FeaturesLoving The Goodnight Trail
Loving The Goodnight Trail. Trainer Julie Goodnight delivers her message through all media.
Julie Goodnight has a way of delivering a lesson like no other trainer. She does it with a clear and eloquent speech pattern that brands the message in the mind of the student in an easy to understand and logical fashion. Julie doesn’t just put a rider on a horse; she teaches riders how to be their horse’s leader and to excel in whichever equestrian sport they choose.
“The first lesson is to understand the nature of the horse and his natural behavior,” says Julie about the first lesson for a new rider. “Once somebody can start thinking more simplistically like a horse does in terms of leadership and authority, then we can go to work on their riding skills.”
Goodnight has a thorough and unique way of explaining techniques and methods in her training. It’s a style that she attributes to her upbringing. She is one of four siblings, all of who have become teachers within their professions.
“I spent a lot of time up on the horse thinking about ‘how does this feel, what exactly am I doing,’ for instance, when I cue a horse to canter,” says Julie. “I might teach someone to do three things when they cue the horse to canter, but when I get up on a horse and actually analyze it, I’m doing eight or ten things. I spend a lot of time thinking about it while I’m riding and how to put that into words.”
Julie also attributes her clear sense of delivery to writing. “I spend a lot of time writing. Writing articles, writing on my blog or for magazines, for my book, and as you write you’re able to reorganize your thoughts and get them clearer and clearer.”
Julie Goodnight is a media powerhouse. A well-respected journalist with regular features and a syndicated column that appears in dozens of regional and national publications, Goodnight is also host of a series of very popular training DVDs that are responsible for setting solid foundations for thousands of new and experienced riders worldwide.
Horse Master with Julie Goodnight on RFD-TV is her latest venture. Through the weekly series, Julie helps riders master their equestrian aspirations. In addition to working with riders to better their horsemanship skills, Horse Master takes on horses with problems and teaches their owners techniques to correct them. Goodnight’s focus on Horse Master is to encourage horse owners to become the leaders she feels is most essential to an ideal horse/rider relationship.
Julie is also a social media queen whose reach across the Internet is unmatched by her peers. Goodnight maintains not one but several Internet sites that provide educational information, blogs and social community portals for students and fans alike. You can communicate with Julie on Facebook and Twitter and join her email list to receive an incredible array of free newsletters packed with useful information for both horse and rider. Julie’s blog offers an almost daily chronicle of her activities (she travels 40-45 weeks out of the year) with clips from her television series. In addition, Julie’s YouTube site offers scenes and episodes from her television and DVD series.
“I think (the Internet) is a great new venue for everyone and I think it’s important to keep up with what’s going on in the world,” says Julie. “The consumers of the horse industry are there and they’re searching for information. Our web site has a lot of articles so if you search almost any behavioral problem for instance with horses, our web site is bound to come up. It’s a great way to stay connected to the people.”
In addition to all that, Julie has recently designed a full line of signature saddles, for performance, trail and arena riders for the folks at Circle Y based on their popular Flex Tree technology.
How does she find time to do all this? “Fortunately, although I make that many trips a year, I’m usually only gone on the weekends,” says the frequent traveler. “I’m also fortunate to have a lot of great people working for me. I actually save things to do for when I’m going to be in an airport. It’s not quite as bad as it seems.”
Bottom line however, Julie Goodnight is an internationally respected trainer and clinician and it all didn’t just
She grew up riding ponies and horses on an Orlando farm and competed in hunter jumpers throughout her youth. “I was a very shy and introverted kid. I didn’t really have a lot of friends,” Julie recalls. “The horses were really all I wanted to do. I spent my days out in the horse pasture in my tree fort just hanging out with the horses.”
Later on, her father recognized her interest and encouraged her to take lessons and pursue her passion for horses. She began to show and participate in a variety of horse event disciplines.
During her college days at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, Julie studied outdoor recreation. “I really never planned to be in the horse business,“ recalls Julie. “In college I was a rock climber and a whitewater paddler. I did a lot of wilderness type sports so I wanted to pursue that kind of stuff in my career. It wasn’t until after college, everywhere I went I got offered a job with horses. Eventually, I took the path of least resistance and went into the horse business.”
Julie earned extra money in college by warming up Thoroughbreds on the racetrack. “I learned a lot of stuff, not all of it good. The racing world is so very different from any other aspect of the horse industry. I learned a lot about the business from that point of view.
The cowgirl felt at home in the West and after college hit the trails, studying Western disciplines and leading riders through the Rocky Mountains. Julie went on to earn her Master Instructor and Clinician ranking with the Certified Horsemanship Association
Mistakes she sees in riders with one to three years’ experience.
“They ride with their hands way too much. Not giving horses releases when they should. The classic example is horses that are too fast because people are holding the reins too tight. Whether it’s a horse that’s jigging or prancing or just going too fast, it’s generally because it has too much pressure on its mouth.”
“Having their stirrups adjusted incorrectly. I start every single clinic I do adjusting people’s stirrups. Generally half the people in the clinic are riding too long. They’re out of balance and their leg is ineffective.”
“I have an exercise that I have students do in every clinic. I call it the balance exercise where you simply ride standing in the stirrups with your hands behind your back. Because you’re no longer sitting, your balance becomes very obvious. There’s a point of balance that people can find when they have alignment with their ear, shoulder, hip and heel.”
“I also like to work a lot without the riders holding onto the reins…learning to turn their horse without the use of the reins…learning to start the turn with their eyes, open their shoulder into the turn and swivel their hips.”
“Teaching people to stop the horse with their seat. I show people an exercise where they use their voice first then sit down on the horse’s back and then, if necessary, use the reins. So you cue the horse in a rhythm like this; whoa, sit and then go to reins. Well after two or three times of that, as soon as you say whoa, the horse is stopping and he stops when you sit, so you never have to pick up the reins.”
Advice for new riders entering the sport of mounted shooting. “I think they need to spend a lot of time just perfecting riding skills. No matter what sport you’re going into, you have to be in balance with the horse. The horse can only perform to the level of the rider. So learning to ride in balance with the horse, move rhythmically with the horse. To use your natural aids, your seat, leg and hands effectively so you’re not getting in the horse’s way. All of that will only make you better at shooting or jumping or reining or whatever it is you want to do.”
Julie Goodnight, who is indirectly related to the legendary Texas cattleman Charlie Goodnight, resides near Salida, Colorado, at her private horse ranch with husband Rich Moorhead—an avid National Versatility Ranch Horse competitor and the CEO of Monarch Mountain ski resort.
To discover the world of Julie Goodnight visit www.juliegoodnight.com.  Related posts:
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Julie has this uncanny ability to simplify what other riding instructors take a long time (and money) to complicate. I find myself saying this often — too often some might say — but, lessons learned with Julie are applicable in your very next ride! Try it. Be amazed that it works for even you! And then brag on how EASY Julie makes it.
When you’re watching Horsemaster on RFD and hear Julie say, “Let’s break this down.” LISTEN intently. Case in point, SIDE PASSING. One simple switch made ALL the difference!
I completely appreciate that Julie is always learning and had the confidence to get certified by CHA. I hear far too many “instructors” dismiss certification. Those are the ones to be avoided, in my opinion. Why won’t other instructors not put their knowledge to the test? They expect us to put our lives in their hands. They should be able to meet some basic requirements, yes? (No, I don’t work for CHA.
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Seriously, if more trainers were like Julie more people would have better-mannered horses and be able to ride far better than they currently do.
Happy Trails, Julie!