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Whisper Training offers beginner through advanced riding lessons for you and your horse, video coaching, and foundation training for young, un-started, and "problem" horses, using a combination of Natural Horsemanship and Dressage to help you create the partnership of your dreams with healthy biomechanics. I can teach you how to read your horse's body language, know what training, riding, and groundwork techniques to use when, and understand what's important to your horse, how to show them the value of what you are asking them to do, and learn how to motivate them in a positive way.

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I believe horses should have as much fun during training and riding sessions as I do! I use psychology and communicate with horses in their own language to cause them to want to do things, feel confident, and get respectful and responsive. Training does not need to be stressful! I believe in showing our equine partners respect and empathy and considering their feelings and opinions on what we are doing together. 

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I use a combination of negative reinforcement (negative simply meaning the removal of something - in this case the "pressure" of our request) and positive reinforcement (adding a reward when the horse does something right - sometimes this means food, but often it can be verbal praise, a marker word like "yes!" or "super!", rest, and scratching itchy spots, grazing break, just to name a few possibilities.

I do not use punishment of any kind, nor do I believe it's ever appropriate to lose our temper or get angry with our horse. We can learn to be firm but fair when necessary without getting emotional. Learning to develop emotional fitness and never taking out anger/frustration/irritation on the horse (note that this does not mean you will never get frustrated - just that when you do, you recognize and take a break or step back if necessary, maybe seek additional information or help from a trainer, without taking it out on your horse) is extremely important to becoming an excellent horseman or woman.

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The belief underlying my whole philosophy is that our horses DO NOT OWE US ANYTHING. We took away their ability to take care of themselves, choose their friends, get their own exercise by moving unrestricted and foraging for food, etc so we owe them all that care/feed/friends just to get us back to even. Your horse does not owe you a ride just because you pay for their feed and care for them.

So what can we do to make sure there is something more than just basic care in it for them - so that they see the value in playing with us and in letting us ride them? (Hint - it's NOT just treats - in fact for most horses there are things they value much more than food!). This is what I am constantly studying and improving on and what I can teach you. Anyone can make a horse do something. But how do we get a horse to WANT to?

There are so many wonderful things we can offer our horse above and beyond the basic care that can motivate and inspire them to LOVE working with us and LOVE being ridden! Every horse is different, so different horses will value different things and need different techniques to enjoy their training. My lessons and training focus on teaching the human how to learn what your particular horse needs to feel inspired and what techniques they will respond best to.

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See your sessions with your horse as something you are doing together, as partners, not as "master/servant" or something they have no choice in. My horses are allowed to have an opinion and I take their opinions and feelings very seriously and adjust my training and reward system based on their feedback. 

Once you have a relationship with your horse, once you have a horse that wants to be with you and wants to do things for you, then no goal is un-achievable, no dream is too big. The sky is the limit to what you can do!