Outside the Turn

Outside the Turn Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Outside the Turn, Horse Trainer, Ridgeview, SD.
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Barrel Horse Trainer, Rider Coach, Clinician, and Founder of Outside The Turn University— Horse Training Memberships/Mentorship.

2025 Training Rates:
Foundation Building/tuning/starting on the barrels:
$1350

04/30/2026

Just breathe.
Do your best.
Find the good.

04/30/2026

This mare really grew a lot during the week of BBR finals.

Her first run in the coliseum was an 18.3.
Our second run in barn 6, was a 17.3.
The Gold Card run in Barn 8- a fairly familiar set up for her- as we run in plenty of places with that type set up, she clocked a 17.041-so close!
Our final run of the week was the insurance race. We drew up in barn 6 again.
And she blew me away with her confidence. But I also believed in her more than I had at the beginning of the week.

Never underestimate the power of belief-
In you, your horse, the higher power, whatever it is, know that if we tell ourselves that we can or can’t, we will or won’t.

Lewie made me proud this week - finishing 58 out of 280 entered runs in that Sunday Insurance race. She was 11th in the 3D- just out of 3D money!

04/29/2026

The only limitations one has on themselves are those that are self imposed.

Don’t do that to yourself! The sky is literally the limit!

“The horse is black and white. It’s the people who are gray.” - Jason PerryI heard that this week, and it stuck with me....
04/29/2026

“The horse is black and white. It’s the people who are gray.” - Jason Perry

I heard that this week, and it stuck with me.

You guys, horses are actually pretty simple.

They’re always doing one of two things—what they think we’re asking, or what they feel like they need to do to get through the moment.

There’s no gray area in that.

They learn where the pressure is, and they hunt for the release. They don’t like the pressure—but they crave the peace that comes from finding the right answer.

The gray… well, that’s us.

It shows up in our timing.
In our consistency.
In how clear—or unclear—we are with our hands, our seat, and our expectations.

And the reality is—we’re all a little different.

I don’t ride like Jason.
My husband doesn’t ride like me.
Our assistant trainer doesn’t ride like either of us.
The next person I put on one of my horses isn’t going to ride like me either.

So we put a lot on these horses.

Our job as trainers is to give them something they can understand no matter who is on their back.

Go forward.
Go right.
Go left.
Stop.
Back up.
Stay soft.
Stay round.

And then be consistent enough in that that the horse learns where the answer is—where the release is.

So when the next rider comes along, the horse can say, “I know this. I know where to find the right answer.”

But we don’t get to that kind of black and white for the horse unless we work to be more consistent ourselves.

The horse is already trying to figure us out.

The question is—are we making it clear enough for them to?

Is your horse with you?I really want to talk about what a warm-up should be, because the warm-up pen this week at BBR fe...
04/29/2026

Is your horse with you?

I really want to talk about what a warm-up should be, because the warm-up pen this week at BBR felt like a lot of craziness. I’ve been thinking about writing on the warm-up for a while—plus I teach it at my clinics—what a warm-up should ideally be…

To me, a warm-up isn’t just loping in circles. A warm-up is about getting your horse mentally tuned in to what you want from them—with your seat, with your hands, with your legs. It’s about making sure their feet are doing what you’re asking.

The warm-up on my horses looks pretty much the same at home as it does at an event. I do the best I can with the size of the warm-up pen and the constraints around me, but the goal doesn’t change.

I want my horse with me mentally.
Yes, physically warm—but also soft, paying attention, and ready to let me help them.

It’s not just about getting their muscles loose. It’s about getting to their mind.

Because if we want the feet, we need the mind.

I think for a lot of people, the warm-up has been presented as something that’s mostly physical—just getting the horse loose, getting them moving. But there’s another layer to it.

It’s about checking in.
Are the shoulders going where and how you want them?
Are the shoulders following the nose?
Are they light on their front end?
Are they soft in their face? Soft in their ribs?

Is your horse actually tuned into you or are they looking around? Whinnying for their friends? Spooking at the things?

Or are they truly there—with you? Allowing you to lead them?

Sometimes there are things we should be doing in a warm-up—like stepping into the middle for a few spins, or going to the fence to work on something specific.

And if the warm-up pen doesn’t allow for that, then it’s on us to find a place where we can.

Because preparing our horse the right way matters more than just going through the motions.

The consistency we can provide the horse matters.

When we do the same things with our horses—away from home just like we do at home—they learn to depend on us. They know what to expect. We become consistent for them.

Because at the end of the day, it comes down to this—Is your horse with you?

04/28/2026

Quality always wins over quantity. 3 correct circles are always better than 10 done incorrectly.

Think about that as you ride this week!

**Foundation 101: episode 1**Shoulders follow the nose.It’s my life mission to make the world a better place for the hor...
04/28/2026

**Foundation 101: episode 1**

Shoulders follow the nose.

It’s my life mission to make the world a better place for the horse and help humans better learn to speak horse—so for the next few weeks of Training Tip Tuesday, we will talk about the component parts that help riders create a softer, more responsive horse!

It’ll be a series, so stick around!

Have you ever asked your horse to go left and the first thing that happens is the hip leaves (goes right) and the shoulders stay stuck for a moment or two before he gets lined out?

Well, here’s what’s really happening.

What that tells me is one of two things:

1. Your horse is tipped onto his front end and he’s not driving from behind. The motor is in the back.
2. Or—and here’s the part I think people sometimes miss—you have to have good timing with your ask, which means you have to be paying attention to the feet and asking when that foot is free to move.

You can’t ask your horse to go left and have the shoulders follow the nose when that left front foot is on the ground. When the weight is there, he physically can’t do what you’re asking.

Riding and training is all about observing, remembering, comparing—and upping your awareness of where your horse’s feet are.

If you want the shoulders to follow the nose, good timing is a must!

If the motor leaves and the front end stays stuck, you’ve got an engagement issue—and almost always a face that’s disconnected from the feet.

And until that gets fixed, nothing else you do is going to matter.

This is where I start.

It’s the foundation of everything—from starting colts to teaching a turnaround.

That’s your Training Tip Tuesday—observe how your horse turns.

You can learn this and more inside my “10 Rides to a Softer, More Responsive Horse.”

Will you be thinking about your rides differently this week?

There’s something I think we need to talk about—especially after this past week.**Observation vs. judgment.**Those two t...
04/28/2026

There’s something I think we need to talk about—especially after this past week.

**Observation vs. judgment.**

Those two things are not the same… but they *can* feel the same when you’re on the receiving end.

An **observation** is what we can see:
What the horse is doing.
What the rider is doing.
Where the timing is good—or where it’s off.
Where the foundation holds—or where it starts to fall apart.

It’s information. That’s all it is.

A **judgment** is when we take that information and make it about the *person*:
Their character.
Their intentions.
Their worth as a horseman.

That’s a very different thing.

But here’s where it gets uncomfortable—

As trainers, we’ve spent years learning to really *see* horses… and that’s not something you can just turn off.

You notice when a horse is bracing.
You notice when the hands are trying to make up for a lack of balance.
You notice when the speed is ahead of the foundation.

But noticing those things doesn’t mean we’re assuming intent.

That’s not being critical.
That’s being **trained to observe**.

And in this industry, if we stop observing… we stop getting better.

---

I say this to my people all the time:

**All you can do on any given day is the level effing best you can do that day—based on what you know that day.**

If you want to do better tomorrow…
you have to be willing to *see more clearly today.*

That means:
Asking questions.
Taking lessons.
Going to clinics.
Letting someone with a trained eye point things out you might not feel yet.

Because none of us—*none*—get better in a vacuum.

---

Observing a horse and rider is not an attack on someone’s character.

It’s not saying they don’t care.
It’s not saying they aren’t trying.

Most people in this industry love their horses deeply and are doing the best they know how.

Good intentions matter. They’ll take you further with a horse than a bad attitude ever will.
But good intentions alone don’t replace education.

Education starts with being willing to look at what’s actually happening—without making it personal.

---

If you’ve ever felt judged when someone pointed something out…

I get it. Truly. I’ve been there. That’s our ego talking.

But there’s a difference between:
Someone trying to tear you down
and someone trying to help you *see something you can build from.*

---

The goal isn’t perfection.

The goal is better feel.
Better timing.
Better understanding.

For the horse.

Always for the horse.

04/27/2026

Get it Lewie girl!

This mare made huge strides this weekend towards becoming more confident in herself (and in me).

Or maybe, I am just became a better leader - honestly without solid leadership most horses will flounder.

So I’ll take the heat!

So far we have shaved 1.3 seconds from run one to run three!

You won’t believe what run 4 looked like! You’ll have to stay tuned to find out!

Someone asked about how to prepare for the “big stage”… and this was my answer:——1. I like to visualize how I want my ru...
04/27/2026

Someone asked about how to prepare for the “big stage”… and this was my answer:

——

1. I like to visualize how I want my run to go in that arena.

2. Know that the only competition you have is yourself.

And until you get good at controlling how you handle *that*… you don’t need to be worrying about anything external.

3. Anyone watching you isn’t important.

What *is* important is that at the end of the run, you and your horse worked together to the best of your ability THAT day.

4. Fundamentals.
Get so good at them that you think you can’t get better… and then refine them again.

The pros never stop checking back in with their foundation.

——

And I’ll add this:

The “big stage” doesn’t actually change what matters.

It just exposes it.

If your foundation is solid… it shows.
If there are holes… it shows those too.

Because at the end of the day, it always comes back to the same thing:

Can I help my horse understand what I’m asking?
Can we work together, right here, right now?

Your horse isn’t worried about the stage. Heck, they don’t even know there is one!
They’re just responding to what makes sense to them in that moment.

---

And here’s the part people don’t always want to hear—

This should be fun.

You are PAYING money to do this.

If you aren’t having fun… if you’re not excited to go try to do your best… it might be worth asking yourself why. (Or buy a boat. 🤣)

And if the only way you’re having fun is by winning… or you feel like you *have* to win to feel like you’re improving… then there are some things to look at honestly:

Are you committed to improving yourself? Are you in lessons, taking clinics, studying riders you admire?
Do you need a step-up horse? Has your horse gone as far as he can?
Are you riding and competing enough to actually get sharper?

Because going once a month and expecting to compete with people who go every weekend…
those expectations don’t always match reality.

And that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with your choices.

But it *does* mean you may need to redefine what “winning” looks like for you.

Are your limitations self-imposed?
Are you staying close to home?
Riding a few days a week?
Only making a handful of runs a month?

That’s okay.

But the pros you may be comparing yourself to are staying sharp by going all the time.

---

So maybe winning, for you right now, looks like:

A better first barrel.
A softer face.
A horse that understands you just a little more.

Every run is a win if you’re willing to learn something.

And that’s where the fun actually starts.

04/26/2026

Lewie girl handled things a lot better in Barn 6. I suspected she would- it has less going on, plus it was our second run, and she’d had a day in between to be ridden and just “relax” for her. We have really been working hard at getting “through” some things this week!

Sunday morning musings— I got a comment on my last post that made me stop and think.It came from someone who said— maybe...
04/26/2026

Sunday morning musings— I got a comment on my last post that made me stop and think.

It came from someone who said— maybe the riders weren’t careless…maybe they were just nervous.

And I think that’s worth talking about.

Because a lot of riders out there aren’t trying to be reckless.
They’re trying to be brave.
They’re nervous.
They’re excited.
They’re stepping outside their comfort zone.
They just want to ride, to participate, to have something that’s theirs.

And we should always reward the try- in the human and the horse.

Nerves aren’t always a bad thing.
Sometimes they’re excitement.
Sometimes they’re growth.

But sometimes… they’re a sign.

A sign that maybe we’re asking more in that moment than we’re prepared for.

Because here’s the truth— the less prepared you are, the less consistent your foundation is, the more those nerves turn into panic.

And panic shows up in your hands.
In your timing.
In your decisions at speed.

And your horse feels every bit of that.

So while you might be nervous… your horse is feeling all of that.

Trying to make sense of it.
Trying to stay balanced inside of it.

And they don’t get to choose differently.

That’s where this comes back to responsibility.

Not to be perfect.
Not to be elite.

But to be prepared enough that your horse can trust you when it matters.

Preparation builds confidence.
Consistency builds feel.

And both of those quiet the kind of nerves that lead to chaos.

You absolutely deserve to be there.
To have fun.
To chase something that excites you.

But the horse underneath you deserves that same level of consideration.

They deserve a rider who is working to be steady.
Clear.
Prepared.

Not just for the run— but for them.

Because at the end of the day, they’re the one carrying it all—with no choice in the matter.

Address

Ridgeview, SD
57652

Telephone

+16052225088

Website

https://rideoutsidetheturn.com/join-ottu-today/

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