Pratt Natural Horsemanship

Pratt Natural Horsemanship Equine problem solving, lessons, horsemanship, and training help. I offer training by the hour, by the week, and by the month.

Problem solving using natural horsemanship methods: including but not limited to: regaining trust for rescue horses, tying issues, head/ear shyness, haltering/bridleing issues, deworming refusal, desensitizing to spooky objects, lack of respect(crowding/pushiness), lack of trust, crossing water, saddling problems, not standing still for mounting, round penning, lunging problems, not picking up fe

et/kicking, if it isn't listed, ask about it, I can't list everything. handling foals/weanlings/yearlings, etc. For hourly training/problem solving, you can trailer your horse to me, or I can travel to you(within reason), I also offer advice on horse handling and care for beginners, BASIC riding lessons, and assistance in regaining confidence for those who either are afraid of horses in general, or have had a wreck and lost their confidence.

09/08/2025

After watching Clinton Anderson this past weekend, I am very tempted to get my insurance back and start up clinics at Lewis Bottoms again….. we’ll see. I miss doing clinics.

09/08/2025
Excellent day today. Day 1 of the very last Clinton Anderson No Worries Tour. Sad to see the tours end. I have been us...
09/07/2025

Excellent day today. Day 1 of the very last Clinton Anderson No Worries Tour. Sad to see the tours end. I have been using the Method for 22 years so far, and have been able to help a lot of people and horses with it. Feel, timing, consistency, and reward the slightest try. Balancing sensitizing and desensitizing to get a willing partner.

08/08/2025
07/26/2025
Absolute truth. I’ve seen people with little to no control in the arena decide to go on a trail ride. They come back p...
07/26/2025

Absolute truth. I’ve seen people with little to no control in the arena decide to go on a trail ride. They come back pretty quickly, with horror stories of what happened. Not my circus, not my monkeys, but what the heck did they expect? I am lucky enough to have a small round pen, larger round pen, indoor arena, and outdoor arena, large pasture, and also a nearby park to ride in. I try to do all of my work in each area making sure I have it good in one area before moving to the next. Some give a noticeable difference in attitude, some barely notice. Obviously, usually it’s that move from the round pen to the bigger arena and then from the arenas to the pasture where the biggest change comes out.

Groundwork, groundwork, groundwork. I just bought a new horse(unfortunately, another project), and even though a previo...
07/25/2025

Groundwork, groundwork, groundwork. I just bought a new horse(unfortunately, another project), and even though a previous owner I contacted said he was an amazing trail horse that never did anything wrong, he has had his own way for a couple of years since then, and I would be a fool to put a foot in the stirrup without restarting him and fixing all the moth holes first.

Amen to this. I use one bit. A 3 pc dog bone snaffle. If they can’t ride in that, it means I have work to do.
07/25/2025

Amen to this. I use one bit. A 3 pc dog bone snaffle. If they can’t ride in that, it means I have work to do.

07/21/2025
04/26/2025

I know I have not posted in a long time. I am still here, still available for any problem solving, riding lessons, clinic needs.

Pm me if you need anything, even just a one time thing as another set of eyes looking at a problem or a one time lesson to get you on the right track.

As always, I will travel to your location(within reasonable distance ).

I will be doing a short clinic on May 8 for Linn County 4-H kids.

11/05/2024

Anyone new visiting my page, if you scroll down (quite a ways) you will find a lot of my “training tip of the month” posts, and a few helpful videos. If you want to know how I do things, those tips will give you a lot of insight.

A little bit about me. I consider myself more of a problem solver than a “trainer”. I don’t do c**t starting anymore, I don’t take your horse and put rides on him for you. Whatever it is your horse needs(or you think maybe he needs), I identify it and get you started on the right track to fixing it or getting what you want. Even if it is a riding issue, I will likely go back to some groundwork first. I will show you the process of how to do it yourself, and help you along the way. Sending your horse to a trainer and having them do all the work for you does you no good when the horse gives you trouble later. I want you to know the whole process so when something happens later, YOU can fix it before it gets out of hand. I also do basic riding lessons, for beginners or for anyone having an issue they need some help working out. If you are a beginner with your first horse, I can teach you all of the do’s and don’ts, and give you riding lessons so you can have and maintain a good, safe partnership with your horse. If you are not a beginner but are having trouble with your horse, I can help you “problem solve” and get back on the right track.

I am based at Lewis Bottoms Farms, by Palo, Iowa. Currently I do not carry the insurance necessary for me to do training there, but I can come to your horse’s location, within a reasonable distance. I charge $50 per hour. I may pick up the insurance in the spring to be able to do sessions at Lewis Bottoms, we will see.

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Palo, IA

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I offer training by the hour, by the week, and by the month. Problem solving using natural horsemanship methods: including but not limited to: regaining trust for rescue horses, tying issues, head/ear shyness, haltering/bridleing issues, deworming refusal, desensitizing to spooky objects, lack of respect(crowding/pushiness), lack of trust, crossing water, saddling problems, not standing still for mounting, round penning, lunging problems, not picking up feet/kicking, if it isn't listed, ask about it, I can't list everything. handling foals/weanlings/yearlings, etc. For hourly training/problem solving, you can trailer your horse to me, or I can travel to you(within reason), I also offer advice on horse handling and care for beginners, BASIC riding lessons, and assistance in regaining confidence for those who either are afraid of horses in general, or have had a wreck and lost their confidence.

With clinic season right around the corner, I thought I would post this for people visiting my page to decide if they want to participate. Also for anyone thinking of private training or lessons.

What are my qualifications for doing this? Well, here is what I am not: I am not a fancy show person, I have never been a bronc rider, roper, reiner, cowboy, cowgirl, haven’t broke 1000 c**ts, I don’t wear a cowboy hat, chaps, spurs, typically don’t wear cowboy boots(they hurt my feet), I just don’t feel the need for a costume, I don’t live in Montana or Texas, I don’t do dressage, or jumping, barrel racing or any competitive this or that.

What I am: I am a regular horse owner who got in a bad accident years ago, and lost all confidence, to the point of being ready to be done with horses. One night I saw a video of someone using natural horsemanship to make a horse safer, both on the ground and in the saddle. Nothing fancy, nothing complicated, just the basics. I wanted to be able to do that for myself. So I bought some videos, studied them, and started using it on my horses. I spent hours watching and re-watching the videos, and many more hours making mistakes, then trying again, and then perfecting the techniques. I started to realize that there were a lot of horses out there that had the same problems with just the basics. I started practicing on other people’s horses, learning how to read each horse and figure out how to change the technique to fit each horse. Then I decided to try to help other people. Let’s face it, the vast majority of horse owners don’t need someone to teach them roping, reining, or showing, they need help with the basics! Leading a horse without the horse pulling or walking on them, keeping a horse at a safe distance instead of on top of them while standing still, be able to get a horse to back up out of their space in any situation with or without a lead rope, to be able to lunge a horse without being drug all over the arena, or the horse going whatever speed IT chooses, to be able to desensitize a horse to something they are afraid of. From the saddle, to be able to safely and reliably get a nice stop, even in a scary situation, to fix a horse that is heavy on the bit, either for stopping or turning or both, to be able to mount safely, to fix the horse that moves around during mounting and or walks off before you even get in the saddle, to fix the horse that is lazy, to fix the horse that thinks he can go whatever speed he wants, to slow down the horse with the crazy fast trot that rattles your teeth....to get safe, reliable, 2 way, consistent communication both on the ground and in the saddle. THAT is what I can do because of the hundreds of hours I put in learning how to do it, then learning how to adjust it to fit each horse. I have figured out how to get into the head of each horse, learn what motivates each one, how to break things down into little pieces the horse can understand. I have learned how to watch people interact with their horses and see where the communication is breaking down. I have learned how to help people as well as horses. I refuse to call myself a trainer, because I feel that title is reserved for those people that have the ability and courage to get on any horse, any time, in any situation. It is reserved for that guy that can actually get a walk/trot/canter out of a horse in 30 days. I do problem solving, and yes I go as far as to call it training, because it is training a horse to be better than it was. I don’t charge a lot for clinics or training or riding lessons, because I don’t have any titles or awards or certifications. I do charge some because I put a lot of hours, heart, soul, blood(and other injuries, including concussions), sweat(a whole lot of that), and yes, a few frustrated tears, into getting to this point. I also don’t charge a lot because when people charge $200 for 4 hours of the basics(which is what a lot of these big name trainers do), it limits the participants to people that have a lot of money, and puts that help out of reach of the average horse owner. I want the average horse owner to have access to the help they need to just be able to enjoy their horse, not be frustrated by the basics, and interact safely with their horse both on the ground and in the saddle.