In every issue of Horse & Rider you'll find articles on training by the country's leading experts, the latest on equine health care from top veterinarians, trail riding tips from savvy back country riders, and much more!
TEACHING HORSES to stay standing tied is a critical—but often overlooked—part of the horse training process, no matter what you plan to do with your equine partners. Every horse I’ve got will tie up anywhere, any time, and won’t try to pull back. Using patience poles, we’ve taught ours they need to be there, they don’t know how long they’ll be there, so they just relax. I’m going to tell you how our patience poles are constructed, why I like to use them, and how patience poles can affect a horse’s behavior under saddle. What is a patience pole? My preferred method of teaching a horse to stand comfortably tied is with a patience pole—usually made from a metal pipe with a rotating collar at the top, and a chain that…
VIGOROUS GROOMING PROMOTES CIRCULATION, massages muscles, sloughs off dead skin cells, and stimulates the production of beneficial oils. It also enables you to spot emerging lumps, swellings, or skin issues so you can deal with them early for best results. Daily currying can almost completely control some skin conditions, such as cannon bone seborrhea (that thick, grungy skin that can form on the front of the hind legs). Grooming also benefits your horse’s mental health. Tools to Use Good grooming means more than a quick once-over with a dandy brush. Start by giving your horse’s whole body a vigorous currying (using a rubber mitt or soft-rubber curry for his face and legs). If he’s shedding, a shedding tool will prove useful to remove large amounts of hair. Then brush with…
When you’re at home, consistent grooming helps keep your horse’s coat looking sleek, healthy, and shiny. At the show, those same habits come in handy for a different purpose all together. When you and your horse look neat, clean, and professional, you’re presenting the absolute best version of yourselves to the judge long before you start your pattern or turn to follow the rail. The way you look in the show pen can be just as important as the way you perform, according to Wendy Huss of Scottsdale, Arizona-based Huss Performance Horses. “In my experience, it makes a difference to the judge when someone comes into the pen and they’re really turned out well,” Wendy says. “My theory is that so much can happen when you go through that gate,…
Shauna Brown is a top NRHA youth and non-pro trainer and Youth Equestrian Development Association (YEDA) coach in Union City, Pennsylvania. She was awarded Horse&Rider’s Trainer of the Year and we thought our readers would love to learn more about Shauna. Here is a Q&A that tells you a little bit more about Shauna and why she was picked for this very special award. H&R: How did you get started with horses? Shauna: My dad, Rick Brown, had horses as a kid on his father’s dairy farm. He became interested in showing in his early twenties and built a small barn on the family property. By the time I was born, he was raising quality Quarter horses. We have a small barn in Northwestern, Pennsylvania, and though it’s grown since…
