I’m sure many of you have seen Stacy Westfall’s amazing bareback and bridleless riding. If you haven’t, then check out this video, it will BLOW YOU AWAY.

Now I’m sure you’re impressed-but what’s really amazing is anybody can be riding bareback and bridleless. It’s a great way to get in tune with your horse and improve your riding skills. We don’t have to be as crazy and bold as Stacy is, but you can make progress if only someone would teach you how. Here in this video, Eric Bravo teaches you from scratch the basics of learning (and teaching your horse) about riding bareback and bridleless.

Like video lessons like this? Click here for more info about Eric’s horse training DVD set

From: Dave McMahon
11:24 PM

Hi,

My name is Dave and with my friend Eric Bravo I’ve made a few “horse training” videos I’d like to send you.

If you’re already a pro, then you won’t need these… but if you’re having problems with your horse then make sure you enter your email below (or to the right side) and I’ll send you some new videos over the next few days. These videos cover:

• How to catch any horse using only body language

• Leading a horse and eliminating pulling, invading personal space and pushiness problems

• Lunging a horse to train him to listen to cues for riding

• Round pen training and signs to look for to “break” any horse gently

• Beginning saddle training (horse rider training)

Plus I’ll give you some quick and easy tips that I wish someone would have shared with me when I first got started to help you deal with problems like bucking, biting, trailer loading, plus you’ll understand horses better and build your confidence

Look, Eric’s been training horses for over 20 years and REALLY wants to help you get started. But you gotta take a little action to get off the ground.

Enter your email below, watch these free videos and start learning. You can thank me later!

I’ll send your videos here:

Email:

We respect your email privacy

Announcing new release of horse training videos software by Eric Bravo. Covers all aspects of natural horsemanship in 17 videos:

• Catching a horse
• Leading a horse
• Maintaining personal space
• Round-pen training and hook-on
• Basic Groundwork-moving forehand, hindquarter, backing up
• Side-passing
• Establishing leadership
• Building trust
• Getting and keeping the attention of your horse
• Basic Riding Skills
• Side-passing and shoulder-in while riding
• Riding bareback and bridleless

This software package downloads instantly to your computer. Windows and Mac versions are available.

Order now or more information about horse training videos.

1. Don’t let the horse dictate speed in the round-pen

Round-pen training is a great way to establish leadership, but we need to make the decisions. Don’t let him decide how fast to go-you decide.

2. Let horse rest

Rest is a reward for a working horse. When he does what you ask, let him rest.

3. Look for communication signs

Part of becoming a leader for your horse is recognizing signs he’s communicating with you. These can include a head down, looking at you with both eyes, licking of the lips.

4. Make everything your idea

When he does something you don’t like, turn it around and make it your idea so that he sees you as the leader. An example: if you’re trying to him while he’s loose in the pasture and he decides to run off, don’t try to corral him or stop him. Let him move off. But make it your idea by pushing him. Put pressure to make him run off even faster.

5. Use body language for leadership

Think about horses in the wild. The stallion and alpha mare don’t have treats, buckets or grain or use crops or whips to try and get the other horses to do their bidding. They use body language and energy to direct the herd. Do the same with your equine.

6. They learn from the release

Apply pressure to request movement and then reward with release at the right moment.

7. Teach him to be light

When you begin teaching a new movement, you may have to apply a lot of pressure to get what you’re asking. But with practice, the response will get better-at that point begin asking with less and less physical pressure until you can just use energy. But, you want to use energy and contact, because you will use contact when riding.

8. Drop the head and flex during all groundwork training

Dropping the head helps put the horse in a relaxed state. Flexing helps him become light in response to the reins and teaches the one-rein emergency stop. Flex both sides at every opportunity.

9. Work both sides of the animal

Remember, a horse has two sides. We need to practice each exercise on the right as well as the left.

10. Don’t let him dictate where he wants to be

Tell him where to go and don’t try to compensate for him positioning himself where he wants to be. The leader of the herd tells the other horses where they should be and you’re the leader of the herd.

Visit Eric’s video page for more information about horse training tips.

While the following exercises might not exactly seem like playtime, they are based on the same basic principle. Interact with the horse in a natural way. We’re going to set up the following behaviors to interact with the horse in a way he naturally understands. Doing so builds communication and establishes leadership.

1. Round pen training “at liberty”

Round pen training can be used to establish leadership without even touching the horse. Eric shows how in this video.

2. Circling
After you’ve established yourself as a leader, the next of our horse training games is to turn lunging into an exercise that sets up communication between you and your horse. That communication isn’t for giggles or new age bonding, its to build a foundation for riding. In this video-which shows lunging with two different horses- Eric illustrates how to perform this exercise.

3. Leading a Horse
Next, turn your leading from simply dragging a horse from A to B and use it to gently establish leadership.

For more information see how Eric can teach you about horse training games for leadership

Eric Bravo explains in this sample video:

This can also be accomplished using circling and jumping. See this in Eric’s horse breaking : circling video.

Eric has a complete set of horse training videos that cover everything from catching a horse for the first time, to horse back riding to riding bareback. Learn more about Eric’s horse training videos

The foremost concern on the ground is maintaining personal space. A horse must respect your personal space and not enter it. You can go in his personal space, but he can’t come into yours. A good way to teach this is with leading exercises and backing up. Follow the leading exercises shown in this video clip to begin teaching about personal space:

Establishing leadership can help owners involve other problems on the ground with horse safety. One of the most dangerous things a horse can do is kick. Its important to know why the horse kicks. Is it out of fear or disrespect? In either case, the first thing you should do is make sure your horse knows how to disengage the hindquarter on the ground. Don’t go around a kicking horse without your tools (lead rope, carrot stick/riding crop). Keep the hind end away from you by disengaging the hind. This will move the hind end away from you. That’s the basics. Beyond this, dealing with kicking means establishing your leadership and gaining respect and trust from the horse. Round-pen training and groundwork will do this for you. If he kicks, you need to double the time invested in your ground training.

Here are some tips on round-pen training for respect:

Here are some tips on groundwork and disengaging the hind:

Biting is the third key to horse safety. Biting is extremely dangerous and is unacceptable. In the midst of a bite don’t be afraid to be firm with the horse, otherwise you could be facing a bruise or broken bones. Biting also comes down to trust and respect. The head area should be desensitized, use approach-and-retreat to get the horse used to you touching his ears, face and mouth. To build trust and respect, use the same ground training exercises you would to deal with kicking.

Learn more about Eric’s horse training videos

The first step in horse rider training is preparation. Before riding, engage in a groundwork routine with your horse. This routine can be as short as 5 or 10 minutes, but it should cover every aspect of groundwork: back-up, move the forehand and hindquarter (both sides), flex, drop the head, a little bit of lunging and making sure the horse is paying attention.

Learn more about Eric Bravo’s Groundwork Horse Training Videos

Next we work on mounting. Being able to mount a horse safely is important. You want your horse to stand still during mounting. In this sample video, Eric talks about some aspects of mounting.

Another important topic is flexing while in the saddle. If you’ve been flexing on the ground, moving to flexing while in the saddle should be a snap. Don’t cut corners on flexing, however-its one of the most important aspects of horse training. Flexing forms the basis of a one-rein stop, and in dangerous situations, of an “emergency” stop. In this sample video, Eric talks about flexing.

From here, the temptation might be to just take off and ride, but that would be a mistake. Practice basic movements in the arena first. This means making sure your horse will walk out and stop on cue, turning the forehand, moving the hindquarter, and backing up. When you can do these exercises flawlessly, which all follows directly from groundwork, then you can start learning to walk trot, and canter.

In this video, Eric gives some basic riding instruction:

Learn more about Eric Bravo’s Horse Rider Training Videos

1. Establish leadership on the ground

Before you even get on a horse, you need to be his leader. Its safer to do this on the ground first. Practice round-pen training, leading your horse properly, and teaching basic yields.

2. Make sure your horse pays attention

If you have two eyes, you’ve got the whole horse. If you’ve got one eye, he’s distracted. When riding a distracted horse is a dangerous horse. He’s more likely to spook or run off. So attention is key to horse riding safety. Teach your horse to pay attention on the ground first. When doing your groundwork, if he’s not focusing both eyes on you, bump the rope to encourage him to keep his attention pointed in your direction. Ears toward you is also another attention cue

3. Do groundwork immediately before riding

If you’ve got a horse you’ve been riding for years and know well, you don’t have to spend as much time with it, but its always good to run through your groundwork routine for 5-10 minutes prior to every ride, to reinforce in your horse’s mind who’s the leader.

4. Drop that head

A horse with his head up high and with a tense neck is a worried horse. Get him in a relaxed and submissive state of mind by asking him to drop his head. Also be aware for other horse body language signs like a tense tail. If your horse is feeling tense and nervous, its probably not a good idea to ride.

5. Have good equipment

Don’t cut corners when it comes to your reins, saddle and other riding equipment. Equipment failure can lead to trouble.

6. Do an equipment check before riding

Check your cinch and other gear before getting on.

7. Practice mounting

Train your horse to be relaxed when mounting, instead of having the inclination to just take off. In this video clip, Eric talks about mounting a horse:

8. Flex, flex, and flex

Your horse should be nice and light, and should flex. The one-rein stop not only makes for better riding, but can help you shut down a horse in an emergency. In this sample clip, Eric talks about the one rein stop.

9. Wear good riding boots

You wouldn’t want to get your feet stuck in the stirrups and get dragged by a runaway horse. So wear good riding boots with a heel.

10. Wear a helmet

Horse back riding is one of the most dangerous outdoor activities there is, and a large share of the injuries are head injuries. One study even found on an hours ridden basis, horse back riding was more dangerous than motorcycle riding. Wear a helmet to reduce the risk of death or serious injury.

Learn more about horse riding safety from Eric Bravo’s horse training video

1. Recognize when your horse is paying attention

If your horse is paying attention to you, he’ll have both eyes on you. He may also have one or both ears pointed in your direction, listening for what you’re going to say next. If he has one eye on you but another eye looking off in the distance, he’s not seeing you as a leader and might decide on his own what’s a threat and what isn’t.

2. Ears pinned back

Of course a horse with ears pinned back is ready for action. That’s an angry, hostile horse that might bite or kick.

3. Head up high and ears forward

A horse that has his head up high, his neck tense and ears forward probably senses a threat. He’s about to enter self-preservation mode. That’s a horse that might suddenly take off.

4. Head lowered

Horse is relaxed and calm, where you want him to be. A lowered head also signals submission. As part of your training, you should ask your horse to lower his head to help reinforce the viewpoint that you’re the leader.

5. Tail clamped tight to his body

Go behind your horse and try and lift his tail. If its all tight and hard to lift up, he’s feeling fearful, tense, and nervous. If you can lift it up easily, he’s relaxed.

6. Tail Swishing

If a horse is swishing his tail, he might be warding off a flock of flies or he might be indicating he’s upset about something. Often a swishing tail means he’s agitated.

7. What about YOUR body language?

Horses live in herds and communicate using body language. This comes natural to them so they can read you like an open book the minute you enter the pasture. Its important to project confidence and strength. Walk upright with your head up and eyes looking where you’re going. When passing through a gate or barn door, you go first and let the horse follow. When you’re in the saddle, sit straight and look out where you want to go, instead of down at the reins hoping the horse won’t buck you off.

The body language you communicate works on two levels. You’ll also want to avoid looking like a predator. A few things that help here: if a horse is fearful, avoid eye contact. Look down at the ground as you approach. Don’t walk straight on toward the horse, approach laterally. Back off when a horse shows signs of acceptance.

Learn more about horse body language from Eric Bravo horse training videos