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Smith Horsemanship, Klipkop Lighthouse, Welbekend, Pretoria (2026)

22/10/2026

🐎 What Your Horse Is Actually Saying: Part 20

Your horse walks straight into your space…

And you think:

“He’s just friendly.”
“He wants to be close.”
“It’s not a big deal.”

But crowding is communication.

When your horse consistently pushes into your space, they're effectively learning:

“I can move you.”
“This space belongs to me.”

In the herd, horses communicate constantly through space and movement—and who moves whose feet matters.

Now, that doesn't mean every horse that crowds you is being aggressive.

Sometimes it's simply a habit that's been allowed for too long.

But left unchecked, that small habit can become a serious safety problem.

So what should you do?

Don't turn it into a shoving match.

And don't simply ignore it.

Ask for a yield.

Move the shoulders.

Move the hindquarters.

Be clear. Be precise.

And most importantly…

The moment your horse responds correctly → RELEASE.

🎯 Good boundaries aren't about constantly pushing your horse away.

They're about creating clear communication your horse can understand.

Because what feels like a tiny problem today can become a much bigger one tomorrow.

👇 When your horse crowds your space, what do YOU do?

Do you move away, or do you ask them to move?

Tell us in the comments.

Follow Smith Horsemanship for more What Your Horse Is Actually Saying.

21/10/2026

🐎 Why We Start “Stick to the Fence” at the TROT

Why not start this exercise at a walk?

Because sometimes slower gives the horse MORE time to think about everywhere else they could be. 😅

For this exercise, we give Sugar roughly a 5-metre buffer zone along the fence.

Inside that zone?

We leave her alone.

Loose rein. No guiding. No constantly touching her face.

She's responsible for staying on the track herself.

We like starting at the trot because the walk can be slow enough that the horse's attention starts wandering.

At the trot, we can establish the pattern first.

Then, once the horse understands the exercise, we can bring it back down to the walk.

🎯 The rule is simple:

Stay inside the zone → complete release.

Leave the zone → light guidance back toward the fence.

Reach the fence → release again.

We're teaching the horse where the easiest place to be is without micromanaging every stride.

And what if they start cutting the corners?

360° turn toward the fence.

But here's the important part:

If your horse stays nicely tucked into the corner…

DON'T do the turn.

Give them the opportunity to make the right decision before correcting them.

As they improve, start making that safe zone smaller:

Day 1 → 5 metres
Then → 4 metres
Then → 3 metres
Then → 2 metres

Until eventually your horse learns to stick to the fence on their own.

Less steering.
Less micromanaging.
More responsibility from the horse.

🔗 Become a FOUNDING member of Horseman University. Click the link in our bio now.

20/10/2026

⚠️ Is It Ethical to Saddle a Wild Horse Like THIS? | Trainer’s Take

Watching a horse react this violently to a saddle is difficult.

But before judging the situation from a short clip, there's an important question:

What happened BEFORE the saddle went on?

We don't know this horse's background or how much preparation was done beforehand, so we can't fairly say whether the situation itself was ethical.

What we CAN see is a horse experiencing an extreme fear response.

When starting a horse, there's a massive difference between:

Tolerating the saddle…

and

Being genuinely prepared for the saddle.

If we skip steps, cinch up before the horse has enough confidence, or move forward while they're only barely tolerating what's happening, we dramatically increase the possibility of an explosive reaction.

That's why sometimes the best thing you can do is spend a few more days preparing.

Build the confidence.

Introduce pressure gradually.

Make sure the horse understands each step before adding the next.

Because an experience this frightening can affect the horse's confidence long after that moment is over.

Can we guarantee a horse will never panic?

No.

Horses are horses, and unexpected reactions can happen.

But we CAN do everything possible to reduce the chances through proper preparation.

🎯 Don't rush the foundation just to reach the next step sooner.

👇 What do YOU think?

Was this horse properly prepared, or was too much asked too soon?

🔗 Want to learn more about preparing and starting horses? Join the Horseman University Founding Members list through the link in our profile. The app is launching soon!

Follow Smith Horsemanship for more Trainer's Take episodes.

19/10/2026

🐎 Your Horse Won’t Stand Still? Give Their Feet Somewhere Else to Go.

Some horses just don't want to stand still under saddle.

They creep forward.

They shuffle around.

They constantly feel like they need to be going somewhere.

A one-rein stop can help, but eventually, we want to give the horse something else to do when they decide to walk off.

That's where Yield the Hip Around comes in.

The idea is simple:
If you choose to walk off, we're going to put those feet to work.
Instead of constantly fighting to hold the horse still, we redirect that movement into an exercise.
But this isn't only about standing still.

Yielding the hip is also a valuable body-control exercise that can later help with things like:

✅ Setting up lead departures
✅ Positioning the hindquarters
✅ Opening gates from horseback
✅ Developing greater control from the saddle

So how do we introduce it?

1️⃣ Ask for a steady flex.
Wait until the horse is soft.

2️⃣ Maintain the flex and apply your leg back.

3️⃣ The moment the horse steps the hip around, remove your leg.

4️⃣ Keep the rein until the feet come to a complete stop.

5️⃣ Wait for softness on the bit, then release everything.

🎯 We're not simply forcing the horse to stand still.

We're teaching them that standing quietly is the easy place to be, and if they choose to move, we can redirect those feet into something productive.

🔗 Become a FOUNDING member of Horseman University. Click the link in our bio now.

18/10/2026

🔨 BUILDING SMITH HORSEMANSHIP | Patches & Sweeps

Our new home base has a LOT of work ahead of it… and we're taking you along for the process. 🐎🏡

In this mini-series, we're tackling the facilities that will become the home of next year's Smith Horsemanship Academy, creating a space that works for our students, our horses and everything we want the Academy
to become.

Today's mission?
One of the old outbuildings. 😅
It's been left alone for a while and definitely needs some attention.

So we're starting with the basics:
🔨 Patch the holes in the roof
🧹 Clean out the floors
🏚️ See what can be repaired

💪 And get as far as we can in one day

There's a massive amount still to do, but that's what this series is about.
One building. One project. One day at a time.

We're not only showing you the finished Smith Horsemanship facility…
We're showing you what it takes to build it.

👇 Follow Smith Horsemanship to come along for the journey and watch this place transform.

🎥 Want to see everything that happened behind the scenes? Watch the FULL VIDEO on our YouTube channel!

15/10/2026

🐎 What Your Horse Is Actually Saying: Part 19

That little nose nudge might look cute…

But what is your horse actually saying?
When a horse bumps or pushes into you with their nose, it can sometimes be a subtle test of your boundaries.

They might effectively be asking:
“Can I move you?”
“What are the rules here?”

Sometimes it's playful. Sometimes they're looking for attention. But if pushing into your space becomes a habit, it can develop into behaviours like:
⚠️ Leaning into you
⚠️ Crowding your space
⚠️ Pushing you around
⚠️ Even biting

So how do you respond?

Don't turn it into a pushing match.

Instead, confidently maintain your space and ask the horse to yield or back up.
The lesson should become simple:

You can be close to me, but you can't bulldoze through my personal space.

🎯 Good boundaries don't mean constantly chasing your horse away.

They mean your horse understands where your space begins and can comfortably respect it.

👇 Does your horse ever nudge or push into you?

Tell us in the comments and send this to a friend whose horse has ZERO concept of personal space. 😂
Follow Smith Horsemanship to keep learning how to lead with feel

14/10/2026

🐎 Stop Micromanaging Your Horse, Let Them Find the Fence

The goal of the Stick to the Fence exercise isn't to hold your horse against the rail.
It's to teach them that staying on the correct track is where the release lives.
Start on a loose rein and give your horse a zone to stay within.

If they drift away from the fence, use the rein closest to the fence to gently guide them back.
The moment they return to the fence → RELEASE.
Over time, they begin to understand:
Fence = release.
Drifting away = correction. 05 Stick to the fence 180 turns…
But here's where a lot of people go wrong…
They quit too soon.

One or two good laps doesn't necessarily mean your horse understands the exercise. Give them enough repetition to establish the pattern and prove they can stay on the track—even when there are distractions or “magnets” pulling their attention elsewhere.

And if your horse starts rushing?
This is where the 180° turn into the fence becomes incredibly useful.
Instead of simply pulling back and shutting the horse down, turn them into the fence and change direction.

If they speed up again?
Turn again.

You're making rushing more work while allowing the correct gait to become the easier answer. 05 Stick to the fence 180 turns…

The same principle can help with slowing down.

Ask with your seat and slowdown cue first.

If they don't respond, use the 180° turn.

Repeat until they find the walk, and when they do:
Reward the correct answer. 🙌
🎯 Less micromanaging. More responsibility.

We're not trying to steer every single stride.

We're teaching the horse to understand the boundary, maintain the gait and find the release themselves.
🔗 Become a FOUNDING member of Horseman University. Click the link in our bio now.

13/10/2026

⚠️ Did This Horse Do It ON PURPOSE?

First of all… that looked like it HURT. 😬

But the big question is:
Was this an accident, or did the horse intentionally kick out?

With short reaction clips like this, we have to be careful.

We don't know what happened before the camera started recording, we don't know the horse's history, and we don't have enough context to say with certainty why it happened.

From what we can see, though, this doesn't appear to be a simple accidental movement.

There are several possible reasons a horse might kick or strike out like this:
⚠️ Frustration from being restrained
⚠️ Frustration from being separated from the herd
⚠️ Wanting to move or get away
⚠️ Built-up pressure or frustration from something we can't see in the clip

But that's exactly why we shouldn't pretend a few seconds of footage tells us the entire story.

We can analyse what we see.

We can discuss the possibilities.

But without the context surrounding the moment, we can't make a completely accurate assessment.

👇 So we want YOUR opinion.
Do you think this horse intentionally kicked out, or do you think it was an accident?
Tell us WHY in the comments. 👇

Follow Smith Horsemanship for more Trainer's Take breakdowns.

🎓 Want to improve your understanding of horse behaviour, communication and training? Join the Horseman University Founding Members list through the link in our profile and be notified when the app launches.

12/10/2026

🏡 WE BOUGHT A FARM | Building Smith Horsemanship: Episode 1

After years of searching…
Smith Horsemanship finally has a place to call home.

Welcome to Koster, North West, South Africa

This isn't just another property.
It's the beginning of something we've wanted to build for years, a place where we can invest directly into the future of Smith Horsemanship, our horses, our students and the people who are part of this community.

And we're bringing you along for ALL of it.

Welcome to our new series:
BUILDING SMITH HORSEMANSHIP. 🔨🐎

This series is going to be different.
Less fancy editing.
Less polished perfection.
More of what actually happens behind the scenes.

Over the coming episodes, you'll watch this property transform as we:
🔨 Build student accommodation
🐎 Build new round pens
🏇 Develop our arenas
🪵 Upgrade fence lines
🚪 Redesign the entrance
🏡 Develop the property from the ground up
…and probably make a few mistakes along the way. 😅

But we don't just want you watching.
We want you involved.

Have an idea for one of the facilities? Tell us.

Think we're making a mistake? Tell us.

Know a better way of doing something? We want to hear it.

We've never taken on a project quite like this before, and we want this series to document the real process, the plans, the people, the mistakes and everything we learn along the way.

This is only Episode 1.

Now the building begins.

🎥 Full episodes will be available on YouTube.

Subscribe, turn on the bell and come Build Smith Horsemanship with us. 🔨🐎

08/10/2026

⚠️ What Your Horse Is Actually Saying: Part 18

If your horse kicks at you, take it seriously.

A kick is dangerous, but it's also communication.

Horses may kick when they feel:
❗ Threatened
❗ Cornered
❗ Overwhelmed
❗ Like their earlier warnings weren't heard

Within a herd, kicking can act as a very clear boundary, warning or defence. In training, it may happen when we've entered a horse's space too quickly or continued applying pressure after they've already been communicating discomfort.

But understanding WHY it happened doesn't mean ignoring dangerous behaviour.

Safety still comes first.

The question we should ask is:
“Why did this horse feel that kicking was necessary?”

Past experiences, poor handling or unclear leadership may all contribute.

From there, we can work on teaching the horse a safer response to
pressure through consistency and clarity.

🎯 Don't ignore the kick, but don't ignore what happened before the kick either.

Often, the behaviour we're worried about is only the final part of a much longer conversation.

👇 Have you ever had a close call with a horse kicking?

Tell us what happened in the comments and tag someone who needs the reminder.

Want to better understand your horse's body language and communication? Horseman University is launching soon, click the link in our bio to learn more.

Smith Horsemanship

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