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Podcast: Be Your Best Horsemanship
Episode: Teaching the Release
Description: This week, I worked with two small groups of trainers—barrel racers and team ropers—on some tune ups with their performance horses. Though they were working in completely different disciplines of horsemanship, the trainers were running into very similar issues. Both groups of trainers were struggling to effectively communicate the release to their horses.
I see many trainers who are taught to communicate with their horses using pressure and/or contact. To a certain extent, this method is correct. Pressure or contact is used to stimulate the thinking side of a horse’s brain; however, a horse...