Try THIS with your horse 🐴 

Am I crazy or am I the only one who just absolutely loves the sound of hooves on concrete!! I find it oddly comforting. Yup- I’m a bit crazy 😜

When I worked in Florida on an Egyptian farm (Serenity) The owner gave me great wisdom. She said in breeding and training, everyone has the recipe, but some are cooks and some are chefs......

Super thankful to see these types of videos again Joe! Thank you!

LOVE every 'brainstorming' question ... you must demonstrate each one .. that will fill up a whole year and I will watch each one . Excellent video to get lost in and learn a few great tips. Keep it up !

An hour of you chatting away is just fabulous. I've picked up more tips from you😊.

It is beautiful to see how much effort this stallion put forth. Well done Joe! You bring out the best of these incredible horses.

POLE WORK We do lots of ground poles & raised poles both trot and canter to help with overall strengthening during the winter, in the indoor arena as the hills are covered with snow and are too slippery to walk the horse on.

Snickers really likes you Joseph ❤❤

Love this!!! Walking is so great for them! Outside of the arena....yes!

Your so proud of all your buddy's 🎉❤ so cute your a good dad 🫶

I find work over poles great to strengthen the top line. Love your calming and practical approach.

That was really interesting. My event horse is retired and during 3 seasons now all we do is hacking on varied terrain because arena work isn't great for his arthritis. But in the winter we have to do arena work, so it's 20 minutes of walk, 5 minutes of trot and canter and 5 minutes of cooling down because he still has a lot of his fitness and that's really all it takes. But when winter swings around, I'm always shocked at how strong he is and how good he still is at his work and that's from the hacking on undulating terrain. The benefits of that cannot be overstated. The brainstorming you offered was great. For me the most interesting topic was just how much weight we want in our hands. I would love a video on that. All your horses always look so relaxed and happy.

Thank you for sharing your thought process. It helps to hear what you're thinking!

How much is too heavy vs how much is too light!!!!!! A connection video would be awesome.

I’m so glad you have a spot to ride the horses other than the arena. IT’s good for their mind. It would be really nice if they got to ride on trails. They’re going through some intense training. They need to just relax and be an ol trail horse every once in a while.

Thank you for this!!!

As I’ve always said, love how you bring your horsemanship into your dressage world. The farm/yard has really developed and the plants have grown from when you first moved there. Just want to say, you have him going beautifully in the warm up. Rewards for the horse? Release, treats or rubs and pats

So practical, great stuff.

Oh also for training topics, training/finishing flying changes, past the initial "yay he changed" especially when training alone, setting the horse up for success and not missing changes that are a half step off behind, and fixing that canter after it uh... Sometimes devolves during the initial training hahah. I always found that tricky!

Thank you! This will definitely help me and my “pony”. Have you seen or followed the terrible scandal with Helgstrand Dressage in Denmark? I’m in total shock from what has been going on there for years. It’s so sad how he get young people to believe this is the way you should treat the horses to educate them. It’s hard to watch. Thank you again for showing the world how it should be done - in total harmony- on the level that every individual horse needs.

I am driving my horse in the carriage to make my horses stronger!!!

Thank you for your great videos Joe, your subtle and kind horsemanship and ability to have fun with it is a true inspiration. I returned to horses after a 21 year gap 9 years ago, other parts of life, £££s etc got in the way for a while and I now relish my good fortune to be retired and able to spend my days learning to speak horse better, doing in hand and ridden schooling, exploring the countryside with my mare and enjoying our extended time together... She's a full time job 😄

Interesting take on strengthening the back. I have always thought of myself as odd for doing so much free walk because it just feels right, good to hear it reinforced. A useful topic would be the half halt as an overused answer in isolation vs keeping the hands still and soft

Loved the video! My horse was off due to illness for about a year. He lost a ton of weight as well all of his topline and other muscles. And if this makes sense, his wanting to work. Sort of depressed. He kind of goes through the motions, however doesn't really want to work. He braces against me and we start fighting. Its almost to the point I don't want to ride him he's so miserable. He's putting his weight back on and I'm micro managing his nutrition. The hill exercises are great. I've only been doing it for about a week or so, and I don't do 3 sets of 10, I only do 1 set of 10. I don't want to over do it. we are also doing a lot of walking in hand. I already notice that his engagement in the work is starting to come back as well as he's seems kind of glad to see me. Maybe because I'm not riding him, I don't know. Maybe it's we just need to reconnect again. Thanks for the video. I've missed the "How to" pointer videos. I'd love to see a video to learn what to do when he braces against me without it turning into a battle.

My name is Iwona 😊I love this exercise. There’s plenty of small hills in my barn. I will be trying this tomorrow. Thank you for answering ❤

Hi Joseph lovely to be with you through these causal but very real very informative very tangible videos Thank you. I am on my own. My instructor left my little corner of the world Zimbabwe and I dont have much confidence in others here though some are lovely people.... mostly my finances have drastically reduced. So I'm on my own with a now 5yr old 17hh+ hannoverian stallion. Praise God he is very chilled but he is a very big boy. I am gleaning as much info as possible off videos like this and Ammelias and am so thankful to you both. So we are very far behind and only at the very basics though he is almost 5. I have not wanted to rush. But actually life threw many curve balls and riding on numerous occasions has had to be put on hold. I was advised by a lady here to not over do his training as he is big and let his young bones develope. Now I need to get cracking. In hand he is super. So willing to please. Under saddle he gets quite stubborn HELP😢 PLEASE what must I do when he just will not go forward or even just stops Much appreciated tracey

This was good info! Thank you!

If you haven’t read it, read gustav steinbrecht - the gymnasium of the horse. You can get an English translation. He explain brilliantly the training if the horse. It’s an old book but so relevant today - a true master

Thank you! I love how soft you are on a horse. I love how you ride! I would very much like to continue learning from you. Even better would be to learn first hand with you. 😀

I thoroughly enjoyed this! I'm I mature rider now but you brought back so much that I had forgotten. Super job Joseph.👍

Enjoyed and trying to transfer to driving. I do combined driving which has dressage initial

You saw my comment I saw lifting there belly was said by a chiropractor for horses it brings up top line and the horse sees he has the muscle s and remembers like muscle memory

Why are you using a double?

Would like slow down the canter

Yes I saw some where they put there hand under the belly and lightly lift .over and over then they realise they can hold it up. Look into that .

How did you achieve, that your stallion is so calm??? Did not hear his voice during the whole video and mares are near, thanks.

On topic ideas, what do you do outside of riding that most positively impacts your riding and time with the horses? What compliments it?

With all of the horses you have in training, how do you manage the saddle fit challenge? And know whether a horse is resisting forward due to unwillingness versus discomfort? Do you keep a variety of saddles or do most of your horses have similar back profiles/shapes? Thanks for your daily training thoughts!

Yes, Joseph, I have a similar question to one that is below. It's understood that the release is a reward along with verbal praise and petting. I'm wondering if you use treats and if so, when and under what conditions. I usually give my horse a couple of treats at the very end of our session after untacking. I get so much from your videos. Thanks!

Thanks for your efforts, I really appreciate! On the topic, I would ask, how to get better forward movement with more energy?Especially for horses who are energy savers and don’t want to input much effort into exercising? Like how to get them in front of the rider leg?

Bodo is so handsome 😊 I know it's kinda a spicy topic but curious about your thoughts on the whole Helgstrand situation and developments. You've trained with big names in dressage, I've also worked with a few, mainly in jr/yr, and i feel like that severe training and riding was almost endemic in dressage. I feel like things have changed a lot for the better, and I'm glad that Helgstrand in particular got called out but I know for a fact that style of riding still exists and is all over the place. Do you think the exposé will make a difference? Sometimes when I reflect on my training over the past 20 years I feel bad about how we were taught to train :/

I would like to adopt a rescue horse. I'm 58 years old. I've been getting back into horse riding. I never competed as a youngster. I just hacked around on my friends' horses and later my own young horse. I am doing my first ever jumping competition tomorrow at the place where I do riding lessons on a school horse. I would so love to have my own horse to do some low-level dressage and jumping competitions. They call it geriatric dressage here in Australia.😢 What are some tips I could have on adopting a horse? I would be getting a horse from Save A Horse Australia. They have a website. I volunteer there when I can. I'm aiming to adopt a horse this time next year or a bit later.

Do you sometimes trailor a horse to an area for hacking up and down some hilly area ? That helps so much for horse mind and body.

Are you training to take part in the competition???

HY DO YOU ALWAYS WORK IN A DOUBLE?? I thought it was much better to school in a snaffle?

How do you approach working through a horse that often shies at everyday things, like a certain spot in the arena or gets very distracted when he sees activity out a window while riding?