Show All Articles »

Real Life Horsemanship:

"I grew up around horses and used to ride up to 10 hours a day. I stopped when I got older, but decided to get back in the saddle last summer and purchased a retired race horse named High N Pride. High N Pride is a Quarter Horse.

When I first got him, everything was fine. I rode him a lot during the first few days and didn't have any problems at all. I wasn't able to ride him for a few days after that because of my schedule, and I when I got back on him it was like he was a completely different horse. He had bonded with the other horses in the pasture and developed a case of barn sour. He would resist and start rearing whenever I tried to take him out. It was very frustrating and I was worried about getting hurt.

I started watching Dennis' show on my local PBS station that summer, and began using some of his methods with High N Pride. I work with High N Pride in the round pen for about 30 minutes before I ride him in the pasture. We work on respect issues, ground manners and control. I know that we still have a lot of work to do, but Dennis' methods have already made a huge difference. I can see that my horse is now listening to me, and I am so much more confident in dealing with him.

I am planning on getting Dennis' DVD so I can learn more of his methods and truly bond with High N Pride. I know that I'm the one who has to learn this stuff. Sometimes I think my horse knows more about life than I do!"