Hi, I have a couple Welsh Pony fillies whom I’ve had since they were born - 3yo & 2yo. The 3-yo knows me very well. I’ve halter broke her and got her desensitized to picking up feet and objects like saddle blankets and bareback pads.  I’ve tried starting her myself but the problem I am having is I can’t get her to move. I’ve tried flapping & flapping, progressively waiving the flag & whip harder and harder, even snapping her a bit on the backside over & over and only at that point will she just give me a little side eye and so then I let up on the pressure to reward her but then she just goes back to whatever she’s interested in. It’s only when I turn to walk away from her completely, then she gives me her full attention and comes up and tries to rest her head on my shoulder. I think she may be too familiar with me. Do you have any suggestions for how I can get her to move away from my pressure? 

We took the kids snowboarding this week.  I hated to leave work, but I'm glad I did.  Epic!

Hi there everyone , 

I’m fairly new to breeding and this is why I thought I might get an answer here since the knowledge here is obviously present.

I have a 20 month old quarter mare who stands 13.2 hands, and it seems a bit small to me, both parents stand around 14.2 hands. Is this an abnormality? To grow around 3 to 4 inches seems a lot.

Maybe this is not the place to ask and if so I do apologize. Anyway, I’m using a lot of the e information on the platform to desensitize and train her little by little. Great content!

thanks for your thoughts. 

Who else is indoors because of the weather?

Who's working on a New Year's resolution?  How's it working? 

All of us here at B1 headquarters hope that you had an amazing Christmas and we wish you a peaceful and prosperous New Year!

Merry Christmas all! I'm currently binge watching the ES20 colt starting series and loving it!

Richard what does your winter schedule look like as far as seminars / training classes?

Hi Everyone - In several videos Richard refers to principles of horsemanship like starting/ending quiet, getting the fresh off, etc. 

Can anyone point me to a video or article the explains these concepts in a bit more detail?  Thanks!

Bucking and Using Marks

Mr. Boatwright,

Hope you're happily out of the Thanksgiving food coma. I had a couple questions:

1) My gray horse has started into some bucking recently. Thus far it has been when something scares him (specifically behind him) when we're moving fast. He's always been a little watchy about things, but these are the first times he's decided to really buck about it. I've used circles to correct him away from whatever object started things and then let him rest near the object but I'm not sure how clear that is to him. What are some ways you might address this? Should I try to have someone introduce things behind him and make him face up as a way to get used to things in that spot?

2) Using marks. I took the same grey horse out west last year and rode a bunch of pasture (at least a bunch to me) and came out of the deal with some using marks. I attributed them to poor saddle fit and have since switched saddles. After reviewing the marks I noticed that one side is significantly larger than the other. I'm thinking that may be due to me leaning and putting more weight on one side than the other.  Do you think that's a likely explanation?

Richard Boatwright