Bethany Tuskey
Bethany has dedicated her life to learning the art of horsemanship from master horse trainers. She has studied classical dressage, liberty work, dressage in hand, and long reining. Bethany has taken what she has learned from other trainers, as well the horses, and combined in with her spiritual beliefs to create a unique style of training based on love for the horse and the desire to help her horses to be happy and healthy in mind, body, and spirit.
Bethany prioritizes the mental health and wellbeing of the horse. The horse is treated as a partner and our relationship with the horses always takes priority over anything we may want to achieve with them. Through relationships built on mutual trust and understanding, Bethany and her students are able to train their horses to the highest levels of dressage or at complete freedom in liberty work without the use of force.
Bethany offers in person learning opportunities, including lessons, training, clinics, and demonstrations, as well as an active online community to help share her knowledge and show people how classical training can take their horsemanship to a whole new level.
Bethany also enjoys performing with her Andalusians at various shows and exhibitions, and is the author of the book, God’s Heart through a Horse’s Eyes.
Bethany Tuskey
Bethany’s 2024 Presentations
A Young Horse’s First Rider -
In this video you’ll Forge, a 6 year old mustang mare, and the process that we go through to introduce her to carrying the weight of a rider for the first time. Our priority was to create an experience where Forge felt safe and confident and to respect the boundaries that she gives us and not push her beyond what she is comfortable with. These first few experiences will set the tone for how Forge feels about carrying a rider so we want to do everything we can to ensure that it is a positive experience for her.
Preventing the Build Up of Tension -
In this video, I’ll show you how I go about saddling a nervous horse to try to avoid tension building up throughout the process. This is a great video to train your eye to see the subtle differences between a horse that is tense and tolerating what you are doing compared to a horse that is relaxed and accepting what you are doing. The ideas used in this video for saddling can also be used for bridling, bathing, clipping, trailer loading, and many other things. When tension builds up too much, it often comes out in a big way (spooking, bolting, etc.) so we want to give the horse plenty of opportunities to release the tension and come back into relaxation to prevent that build up. Many problem behaviors can be avoided this way.
