Articles by Jody

Have you ever heard the saying “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”? Sweetness is much more attractive than sourness. This certainly applies to training people as well as horses. Though there may (and will be) times for correction, rewards and praises carry their weight in gold. I’ve always learned reams of information from watching people. I watch other people take lessons, I watch training videos, I watch everything online that I can. Learning to see and read the cues of top level dressage riders is the hardest, because their goal is to have their cues NOT...

The trots…you may be thinking this is a training article but this is about something much more troublesome. It goes by many names: diarrhea, loose stool, cow pies, and many analogies that are too impolite to mention…the trots. But even if you don’t currently have a horse with diarrhea issues, read on. You may need it in the future. Your horse’s poo is like the porridge in the Three Bears story…not too hard, not too soft, somewhere in the middle is perfect. Healthy poo should be “crumbly”, not hard pebbles and not liquid. The state of your horse’s poo will...

Does My Horse Need to Detox? Life is full of toxins. From fertilizers to vaccines, chronic pain to poison based dewormers…even when you try your hardest, there is no getting away from all toxins. So how do you know your horse needs to detox? Some clues that your horse needs to detox may include: *Soft, slow growing hooves *Dull, coarse coat *Sparse mane and tail *Grouchy attitude *Chronic pain issues (pain leads to toxins, toxins increase pain) *Performance issues *”Hard or Easy Keeper” (digestive issues and sugar related issues)   Another simple test to tell if your horse needs to...