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http://spintowinhorsemanship.com/

Spin to Win Horsemanship, N3430 State Highway M67, Chatham, MI (2026)

03/15/2026

How to teach your horse how to sidepass over an object!

03/05/2026

Consistency, why is it so hard?

In sales, they call it a dip.

It’s after the excitement wears off or the initial impression leaves that we are left with the everyday mundane. To grind it out until we get to the next step.

That’s where we all struggle. Sometimes it’s struggling in a hobby, a job, with our horses, gardening or maybe even our marriage or a relationship.

The excitement wanes. We unwrap the package, play with that toy for a little while and then discard it as the newness wears off.

Why is it so hard to stay consistent? I think it’s because we have to work at it.

Alot of the times it’s not something that comes easy. They say the details are in small things and I think that’s what consistency is. The loyalness to our task at hand.

It’s easy to move from one shiny object to the next. Continually chasing that elusive moment, that success or that feeling.

It’s hard to stay consistent when things don’t look like they are moving forward. It’s hard to stay consistent when things seem to just be taking their time. We want things to move fast. We want them to go to the next step.

But what does staying consistent teach us?

It teaches us to have determination.
It teaches us to have grit.
It teaches us to have tenacity.
It teaches us to have mental toughness.
It teaches us to be faithful to our task at hand or maybe to a certain person or persons.

They say in horse training, it’s not about the ending. It’s about the 1% that the horse progresses every day.

It’s about staying consistent in the training program.

That’s what we need to do about staying consistent in our lives. It’s just hard because we don’t always see the 1% every day. We just feel like things are dragging on. But if we take a moment and we step back and we look back over the course of the week, month, year, etc. we can see the big picture how far we have progressed. How far our consistency has brought us.

Maybe we still can’t see the end yet, but if we stick with the training program so to speak, there will be progress in the end.

Lately, it’s been really hard for me to stay consistent. I want change now and I want things to happen now. But I have to remember that as long as I stay faithful and consistent each day to do the things I know that I need to do that will bring me one step closer to my end goal. It’s the one percent that keeps me going.

So what are some things that help you stay consistent? Things or habits that give you the motivation to keep going each day, working and striving to reach your goals.

If you’re interested in sharing, I’d love to hear them!!

02/26/2026

Learned Helplessness

It’s a term I’ve been seeing thrown around a lot lately…especially in the horse world.
And I think a lot of the people that are using it, really don’t understand what it means.

Now I’m not into using big words lol but I did google learned helplessness and as far as in horses, I think the term gets misused a lot for a horse that is perceived to be shut down but is actually just a well trained horse.

You see, learned helplessness according to google is when an animal or human learns to no longer try and help themselves because of past trauma, abuse or even situations where they haven’t been able to find relief from.

Now this is my opinion and I haven’t done a ton of research on it but I feel that the use of most ethically based training methods when done correctly does not teaching a horse learned helplessness. It is teaching a horse to not instinctively react based on instinct.

I’ve seen so many videos of horses pawing or rearing while being tied and tons of comments about that horse is being taught learned helplessness. I completely disagree. The horse is being taught tolerance and to regulate himself. He’s being taught to become a safe and functioning member of society so that way he can have a safe and long term home.

This particular horse still interacts with people in a positive manner, eats well and functions well in his environment, even after training.
That is not a horse that has learned helplessness. That is a horse that has been trained to follow direction just like he wld in a herd environment from the leader and he has been trained to have skills that allow him to not only be handled by humans but also to keep him safe in human environments.

And a horse that would have learned helplessness would show symptoms of not wanting to be around humans as they are associated as bad. The horse struggles in his environment to eat well and feel safe. These horses generally look poorly as well.

When people throw around the term learned helplessness, they aren’t looking at the whole picture. Teaching a horse to tie or using a flag to desensitize them is not creating learned helplessness. It’s teaching the horse a skill.

Also people say that learned helplessness makes a horse become obedient. Personally I dont think that is true.

Cuz No offense, I want an obedient horse. An obedient horse is a safe horse. An obedient horse tends to not get passed around. An obedient horse tends to get a forever home.
And an obedient horse properly trained will still be happy and have a good relationship with humans.

And I know that with the rise of emotional horsemanship many of the people who call out learned helplessness don’t like seeing a horse in distress and therefore immediately pounce on that specific trainer, etc. Also I would bet that the majority of these people that say something are not professional trainers nor do they show horses or sell horses to the public. And that’s ok. But saying a training process that’s for a specific purpose is teaching learned helplessness based off of one reaction on one video is a bit of a stretch in my opinion.

I know then that we get into training methods here but that’s a topic for another day as I do feel that training methods are more hearsay.

What I say to you is if you are concerned about a horse being taught learned helplessness, look at the whole training program. Look at how the horse is around the human and how the human handles the horse. Look at the physical and mental condition of the horse. Look at the job that that horse is being trained for.

I get it that there are many ways to skin a cat so to speak. However, I don’t think we need to fix what’s not broken. I think good horsemanship and good horse training has been around for a long time and sometimes when we start bringing science, and it’s big words into the mix, I feel that it complicates things more than it helps. Doesn’t mean that learning more isn’t a bad thing. Just choosing to learn how and where you apply it and it’s true meaning is what matters.

02/24/2026

This mare is the epitome of what my program stands for!!!

To produce a quality prospect that has proper thoracic sling development, quality conditioning, solid riding skills and a sound mind.

Whiskey here represents all that.

The top photo was her as a 2 yr old and the bottom photo is her as a 3 yr old finishing up 90 days in my program.

Training horses just isn’t about teaching them riding skills, it’s about the whole horse. My program is different because I spend time on developing the biomechanics and posture of each horse and I have found that when I do that, I don’t have to train away as many problems and teaching self carriage is way easier.

This proves that creating a program that concentrates on correct thoracic sling development and correct riding produces a solid performance foundation for any horse!

This is what I am passionate about!! This is what I love to do!! This is quality!!

Training this way allows me to produce a top quality prospect that is well on their way to becoming a well conditioned, a correctly developed and a capable and competent horse that feels good in their mind and their body.

This proves we can train horses and even young horses and create a well rounded and quality horse and not put undo stress on their bodies by pushing them into positions that cause them to overwork and overstrain their bodies that are not proper conditioned or properly developed.

02/18/2026

The saying a horse is so sensitive that he can feel a fly bite is correct. A fly bite is painful so therefore the horse stomps his foot or swishes his tail to be rid of it.

However have you ever seen a horse trying to be loaded in a trailer, for example, and people are smacking it on the butt with a whip or using a flag and the horse just stands there and perceivingly just “takes it”? So why is so sensitive of a creature that can feel a fly bite, just standing letting the whip hit him? Shouldn’t that be painful?

It is called fight or flight.

When a prey animal, such as a horse, perceives a threat their sympathetic nervous system kicks in. It brings cortisol (adrenaline) and a host of other hormones are released into the body. This is how Zebras are able to fight and survive a a lion attack.

But have you ever seen one just freeze in fear instead fight? This is also a survival technique where the brain shuts down to try and block out what is happening to the body. This is common in trauma victims as their brain blocked out what was happening to them so they could survive.

So when the horse is being loaded into the scary trailer, he first fights it. Rears, pulls back and tries to run away. But when he can no longer escape, he freezes and shuts down and no amount of pressure/pain will make him move forward.

I have found that horse’s that freeze need training in smaller bits and time to process or need the help of positive reinforcement to help their brain stay present so they can think through what is happening. These are the types of horses that people tend to misunderstand and can be abusive towards. Horses in this state are also in the learned-helplessness category.

While a horse that is fighting, I have found their brain can still be helped to move forward during the process without long term ill-effects as long at the correct timing of pressure and release is used.

Prey animals use fight or flight to stay alive but this also makes them dangerous. This is what makes horses so dangerous.

We humans spend countless hours teaching horses to not follow their instincts so we can safely use them and be around them. I know some folks think we shouldn’t be riding or showing them or using them for events, etc but using horses brings joy to so many people. They bring people together and help teach people about themselves. Horse provide healing and opportunities to so many. I could go on and on.

The main thing is to remember that horses are who they are and their instincts are still in them. Their flight and fight will also be there. We need to learn to help them so they can feel safe and happy doing the things we like to do with them.

02/16/2026

The importance of your inside leg!

Riding bridless this last year really gave me an understanding of how important the use of our inside leg is when directing and cueing our horse.

Yes, we do need to ride with both legs but the getting your horse to connect to your inside leg helps give you greater control and communication.

We should use our inside leg to get our horse connected with us as not only does it help create bend, it helps keep our horse redirected and mentally with us.

But how does our inside leg do that?

When riding your horse on the rail in the arena or on the trail, if you place your inside leg on your horse up by the girth area, will your horse flick an ear back to you? Will he look and bend in the direction of the leg pressure applied? Will he move over laterally away from the inside leg pressure?
If not, your horse is not connected to your inside leg.

Teaching your horse to get connected to your inside leg is fairly easy but it does take time and consistency. But how do we teach our horse to be connected to our inside leg?

Firstly, walk a circle. Let’s say to the right.
I’m going to move my inside leg forward until it is right behind the cinch. Then I’m going to turn my toe out and begin to slowly wrap my calf and heel around my horse. As I do this, I’m going to be watching to see if my horse will flick and ear back towards me and look to the inside. If not, I will take my inside rein and help him look and bend and then release with my leg and rein. I will do this until I can place my calf and heel on my horse and he will look right. Now if I want my looks small bend, I will gently bump or wiggle my heel to ask for more. If I want more lateral while my horse is bent, I will move my heel back a little and straighten my toe out so my foot is more parallel to my horse. The differences are subtle but your horse can tell the difference.

My outside leg basically works as my gas pedal and keeps the rib cage in place.

By getting your horse connected to your inside leg, you can help teach them to relax and trust your inside leg to help them focus. If your horse has a tendency to look around and spook at things, this is a great exercise as you can then help redirect your horse away from the scary object by using your inside leg to help them bend and look away from it.

You can also use it to help steer so you don’t use as much leg.

The use of your inside leg in this manner should never mean an increase in speed. Only bend and lateral. If I want speed, I will move my leg back away from the girth and bump/wiggle. Wiggle always means movement from my horse.

02/15/2026

“The Break Up”

You bought a horse. He wasn’t perfect but you figured with some work or help from a trainer you could get things sorted out. He checked off most of the boxes and the few things he doesn’t fit, don’t seem too big.

So you buy him. The fun begins. You find out pretty soon that these “quirks” run alot deeper than you thought. So you send him to a trainer to try and work these things out. It’s gets a little better with the training so you feel there is some hope.

You spend money on supplements, a better fitting saddle, chiropractor and massage. You learn some new training techniques to help you to better adapt to the quirks and help manage them.

Still while there is improvement, there are just 2-3 things that you just keep butting heads on.

But it’s improvement, so you keep plugging along.

It’s been 2 years now. You’ve slowly helped and shaped that horse into more of your style but there are still just some frustrating moments. You love him and you are emotionally connected and the good days give you hope that one day, things with become totally better….but the bad days leave you scratching your head and you see your friends riding their horses and you begin to wonder if maybe, you just aren’t gonna get where you want to be.

This is a common scenario. Someone buys a horse for a certain reason or job and that horse just isn’t going to fit the mold. No matter what you do or how much training is there.

It isn’t in the horse’s personality and makeup to want to do that job.

So what do you do? You’ve spent thousands of dollars, you love this horse, you’ve become so connected to him because you’ve worked so hard on that relationship to help try and make him become what you need him to…..but it all hasn’t worked and at the end of the day, you’re still both unhappy.

Consider is it fair to your horse to continue to try and make them become something you want them to become? You can change your goals to become that better fit for your horse but if you really want to show and your horse doesn’t want to, trying to make them become a show horse will only further add to the problem.

Sometimes you just have to realize it’s not a good fit for you or your horse and a break up is in order and that there is someone out there that would love your horse as much as you do but their job description is a better fit for your horse.

It is a hard decision to come by but sometimes it is the right one. In the end, doing what is fair and right for your horse is the best decision.

“But what if something happens to him while he is with another owner?”

That is entirely possible but it is your job to present him as honest as you can so you can find the best fit. Misrepresenting your horse to someone is the best way to ensure he gets resold or passed along.

So be honest in your sale and be your horse’s advocate in the sale. It’s ok to tell someone they aren’t the right fit for your horse. The right person will come along.

Putting a horse up for sale isn’t a slight decision but doing what is best for the horse and in some cases yourself, is the right decision. It’s not something you should feel guilty about if it’s for the right reasons.

Breakups are hard, but sometimes it’s the most important thing you can do to ensure harmony and proper welfare for both parties.

02/11/2026

Keep an eye out for Boone!! He’ll be entering our sales program later this year 🤩

02/10/2026

Did you know that your saddle can actually be the reason you are struggling to stay balanced in the saddle?

Based on your saddle’s seat position it can actually be working against your posture based on how the stirrups are coming down.

You can see the difference in these to saddles below.

I recommend finding a saddle that helps sit you comfortably on your pelvis, has a deeper seat and higher swell to give you a “pocket” and then having stirrups that naturally hang directly straight down from you hip. Not in front of your leg.

02/07/2026

HOW CONSENT/EMOTIONAL BASED TRAINING ALMOST MADE ME QUIT HORSES

First of all, let’s clarify what consent based training is. It is basically respecting when the horse says no and then trying to figure out why they said no and breaking it down to the point where we get them comfortable enough to say yes.

What does this mean, this means that we are saying that the horse has the ability to rationalize and make a choice.

This means that if the horse does not want the saddle that day or that moment through cues and behavior that the horse has given, we respect that and choose to try to find the reason why the horse does not want the saddle on that day or at all.

And basically our whole training philosophy is based on if the horse is comfortable with it or not, and if not, we go down the rabbit hole of trying to find the reason why.

Now let me explain why it almost made me quit horses. And I am being dead serious.

When I started training, I started very much with a Clinton Anderson style of training, and then as I trained more and more horses that were very difficult and had a lot of trauma or had some extreme behavior problems, I found that that method didn’t necessarily work for all of them.

And so then I started looking more into different types of training methods that worked more on the mental and psychological side of things. I learned a lot, and I learned a lot about how to read horses, but the short answer is, I trained horses for the public. And when you follow a consent based form of training, sometimes it’s just not feasible to do it for the public in a timeline that is needed to get a horse safe enough for an amateur owner. Which left me feeling a ton of stress. Like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

Also, when we go down the rabbit hole of consent based training, and we start giving human emotions to the horse and believing that they actually feel those, we start doubting ourselves that we actually know how to train a horse or even how to halter one. We start to take on the emotional baggage that the horse has because we feel bad for the horse and what we’re putting them through. We become empathetic to their situation so much so, to the point where we don’t want to cause them any hardship or cause them to feel any stress. We want everything to be soft, calm and easy for them all the time. Thats just not life.

And for me when I started feeling this way, it became so heavy that it really made it difficult for me to work with horses at all. I started resenting going out and working with them and I resented being around them if they had any kind of anxiety or any kind of problem.

I basically got to the point that I decided that if I could not be myself around my horses and how I truly wanted them to act and how I wanted to act to their feedback, then I just couldn’t handle having horses or working with them.

Some people might call it burn out and I think it was a big part of it but consent based training was turning me into somebody that I wasn’t and it was making me extremely unhappy. I tried believing that it was better for me and better for the horses. That it put less pressure on me and made things easier.

But in the long run, all it did was make me more frustrated when I was working with a horse and made me feel like I was unable to accomplish anything with them. I wasn’t able to detach myself emotionally from the horse because that type of training requires you to be emotionally present. Therefore it makes you emotionally drained all the time. Or at least it did for me. Maybe others have been able to juggle it better than I.

However, long story, short, this past fall. I finally decided that if I was going to train and be around horses again, I needed to do it the way that I wanted to and how I felt that it was the most fulfilling for me. Otherwise there was no point in doing it.

I know people say that they do it for the horse, but there’s a part of them that they do it for themselves too. And if the training philosophy they follow doesn’t align with who they truly are, in the end it will just leave them, drained, tired, and resentful.

So, I believe that I have reached a point where I am enjoying it to a certain extent again because I get to be who I want to be. I’m training for me. Doesn’t mean that I don’t care about the horses. But it means that I am not going to anthropomorphize with them and I’m not going to put human emotions on them. They are animals that react because of instinct. And what they give me is feedback based on their instinct, and therefore, I will train them that way.

I am thankful for the experiences and training philosophies that I learned and followed because I learned a lot, but ultimately, I have to do what is right for me and align with who I am and who I am continuing to grow into.

And that honestly goes for anything.

Because if you are trying to become something that you think you want to become, but it’s not who you were truly meant to be, you will be extremely unhappy until you come back into the person you were meant to be.

02/05/2026

Can your horse read your thoughts?

I don’t know if he can necessarily do that but what he can do it read your body language.

When we have a thought come into our head, it subconsciously changes our body language a bit to conform to what we are thinking. This is why either our horse seems to anticipate our thoughts and it feels like they are reading our minds or sometimes this gets us into trouble as maybe we aren’t aware of our thoughts when we are around our horses so therefore our bodies tell them something completely different.

So, start having what I call a fore-brain and a back-brain. Your fore-brain is for thinking in the now, the present. This is the part of your brain that you want to be there telling your horse what to do and how to be as it is in the present as you are paying attention and are aware.

The other part, your back-brain, is for thinking about things coming up in the future. Like what exercise with you do next, which direction you need to turn during the next circle, etc.

Here is the difficult part. Keeping these two brains separate.

We start running into issues when we let our back brain start thinking instead of our fore-brain. We get ahead of ourselves and stop thinking in the present. This causes our horses to become confused as they are unsure of which thought they shld be following. The fore-brain one or the back-brain one as our body is telling them 2 different signals.

An example of this is several years ago, I was riding a young horse and we were cantering in the arena and he was going good so I figured I would stop him up ahead. The absolute moment I thought about stopping him, he hit the brakes!!! I wasn’t ready for him to stop as I was thinking about doing it ahead but because I let my back-brain thoughts become the present, he felt my body change in preparation for the stop and so he took it as he should stop now. He didn’t do anything wrong. I just needed to be more aware of my thoughts and what I was thinking.

So be present with your horse whether you are riding or on the ground. Be in control of your thoughts and actually, interestingly, once you become more consciously aware of keeping your fore-brain and back-brain separate, you become more present.

Spin to Win Horsemanship

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