The Coaching Sweet Spot, Part 4: The Happiness Factor
Happiness is like balance – it’s not something you can teach because it’s a result of what you’ve already taught. If you’ve ever wondered what motivates us to connect so closely with our horses, and what drives this life-long equestrian passion, you could cheerfully...
The Coaching Sweetspot Part 2: The Real Meaning of Coaching
In the last few years, the sporting world has raced ahead to professionalise coaching. In the process, teaching has receded into the shadows, and coaching has become the glamour-girl of the sports world! Yet, teaching is the foundation on which everything we do is...
The Shoulder-in: More Than Dressage Gymnastics
Recent scientific findings support what many students of Classical dressage principles have known all along: The shoulder-in exercise is not only good for the horse's physical development but it also influences their mental state - and the benefits of practicing it...
Securing Your Horse’s Future Starts with Training
In-hand training (aka groundwork) is not just valuable for enabling safe and calm handling, it also establishes and improves many of the responses we use under-saddle. Whether we are working with a young naïve horse during foundation training or we are re-training a...
Setting Good Ground Rules: The First Principles of Horse Training
In-hand training is an essential part of any horse’s education. We lead our horse to and from the pasture or stable every day, and we want to make sure he leads obediently, stays by our side, stands still while we brush him, rug or un-rug him, handle his feet, etc. We...
Facts and Myths in Horse Training
Have you ever trained your horse to do something completely by accident? Unfortunately, when we do teach something by mistake it is rarely a behaviour that we want. I’ve seen a number of horses that have been taught to rear by mistake, but few that have been taught...
A Guide to Self-Carriage
What do you picture when you think about ‘self-carriage’? Many of us picture a horse, perhaps in a dressage arena, travelling in a certain outline and maintaining gait and direction. In this article, however, I am going to discuss why self-carriage has a much wider...
Race-2-Ride: Retraining and Welfare Off The Track
There has been much in the press over the last year about the welfare of horses leaving the racing industry, raising questions about the sustainability and ethics of the current situation. In this article, Kate Fenner explains how we can all help to protect the...
3 Beneficial Stretches and Core Strengthening For Your Horse
3 beneficial stretches and core strengthening for your horse. As we learn more about the horse’s body and how things are connected, therapists are finding better ways of keeping our fur-kids safe, healthy and, most importantly, happy. There are many new fads that...
Growing Your Horse’s Window of Tolerance
In an earlier article, I wrote about the window of tolerance, which is kind of like the horse's emotional comfort zone. In this article, I discuss how you can grow your horse’s individual window of tolerance so they can become more resilient to the demands we impose....
The Window of Tolerance
The window of tolerance. It’s a mild summer evening after work and you are swinging along in the arena practicing your dressage test for next weekend. Rhythm is good and your horse seems to be taking weight evenly on all four legs. It feels like the perfect time to...
Kandoo Community and Connection
Online horse training. With the current global crisis, what we, as horse lovers and riders need today more than ever before, is community and connection. The Kandoo Community is a group of like-minded, supportive horse owners and riders who would love to welcome you...
The Standardbred’s Track-to-Hack Journey Part 10 (Final): The Training Principles
The Standardbred's Track-to-Hack Journey Part 10 (Final): The Training Principles Welcome to the last article in the Unharnessed Potential series, an education and awareness campaign to promote the re-training and re-homing of Standardbreds when they retire from a...
The Standardbred’s Track-to-Hack Journey Part 9: Andy’s Equitana Experience
Welcome to Part 9 of the Unharnessed Potential project, an education and awareness campaign to promote the re-training and re-homing of Standardbreds when they retire from a racing career. The previous article marked the completion of Andy’s re-training, according to...
The Standardbred’s Track-to-Hack Journey Part 8: The First Outing
The First Outing. Welcome to Part 8 of the Unharnessed Potential project, an education and awareness campaign to promote the re-training and re-homing of Standardbreds when they retire from a racing career. In the previous training article, Alistair explained...
The Standardbred’s Track-to-Hack Journey Part 7: Training the Lateral Movements
Training the Lateral Movements Welcome to Part 7 of the Unharnessed Potential project, an education and awareness campaign to promote the re-training and re-homing of Standardbreds when they retire from a racing career. In the previous training article, Alistair...
Why Does My Horse… Spook?
Why does my horse spook? Most of us have been on, or at least seen, a horse spooking (some call it shying), and many of us have experience with horses that can have massive spooks, spin around and run away. Others, whose behaviour may not be as exaggerated, can seem...
The Standardbred’s Track-to-Hack Journey Part 6: Refining the Canter and Jumping
Refining the Canter and Jumping Welcome to Part Seven of the Unharnessed Potential project, an education and awareness campaign to promote the re-training and re-homing of Standardbreds that retire from racing. In this article series, Alistair McLean from the...
