Posts by Stacy Westfall
The horses that teach us: “She wouldn’t be the rider she is today without him.”
“She wouldn’t be the rider she is today without him.” My friend spoke these words about his daughter, who spent the last five years riding my aged horse Scrapper. I felt emotions catch in my throat. I couldn’t speak. The truth of his words rung true, not only of his daughter…but of me also. I…
Read MoreGetting certified to become a horse trainer
“Hello Stacy, can folks get certified for instructor and horse training through you? If not, what is the best program you recommend? I’m an all around rider so not wanting to get certified through a specific discipline. Thank you” No, that is not something I offer. The first two that come to mind are Clinton Anderson…
Read MoreRelationship building with your horse…the unchosen path of injury or sickness
Relationship building…the unchosen path. Building relationships requires some amount of focused time. I’ve observed this with both horses and humans. Here is an excerpt from yesterdays podcast, “Now, there is another way that I have seen people build relationship with their horses and you might run into it, but it is not one you would…
Read MoreEpisode 112: Can you have relationship AND results with your horse?
If you were forced to choose between having a great relationship with your horse OR getting big results…which would you choose? Relationship OR results? Do you think you have to choose…or do you think you can have both? Today I’m explaining how I get BIG RESULTS…while still keeping the relationship the main thing. I’ll…
Read MoreCooling and drying horses after winter rides
Hair dry in the barn… Do you ever ride in the winter, put a cooler on your horse, and find that an hour later they are cool but still have damp spots? I do. Sometimes they dry right up and sometimes…nope. My solution: keep a hair dryer in the barn. Not only can the dryer…
Read MoreProblems with teaching a horse to Bow
Hi Stacy, I watched your video on how to teach your horse to bow and I finally got my horse, Espresso, to bow. Although now that she know’s how to bow every time the farrier comes to do her feet she bows. What is your suggestion? thanks Haley Lol. That can happen! This issue should…
Read MoreWarning: contains cute baby Willow footage ?
This short video explains a bit about Willows journey and commented on her name. In the video I mention buying Willow back. This is also when I changed her barn name and her name with the AQHA. She became ‘Willow’ and I detected a little bit of pony ‘attitude’ so I changed her name to…
Read MoreWillow, AQHA ‘I Can Can I’ won an award!
Although this buckle is dated 2019 it just arrived! Willow aka ‘I Can Can I’ is a registered American Quarter Horse and in 2019 we competed in both traditional and western dressage. You can watch that journey on YouTube under my playlist ‘The Trail to the World Show.’ That year we not only learn about…
Read MoreReady, Set, Goal!
January 1, 2021. A new chapter in the book. A moment to pause and consider…what would I like to title this chapter? What will the story line be? While it’s true we don’t have full control of the circumstances that occur… we can learn to control our response. And it turns out that when we…
Read MoreEpisode 111: 3 reasons you’re afraid to set big goals with your horse
Are you going after big goals with your horses? How do you define ‘big goal’? What does that look like for you? Here are three reasons I often see riders avoid setting big goals: 1) You are afraid of how it will feel to fail 2) You’re afraid of how you might treat your…
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