SKH Equine Services, LLC

04/15/2026

I will have a stall opening coming in May for those interested, send me a message! 🩷

04/13/2026

These “baby steps” are so important - it may not be a big deal to you or me, but just to have this saddle pad on, with a rope draped over him, touching his sides while he stands there with his head down & relaxed is a HUGE win for today… not only is he starting to understand that me, nor my tools, are not here to hurt him, but it’s also teaching him trust, & to be patient.

Working everyday to prepare him for that first ride! So excited to swing a leg over him, but first, I also have to be patient! 🥰

04/04/2026

I draw lines.

I’ve been told that a lot. And I don’t know if that comes from horses…
or how I was raised…
or just who I am…

But I do know this it’s one of the reason I’m successful with horses. Because I don’t skip steps.

If your horse won’t pay attention on the ground,
they’re not magically going to respect you in the saddle. And if you’re correcting the same thing
over and over and over again…that’s not the horse’s fault.

That’s a lack of clarity. That’s communication that isn’t getting through. And no I’m not saying go out there and just whack on one…but let’s not forget what we’re dealing with.

These are 1,200 lb animals.
Not house pets.

There have to be clear, defined lines.
Lines that say:
👉 this is acceptable
👉 this is not

And once you draw that line
you don’t move it just because it’s inconvenient.

Because here’s the truth…A horse might “get by” today. It might even look great for a month.
But if you skipped the foundation?
It will fall apart.

Every single time.

And honestly… this doesn’t just apply to horses.

It’s life. If I can’t do this right, I have no business moving on to that.

Discipline isn’t about doing more
it’s about doing things in the right order.

03/13/2026

Why Bending Fixes 80% of C**t Problems
(And Why Most Riders Accidentally Do It Wrong)

Bending a c**t around is one of the most important early foundations in c**t starting. It teaches the horse how to soften, yield, and connect its body to the rider instead of pushing against pressure.

We all want straightness but straightness is
the finished product... softness comes first.

So early in training we often say: "Bend them
until they learn to be straight with softness.”

Most problems in young horses come down to
one simple issue: BRACE!!!!

When a c**t braces, he...locks his jaw, stiffens his neck, tightens his rib cage, pushes through the shoulders, runs through pressure. Once that brace travels through the body, the rider loses control of the feet.

However, Bending is not about pulling the head around.

💡 True bending means: the rib cage yields, the inside hind steps under, the shoulder softens. If the head bends but the body stays stiff, you are just folding the neck, not training the horse.

Just pulling the head around creates a fake bend.

You’ll see:
❌the neck folded
❌the shoulder still locked
❌the rib cage stiff
❌the hind legs trailing behind

Nothing actually changed in the body. That horse is still braced just with its nose tipped sideways.

One thing many people also overlook is that bending helps a c**t mentally regulate. A bent horse is thinking instead of reacting when done correctly. It redirects the brain from flight mode to focus mode.

This is why many trainers bend a c**t when:
✔️they get anxious
✔️they want to speed up
✔️they lose focus.

C**ts that stay straight and stiff often: lock their neck, push through the bit, run through pressure.

Bending breaks that brace.

A bent horse cannot fully brace, run straight through the bridle or lock its shoulders. When a c**t bends correctly, the inside hind leg steps underneath the body and that does several important things.
1. It disengages the motor,
2. slows their feet,
3. gives you control of forward motion.

That’s why bending is such a safe control tool when a c**t gets worried or wants to run. Because even with all the groundwork and preparation, things don’t always go as planned. You’re working with a young horse that is still learning how to handle new situations, and sometimes they need your help thinking through it while maintaining FORWARD MOTION.

As riders, we need tools that allow us to stay safe while helping the horse find a better answer.Don’t take bending a horse around for granted. It’s one of the most important safety and communication tools you have.

You cannot fix a horse by holding them together from the front. You fix them by:
💡unlocking the body (forward motion)
💡controlling the feet
💡releasing the brace.

Bending is simply the tool that allows all of that to happen. Softness has always been the language of great horsemen. A young horse is not just learning cues they are learning how to think when pressure appears.

MBR Performance Horsemanship LLC
Elsabe Hausauer
No Better Cat
Aint Seen Any Better
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Picture credits to Skye Harris doing a great job bending this c**t around and working on fundamentals. (I love this picture and ask her for permission to share)
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03/05/2026

The only reason I decided to start offering lessons is this exact reason!

Everyone learns differently, & my goal is to offer a laid back, more comfortable experience for both horse & rider, while still progressing & learning something each lesson! 🥰

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙍𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝘾𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜

When I was younger, I took a lot of lessons. At one point I even went and took a couple English lessons because I wanted to improve my riding and help my horse carry itself better.

Those lessons were tough.

That coach was very strict. Very mean. There was zero positive reinforcement. I was constantly being told to do things “correctly,” but she wasn’t actually showing me what correct looked like. I didn’t understand what I was being asked to do, and there was no explanation or demonstration, just the expectation that I should already know. Like when she was mad that I was trotting on the wrong diagonal, at that point in my career I had no idea what diagonals were.. I’m sure you can imagine how confused I was.

It was frustrating, and honestly, it didn’t help me learn.

That experience shaped the way I coach today.

When I give lessons, I try to use a lot of positive reinforcement. We might laugh about things. I’ll absolutely tell you when something isn’t right, but I’ll also show you how to fix it.

If you don’t understand, I want you to ask questions.
Ask a lot of questions.

And if my explanation isn’t clicking, it’s my job to explain it differently or demonstrate it another way until it makes sense.

Because learning should actually feel like learning.

The truth is, finding the right coach isn’t about who’s the toughest or who yells the loudest. It’s about how you learn best and how coachable you are.

Some riders do well with someone being very strict and demanding.

Others learn better with encouragement, explanation, and positive reinforcement.

Neither one is necessarily wrong.

But the key is finding a coach whose teaching style matches how you learn.

Because when the coaching style and the student line up, that’s when the real progress happens.

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙮𝙥𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩?

03/01/2026

Things I’ll never understand…
Going to a barrel race unprepared and expecting it to go well.

You haven’t ridden all week.
Maybe you rode once.
But you loaded up.
Paid the entry fees.
Paid for fuel.
Took the time.

And still expected magic.
Here’s the truth:
Confidence comes from preparation.
Consistency comes from repetition.
Feel comes from saddle time.

You can’t shortcut the work and expect the result.
This isn’t just horses it’s life.

If you want to be good at something:
• You practice when it’s boring
• You ride when you’re tired
• You fix things at home instead of hoping they fix themselves in the alley

Running your horse is not the same as training your horse. You don’t rise to the occasion.
You fall back on your preparation.
If you want different results,
the work has to change first.

No judgment just reality.

Put the time in.
Make the fuel and entry fee worth it.