Norielle James Horsemanship & Training LLC

09/20/2026

2-DAY HORSE CAMP!! OPEN TO YOUTH WITH THEIR OWN HORSE!! You do not have to be a 4H member!

I am helping put together this amazing opportunity for youth horse owners to receive two full days of instruction, demonstrations, and exposure to multiple disciplines. It’s going to be an amazing time and we hope this year to be a success so we can do it again next year!

SCHOLARSHIP funds to help reduce the total cost are available! Please inquire asap to the email or number below!

Registration closes Sunday, Sept 27th! Join us for a great time learning and having fun with your horses under the Horseshoe Parks covered arena!

08/27/2026

GROUNDWORK RELATES DIRECTLY TO RIDING.
IF YOUR HORSE CAN’T DO THESE THINGS WELL, YOU PROBABLY SHOULDN’T BE RIDING THEM 🤷🏼‍♀️

I tell this to my clients all the time, and they agree with me until they ask why we aren’t riding yet 🫠 so I explain that these foundational skills that relate directly to riding need to be in place before we ride. They really do make a difference.

08/09/2026

Horse Owners, we need to talk. ⬇️

HOW ARE YOUR HORSES BEHAVING FOR YOUR FARRIER??? 🤔🤔🤔

More than a few times someone I care about has been injured while trimming/shoeing horses and consequently, no longer able to earn any income for several months. Why am I making a fuss about it? Because if the horse owners had been responsible and prepared their horses, the accidents could have been prevented from ever occurring. I know, as an equine professional, injuries aren’t completely avoidable, but in today’s world I feel like farrier injuries are happening much too often. 🫤

🛑 If you own a horse, your horse’s behavior while getting their hooves trimmed/shod should concern you.

Why?

Because horses are 1,000 pound animals that can break an equine professionals bones in the blink of an eye. They can end their career in a snap. They can destroy their only source of income in a heartbeat. That’s just the honest truth. And we all know it. So why are so many horse owners doing nothing to prevent their farriers from getting hurt?

YOU are responsible for your horse’s behavior. Just like when you are raising your children, you are responsible for teaching them respectful behavior. Same goes for horses in your care. You need to prepare your horses to be able to be safely handled by others.

‼️It is not your farriers job to teach your horse to stand still‼️ (Unless you’ve hired them specifically for hoof handling training, in which case, kudos to you!).

Your farrier should not have to jump, duck, dive, or do the matrix (especially multiple times in one visit!) to avoid getting hurt by your horse.

Now, I am fully aware, even the best of horses aren’t always perfect. There are fluke accidents. But that’s not what we are talking about here. We are talking about horses that are always difficult when handling their feet and therefore increase the risk of injury to your farrier tenfold. The horses that misbehave so much during a farrier visit that when the farrier walks away unharmed the owner sighs in relief, apologizes profusely for their horse’s bad behavior, and the farrier gets in their truck and says a silent prayer thanking God for letting them finish the job without getting hurt.

THAT horse needs YOU, their owner, to take responsibility. Either YOU need to teach them how they can be safe for the farrier OR HIRE someone that can teach them to be safe for the farrier. 🤝🏼

🚨 This goes for everyone! Even if your horse just sits pretty in your backyard and you don’t do anything with them, they still need their hooves cared for. Every horse owner should make sure that at the very very least, their horse can be haltered nicely, stand quietly, and allow their hooves to be trimmed. This is the absolutely necessary bare minimum!

Please, as a horse trainer and barefoot farrier myself I am begging you, PLEASE, teach your horses how to be safe for their farrier. I want myself and my associates to all go home at the end of the day to our loved ones in one piece. 🙏🏼

And to those of you that have taken measures to help create safe horses for us to work on, I offer the sincerest of thank yous. Thank you for helping keep us safe and allowing us to continue to provide for our families while serving our horse community. 💛

07/20/2026

Summer lessons are still keeping us busy! Can’t wait to see everyone else soon for our fall session!

06/10/2026

Love getting fresh grindings for our horse stalls from !

Love even more that our horses just watched calmly as the giant loud truck dropped off our order! 🤩

05/12/2026

It’s time for Summer Horse Camps!! ☀️

Check out our 4-7yo Pony Pals Camp and our Junior Riders 8+ camp! There will be horseback instruction and games, horse knowledge and learning activities, as well as team building and water games!

Shoot us a text with questions or to save a spot today!
602-899-9895

Located in Chandler, AZ (Gilbert Rd/Ocotillo Rd).

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd7RQVKnfgkFtFuyWWn9NT4NeKB864WuKDLBRhlwK6Kr3jCKg/viewform

05/08/2026

Wondering why your kiddos came home covered in dirt after Horse Sense Class this week?! 😆 We practiced how to safely tuck our shoulder and roll in case we ever end up having to bail off our horse!

Our priority is always safety, but horses are horses and things beyond anyone’s control can happen! We like to teach our students a one rein stop, how to emergency dismount, and how to tuck and roll safely! This way, if they ever find themselves in a sticky situation, they have the tools to keep themselves as safe as possible ☺️

05/02/2026

Apollo showing his new friend Mark how to play in the water trough on their first day turned out together 😂

03/24/2026

could you tell we had fun making this one?🫣

03/08/2026

Good post about spurs!

𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙎𝙥𝙪𝙧 𝙐𝙨𝙚

I received a message from someone requesting this topic. So let’s get into it.

First thing to understand: spurs are an extension of your heel. They’re a tool.

And not everybody has the right to use every tool until their horsemanship is solid.

Personally, I don’t like letting kids wear spurs. A lot of times kids and even beginner adult riders move around too much in the saddle. Their legs flop, swing, bump, and they don’t always have full control of where their heel is.

When you add a spur to that kind of leg, you’re not helping the horse… you’re just creating confusion and miscommunication.

Sometimes I hear people say their horse is dull and won’t move when they kick. But kicking harder or kicking with spurs, usually doesn’t fix that problem. In fact, it often makes it worse. Horses get duller, they get irritated, and pretty soon you’ve created a bigger training issue than you started with.

That’s why I never recommend spurs for kids or beginner riders. Most of the time it’s just a problem waiting to happen.

Now, if you’re an older kid or someone who’s been riding for several years, has good horsemanship, rides balanced, and has good control of your legs, then spurs can be a useful tool, especially if the horse you’re riding understands them.

But here’s the part that makes me cringe:

Watching someone whop on a horse and just spur the crap out of them to try to make them run faster.

That’s not what spurs are for.

Spurs are not there to make a horse run faster.

They’re there to refine communication.

They help you ask a horse to move their rib cage, move a shoulder, engage their body, or respond more precisely to your leg. A spur should be a light touch or a quick reinforcement of your calf, not something that’s constantly digging into the horse.

Think of it this way:

Your calf asks.
The spur reinforces.

And the second the horse responds, your leg should release. The release is the most important part.

If you’re having to constantly kick or spur a horse every stride, the problem isn’t that you need bigger spurs. The problem is that something in the training and/or communication needs to be addressed.

Spurs don’t make someone a better rider. They don’t make someone look cooler.

But in the hands (and legs) of a rider with good timing and good horsemanship, they can make communication with a horse much clearer.

I’ve been riding for 23 years, professionally for the last 7, and I don’t always wear spurs. There’s nothing wrong with just riding in a good pair of boots 😉