r/HorseTraining

Hi all! I’m curious what you would expect to pay for an experienced horsewoman to come to your barn and lunge/exercise your horse.

What session length would you prefer..around 30 minutes, or longer? And if this were a regular service, how many times per week would you ideally want someone to come out?

I’m considering offering this locally and would love to get a sense of what horse owners would find useful and reasonably priced. Thanks 🐎💕

Clarification: This service is for owners who can’t always make it out to exercise their horses and want an experienced horsewoman to help keep them physically and mentally fit. It’s not meant to replace a trainer or compete with folks looking for someone to hop on their horse for free. It’s simply reliable, experienced exercise when you can’t be there.

My horse got diagnosed with a broken splint bone and strained check ligament (from god knows what) but he’s in stall rest for a month and tends to get a little stir crazy. Someone recommended a calming supplement for the time he’s on rest. He’s never had to be on stall rest this long, so if you have prior experience please give me tips on how I can help my horses energy!

Have my guy here and he’s got some major skin issues. Can’t see too well into the photo, but he just itches everywhere. He’ll itch himself till he’s got wounds. His skin gets flaky and dry, his coat just falls right out, leaving all these scabs. And he also gets hives sometimes, but definitely rolls an ant piles all the time. I’ve been told Dex, and some other things. He’s on Benadryl and it’s not doing too much. The creams and the silver spray go on every single day, and still haven’t been the solution. Looking for opinions or ideas on what to do with this one, cause I don’t really wanna have to have him on steroids all the time!! Delete if not allowed!

EDIT: This question is about GROUNDWORK not riding

Has anyone here followed Feather Light Horsemanship Academy and actually learnt how to do what Yvet talks about when she says:

“Learn to feel every question from the inside and build them up slowly until you reach the horse mentally.”

I’ve been watching a lot of her videos and I find this really interesting, but I’m struggling to understand how you actually learn to do it. I understand the idea of intention and that horses can pick up on really subtle changes in us, but “feeling the question from the inside” and eventually “reaching the horse mentally” is something I can’t quite get my head around.

Has anyone actually learnt this or had a moment where it suddenly clicked? What are you actually doing/feeling internally when you “ask the question from within”? And how did you practise it?

I’m looking for some honest advice about my mare. She’s an Ariaban QH, 8 yrs old. I’m still fairly new to owning/riding and I’m trying to better understand her behavior and figure out the best way to work with her.

She has a hard time standing still while being saddled. She paces back and forth & seems very anxious and sensitive to movement. Under saddle, she can be very sensitive to my cues. She’ll sometimes get jumpy, speed up, or try to turn in the opposite direction from where I’m asking her to go. She eventually does what I ask, but I feel like I’m having to work pretty hard with her.

She also has a very fast walk and seems to have a hard time slowing down. She sweats quite a bit even when we aren’t doing much, and she seems generally anxious/sensitive.

On the ground, I’ve noticed some ear pinning as well, especially around certain situations. I’m trying not to assume she’s just being difficult because I know there could be a reason behind the behavior.

For those of you with more experience, what would you look into first? Could this be a training issue, pain/discomfort, saddle fit, anxiety, or something else? What would you recommend I work on with her?

I’m open to hearing anything—even if it’s something I may not want to hear. I really want to understand her better and make sure I’m handling her correctly and keeping both of us safe.
I know ground work is better to start with but I don’t know the right exercises to do. I’ve tried lunging but she doesn’t react well under pressure.

Thank you!

Got a 13yo (estimated) grade QH-cross gelding, \~14.2hh, this past summer. Full career as a barrel racer with one rider, also trail/obstacle work and cattle driving. Was ridden in a fairly intense setup (Pelham with a port, curb, and a rope chain - owner mentioned they'd tried a snaffle at one point but he got hard to stop in it). Had several months off before I got him.

Spent the first month on groundwork only, then slowly built up riding. Currently a few months into real work under English tack, now in a French link bit, which he seems genuinely comfortable and responsive in.

On the ground he's a dream — sweet, eager to please, steady, very easy to handle, and I feel like we've built a genuinely good bond. I also saw a flash of real natural suppleness/roundness from him on a trial ride that convinced me to take him on in the first place.

Where we're at: Pole work has been excellent for him — easy to adjust striding with, picks up distance changes quickly. Trot has come a long way: much more relaxed, stretches down nicely on a long rein.

Canter is where the barrel history really shows up. He gets progressively hotter the more we canter — starts reasonable, then builds heat and strength as the session goes on.

Transitions both directions need work: rushes the upward transition, often takes the wrong lead initially (self-corrects within a stride or two), gets heavier/leans once established, and the downward transition back to trot is often a fight — he wants to keep running rather than settle.

Interesting data point: on the lunge he's almost lazy about cantering, and his canter-to-trot transitions are clean and calm with zero rushing. Completely different animal under saddle. My read is this is largely an old job association (saddle = go-time) rather than a physical/balance limitation. Also notice he treats circles under saddle almost like the setup to a barrel turn — speeds up through them rather than using them to rebalance.

Questions for folks who've retrained performance/speed-event horses into English work:

Any exercises or approaches that specifically helped dismantle old pattern/gait associations like this (saddle = go-time, circle = accelerate)?

Realistic timeline for this kind of relearning — weeks, months, longer?

Anyone had a similar "calm unridden, different animal under saddle" split, and what helped close that gap?

Any supplementary groundwork or lunging routines worth trying alongside ridden work?

Appreciate any insight — he's clearly a willing, smart horse underneath the old habits!

When I am riding trot my legs don't stand steady and it swings back and fourth. I don't know how to stop that. Can anyone suggest what to do?

Also I find it hard to sit on the horse when the horse's height is more. I don't know the correct way to do it. If someone can guide me.

(I have just recently started horse riding since 3 months and I want to learn better. I don't have a video right now to post, I will surely ask for correction advice after that.)

Thank you in advance

Does anyone have experience with a trainer coming to their barn? If so, how was it and how do I go about finding a trainer to come to me?

I have gotten the chance to start this horse and he’s an angel i’ve been working with him since he was 2 1/2. I usually work him in his pasture. we used to go in the small grass ring and out in the woods/field. When he was 3 I trusted him in the field and we would go on trail rides confidently and even alone. A few months ago i fell off and then after I had taken him to the field and he flipped out. The walk to the field is close to a stallion pasture, we were probably 20-30 feet away and he freaked out rearing, snorting and stomping (he was gelded and then ended up having one ball dropping so he is technically a stallion but he has never showed any stallion behaviors …I am also training a stallion that came straight off a breeding farm) He had never acted like this and it’s on a hill so it was very dangerous and we haven’t been out there since. everytime i take him out of the pasture he doesn’t want to go to the ring and only towards the field/woods. I just get worried as he has gotten much stronger and is definitely feeling like a stallion, I also usually ride alone (i have also trained him without a bit and am not planning on using a bit) . If i try to take him to the pasture he stops and will back up towards the woods. Does anyone have advice? When I ride him in the pasture he never wants to move and always wants to go to the gate leading outside, I understand he’s probably bored but i’m nervous to take him down there after last times situation. I just feel like i need to get confidence again bringing him out to the field i don’t know how to get there though as he’s gotten stronger, the down hill trek freaks me out and that is the only way to get down there

So ever since I got my horse the previous owners have stated he’s terrified of miniature donkeys and anything mini. Okay understandable they can be scary sometimes. Although, I recently moved barns and my horse is alone in a pasture but next to a mini and when I tell you he’s actually petrified… It’s the first day at the new barn so i’m not overly concerned. Although he’s an anxious horse in general and being next to a mini makes him 10000000x more anxious. Today I tried walking him out of the pasture but miserably failed and it resulted in him breathing like a dragon and rearing due to the mini being very close to the connecting fence. I’m just curious if there are any tips or tricks that can help me get him to not react as big as he does in these situations. especially being that he is rearing.