E-training

Have you noticed the recent onslaught of e-training, or online training, available? I think in general that it's great news for horses and their owners, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. In particular, who have you signed up to follow, and why? What's your 'top tip' so far? What would you like to see more of, or less of? I must admit that being so very busy producing and marketing Brain, Pain or Training for the past couple of years hasn't give me much time to look elsewhere. It's time now to look to the future though, and I'd very much like to offer some kind of online education in terms of horse behaviour and performance, especially in relation to physical issues. What affects your horse, why, and what can you do about it? I've got plenty of ideas, but yours are more important... so fire away in the comments at the end of this blog!

In the meantime I'd like to share with you some of the online training that I've come across, in case you haven't yet seen any! Firstly the Monty Roberts Online University, which I believe to be one of the most valuable online behavioural training resources available - http://www.montyrobertsuniversity.com/library. Other leaders in this area are Peter Dove (author of Master Dressage), and Mary Wanless (Ride With Your Mind) - anything by Mary gets my vote 10 times over, she's a mine of information! Horse and Hound have recently released a free online training academy (although I have to say I was disappointed that the horse in the Prelim 1 video was ridden in spurs and was overbent the entire time - not my idea of a role model for Prelim competitors). I've watched some interesting videos from Invisible Horse Control (I'd love to know whether any 'ordinary' horse rider can achieve what he makes look so easy in the canter transitions video!), and the TRT method have a couple of free videos on offer.

What catches your interest? What would you like to know more about? What do you like about online training, and what do you dislike about it? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!