letting them figure out how to get out of it. Great for horses that tend to get panicked or are over reactive, needless to say having him understand leg yealds etc will only benefit in his work later on.

He’s very new to this so does get worried, but with calmness and consistency he’ll become more and more settled and happy with it.

19/03/2025

⭐️⭐️King⭐️⭐️

Real nice 3 year old I’ve been starting and getting going, gonna be 👌