4 Woods Equestrian

11/24/2025

Here’s a lil Then and Now. Feeling FORTUNATE to have the best barn fam around. Always speakin my love language and keepin me stocked up 💚 🫶🏼

09/05/2024

This mare is here at the barn and we are hoping to find her a fitting home with someone who will love on her how she deserves! 🖤 Please share so we can find her a home!

Lakota, is a very sweet 17 yo QH mare. She's a great little (14.3hh) trail horse who loves to please. She will do arena work as well, but would much rather spend time on trails. Goes through water, over bridges, and isn't spooky.
She's an easy keeper and does great with the farrier, trailering, ground manners, etc. She's laid back but does best with an intermediate rider as she can be a bit pushy and will get frustrated without direct, understandable cues. Lakota is happily and soundly barefoot along with UTD on shots, teeth, deworming, and has her coggins done. She does well around kids, dogs, and other farm pets.

06/04/2024

Couldn’t agree more!

I read a theory about why so many riders lack a deep command of basics, and it was explained like this---

Correct basics are hard to master because there is an enormous amount of repetition involved, and if someone has tried something hundreds, possibly thousands of times, and still can’t do it, it is easy for the person to conclude that he/she is taking on an impossible challenge.

In his book “Mastery,” George Leonard wrote that on the quest to become good, there will be long stretches of “seeming non-improvement.”

Like watching grass grow, change is happening, but so slowly that it can’t be measured daily, weekly, or even monthly. But at some point, for those who stick with it, “suddenly” they can do things that before they couldn’t do.

The issue is giving up in frustration before putting in those many many many many months of practice.

That is ONE theory. I am sure there are many others, but this one does ring true.

09/10/2023

We were all so fortunate to get to have Bill out to capture our weekly roping practice! Just look at his work! Looking forward to more to come!!

09/10/2023

07/30/2023

04/21/2023

THIS. 💛

Horse training is all about balance. Too much pressure is never good, but not enough makes it hard to progress. Finding the balance between too much and not enough can be difficult and varies for each horse but it is so important.

I am at a very repetitive point with my 2024 prospects. We go through the same motions pretty much every day learning how to use their bodies and become strong enough to do the task at hand. It is crucial to occasionally push them past their “comfort zone” and work them through the uncomfortable. I don’t do this everyday, but when I feel they are getting comfortable where we are, I step up to the next level and work through it, then back down, then back up again a few days later, and so on…

This teaches my horses to how to get “comfortable with the uncomfortable” and work through pressure without panicking. When we add more pressure they will usually make mistakes and some will get a little panicked or flighty.

How you respond to this means EVERYTHING.

You need to be the constant—the one they can trust when they are uncomfortable. Then they will come back to your hands even when they are afraid. This will be very beneficial when they start competing. I already know my horses are likely to make mistakes when leveling up, so instead of reprimanding them for it I remain calm and simply show them the right way and then try again.

Listen to your horses, they will tell you when they are ready!

www.betweenthereins.us



📸: Bee Silva Photography