Train Your Own Horse with Stacy Westfall

A big part of training is establishing communication in a safe way. In this episode, I share three reasons why you should do groundwork. I share how to safely work with horses at different stages and…

Welcome to Season 4 where it's all about the horse's body. In this episode, I'm going to give you three tips to use when reading your horse's body language. I also answer a listener question, and I s…

I am answering a listener question about repetition and learned helplessness which was a response to my newsletter. The definition of learned helplessness from Google is a condition in which a person…

In this episode, I'm answering a listener question about peaking a horse for a show. The question is how do you keep your horse from peaking before you go to the show? The listener is a week away fro…

Is your horse’s behavior caused by mental issues or training issues? Today, I have a listener question from Italy. The listener has a 10-year-old gelding that is still exhibiting the same behavior or…

This week I'm answering a listener question. First, I'm going to answer with the theory, and then I'm going to teach you all how to become a detective. The listener wants to know if she can ‘untrain’…

Let's talk about the idea of correcting a horse for behavior that we don't like. I'm going to share three examples of corrections, a different way to think about corrections, and a story to help you …

How do you treat your horse when he makes a mistake? In this episode, I’m going to share three common ways I see riders react to their horse making a mistake and why that matters.

I’m going to talk a…

How do you know if your training routine is dead? Last week, I talked about how horses can “learn how to learn.” This week, I'm going to take that concept a little further and explain how I use train…

How horses learn and why it matters is an interesting topic that we will be talking about today. Horses are really interesting, because they are excellent at detecting patterns. They look for pattern…

Intentions matter. Today, I’m talking about your intentions when training your horse, and your horses intentions. I’ll talk about what constitutes a good intention and a bad intention and remind you …

Anticipation is one of those ideas that is a double-edged sword. Is it a friend or Foe? At first glance, people think of anticipation as negative, I think it might be more positive to think of it as …

This podcast is in response to a listener question. She asks, “what do you mean by a creative horse?” This is a great topic as we continue our season on the horses mind.

I’m very specific when I desc…

I’m explaining something that was a game-changer for me and my horse. When I share this topic with people at clinics, I see an instant change in them and their horse. Did you know that your horse is …

Welcome to season 3 where we are going to talk about the horses mind. There are two things I'm going to talk about today. The first one is that you might just be underestimating your horse. The secon…

It’s time to wrap up season two on the rider’s body. I covered a lot of ground on the last two seasons. We talked about the rider's mind and the rider's body. I'm even more excited about the next two…

Riders will need to use different riding aids differently as a horse progresses through the different grade levels. In episode 6, I compared the horses progression to the progression of kindergarten,…

When being a balanced rider, you have aids that can assist you. These include your right hand, left hand, right leg, and left leg. Today, I’m talking about these rider's aids. Do you know which one o…

Today, I’m talking about how the rider's mind and the rider's body are both equally required for improvement. I'll be talking about balancing your aids and your mindset. A listener asks about allowin…

Today, I’m talking about active and passive riding. Do you know if you are doing too much or not enough when riding? A rider who doesn’t know how to ride may be in a defensive position and not doing …