Training Philosophy

Happy, Confident Partner

Our training goals for horses are to develop them into

happy, confident partners.

We do that by:

teaching the horse to think
teaching them body/feet control
exposing them to various scenarios
making sure they understand their job and are willing to do it
feel good in their body so they are able to do their job

The Curriculum

A Happy, Confident horse is our goal. But we always start with where the horse is. Naturally, the horse is an instinctual prey animal, that is typically fearful, reactive, and is primarily interested in it's own survival. Those qualities do not make it an ideal partner to do a task. Whether you're scaling a mountain to see the best view, working a feedlot, or performing a sliding stop, we need the horse's willingness, understanding, and cooperation to do the job. So, our curriculum is designed to take a horse from fearful and reactive to happy and confident.

Think of training for your horse as similar to a curriculum in a K-12 school system for people. One thing to note, a traditional K-12 program takes 13 years. Some might say that it takes that long to make a good horse too. We do our best to instill certain attributes into a horse in a shorter amount of time. This means they still need the repetition and reinforcement of the new way of being for many years to come. If your horse is spending years in our program, we do that repetition and reinforcement for you. If your horse is getting started by us, it is going to be the responsibility of their consistent rider to support the horse if they have any questions.

Customized Training Program

Horses that come to Versatile Equine are all individuals with a unique set of needs and goals. We customize our training program to progress the horse from where it is now to your end goals. But we start customizing the program for the horse where they are today. So, we would ask you to tell us about your horse:

Has your horse been started?
Does it have some issues you're trying to work through?
Are you wanting performance training?
What are your goals with your horse?

From those answers, we'll be able to determine with which program to start.

4-Month Foundation

Fundamental Education of a Good Horse

Click on the individual parts of the training process to learn more

Groundwork

Round Pen

Arena Riding

Outside Riding

Ground Driving

Stimuli

We recommend an evaluation to see if our training style fits your needs. During the evaluation, we will work with the horse and let you know what we see and feel. Then all of us, horse included, can decide if this is the right fit. Call us to schedule an appointment.