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Course 101 — Ethology & Safety

Course 101 — Ethology & Safety

The second course of the Level 1 Foundational Horsemanship Certification. Course 101 is about the horse's mind and your safety, in that order and inseparably. You will learn how a prey animal sees the world, how to read ears, eyes, mouth, tail, and above all the feet, and why the horse is a mirror of the person handling it.

Then the skills: the catch as a conversation the horse chooses to join, leading with feel, tying with knots that always release under load, bridling without a fight, and the beginnings of round pen work, where a horse hooks on and chooses you. Every lesson is built on the barn safety rules at Ocean View Stables, and the certification at the end tests the judgment that keeps you and the horse safe.

Soft is strong. Clarity is kindness.

Join this Course
Responsible Zachary Leyden
Last Update 07/28/2026
Completion Time 9 hours 3 minutes
Members 1
Basic
  • Safety First (empty)
    9Lessons · 1 hr 47 min
    Section 1 of 7. A thousand pound animal with a five foot sideways spook does not need to mean you harm to hurt you badly. These are the rules at Ocean View Stables, the reason behind each one, and the three distances that decide whether you are safe behind a horse.
  • How the Horse Sees the World (empty)
    6Lessons · 1 hr 16 min
    Section 2 of 7. Almost every horse problem is a translation problem. Three hundred and fifty degrees of vision, two blind spots, a nervous system built for flight, and a body that reads yours before you have said a word. Learn to read the animal and most of the training in this program stops looking like training.
  • The Catch and the Draw (empty)
    5Lessons · 51 min
    Section 3 of 7. Anyone can corner a horse. The measure of a horseman is a horse that walks toward the halter. Approach and retreat, the forty five degree line, and why walking out of the field empty handed is sometimes a pass.
    • The Catch as a Conversation
      Forty five degrees to the shoulder on a curved line, halter carried low and folded. The rope goes over the neck before the nose goes in the halter, and food is never part of it.
      New
    • When the Horse Will Not Be Caught
      Six to ten cycles of approach and retreat is normal. Chasing never is. When to suspect pain, when to stop, and why walking away without the horse can be the right answer.
      New
    • Watch: Catching the Hard-to-Catch Horse
      A hard to catch horse worked through patiently in real time. Notice how much of it is the human standing still.
      New
    • Watch: Bryan Neubert — The First Catch
      You watched the draw work on a broke horse. Now watch Neubert catch and lead an unhandled youngster for the first time in its life. As he says: you will not get a second chance at a first impression.
      New
    • Watch: Craig Cameron — Catching as a Daily Habit
      Ranch horsemanship's version of the catch: every approach a small training moment. Compare his habits to the draw you learned; the good ones agree on more than they differ.
      New
  • Leading With Feel (empty)
    3Lessons · 32 min
    Section 4 of 7. Leading looks like the simplest thing in the barn, and it is where most people quietly teach a horse to push them around. Position, pace, the bubble, and the gate procedure that keeps both of you out of trouble.
  • Tying and Knots (empty)
    5Lessons · 55 min
    Section 5 of 7. A tied horse that panics is one of the most dangerous situations on a property, and it is almost always created by a person weeks earlier. Where to tie, what to tie to, the knot that always releases under load, and the horse that has learned it can win.
    • Where and How to Tie
      Wither height or above, an arm's length of rope, and an anchor that cannot move. Never a fence board, never a gate, never two horses within reach of each other.
      New
    • The Quick-Release Knot and the Bowline
      Pull a bight through, not the end. One tuck, never two. The quick release knot and the bowline, and the exact difference between a knot that saves a horse and one that looks identical and jams.
      New
    • The Horse That Pulls Back
      The cause is almost always a history of winning. What to do in the moment, what never to do, and why the retraining happens in hand and never on a tie rope.
      New
    • Watch: The Quick-Release Knot
      The quick release knot tied slowly and clearly. Pause it, tie along, and repeat until your hands own it.
      New
    • Watch: Warwick Schiller — Teaching a Young Horse to Tie
      The missing piece behind every tying lesson above: the horse must first be taught to stand tied. Warwick builds it from patience and preparation, never asking for anything the horse does not already know.
      New
  • Bridling (empty)
    5Lessons · 1 hr 11 min
    Section 6 of 7. The bit sits on bare bone covered by thin gum. Everything here follows from that fact: how a snaffle differs from a curb, how to size and fit a bridle, and how to take one off without banging a tooth and creating a head shy horse.
  • The Round Pen (empty)
    4Lessons · 1 hr 2 min
    Section 7 of 7. The round pen is the most misused tool in horsemanship. Used well it is a conversation about pressure and space. Used badly it is a treadmill that exhausts a horse into compliance. The driveline, the six signs of hooking on, and the hard limit on time.
    • Round Pen Safety and Setup
      Fifty to sixty feet across, panels above five feet, and the driveline running through the withers. Setup and safety before any horse goes in.
      New
    • Hooking On in the Round Pen: From Flight to Connection
      Inside ear, head lowers, lick and chew, circle shrinks, eye stays, horse turns in. Six signs in order, each one answered by taking pressure off. Ten to twenty minutes maximum, and never until the horse quits.
      10 xp
    • Watch: The Hooking-On Process
      The hooking on process demonstrated. Watch for the moment the horse decides, which comes well before it turns in.
      New
    • Watch: Monty Roberts — Join-Up Explained
      The most famous round-pen method in the world, narrated by the man who named it. Watch it after the hooking-on video and compare: where Monty sends the horse away to invite it back, the Leyden Way keeps the conversation quieter. Both read the same language.
      New
  • The Certification (empty)
    1Lessons · 30 min
    The judgment test. Ten questions drawn from the situations that actually go wrong around horses. Eighty percent to pass, unlimited attempts, and every wrong answer is worth reading twice.
    • Course 101 Certification
      Ten questions on judgment rather than trivia. These are the situations that actually go wrong in barns.
      New
  • Go Deeper (empty)
    5Lessons · 58 min
    The encore. Certification in hand, the real work starts: learning to watch horses when nobody is asking you to, and hearing the central idea of this course from the man who spent a lifetime proving it.