Big Dark Horse Development

Big Dark Horse Development šŸ“ Creating confident horses & wilder humans
šŸ“ Helping riders develop their horses
šŸ“ Documenting my horseā€™s starts & restarts
ā¬‡ļø Stay & train with us

09/02/2026

Building a young horseā€™s confidence with a tarp is about more than the tarp - itā€™s about reinforcing curiosity and *thinking* when a scary sound, silhouette, or movement shows up in the environment.

Itā€™s not really about desensitizing; itā€™s about conditioning her to relax herself and think her way through challenging situations instead of relying on her flight instinct.

The basic flow for playing with potentially triggering sights and sounds is:

āœ… can the horse touch the object?

āœ… can the horse follow the object? (Usually I do this first, but the tarp makes noise and blows in the wind, so I started by weighting it down instead)

āœ… can the horse let the object touch them all over?

āœ… can the horse walk calmly over the object?

I also like to use the clock shape to help a horse relax their body through bending and organizing their feet if they get too triggered. I do a lot of TRT Method with the horses I work with and get a ton of value from those exercises.

If youā€™re looking for in-person support with your young horse or want to learn to work with young or green horses, come stay and train with us at our ranch in Austin, TX for a 1-2 week residency program. Itā€™s like a private clinic, structured around you and your goals.

Young horses | training tips | liberty training | horse vacation

09/02/2026

I bought Bubbles thinking Iā€™d resell her as a recipient broodmareā€¦ but I found out selling horses isnā€™t for me.

I really admire trainers who take on horses, help them, and re-home them into better situations. If you do it well, itā€™s one of the best ways to help a lot of horses.

But every time Iā€™ve tried, I accidentally fall in love instead. Iā€™ve learned that I can help clients with their horses, but once a horse truly becomes mine, they stay mine.

Bubbles will continue to be a broodmare here, but sheā€™s also going to be a riding horse.

She has been an interesting challenge. Ultra sweet, but prone to exploding in tense situations. And because I donā€™t have much info on her history, I donā€™t have a roadmap to what those situations are.

But I believe that all horses can overcome their problems; that they are never ā€œruined,ā€ that they always forgive when we start showing up better.

If you have a ā€œproblem horseā€ and need help from someone who puts the horse first, and also gets results, come stay and train with us at our ranch in Austin, TX.

Our 1-2 week residency programs are designed for deep, focused development for the horses and humans who come to stay with us. Itā€™s like a private clinic, just for you. Link in bio.

08/28/2026

I do not have another horse on my property who would go out this far, alone, to investigate big trucks making loud noisesā€¦ while the entire rest of the herd is in the barn waiting to eat.

Herd-bound behavior, separation anxiety, ā€œbuddy sourā€ or ā€œbuddy sweet.ā€ All are extremely common behaviors in horses, and have their root deep in the instinct that programs a horse to seek safety and comfort in the herd.

Itā€™s been surprising and fascinating to see my yearling regularly engage in behaviors like this. It seems as though thereā€™s almost nothing that phases her within the borders of the home sheā€™s grown up in. It will be interesting to see how she approaches new places, as I begin taking her for trips off property.

There is so much that can be done for young horses to prepare them for lives as riding horses. Iā€™m raising this baby to be my second personal ā€œeverythingā€ horse. In the course of her life sheā€™ll do trails, cross country, dressage, jumping, liberty, play with vaulting, cows, and anything else I can think of.

For now, we build confidence and understanding in every way we can.

If youā€™re interested in working with young or green horses but donā€™t know where to begin, come stay and train with us at our ranch in Austin, TX. Our 1-2 week residency programs offer deep, focused development designed around your goals. Link in bio.

08/19/2026

Cruellaā€™s take on the ā€œkinda chicā€ trend šŸ¤£šŸ§”

08/19/2026

The journey to becoming a riding horse has thousands of little steps.

The beautiful thing about raising a horse from birth is that you have so much time, and therefore so little time pressure. I barely notice that Iā€™m training Cruella, and she basically has no idea sheā€™s being trained at all. We just spend low-pressure time together, and sometimes we experiment and learn.

Each new milestone is basically a result of me noticing how well she has learned one thing, and then saying, ā€œNow I wonder if we couldā€¦.ā€

It took me many years, many mentors, and many horses who were also my teachers to build the skillset that is making this baby feel like the easiest horse Iā€™ve ever trained - although I believe she was born with flowers between the ears as well šŸ˜ŠšŸ§”.

If you dream of developing young or green horses and are looking for a way to build that skillset, come stay and train with us at our ranch in Austin, TX. Link in bio.

08/19/2026

The best way to make your horse into a trail masterā€¦ is to already have a trail master šŸ˜Š.

My heart is in English sports like show jumping and cross country, but I love cross training. Over the years, Lucy has pushed cows, played with flag work, and hit the trails from Colorado, to Texas, to Florida. She borrowed confidence from many other horses along the way as she had all these experiences. As a confident nine-year-old, sheā€™s now lending that confidence to other horses šŸ„¹šŸ„¹.

ā€œI want my horse to get off-property experienceā€ is something I hear from riders constantly. But many times a lack of knowledge, confidence, or a trailer stops them from getting out.

Reach out if youā€™re interested in getting help to build confidence riding out. Weā€™re in the Austin area but have a residency program for riders from anywhere to stay and train with us.

08/17/2026

This is an amazing exercise for better hands and better contact.

It immediately turns the riderā€™s responsibility into a felt sense - and thereā€™s no lying to yourself about whether youā€™re getting it or not.

If you donā€™t follow the motion of the horseā€™s head up and down as he moves, the bit will drop out of his mouth. If your hands donā€™t work together in concert when you turn or shape, the bit will be pulled through the sides of the horseā€™s mouth.

The goal is a light, dreamy contact with so much harmony that your hands seem to ā€œdisappear.ā€ The horse is never surprised, bumped, or dropped.

This exercise is trickier than it looks. Make it safe by:
šŸ“ using a soft rubber or leather bit; that way if you drop it, you donā€™t bang your horse in the teeth with a metal bit
šŸ“ practicing with a trainer or friend in an enclosed area (round pen or arena)
šŸ“ try it for the first time on a horse that can take a joke - if your horse is young, green, or having behavior issues, it may not be the right horse to experiment with
šŸ“ keep a halter and lead on underneath and have someone hold the lead or hitch it to your saddle in case of emergency

Thanks to Pippa Callanan for creating this exercise!

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Georgetown, TX
78626, 78627, 78628, 78633

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+13134107813

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