Tess Smith's Equine Training Services

02/27/2022

Ms. Gru and her minions…😂 at least it feels like the same vibe!

Kailyn, Ada, and Elizabeth participated in a small walk/jog clinic yesterday. We went over how to properly sit the jog, mechanics of the walk and jog gaits, how to get smooth transitions, and horsemanship patterns. I was SOOO impressed with how quickly these girls progressed in such a short period of time!

I included a short video in the comments because Facebook Business Suite doesn’t allow me to post a video and pictures in the same post from my phone. 🙃

02/18/2022

Happy 22nd birthday, Zip! We got Zip twenty years ago as a 2 year old stud c**t. I give a tremendous chunk of credit to Zip for teaching me a lot of the skills I have today. Thank you, Zip, for tolerating all of my discipline changes, teenage whims, drying a few tears, winning lots of ribbons and trophies, and providing years of laughs and love. I love you, Zip!!

02/10/2022

Fleur said, “Alright, Tess. It’s time to get off the dressage TikTok feed.”

Most of the time, I work Fleur on more of a ranch riding regimen because that’s what she enjoys. I do, however, like to mix it up sometimes so she doesn’t get burnt out on it. I especially like to do exercises that make her really think about her feet, like leg yields (not that western riders don’t do leg yields 😉).

02/01/2022

Everyday, I make it a point to rub my horses’ ears and heads, no matter the point of view for the horse. No one likes a head shy horse or one that doesn’t like their ears touched.

We all get good at what we practice.

01/20/2022

As a trainer and riding instructor, nothing will make your heart fuller than seeing things come full circle. Training horses and teaching students can be quite fulfilling all on their own, but training a horse to become a lesson horse and watching a student progress and become more and more confident with that horse will put you up on cloud nine. Cheers to Boss and Neville!

11/23/2020

This is Dandy’s Wimpy Chex aka Boss. I’ve been working with him over the past year in order to prepare him to be a lesson horse for American Dream Farm. I handed him over a couple of months ago and could not be more proud of this guy. I want to thank and applaud Maisie Harris for trusting us with your boy and training him so well the first years of his life. People have a tendency to underestimate how important those first years are. I still try to ride and work with him at least once a week to further and maintain his training, even if it just messing around and throwing random things at him. Boss was born with such a great mind, has such natural talent, and has stolen a special place in my heart.

03/22/2019

12/14/2018

Happy National Horse Day to the horses that stole my heart!

11/18/2018

And with that, Frankie went home. It’s always a bitter sweet day for me. Frankie is a wonderful horse and a fun ride. Paulette and Frankie will do great things together!

11/18/2018

Today was Frankie’s last training session with me. We’ve been doing some steering exercises, like circles, and working on pressure from both reins instead of just picking up on one rein to stop. This was his first time stopping from both reins at the lope. 👍👏 I also switched to the bridle that he will be going home in, so that he has as much familiarity as possible when he goes home tomorrow.