Every horse should be a fun riding horse before they are an Olympic dressage horse or a pony club games pony. Be brave. Try things with your horse that nobody ever thought of trying.
In my opinion the most important skill we can teach a horse is to lead brilliantly. Partly this is because most of us spend more time leading our horses than any other single task. But even more importantly leading is one of the earliest training tasks that sets up our relationship with our horse.
At a guess, I’d say 90+% of horses I have met were pretty rude or pretty stressed when offered treats. Yet, we take it for granted that all our horses are relaxed and polite to be hand treated.
I received an email from a friend who has been reading my book, “The Essence Of Good Horsemanship.” She wrote, “…. the most frustrating thing about it is, the more I read of it, the more I question the ethics of riding which goes against everything I see on a daily basis.”
