Ivey League Equine

06/02/2025

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People often say “I don’t want to do anything fancy, just trail ride...”
Sometimes they mean they don’t have lofty show goals and enjoy relaxing rides, which is just great! Sometimes, however, they mean they aim to cut corners with their and their horses education.

Let’s examine what’s involved in “just trail riding”:

For the horse:
-ability to trailer load and tie calmly
-ability to stand calmly while saddled and fly sprayed, often while tied to the trailer in a new setting
-ability to stand quietly while mounted, at the trailer and possibly on the trail
-the balance and fitness required to manage uneven terrain, hills, fallen trees, etc
-confidence and exposure enough to deal with the unforeseen: wildlife, ATV’s, bikes, hikers, dogs, etc.
-confidence enough to ride in a group (potentially with people who don’t have great environmental awareness or control of their horse and can potentially get you in some sticky situations) or alone
-confidence enough to ride back home or to the trailer without anxiety or rushing

Now the human:

-environmental awareness - taking note of themselves, the horse, and the environment at all times. Do you tend to zone out and just plod along, reacting once something has happened? Or can you stay aware and head off trouble?
- a balanced seat enough to manage hills and all kinds of terrain without grabbing the reins or interfering with the horses balance
-confidence enough to handle a little spook, jog, a canter or whatever movement happens as a result of “real life” on the trail
-fitness enough to have good posture in the saddle for a length of time

And much more....

A good trail horse can take quite some time to educate, and sometimes even more time than teaching an arena horse. Personally, I don’t want to be out in the woods or mountains without a good seat on a horse who is lacking education, but I like living and aim to live a long life with all my parts 🙂

Pictured is two trail horses with a good education, who are safe and a pleasure to ride

04/09/2025

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INAPPROPRIATE TOUCHING

I'm reading an amazing book called Amphibious Soul by Craig Foster, the Academy award winning documentary film maker of "My Octopus Teacher".

If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it, it is simply profound.

In the book he says "As a rule, I never touch an animal unless they touch me first".

In my work building relationship with horses, I do this too. Most times a horse will touch you with their nose/muzzle first, and matching that greeting (versus labelling the horse as a biter) is a game changer.

But there's a phenomenon I have noticed going on with people trying to build relationship with their horses that I have labelled "inappropriate touching", and it looks a bit like the photo below.

This picture was taken at a horse expo in Pennsylvania recently, where I worked with a demo horse who has a "biting issue". He would reaching out in a way that his owner was termed as nipping, whereas I interpreted as him saying hello, similar to reaching out to shake hands with someone.

When he reached out I would greet him with a flat hand that he is able to to nuzzle, lick or even scrape his teeth on. After doing this a while his snappy acting motions got less so, and he was no longer needing to say "hey, pay attention" , but was more "hey, how's it going". I was explaining to the audience that I was meeting him in the way that he was meeting me (with his muzzle) and that it's not an invitation to touch other parts (yet).

I then said that it's many people's default to reach up and rub a horse between the eyes, whether that's what they are offering or not, and that if you do, it's inappropriate touching and it gets in the way of connection. It doesn't meet their needs, and is all about yours.

With the horse in the picture, he'd been engaging me with his muzzle, and I said to the audience "watch what happens when I try to rub him between the eyes". As you can see in the photo, he has raised his head up and is clearly indicating "No, not there, on my muzzle".

We had a Connection And Attunement retreat here at the Journey On Ranch a week ago, and I used my wife Robyn to illustrate this point to the participants. I said "imagine I'm at a gathering and meeting Robyn for the first time". We walked up to each other in that way people do when they see someone new and they can tell an introduction is shaping up, Robyn reached out with her hand to say hello and instead of me reaching out to shake her hand, I gently reached up and lightly brushed a wisp of hair from her cheekbone and tucked it behind her ear.

The participants all gasped and the ick factor was high.

Even though it was caring, and gentle, it was inappropriate at that moment.

Now Im not saying you can't rub your horse on the forehead. I'm saying if your horse has a disregulated nervous system around humans because they don't feel seen (and safe), try to meet their needs first, before trying get get yours met.

I recently saw an instagram post from a University in the UK, and the professor was explaining that they were doing studies on horses to determine levels of stress. In the background a horse was standing with his head out over a Dutch door. While he was explaining their investigations on stress, a female student (or maybe another professor, I don't know which) walked up to the horse. The horse reached out with his muzzle to greet her.

She ignored this and reached up to rub the horse between the eyes.

He turned his head 90 degrees to the left to communicate that wasn't what he was offering.

Her hand followed him and kept rubbing.

he then turned his head 180 degrees to the right, saying "No, not like that".

Smiled, gave him another pet between the eyes, and walked of camera.

While the professor was saying that they are doing experiments determining the amounts of stress horses are under, someone in the background was actually creating stress, without either of them even knowing it.

Once you understand how sentient horses are, and how subtle their communication, you can't unsee it.

11/03/2024

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HORSES IN TRAINING…

You pay that hefty training bill for the month.

You look to have you horse in training as little as possible so it doesn’t break the bank.

You’re disappointed when after 30 days or 60 days or 90 days, there’s still more work to be done or the goal hasn’t been met. Worse yet, it looks good, you take the horse home and it unravels piece by piece. All that money “wasted”.

When you pay a trainer, that money isn’t paying for a result, it’s paying for someone’s skilled effort.

At least for me, when someone gets unhappy that their horse “isn’t fixed yet”, or comes “untrained” after it’s been home a while, makes the task of training horses for other people, discouraging. Discouraging because the efforts are being made, usually my best efforts that are filled with compassion, determination and lots of ruminating on how to fix complex issues a horse may have. Their disappointment becomes my failure basically. I know that’s not an actual truth but it’s never rewarding when someone is disappointed due to their own expectations.

Training a horse is NOT like being a mechanic on a car. Its not a tune up, it’s not the simple replacement of a part. It’s an animal with thoughts, feelings, emotions, habits, talents, etc. You don’t just program them, tune them up or replace a faulty part and send it back good as new.

You arent paying for results to happen within your timeline, you are paying for the time it takes to reach a desired result. The more complicated the project, the bigger the investment. The more baggage a horse has, the more effort it takes to unravel the mess. The bigger the goal, the greater the investment.

People send their horses to certain trainers because they want the outcome that trainer proves they can achieve. The problem is, people want that result in the shortest time frame possible because time, again, is money. It takes the time it takes to create the vision and time costs money. People who have a diy mentality, value the effort so much more when they themselves invest their own energy into a horse rather than just paying for it. I really feel that those who do it themselves, come to appreciate the efforts it takes far more than those who sign the check.

Be nice to your trainers, they work hard for you and your horse!

Written by: katy Negranti
Katy Negranti Performance Horsemanship

09/03/2024

Partial ON SITE lease available for advanced beginner and up!

24 year old QH gelding
Been there done that with lots of gas left in the tank
Ex rodeo horse, can still perform but has been semi retired the last few years.
This horse has lots of finely tuned buttons and is ready for speed still not for a timid rider. Has taught many of folks over the years from beginner on

Also open to teaching barrel lessons on him

Lease will come with required weekly lessons

09/02/2024