shaping plan & training log
A shaping plan helps you see your training situation overall. Having a specific goal helps you know when you’re successful, and also gives you a way to measure progress and make changes that keep you aligned with what you want to do.
Making a shaping plan and being aware of your goals, prerequisites for you, prerequisites for your horse, variables and constraints, setbacks, and the individual steps you'll need will help you decide where to go with your training in the moment.
The more creative you can be about your training, the more likely it is you will progress somewhat quickly. It’s up to you to arrange the environment for success, and to notice when your horse is doing the right thing so you can use that as an opportunity to click/feed (R+) or release pressure (R-). Not only will your observational skills and your feel for your horse develop, but you’ll start to see your horse’s patterns in more detail, and you’ll find ways you can change one small thing and get a different result.
CLICK HERE to download the free shaping plan and training log.
06/20/2025: behavior assessment
This is the second version of a training and shaping plan I started developing in 2023. It’s step-by-step, but has enough flexibility to accommodate the inevitable changes and detours that happen when working with horses. This new version also has a skill and behavior assessment tool to help you see where your horse really shines in their education and where they need some help. I will continue to update the documents as I get more feedback from users, so feel free to tell me what you think, and stay tuned for updates.
Although I put a ton of work and thought into creating these tools, I’m offering them FREE, no strings attached - no email address, zero information requested (and only some advertising for me, lol) - as a way to help make people aware of more thoughtful and considerate ways to work with horses, as well as to help those who don’t have the resources for regular lessons. Don’t get me wrong: you still have to actually do the work, and it’s still horse training, so it’s still a lot of work. There’s no way around that. Doing this will make you think about the process, and you will learn how to be more self-sufficient in your training as well as know when to ask for help.
If you have questions, or you get stuck, you can click here to contact me to set up a virtual lesson and we can walk through it together. Short sessions are $35 for approximately thirty minutes, and include review and commentary/discussion on a video you have pre-recorded and sent prior to the session (not more than five minutes). They work well for very focused lessons and/or tasks, where you just want a second pair of eyes.