Is Your Horse Ready to Level Up?

An Award-Winning Training Framework for Developing Responsive, Competition-Ready Horses 

TL;DR: Discover an award-winning horse training framework that helps riders build happy, responsive, and competition-ready horses. Learn how to recognize when progress stalls, understand the balance between horse and rider communication, and develop critical skills like feel, timing, and readiness. Perfect for riders of all experience levels who want a calmer, more connected, and higher-performing partner.

Whether it’s your first time learning cues for your horse, riding one who’s seasoned, starting fresh with a new one, or working toward the next level of competition, progress usually only stalls for one of two reasons.

It’s you, or it’s your horse.

We believe that happy horses start with happy humans.  And when humans learn to create the right environment, understand how horses communicate, and know the best way to respond, horses become easier to train and far more enjoyable to ride.

If progress stalls, the first step is identifying whether the issue is the rider’s communication or the horse’s readiness.

When It’s the Horse

Before addressing training or behavior, confirm the horse’s basic needs are being met.

Key factors that affect a horse’s ability to train:

• Proper nutrition
• Well-fitted tack
• A comfortable, low-stress living environment
• Soundness

A horse that’s sore, undernourished, stressed, or uncomfortable cannot focus or learn effectively, no matter how good the training program is.

An Award-Winning Trainer’s Background and Training Philosophy

I grew up around horses in Saskatchewan, and I was raised by a mom who trained horses, taught lessons, and ran clinics. From breed shows and jumping to halter, reining, cutting, rodeo, cow horse, and team roping, I’ve spent over twenty years training horses across different disciplines. I’m an award winning horseman and my approach to training horses is one that’s practical, and designed to help both the trainer and the horse. 

Today, I offer clinics and training programs for all-around performance horses, whether the goal is competition, day-to-day ranch work, or simply having a horse that’s enjoyable to ride.

The ideas below will give you a sense of how I approach training and what I look for when progress starts to stall.  These are some of the same basics I work through in my two-day clinics and in long-term training, where horses stay with me when riders don’t always have the time or skill to work through those steps at home.

Learn How Horses Respond to Human Cues

Horses respond first to environment, then to instruction.

Horses pay attention to everything. Your energy, your timing, your consistency, and how you respond. When a horse feels tense, distracted, or unsure, it’s unusual that they’re refusing to do the job. They’re trying to understand what you’re asking and reacting to what’s happening around them.

In the wild, horses learn fast because they have to. They read their environment and decide right away whether something is safe to ignore or worth reacting to. That ability keeps them calm and functional rather than living in constant fear. The same instinct shows up in how horses respond to human cues during training.

Your horse is always reading the environment you create. The space you’re working in, the pressure you use, your body language, and your emotional state all factor into safety and clarity from the horse’s point of view. 

Common signs a horse is confused or unhappy: 

• Pinning their ears back
• Flaring their nostrils,
• Swishing their tail
• Shaking their head

And always remember, happy horses start with happy humans.  Horses tend to reflect what they feel coming from their human. When a rider is calm, present, and consistent, horses usually settle and try harder. When a rider feels rushed, distracted, or frustrated, horses often become guarded or unsure.

When a horse isn’t doing what you wanted, it’s usually a response to what feels safest or easiest for them in that moment. That information matters. It tells you something about the environment, not just the behavior so you need to learn to pay attention to these signals and adjust early.

Learn to Read the Feel of Your Horse

Feel comes from paying attention to what the horse is doing in real time.

When I talk about feel in horse training, I’m talking about a physical, literal awareness of where your horse’s feet are, how focused they are, and being able to anticipate what their next move will be.

When you’ve developed the ability to read the feel of your horse, it helps you know how much pressure to apply and when. And yes, this is something that can be taught.

Feel is often confused with cues, but they’re not the same thing. A cue is the signal you give your horse when you want them to do something. Feel is knowing whether the horse is about to respond and do what you’ve asked, or whether they’re preparing to do something else.

For example, if you want your horse to go straight but you feel them shift their weight or notice their focus drift toward the outside, you can respond before the horse commits to the turn.

Learn to Perfect Your Timing 

Horses learn from immediate cause and effect.

This is where I see a lot of progress stall. Timing plays a huge role in how horses respond to human cues. When timing is inconsistent, horses become confused. That is when you see bracing, hesitation, or complete mental checkout.

Timing teaches faster than pressure. If we leave pressure on too long, the horse can’t tell what earned the release. If the release comes too late, the effort they just made doesn’t register. From the horse’s point of view, it’s confusing and uncomfortable.

Horses just want clarity and relief. You can help your horse learn faster and build more confidence by being observant and perfecting your own timing. 

Learn To Recognize Your Horses Readiness For Leveling Up 

Each level of training builds on the one before it. These are the signs I look for to assess where a horse is in its training and whether it’s ready to move forward.

Level 1:  Happy

Happy, Healthy, Calm, and Comfortable

You can’t train a horse that’s in fight-or-flight. They need to be healthy, in good physical condition, and settled in their environment before they’ll be receptive to training.

Level 2:  Receptive

Willing, Attentive, and Connected

When you give a cue, the horse understands it, accepts it, and it’s mentally engaged and trying to stay with you.

Level 3:  Responsive 

Focused, In Self-Carriage, and Quick to Respond

When your horse can respond without hesitation or resistance, transitions get smoother and direction changes happen with less effort. When you give a cue, the horse understands it, accepts it, and maintains it until you ask for something different.           

Level 4: Competitive

Eager, Agile, and Skilled

When your horse is mentally and physically ready to perform under pressure. They understand their job, stay connected with the rider, and can apply their training consistently in competitive or high-demand environments.

How To Train With the Framework

This is the framework behind my clinics and long-term training. Whether I’m working with riders for a few days or taking a horse in for extended training, the goal is always to develop horses that understand their job, respond clearly, and can apply their training consistently.

Find a clinic near you, or contact us to learn more about extended training options.