Spending time on the road, I have been asked many times, “What is your favorite breed?” My favorite breed is any breed that has a good mind and good feet. A horse that is flighty with a high emotional level will usually never totally settle into a good safe riding horse. A horse with small feet will usually have lameness issues.

Last time I discussed six important “secrets” or training tips to help you build a great relationship with your horse. The last four tips round out the secrets to successful training and an enjoyable experience with your horse.

Working with horses is a mental game and requires that the trainer understand several principles and have a number of skills. The following “secrets” will help you communicate with your horse and build the great relationship you always wanted. Here are the ten secrets you need to know.

Follow through –

The act of moving the hips over for a one-rein emergency halt is the single greatest technique you can employ to stop a horse that is bolting or bucking. It can and has saved many riders from terrible accident and injury. Picking up on both reins when a horse is out of control, does not help. Pulling on both reins captures the horse’s energy and actually fuels the horse’s desire to flee. The horse will feel trapped and will rear, buck or bolt.

A snaffle bit is a great educational tool and makes learning easy for a young horse. Last time we discussed the many different types of snaffle bits and how they work. With any bit it is important to remember that it is the rider’s hands and not the bit that is most important.

A snaffle bit is a great training tool as you can be more specific with your rein aids or cues with the reins than you can when the horse is in a hackamore or a bridle.

There are a lot of opinions out there about the snaffle bit. Everyone, from your local trainer to a national level trainer, has a point of view on the right type of snaffle and how it should be used. There are also many styles of snaffle bits including a full-cheek snaffle, a lose-ring snaffle, an offset D-ring, an O-ring, an egg butt and more.

Each horse is different and the amount of time to spend on training depends on the age of the horse, the physical condition, where the horse is at in his training and his personality. By personality I mean his emotional level. Is the horse flighty or calm, willful or compliant? These factors determine how quickly the horse can learn.

A clinician is an individual who works with a horse in front of an audience coaching and demonstrating training methods and techniques. A clinician must have several qualities and to me, the primary one is to be a good horseman. I should really say horse person as there are may women who do an outstanding job with horses. I believe that the key to being a good horseman is communication. Not only must a clinician communicate with the horse, but also with the audience or student.

A horse that is versatile can do a variety of things. It does not have to be really good at every task. The horse may have one discipline that it excels in but it is also able to do other types of activities. For example, you may have a good trail horse and at the same time that horse is able to work with cows and perhaps do some jumping. A trail horse needs to be familiar with cows and you never know when you may need to jump over an obstacle on the trail.

Does your horse pull back when tied to a rail or the trailer? Horses that continually pull back are common. This problem is found throughout the horse industry, not just with dressage and jumping horses. With many riders, a horse’s ground manners are the last thing the rider thinks about.