Category: Blog

by Robyn Schiller

Robyn is the wife of horse (and people) trainer Warwick Schiller. She invites you to join her as she journeys through her life as trainer’s wife, mother, businesswoman and nationally competitive rider.

“Complaining is okay, but piss and moan with a little perspective.” Brene Brown

We had a photoshoot the other day. Actually 2 days in a row. Just.shoot.me (and not with a camera!) I’ve mentioned in previous blogs how I’ve always carried a little too much weight and I care about what people think about me. So, you will understand that a photo shoot was not really on the list of things that I wanted to do on my Saturday and Sunday mornings (well anytime really). It’s February and even though we are having pretty nice weather, my body believes that it needs to bulk up and keep me warm during the winter months. In my experience, it’s been seasonal, and once it gets warmer, it’s easier to shed the weight (I said easier but in no way do I mean EASY).

Then there is menopause and that whole battle. I guess I’m young for menopause, but it’s been happening for the last 4 years…and a couple months ago my Naturopath read my blood results and proclaimed “YOU ARE DONE!” I was ESTATIC! I wanted to believe it with my whole being. And then, my body told me differently….sigh….. So I’m pretty sure that this year seasons mean NOTHING!!! I will be carrying the weight until this menopause thing is REALLY over. My Naturopath and my mom assure me that once it is done, weight and eating isn’t an issue! Where’s the fast-forward button???

Oh, one more thing, the grey hair. I am fully on board with embracing the grey as I get closer to 50. The decision is made easier by the fact that for the last year I have left the hairdressers with the foils in my hair so that I did not have to put my head back in her bowl to be rinsed. I had some vertigo late in 2016 and the fear of it returning keeps me from tempting fate (so leaning my head back is something I won’t do…same with the dentist) so I drive home with foils and take a shower. Forget it, I’ll let it grow out and get cavities!

Sooooo, grey hair growing out, cavities multiplying, 10 pounds of padding and menopause hot flashes – made it an interesting couple of photo shoot mornings. But, I am pissing and moaning with perspective. I know these are trivial things and I can either do a photo shoot in these conditions or suffer the alternatives. I could be still working in corporate HR and not with the horses and the man I love every day. Warwick could still be only helping a handful of people and not thousands. Other alternatives are: that I could have NO hair, NO teeth, or still have vertigo or have had a hysterectomy early like my sister or not have the amazing horses we have to take pictures with – I mean – seriously – who cares about the 10 extra pounds, grey hair, cavities and menopause? Not Warwick. At the end of the day, he’s the only one I want to impress. So, why should I complain?

We hear a lot of people complain about their horses. Most of the time it’s about something that happened once or twice and not something that is engrained. I think they need to have perspective as well. Your horse is not perfect and will not always act the way that you want it to, despite your best efforts. Things will not always go according to your plan. Just like life. BUT – at the end of the day, if you are lucky enough to have a horse, then YOU ARE LUCKY ENOUGH! Reminds me of a Youtube video Warwick did, while we were in England (another thing I complain about and shouldn’t – fear of travelling. I mean, really? We get to see the most amazing places and meet the BEST people!!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxyzGuwc9kE&t=12s

I guess, I’m saying to you and reminding myself that the occasional bitch and moan is ok, but make sure that you do it with a little perspective and don’t make it a habit.

Thanks for reading!

by Robyn Schiller

Robyn is the wife of horse (and people) trainer Warwick Schiller. She invites you to join her as she journeys through her life as trainer’s wife, mother, businesswoman and nationally competitive rider.

I remember taking a lesson when I was about 6 or 7 years old from my Equitation coach. There was a big gooseneck trailer on one end of the arena and when we were riding we would go behind it on that end for probably 4 or 5 horse lengths unseen to the trainer. Usually, that is where we would relax for a minute because our arms and legs were aching from holding our perfect posture. Well, one day, the horse I was riding, my sister’s horse Shawna, figured out the drill and stopped behind the trailer to roll. I’m sure the coach heard my screams and came running over. “Don’t let her do that!” She yelled, “You have to show your horse who is the boss!” I think there was some kicking on the horse to get it up and it wouldn’t surprise me if there was some whipping and jerking when I got back on. I was a kid and my trainer told me I couldn’t let her win, so I did what I thought I needed to do to show her that I was the boss of her.

As far as we have come in horsemanship, I am still surprised when I hear people talk about not letting the horse win. I am ashamed that I believed that I had to show my horse who was boss in order to get her to do things that I wanted to do. But, now that I know better, I try and do better. Here is a story that Warwick tells that will illustrate why the principle of “Don’t Let Your Horse Win” is outdated and should be abandoned immediately!

“I had a young man working from me who grew up in Mexico, named Jesus! (The nickname for Jesus in Mexico is “Chuy”, so he goes by the nickname.) After a couple of years working for me, Chuy went back to his hometown in Mexico and ran into some of the local “horse trainers”. He asked if there were any troubled horses.   There was one in particular whom they mentioned would rear up and flip over when asked to turn left. This piqued Chuy’s interest and so he questioned them a bit more about the horse and when it would perform such a feat. It turned out that they liked to ride into the next village and drink a little tequila and when they did, they would turn left down the main street and gallop all the way to the next village.   He also found out that the horse’s paddock was behind the main street.

So, Chuy asked if he could ride the horse. They obliged. He saddled up, got on and sat there chatting for awhile – seemingly doing nothing. He was, in fact, doing quite a bit of lateral flexion work and seeing how soft the horse was. He figured that it was not the steering that was the problem, but maybe the horse had a bit of an issue with all the work that he would have to do when he turned left down the main street (galloping to the next town). Chuy put himself in the horse’s head and decided if he was a horse, he’d rather be at home in his paddock kicking back.

Chuy walked the horse down the street around the corner to the main street and asked the horse to go left – of course, the horse objected. So, instead of fighting the horse and causing a rear and flip, Chuy went with the horse – who promptly galloped to the right and around the block to his paddock. When they arrived at the paddock, Chuy worked the horse in his paddock until the horse began to change his mind about how fun it was to be in the paddock and then Chuy set off to ride down to the main street again. When he arrived at the main street and asked the horse to turn left, he once again got an objection so he went with the horse again. Guess where the horse took him? Yep – right back to his paddock. Chuy promptly put the horse back to work in the paddock until the horse began to change his mind about how fun it was to be in the paddock.

Chuy repeated this sequence of events a couple more times, much to the dismay of the older, “more experienced” horse trainers. “You cannot let him win!” was heard more than once and Chuy was beginning to feel a little bit threatened for his safety as their taunts of anger escalated.

However, about the 6^th or 7^th time that Chuy worked the horse in the paddock, the horse had changed his mind about how much fun it was to be back at home and when Chuy picked up on his left rein at the main street, the horse happily turned and galloped off.”

This story is a great example of the Choose Where you Work and Choose Where you Rest principle of horse training that we have included on the video library. This principle works much better than the “Show them who’s boss” or “Don’t Let Them Win” principle.

Think of it this way: all horses have an internal GPS and they have dropped pins in all the places that they have known to be places of work and places of rest. They will continually seek out the places of rest over the places of work.

This horse had pins dropped at the main street – he knew it was a lot of work galloping to the next town and the ride back was probably not much fun depending on how much Tequila was consumed. The “rest pin” was in his paddock. He knew that all pressure was released there and he got to chill. Imagine the fights that had ensued when the riders held onto the belief of “You cannot let him win!”. I bet there were some pretty ugly scenes and it escalated until the horse finally figured out how to win by rearing and flipping over. Pretty extreme.

By understanding that horses are energy conservers and will seek out the place of most rest, Chuy was letting the horse win and then changing his mind about the place of rest. He used this principle with great success and to the amazement of the older horse trainers from his village.

If you want to hear Warwick tell the story, with bad accents and all, you can watch it here:  https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FWarwickschillerfanpage%2Fvideos%2F1556209731091167%2F&show_text

Thanks for reading.

by Robyn Schiller

Robyn is the wife of horse (and people) trainer Warwick Schiller. She invites you to join her as she journeys through her life as trainer’s wife, mother, businesswoman and nationally competitive rider. 

Once you see, you cannot un-see!

We get a lot of comments on social media about this topic. After watching the video library, people learn a different way (I wanted to put “a better way” and we think it is a better way, but thought that might be too presumptuous). Then they watch someone doing something with a horse and can immediately see why the horse is acting that way and that it could be easily fixed. Usually the cause for the post is to ask whether they should say something or not.

I still struggle with this sometimes going to the reining shows because I see so much that could be addressed differently. It’s actually made me question whether I want to continue competing at those shows. Here are the first two examples that immediately come to mind.

The first is due to the fact that each arena we compete in is lined with sponsor banners. Some horses don’t care about them and others do.   I have learned, through Warwick’s principles of training, how to most effectively deal with a horse that is concerned about something. It is a matter of being empathetic to the horse – recognizing that they are bothered. But really, it starts way before they are put in a situation to be bothered by a banner. If we have done a good job of teaching them to empty out their rabbits, then the banner is a non-event.

However, at the show, in that moment, if they are spooking, what I typically see done is the following: The rider jerks and kicks the horse, pointing it directly at the banner and continues until the horse goes up to it. Basically, those people are saying, “I don’t really care how you feel, you are being stupid, it’s just a banner!” I see this too many times at the shows. Warwick did a great Youtube video on this topic, it is a little confrontational but was made to be. He wanted to get people to THINK about it. If I’ve peaked your curiosity it is called How NOT to get your horse to approach a scary object https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cypfTjv8msE&t=108s. Don’t say I didn’t warn you and yes, Abby knew full well what she was getting into before filming!

The second thing I see that can’t be unseen can be a little more subtle but very relevant to me and all other reiners. It’s the draw of the gate in the arena! I have to fix the gate at EVERY.SINGLE.NEW.ARENA with Petey! Luckily it only takes once or twice letting him make the mistake and correcting him to where he figures out that the gate is more work than rest! I totally get that this is part of Petey and that he needs to check it out at every new arena.  I don’t get offended or mad about it, in fact, it’s kind of amusing!

The draw of the gate causes all kinds of problems for the reining horses. When you are supposed to be performing at high speed on a loose rein, your horse has to be with you, not thinking of being somewhere else. If they are thinking out the gate is better than in the arena, it can cause leaning towards the gate, which can cause the horse to swap leads, to come out of frame, to lean in a stop, to run off towards the gate when running to a stop. I’m convinced that if more people took care of this problem right at the start of their ride, there would be so much less conflict seen in the arena (because the typical fix for leaning problems usually involve pulling on reins or using spurs way more than need be.) It’s kind of like trying to learn something when you are hungry. The only thing you can think of is how hungry you are, not the lesson in front of you. Or maybe that’s just me when I’m hungry – I do tend to get Hangry! Those horses, when they think that the rest is outside the gate, the only thing they can think of is how they are going to get out the gate!

I’ve decided that the best way that I can address the things that I can’t unsee is to lead by example. I will admit that I’ve tried to do it the other way. I’ve given unsolicited advice and it usually ends with the person looking more confused than before. So, I stick with the leading by example tactic. I am lucky enough to have horses that I can really show off the principles of training at the horse shows and win a bunch of stuff on! I know I get some weird looks while I’m jogging circles at the gate (sometimes blocking the gate), but my horses don’t lean or think towards the gate while I’m running full speed in my patterns. I haven’t had anyone ask about what I’m doing there yet, but if and when they do, I’ll happily explain.

So that is the advice that we give to people who ask about the things that they can’t unsee. Be the example. Do your thing. People will change when they see a reason to change. Think about what made you search for a different (better) way. If someone had tried to tell you before you were ready, likely it would have fallen on deaf ears. Just honor your horse with your new and expanding knowledge and maybe you will be the catalyst for someone else looking for a better way.

Thanks for reading.

by Robyn Schiller

Robyn is the wife of horse (and people) trainer Warwick Schiller. She invites you to join her as she journeys through her life as trainer’s wife, mother, business woman and nationally competitive rider.

Learning to deal with anxiety is more important than trying to avoid it.

Warwick likes to tell the story about when I discovered Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) in order to address my anxiety. He gets most of it right, but some of it is a bit exaggerated.

If you haven’t already heard the story, I’ll share that I’ve suffered with anxiety for pretty much my entire life (now that I know what it is, I know why I had to leave cheerleading camp when I was in high school!) I’ve been medicated for it, tried to exercise it away, seen therapists for it and have had my sister talk me down from it. For the most part, those things worked ok, but usually once I am in a panic attack, it is too late for anything to work. It wasn’t until two things came together that I got a handle on it.

The first thing was that I learned about breathing properly and focusing on my breathing as a way to relax myself. I’ve just recently heard it called Tactical Breathing. Then I learned about CBT from Dr. Laura (she has a radio program and writes books). I went through a phase of listening to her, because my nieces were having a hard time in life and I wanted to know how I could help them (that is a whole other story and the answer is tough love!). Dr. Laura had recommended CBT for someone who called in who had anxiety. So, I googled it! I read about it and then filed it away inside my head.

As these things have a way of doing, someone else brought up something they were doing, not calling it CBT, but explaining how she was getting mentally prepared for showing her horse. It was actually Petey’s old owner, Anna. She was doing this to get ready to show Petey! (Funny how things come around full circle, since we now own Petey.) Anyway, she explained that she would think about showing and get a little nervous and then breathe or I can’t remember what she would do, but she would get herself back to being relaxed. Then she would think about showing again and get anxious and then get herself relaxed. She would do this over and over and she said that it had helped her immensely.

I started practicing as Anna had and I’d use the breathing technique to get back to relaxed. It certainly helped the anxiety leading up to a horse show, but I had no idea how much it had prepared me for a plane trip in Canada.

I must explain that the full-blown panic attacks are always triggered by a physical feeling. Maybe it’s a weird pain or feeling in my body. That in turn triggers a thought and that triggers a feeling of fear. After the fear, it’s usually too late – the anxiety spiral is enacted. As I’ve previously mentioned, I don’t enjoy flying very much. I am always sure I cheated death when the plane touches down.

So, we were on a plane trip in Canada. After Warwick went to sleep, I started feeling a little woozy/dizzy. I think it was the plane, it wasn’t really turbulence, but it was a small rhythmic bouncing that made me feel off. That triggered a thought of “Oh no, what if I get vertigo on this plane!” (I have had vertigo on and off for years). The fear hit and as I mentioned, that is when I usually cannot stop it. My thoughts just take over and usually I obsess about how many ways that I’m going to die from this feeling! This time was different. I started to practice my breathing. I did it for what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was probably about 5 minutes. It actually worked! The breathing and concentrating only on the breathing kept the anxiety from escalating. I still felt a little woozy, but I didn’t have a full-blown panic attack as I would have usually had in the past!

Warwick talks about this story because using this same technique with the horses is a really good practice. We need to give our horses the experience of relaxation. We need to be their guide or teacher in this endeavor. The more that they can practice going from relaxed to a little stressed back to relaxed, the better they will be able to get themselves out of their own panic attacks.

This process is explained in more detail in many videos on our video library under the Principles of Training playlist. The second principle of “Don’t Go To Bed Angry” goes into greater detail.   It’s also available on Warwick’s Youtube video called “How to solve anxiety issues in horses”.

I think it’s one of the most important things we can teach our horses and actually a gift we can give to them. If you have ever had a panic attack or known anyone who has, you know that if you were able to give them the ANSWER to preventing one – it would be about the best gift ever! Warwick has given you that power in his videos – now you just have to give that gift to your horse!

Thanks for reading.

by Robyn Schiller

Robyn is the wife of horse (and people) trainer Warwick Schiller. She invites you to join her as she journeys through her life as trainer’s wife, mother, business woman and nationally competitive rider.

People, like horses, are different in how much worry they can handle.  Warwick and I are total opposites just as some of our horses.  I’m the worry wart – I can worry about just about anything and I do.  To this day, I am still surprised when we are in an airplane and actually land.  I’m so invested in the worry that the plane will crash, that I feel physical relief when the tires touch down.  And then there is Warwick; asleep before we take off, waking up when they are putting the brakes and reverse thrusters on. I had someone tell me once (yes, it was a therapist) that because I worry and usually nothing comes of it, that this is just the way that I roll now.  It’s justifiable to worry because if I worry then nothing bad happens.  Of course, that actually just makes me worry when I don’t worry – if that makes any sense at all.

Anyway, a good way that Warwick explains worry and how much a horse can handle is through a story he calls 13 rabbits.

“I was at a clinic and had a participant say to me, “My horse is completely stupid!”  When I asked why, she said:

‘Well, I went for a ride on my horse the other day and a rabbit jumped out of the grass and it didn’t really bother my horse.  I rode a little farther and another rabbit jumped out of the grass and he looked at it but he didn’t appear bothered.  A little while later, another rabbit jumped out of the grass and again it didn’t bother him.  After about an hour, there must have been a total of 12 rabbits that had jumped out of the bushes and he really didn’t get too excited about them.  THEN!  The 13th rabbit jumped out of the bushes and when it did, my horse exploded!  He freaked out, bucked me off and ran home! He’d seen 12 rabbits already that day, so, he must just be stupid!’

After reassuring the person that her horse was not stupid, Warwick explained it to her this way: What happened was that when the horse saw the 1st rabbit, it caused a little bit of worry and the horse held onto that worry.  When he saw the 2nd rabbit, it caused a little bit more worry and he held on to that as well and so on and so forth.  After the 12th rabbit, the horse had accumulated a lot of worry.  Once that 13th rabbit came out, the horse could handle no more worry and the horse freaked out.  So, this horse could not handle more than 12 rabbits worth of worry!

Our job as horse owners is to help our horses get rid of the worry that the first rabbit causes.  In other words, we want them to be “rabbit free.” We can’t let the rabbits build up.  We do this through the principle of Don’t Go to Bed Angry.   When the horse gets a little anxious or worried, we take the time to get them back to (mentally and physically) relaxed.  By keeping the rabbits from accumulating, you are effectively taking care of any behavior that will result from anxiety or worry.  Warwick believes that most of the horse behaviors that we need to “fix” are caused from Anxiety.  We will have a whole lesson on this principle in our new online course that will be coming out in 2018 and there are tons of videos on the subscription that can teach you how to have a rabbit free horse.

I’ll talk more about anxiety (since it is probably my biggest hurdle) in my next blog called CBT on a plane!

Thanks for reading.

by Robyn Schiller

Robyn is the wife of horse (and people) trainer Warwick Schiller. She invites you to join her as she journeys through her life as trainer’s wife, mother, business woman and nationally competitive rider.

As it pertains to the philosophies, programs and principles Warwick teaches, I think the first time that it actually clicked as to what Warwick was forever going on and on about was in England in 2014.  It was our first trip there and he had a demo to do after his first day of clinics.  That night there was this rearing pony stallion.  As Warwick was talking, I remember thinking OH MY GOD!  I GET IT!  I can’t remember exactly what it was that finally made the tumbler fall, but I do remember feeling like slapping my forehead.

You might think that fact is ridiculous; that it took me so many years to finally get what Warwick was on about.  I lived with him, had worked with him and could hear the videos he was recording in the background every night for years.  But I wasn’t REALLY listening.  I had my own gig happening, I had a full-time job that I was trying to concentrate on and a teenage boy in high school.  Along with everything else being a working mom and wife entail – I had more demanding things to listen to.

Now that I’ve been working solely for Warwick for a couple years, Warwick keeps telling me that I have more to offer than being the silent “behind the scenes wizard”.  I think writing this blog is one way I can contribute.  I’m sure I’m like many of you.  I grew up a horse crazy kid (I was riding before I walked…that is me and my first pony Jack in the picture.  I think I was 3 or 4 years old and he was old enough to know better).  Now I’m “just” a horse-loving wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend and employee.  And most of the time I feel like I’m doing a half-a$$ed job at all of them! I’ve always carried a little more weight than I should, I worry way too much (about anything and everything), I hate conflict, I’ve got anxiety and a fear of not being good enough.  Those are just a couple things you should know about me, so you might see similarities between yourself and me when you read the blogs.

My plan is to explain what Warwick teaches from my perspective and my stories and maybe it will help somebody along the way on their journey.

I promise my grammar will not be perfect.  I am pretty good at spelling  but just remember we live in the US so I don’t use “ou” and “s” as some of you may. I just want to get my point across, so please read the blogs with that in mind and forgive the improper use of Effect or Affect, as that is bound to happen.

I will admit to being a bit nervous about putting these blogs out there.  I’m not good at handling when people don’t like me.  And, to be honest, one of the only PM’s I got after announcing I was going to write this blog was someone telling me I was rude to them on the FB group and then promptly blocked me so I could not respond back.  I couldn’t 1. Figure out what she was talking about and 2. Apologize or explain after I knew.  I agonized for days over that single PM, it drained me.  But then I remembered Theodore Roosevelt’s quote about being in the Arena (I’ve got a blog about it). I thought, I am choosing to be in the arena and I’m not going to let one negative private message overpower the hundreds of positive responses to the announcement. As Brene Brown explains, “It’s easy & safe to hurl insults from the cheap seats at those in the arena.”

So, here I go, flying by the seat of my pants – welcome to “Along for the Ride” I hope that you enjoy it!

P.S. I couldn’t find the comment from the person who suggested the name for this blog – THANK YOU – obviously I love it!