A few weeks ago my friend, Angela Festervan shared with the Facebook world a picture of a painting she had been working on. It was a portrait of a horse and it was absolutely stunning. Every once in a while Angela shares progress pictures of paintings that she is working on and I just live …
Continue reading "The Art of Training Horses"
Who is it exactly that determines what an advantage or disadvantage is? Who decides that one person has the upper hand? Who sits back and looks at the circumstances of a person's life and decides for them whether they have a chance or not? You do. Let that sink in for a minute. YOU are …
Continue reading "Disadvantaged, Underprivileged Underdog"
Failure is such an uncomfortable word. I don't like it. I don't want to identify with it. But what if accepting failure is just the thing that would propel my next growth spurt? I have experienced this first hand more times than I can count. I have learned more lessons from failure than I could …
Continue reading "Failing Forward"
Sometimes the most basic things can give you the biggest advantage in a competition. I have experienced this first hand when I watched one of Fallon Taylor's old YouTube videos where she offered a few basic ideas to help you clock faster. They seemed so simple that I didn't think it would work. Until I …
Continue reading "5 Quick Tips to Improve Your Accuracy"
Competition is something humans have thrived on for thousands of years. Kids are the best at finding ways to turn everything into a competition. "How fast can you run to the barn and back?", "I bet I can catch more frogs than you!", "Race ya to the swing set!". I can remember as a kid …
Continue reading "Firing Up the Desire to WIN"
In the Performance horse world, there is a lot of talk about horses with heart or try. It seems like some horses have that magical spark to them that makes them want to give it their all in the show pen or on the barrel pattern. There are many ways that a rider can either …
Continue reading "Training for Heart and Try"
Confidence, by definition, is the state of feeling certain about the truth of something. There is always a lot of talk about self confidence, and confidence in our horses or in our training. But I have to admit, most of the chatter about those things still leaves me feeling empty and like I'm grasping for …
Continue reading "Confidence and Glass Jars"
Sometimes I teach horses, sometimes I give lessons, and sometimes life hands lessons to me. Lessons that can only be learned by stepping out there, taking risks and making mistakes. I crave the thrill of taking a risk and seeing what happens. Sometimes it works out in my favor, sometimes it's a failure I'll never forget, …
Continue reading "Comfort Zones and Risky Behavior"
Last summer I listed a horse for sale that I had trained from the ground up. He was one hundred percent a reflection of the training I did with him. I was proud of how broke he was and how well he listened to me. He was fun to ride and I really hoped to …
Continue reading "Deconstructed Horsemanship"
If you have been barrel racing for any length of time, chances are you have run into issues with your horse anticipating the turn too early or shouldering the barrel. It's a common problem with a million different solutions to try. I will just go over one drill that I've had some good luck with …
Continue reading "Barrel Horse Drills; Shouldering and Anticipation "
Emily Gernaat Performance Horses 