Smith Horsemanship

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18/06/2026

🐎 What's the Fastest Way to Get Good With Horses?

Not all horse experience is created equal.

Some paths teach you more in a year than others teach in ten.

Here's my personal tier list:

F Tier: Horsey TikToks 📱
✅ Entertainment
❌ Very little real feel, timing, or practical experience

E Tier: Horse Training YouTube Videos 🎥
✅ Great knowledge
❌ You can't develop feel through a screen

C Tier: Weekly Riding Lessons 🏇
✅ Better than nothing
✅ Builds basic skills
❌ Limited horses, limited environments, slow progress

A Tier: Owning Your Own Horse 🐴
This surprises people.

Owning a horse teaches things lessons never can:

✅ Feeding
✅ Health care
✅ Problem solving
✅ Responsibility
✅ Daily decision making

Your horse becomes your teacher.

S Tier: Full Immersion 🔥

Working horses.
Training horses.
Feeding horses.
Doctoring horses.
Learning from experienced horsemen.

Five days a week.
Week after week.
Month after month.

Different horses.
Different personalities.
Different problems.

🎯 This is where the biggest growth happens.

Some people spend ten years around horses and still feel like beginners.

Others spend one focused year fully immersed and completely change their life.

🔗 If you've ever wondered what a year of full immersion would look like, comment "2027" and I'll send you information about our next intake.

16/06/2026

⚠️ Your Horse Is Bolting... Now What? 🐎

When a horse takes off, panic usually makes the situation worse.

One of the biggest mistakes riders make is grabbing one rein and yanking the horse's head around as hard as possible.

Why?

❗ The bit can create even more panic
❗ The horse may react harder
❗ In some cases, they can even lose balance and fall over

Instead:

✅ Sit deep in the saddle
✅ Stay as calm as possible
✅ Start gently guiding the horse into a large circle
✅ Take away the straight-line speed
✅ Gradually make the circle smaller as control returns

As the horse begins to slow and think again, you can then carefully bring the nose around further and regain control.

🎯 The goal isn't to stop the horse instantly.

The goal is to help the horse come back from a reactive state without creating an even bigger problem.

Good horsemanship is often about staying calm when everything around you is speeding up.

🔗 Want to better understand your horse's behaviour, reactions, and communication? Comment "FOUNDING" to join our Horseman University app launching soon.

15/06/2026

⚠️ The Order You Saddle Your Horse Matters More Than You Think 🐎

Most riders focus on whether the saddle is tight enough.

Very few think about the order they put it on.

And that mistake can create a serious wreck.

Before you saddle:

✅ Groom properly
✅ Make sure your saddle pad sits correctly
✅ Check that no straps, leather, or objects are trapped underneath the saddle

Even something small can create pressure and discomfort.

Then comes the important part:

Correct saddling order:

1️⃣ Main girth
2️⃣ Back cinch
3️⃣ Breastplate

Why?

Because if your horse spooks while only the back cinch or breastplate is attached, the saddle can shift, twist, and stay attached to the horse.

That can quickly become a frightening and dangerous situation.

When you're done riding, do the exact opposite:

✅ Breastplate off first
✅ Back cinch off second
✅ Main girth off last

🎯 Good horsemanship isn't just about riding well.

It's about doing the small things correctly before problems ever happen.

🔗 Want to better understand horse behaviour, handling, and safety? Comment "FOUNDING" and we'll send you details for our Horseman University app.

11/06/2026

⚠️ Was It the Rider's Fault… Or Was the Horse Never Prepared? 🐎

You've probably seen videos like this before.

Someone is filming.
People are standing around watching.
And then the horse explodes.

The question is:

👉 Did the horse suddenly decide to react?
👉 Or were people already expecting it?

A lot of the time, when cameras are rolling before someone even gets on, it's because everyone knows there's a good chance something might happen.

And that's where we need to ask a harder question.

Was the horse actually prepared for this moment?

✅ Did it understand the pressure?
✅ Was it mentally ready for a rider?
✅ Had enough groundwork been done beforehand?

Because when a horse goes into a bucking spree like this, it's often a sign that:

❗ The horse can't cope with the pressure being applied
❗ The horse wasn't properly prepared for the situation

⚠️ Before blaming the horse, I always start with the human.

What could we have done differently?
What preparation was missing?
What signs were ignored?

🎯 Good horsemanship isn't about seeing how much a horse can tolerate.
It's about preparing them so they don't feel the need to react in the first place.

🔗 What do you think when you see videos like this online?
Drop your thoughts below.

And if you want to learn how to prepare horses properly from the ground up, comment "FOUNDING" and we'll send you details for our Horseman University app.

09/06/2026

🐴 What Your Horse Is Actually Saying: Part 8 ⚠️

A lot of people think stomping and pawing mean the same thing.

They don’t.

And understanding the difference can tell you a lot about what’s going on in your horse's mind.

👉 Pawing is usually rhythmic.
It often comes from:

✅ Anticipation
✅ Impatience
✅ Stress
✅ Excess energy

👉 Stomping is different.

It’s sharper.
More sudden.
And often a sign of irritation or tension.

Yes, sometimes it's flies.

But other times your horse might be saying:

❗ “I'm uncomfortable.”
❗ “I'm frustrated.”
❗ “Something doesn't feel right.”

In the herd, stomping is often used to set boundaries.

In training, it can point to:

✅ Physical discomfort
✅ Pressure that isn't being understood
✅ Mental frustration
✅ A horse that's been trying to communicate more subtly first

⚠️ Before you correct the stomp, ask yourself:

Did I miss a smaller warning sign?
Is there tension building somewhere?
Can I help my horse find understanding instead of more pressure?

🎯 Stomping isn't rebellion.
It's often a symptom of something deeper.

🔗 Have you noticed your horse stomping in certain situations?
What do you think they were trying to tell you?

Comment below and follow Smith Horsemanship for Part 9.

Want to better understand your horse's body language and communication?
Comment "FOUNDING" to join our Horseman University app launching soon.

07/06/2026

⚠️ One Shortcut Could End Your Day in the Hospital 🐎

It only takes one spook.

One sudden movement.

One moment where your horse gets a fright.

And if you're ducking under the lead rope when it happens... you're in a bad position.

Potential consequences:

❗ Neck injuries
❗ Broken noses
❗ Stepped-on feet
❗ Rope burns and worse

Instead:

✅ Walk around your horse while maintaining contact
✅ Keep yourself in a safer position
✅ If needed, unclip and reposition your horse first

⚠️ The few seconds you save by taking the shortcut aren't worth the risk.

🎯 Good horsemanship isn't just about training horses.
It's about learning to handle them safely every single day.

🔗 Want to better understand your horse's body language, reactions, and handling? Comment "FOUNDING" to join our Horseman University app launching soon.

04/06/2026

🐎 “Can Too Much Energy Hurt The Horse?”⚠️

Do horses actually do this often?
And does it hurt them?

The answer is: sometimes.

These kinds of accidents are more common with:

✅ Young or green horses
✅ Horses with lots of built-up energy
✅ Horses that stop thinking and start reacting

But even experienced horses can trip, slip, or simply overdo it.

In this clip, the horse doesn’t appear to be under much pressure.

What we do see is:

✅ Lots of energy
✅ Excitement
✅ Playfulness

And sometimes that combination leads to a little bit of a miscalculation.

⚠️ Just because it looks funny doesn’t mean it can’t cause injury.

Horses are big animals moving at speed.
A slip, fall, or awkward landing can hurt them just as easily as it can hurt us.

🎯 The goal isn’t to eliminate every accident, that’s impossible.
The goal is to prepare our horses properly and reduce unnecessary risk wherever we can.

🔗 If you enjoy these horse behaviour breakdowns and want to better understand what’s really going on, comment “FOUNDING” and we’ll send you early access to our Horseman University app.

02/06/2026

🐴 What Your Horse Is Actually Saying: Part 7 ⚠️

If your horse starts pawing the ground, especially while tied or waiting, don’t be too quick to call it bad behaviour.

A lot of the time, they’re trying to tell you something.

In the wild, horses paw for several reasons:

✅ Digging through grass or roots
✅ Softening the ground before lying down
✅ During conflict or posturing
✅ Out of anticipation or frustration

And in training?

You’ll often see it when:

❗ They’re waiting for food
❗ They want to be back with their herd
❗ They’re tied up and feeling impatient
❗ Pressure is building and they don’t know where to put the energy

⚠️ Pawing isn’t always defiance.

Many times it’s your horse saying:

👉 “I’m uncomfortable.”
👉 “I’m frustrated.”
👉 “I don’t know what to do with this feeling.”

Before correcting the behaviour, ask yourself:

✅ Have I created clarity?
✅ Am I addressing their mental state?
✅ Do they need a reset or a better outlet for that energy?

🎯 Good horsemanship is understanding the emotion behind the behaviour, not just the behaviour itself.

🔗 Have you noticed your horse pawing at specific times?
What do you think they were trying to tell you?

Comment below and follow Smith Horsemanship for Part 8.

Want to better understand your horse’s body language and communication?
Comment “FOUNDING” to join our Horseman University app launching soon.

31/05/2026

⚠️ One Mistake Around Gates Could Put You in Hospital 🐎

Most people don’t think twice about walking through a narrow gate with their horse beside them.

Until something goes wrong.

If your horse:

❗ Spooks
❗ Rushes
❗ Jumps sideways
❗ Bites or kicks

You can end up trapped against steel with nowhere to go.

That’s how people get:

✅ Broken ribs
✅ Crushed legs
✅ Serious injuries that could have been avoided

Instead, try one of these options:

🐴 Option 1: Send your horse through first, then follow behind.

🐴 Option 2: Go through first, keep your pressure facing the horse, create a safe boundary, and then invite them through.

⚠️ What you don’t want is your back turned while squeezing through a tight space together.

🎯 Good horsemanship is about setting yourself up safely before something unexpected happens.

🔗 If you want to better understand your horse’s body language, reactions, and handling, comment “FOUNDING” to join our Horseman University app launching soon.

28/05/2026

⚠️ Why Did This Horse Suddenly Start Bucking? 🐎

Most bucking explosions don’t happen “for no reason.”
Something usually triggered the reactive side of the horse’s brain.

Here are a few common causes:

✅ The horse wasn’t properly prepared yet
✅ Something touched a sensitive area unexpectedly
✅ The cinch may have been tightened too quickly or too much
✅ The horse still isn’t fully comfortable carrying a rider

A lot of young or green horses will buck because:

🎯 They’re trying to remove what they see as pressure or danger on their back.

If the horse still views the rider as something threatening,
their instinct is simple:

👉 “Get it off.”

⚠️ That’s why groundwork and preparation matter so much before riding.

The goal isn’t just getting on the horse.
The goal is getting the horse mentally comfortable with you on top of them.

🔗 If you enjoy these reaction breakdowns and want to better understand your own horse, comment “FOUNDING” to join our Horseman University app launching soon.

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