Training Tips

QUESTION: Dear Sylvia, I love your web site and wanted to thank you for all the help you have given me. Your articles are very informative, and when I need help I go straight to you. I was wondering if I could get some advice. I have a 7-year-old paint mare that I love to ride bareback because of her smooth gaits. I then decided I wanted to try riding her bridleless. The only problem is, she doesn't neck rein, give to leg pressure (except for go), or to body movement. I was wondering if you could give me advice on the tools to use, where to find them, how to use them, and how I can get my horse to understand what I am asking her. Once again thank you for all the help you have given me. Any advice would be welcomed. I would do anything to train my horse to ride bridleless!

REPLY: I think your best bet would be to learn the art of bridleless riding via a training video, since there is so much involved in teaching this to your horse. Let me direct you to Natural Horsemanship trainer/clinician Stacy Westfall's web site/product page, where she has a video you can purchase to teach you the art of bridleless riding: CLICK HERE

Stacy is truly the "queen" of bridleless riding in the natural horsemanship world, and therefore the best one to learn this from, I feel! Incidentally, you can watch an absolutely breathtaking online video clip of Stacy performing bareback and bridleless: CLICK HERE