Sunny Side Horsemanship

Sunny Side Horsemanship Horsemanship trainer and coach. Helping others create connection & build confidence with compassion.

Teaching a horse to drag things is a useful tool even if you never intend to use the skill. They have to learn how to fo...
05/21/2026

Teaching a horse to drag things is a useful tool even if you never intend to use the skill. They have to learn how to focus on and respond to the rider even when something scary is moving directly towards them, they learn to control their body and pause when frightened rather than bolting or scooting, and they learn how to have ropes bumping, touching, and rubbing all around their body.

05/12/2026

There’s a lot going on here in the 6 min video chopped from my session with Holliday. The goal of this session was to start developing some softness to my aids. As you can see, he has a ton of brace to my hands and he doesn’t understand how to bend through his body without twisting.

The very beginning of the video shows how he’s been halting for me. Very braced, very upright with a hallowed out back. I wait for a bit of softness without pulling before I release my hand and ask him to move on forward. The very end of the video demonstrates a much softer and better balanced halt, though he has so mark farther to go still.

Throughout the rest of the video, are snippets of right side only the progression of that session working on softness from the jaw first, through the neck lifting the inside shoulder.

I initially am asking for those shoulders to lift and take a step to the outside to create some lift in the shoulder. After he’s getting more consistent with lifting, I ask him to maintain that soft bend and lift, shift his weight to the inside hind for and single step turn on the hunches into the bend.

This simple exercise of gaining control of the shoulders helps a horse to start understanding softness through the entire body and softly responding to rein and leg aids, correct bend without twisting and torquing through the body, and how to start shifting the weight back to the hind.

If you can’t fall in love with the journey, you’re going to quit. If you can’t face hard day after hard day and still sh...
05/09/2026

If you can’t fall in love with the journey, you’re going to quit.

If you can’t face hard day after hard day and still show up giving it your best, you’re going to quit.

If you can’t have failure every single day with rare moments of success and learn to keep working through every failure, you’re going to quit.

If you can’t stand the feeling of inadequacy, confusion, and anger at yourself for constantly getting it wrong, you’re going to quit.

If you can’t take direction and correction from someone who truly wants to see you succeed and learn through it, you’re going to quit.

If you’re so busy looking at other people’s success and you can only think, “must be nice” and don’t ask about all the trials and struggles they faced to get there; you’re going to quit.

If you’re not ok with sacrificing your every comfort and enjoyment in order to chase your dream, you’re going to quit.

If you can’t keep moving ahead, step after step, long after everyone left you and your worst fears come to life in front of your eyes, you’re going to quit.

The greatest success comes when you fall in love with your journey, not your destination.

05/06/2026

Kassie learning how to bring herself to the block. This handy tool takes most horses 30 minutes to learn and saves time and frustration for life.

04/21/2026

One of the comments I regularly get about my teaching style is that I don’t make people feel dumb or that I’m talking down to them. My response to that is after doing this professionally going on 17 years now, I still end up in situations that make me feel like an idiot. The horse does a great job of showing us where we are deficient in our skills, why would I add to that when I’m here to help?

04/11/2026

One of my favorite things to do is help the older, injured, incorrectly developed, or simply out of shape horses start using their bodies correctly and get going again safely.

This saintly gentleman needed a little help with a prescription from his vet to help get that hind end feeling better, and now we’re building some good muscle and he’s having fun with it too.

04/07/2026

I always tell people training mules is a lot like training cats; it has to be their idea and if you p**s them off, good luck.

A little clip of Henry from last week working to get a better fitting halter on. Since this video he’s gotten much more comfortable with me and lets me scratch him all over. Next up, leading.

Pet peeve. When people purposely, or accidentally and don’t fix it, tie knots in their ropes. I’ve been told it’s to hel...
04/04/2026

Pet peeve. When people purposely, or accidentally and don’t fix it, tie knots in their ropes. I’ve been told it’s to help them hang on, but having personally watched someone try to hang onto a spooked, bolting horse and end up with a spiral break in their finger from hitting the knot, they will always be untied here. Or I just won’t use the rope.

What’s a peeve of yours?

When you feel eyes on you so you have to pause mid ride to see what’s up. Max thinks my arena rides are boring and can’t...
03/29/2026

When you feel eyes on you so you have to pause mid ride to see what’s up. Max thinks my arena rides are boring and can’t wait for me to be done going in circles so he can go for a run too. 😆 Also note the carefully protected ball.

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Farmville, VA
23901

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