BlazeBerry Horse Training

20/10/2025

No weight on her back yet, but Rosie is getting close to having her first sit! I put my foot across her back and had it on the panel besides her.

She's learning fast and proving that a horse with a R+ foundation can take on new things without fear!

04/10/2025

Friendly reminder: Choose your equine assosiates wisely — especially if you or your child are new to the horse world. While it’s easy to be inspired by impressive results, it’s important to look deeper.

Pay attention to how they train, how they treat their horses and what behaviors they consider acceptable when they are around horses.

If something doesn’t feel right, take note of who they associate with, whos in their circle —because chances are, if they’re close with people who mistreat horses, they may share similar practices or beliefs. You can also tell alot from a horses muscle development.

Everyone is trying to save our sport but that doesn't mean abuse should be swept under the carpet.. it happens everywhere, in every discipline and often happening very close to home.

04/10/2025

Go out and learn.

Go teach yourself and your horse how to ride in different tack.

Go make both of you understand how new things function.

Go make mistakes.

Go perfect your cues.

Do not limit yourself because it would mean you have to learn something new.

Go teach yourself and your horse how to neck rein, direct rein, or go bridleless.

Go teach them to ride in all different kinds of bits.

Teach them to ride in different kinds of bitless bridles.

If not for your horse, learn for you. You probably won't ride the very same horse you know throughout your life.

So make sure you know to respect what your riding in, no matter what it is.

You don't have to agree with going bitless or bitted. No I'm not here to tell you to change your system.

I'm here to remind you to learn. Remind yourself how to ride in that old bit you have collecting dust. Remind yourself how to tie reins with your lead rope and ride out in a rope halter.

Go learn. It's good for you and any horse you choose to ride.

Pictured below, my personal gelding showing all the different bridles (or lack of) he can be ridden in.

(Yes his ears are back in most of them, he is a sassy guy, but not because of his tack!)

22/09/2025

Bits versus bitless

The ultimate debate.

You see lots of people throwing sentences around along the lines of "well my horse doesn't like bitless/bit so I don't ride in it!

Well, if we look at it logically, I bet most of those horses don't like to be ridden, so why ride with that logic?

Going from bitted to bitless or vice versa isn't just a one and done thing. Pictured below is my personal gelding, going bitted one day at a huge show, and going bitless the next.

He can't do both because I've decided what he likes and doesn't like. He can ride smoothly and calmly in both because I put the effort in to teach him how to respond in both bridles.

You can't slap a sidepull on a horse that's only been bitted and expect the exact same rein cues to work 100% of the time.

And you can't slap a bit on a horse that's been bitless and expect no resistance!

That's where training and conditioning comes in.

Teach your horse that both ways are ok, only if you want to be able to ride in both!!

I'm not going to attack anyone choosing to only ride in one option, because that's not my business.

I'm here to end the "which is better for the horse?" Debate.

Neither! If you want the better option then go bridleless everywhere!

Do you see how ridiculous that sounds? If you train your horse to be versatile, it's going to have less stress under new circumstances with strange tack. It's that simple.

I personally like going bitless better, as it's more forgiving and my horses move out in it better. But I'm not going to neglect training them to handle a bit, and that's what makes us be able to compete in big shows.

I love that we can talk about this, and I wish I could see more people being open and understanding to those who use the other option. It's not the end of the world if you don't want to ride in a bit or bitless bridle. It just helps your horse respond better in any situation if you choose to touch on both.

06/09/2025

As someone who never wants to see or deal with a horse that gets cast upon a fence, I've had to deal with it 2 this summer for the first time, both with this mare.

She's a sweet girl, 12 years old. The first time she got cast she tried to force her way up, slicing up her back legs (if you can see the scars on her), and that was a heavy situation for me and I took time off work to take care of her. But I WATCHED it happen. The only reason I couldn't be there to get her to stop was because she was all the way across a huge pasture.

Today, she got cast on the panels of a temporary pasture I set up for them, we have been doing this for 4 years and never had a problem. I looked out, turned around to pick up some horse p**p, then turned back around to see her stuck and her back leg in the air.

The ONLY reason I was able to stay calm was because as a young new horse owner, the barn manager who really mentored me had shown me a video of how she handled a horse getting cast in a stall, and told me how she did it in detail and calmness.

That set the tone for all of my response. I saw it, I hurried out there, but not with panic. I set my brother to go get another lead rope and because this mare wasn't upset, I set up a camera to learn from it.

This was my second try, the first one she kinda kicked out at the rope on her back legs, which I don't blame her at all.

If I could do it again I would try to wrap the ropes around her bottom legs and not the top, and see if that would get her over quicker.

Again. This is the second time I've had to deal with this, and my first she got caught and stuck in a sitting position.

I was not perfect. The way I pulled her up wasn't perfect either. But in the moment, we got her up less than 3 minutes she got stuck. So I would say it was a successful rescue.

05/09/2025

Some happy horses!!

We may not be rich with money, but we are rich with those that surround and help us! A horse doesn't care about how cheap or expensive something is, they just care how it makes them feel. And these horses are feeling at ease and pretty thrilled with their life right now!

08/08/2025

What is one non-negotiable thing you do with your horse?

Well I'm here to tell you it should be working on their hooves.

That's the first and last thing I work on in each session, holding and stretching the horse's legs, mimicking how a farrier would hold them to trim them.

I even bought a hoof stand just to properly replicate the height and angle they need to hold their feet at for a period of time.

But when I was getting my horses ready 2 weeks ago for the farrier, I realized something.

I will always put my farrier's comfort and safety above my horse's feelings.

I'm not saying don't train with kindness and slow steps, I'm saying, when the farrier is under your horse, your horse should know it's all work and no play.

They have to pick up their legs, stand still, and behave.

Yes that's hard for horses, but that's why you train it.

My 2 year old filly was absolutely great for the farrier the last go around. Why? Cause she wouldn't stand still for the trim before that, and I worked on her a lot, so she doesn't do that again.

My 6 year old was having issues and kept trying to pull away, and yet, my amazing farrier insisted he's ok and probably having a bad day. Well, now I've been working heavily with the 6 year old too, on not pulling away.

You take what your horse gave the farrier, and you reinforce the good stuff, and train out the bad.

The horse is always changing and growing, so they are going to be different for lots of trims. But you need to understand that if you fix its issues, and your farrier comes back to see you didn't ignore that, even if its a slight inconvenience, they will thank you and you will be bumped up the favorite client list 😉

But again.

Always work on the horse's legs and hooves. There is no excuse to let them be bad citizens for the farrier while you ride them around a show ring.

Picture is of Rosie patiently waiting to be trimmed.

25/06/2025

A blow for the fight for Humane Animal rescues. Im very upset about the people who unfairly criticized instead of tried to help.

The loss is already felt strongly. I hope shes resting and playing with all the animals she gave a good, last bit of their lives to.

Very sad and very angry. Call out animal abuse. NOT the people saving the animals.

The wildlife rescue community recently experienced a devastating loss. Mikayla Raines, the executive director of Save A Fox Rescue, passed away in the manner that so many rescuers do: losing a lifelong battle with mental illness.

Her beloved husband Ethan posted a beautiful tribute on the Save A Fox page that I encourage you to watch, but I also wanted to share some words and thoughts of my own.

I did not know Mikayla well enough to call her a friend, but we were in touch with some regularity, and our work often overlapped, and we shared many close mutual friends in common. From people who knew her well, I heard only positive things. The public often got me and Mikayla mixed up, because we are both fox rescuers who have been open with the public about our struggles with autism and depression. I would always laugh and say, “No, Mikayla’s the pretty one.”

About a year ago, Mikayla was given an opportunity to permanently close a fur farm and save *five hundred* foxes. For someone who dedicated her life to ending the fur trade, this seemed like a dream come true, the pinnacle of her entire career. The fur farm agreed to sell her the cages at a low cost so they wouldn’t lose their investments, and she could have all the foxes for free.

Mikayla moved heaven and earth trying to get veterinary care and find homes for all of them. A lot of people love the idea of a pet fox, but few want an unsocialized fur farm fox that wants nothing to do with them. Zoos and sanctuaries took many of them. We were asked, but ultimately said no because of a lack of space. In the end, Mikayla still had dozens of them left and not enough space and resources to adequately house and care for all of them.

I heard the rumors and the gossip: critics saying that it’s wrong to take that many foxes— much less “buy” them— without a full plan for them. That may be true, but there isn’t a rescuer on this planet who has never made an impulsive decision in a desperate attempt to save lives. But I never doubted that she was doing her best and that her heart was in the right place. I felt for her because I understood how the situation happened.

But I failed Mikayla in my own way. When I saw the public and other rescues criticizing her, I didn’t come to her defense. I thought she was fine— she always looked so happy and put-together— and I thought that the criticism and harassment she faced were rolling off her back. Just one day before her death, I didn’t say anything when someone in the comments on this very page had mentioned “the fox rescue that buys foxes from fur farms.” While I know in my heart that it wouldn’t have made a difference, I deeply regret that I had an opportunity to defend Mikayla and I did not take it.

Mikayla’s husband Ethan is too polite, or too justifiably afraid of retaliation, to say the names of the people who harassed Mikayla to death, but I know them and have had my own dealings with them. One of the people primarily responsible for Mikayla’s death is a convicted animal abuser who was shut down after she hoarded, starved, and tortured wild animals. This person tried to distract from this by pointing fingers at rescues like Save A Fox and For Fox Sake Wildlife Rescue that maintain ethical and financial transparency and have licenses in good standing.

I have often told other wildlife rescuers that when documented animal abusers become your enemy, it’s a sign you’re doing things right. I just wish the public had understood this, and I wish I had used my own voice to speak up before it was too late.

To all who knew Mikayla, please accept our deepest, most heartfelt condolences for your unimaginable loss. We at For Fox Sake are thinking of you in this difficult time and here for you.

And to those who “knew” Mikayla only by following her rescue online, please channel your grief and anger toward helping the animals that Save A Fox still has in their care, so that Ethan can finish the work that his beautiful wife started. You can make a donation through www.saveafox.org.

And, please: while it’s valid and necessary to criticize “rescues” that are not rescues at all— the ones with major, documented cruelty and the ones that engage in true fraud— please check your sources and your facts before trying to destroy a rescuer’s life, because you could succeed.

Finally, this is a reminder to all that suicidal ideation is a medical symptom and a medical emergency. I am not at all ashamed to say that I have had to be hospitalized for my depression when it was too much to bear. It saved my life and it can save yours too. Please call 988 or 911 if you are in danger.

-Juniper Russo, CWR
Executive Director
For Fox Sake Wildlife Rescue

15/04/2025

15/04/2025

How do i feel about not competing in a mustang challenge this year?

Honestly? I miss the fun uncertainty of picking up a clean slate, ready to adapt and give a new horse a good foundation.

But with everything thats happened or happening in my life, this year has let me take a breath and just love 2 mustangs, and its also letting me focus on myself, to improve and fine tune my methods and skills!

I never thought i would own another mustang that WASNT an Antelope Hills, due to how much i love that HMA all because of Blaze, but Rosie has captured my heart in a whole new way.

I was supposed to put 100 days of tip training on Rosie Posie, but she had other plans. She was a horse that would improve at her own pace, and if she didnt feel like learning she wasnt going to do it 🤦‍♀️

Those 100 days turned into past a year.

And its been a great year.

Taking care of 3 horses has proven to be extremely different than just 2, and not to mention Rosie has started her terrible 2's phase and now we have to fix our open stalls, but still. I cant imagine her leaving, at least not yet.

Im forever grateful to my 2 challenge mustangs, as they taught me alot! But i think i may just keep that number at 2 for a long time. Rosie and Blaze both feel like the equines you just cant let go.

I can still take clients, but im planning on a "horse slow" year this year. Something i havent had since i was 11.💖

12/02/2025

Why do i stand with my horse?

Now thats a question you wouldnt expect to be reading, or even hear for that matter. But i want to show you why it should be asked more often.

"Why do you stand by your horse?" Could mean lots of things.

Standing by its shoulder while you wait?

Standing by it while it eats?

Standing by it while it does nothing?

Or it could mean

"Why do you defend your horse?"

And that can mean physically, or even mentally, in lots of different situations.

This question is meant to get you thinking about what you truly prioritize when around your equine. Is it riding? Is it groundwork? Is it friendship? Or is it a work relationship?

None of these things are inherently bad, as long as you think about your horse.

Now i mean, why do you literally stand by your horse? Is it to give them a command? Is it to help them?

Most of the time when im standing by my horse, its to be their protector and guide. Not their boss or micro manager.

This is a good example of that.

The picture below is my almost 2 year old filly. I was standing by her as her special food was about to be stolen by my 2 older horses.

Since there was no place to lock her up, i stood there to make sure my filly got her food. Even just standing there made my other horses stop their shenanigans. They could tell by my body language that they needed to calm down or leave.

Standing up for your horse doesnt always have to mean you fighting with a person, or pulling your horse out of a situation.

It can also mean just helping them get their full portion of their food, or letting them have pasture time with their best friend instead of the whole herd.

We will never be a horse, but we can use our knowledge of the species to help them.

So why dont we??

25/12/2024

Merry Christmas from my farm to yours!!