Skip to content
Graduate Results & Stories

Verified outcomes, not highlight reels.

Inside our 2023 graduate survey of 1,104 students, riders reported a 71% average reduction in unwanted behaviors — loading, pulling, herd-separation worry — within eight weeks of starting the method. Here is how that figure breaks down across disciplines, what graduates actually changed, and what they say on the other side.

71%
average reduction in unwanted behaviors, reported by graduates within 8 weeks
Start With the Free 7-Day Foundation

No credit card · 218,000+ downloads since 2019

A note before you read

What "results" means inside this method.

The stories below are filtered, not curated. Every one is a real graduate — with their discipline tagged so you can find the ones closest to your own situation. "Results" here means a horse that is softer, more willing, and easier to communicate with: a gelding who loads without a fight, a mare who walks past a flapping tarp without spinning, a retiree who lets her owner pick up her feet without worry.

It does not mean ribbons, speed records, or a horse that suddenly performs a movement it had never seen before. We do not promise specific timelines for individual horses — outcomes vary with age, history, breed, and the consistency of the handler. What we can show you is what thousands of graduates, working at their own pace, have actually reported.

If your situation is not represented here, write to us at [email protected] — we will try to match you with a graduate who started in a similar place.

Six graduates · six starting points

Find the story closest to your horse.

Each card below names the discipline, the situation at intake, what changed over eight weeks, and what the graduate said on the other side. Names are real unless a graduate asked to be listed under first name only.

A chestnut mare stands tied quietly at an English riding stable in late afternoon light.
English · Hunter/Derby

From spinning at the mounting block to standing like she was born there.

Sara K. · Millbrook, NY · 9-year-old Thoroughbred mare

At intake

Would not stand at the mounting block; four ground-persons in the arena before Sara could get on. Flat refusals on the right lead canter. Ears pinned when the girth tightened.

By week 8

Stands at the block with one hand on the reins. Right lead is the easier one. Tacking is quiet. Walks past flapping tarps and barking dogs on the trail without a spook.

"I stopped bracing at her and started asking with her. That was the whole thing, honestly. The method just gave me a way to ask I could actually time."
A bay Quarter Horse gelding stands loosely at a western ranch trailer at golden hour.
Western · Trail & Ranch

The horse who would not load — now walks on in under a minute.

Tom & Linda R. · Cody, WY · 14-year-old Quarter Horse gelding

At intake

Two-hour trailer-loading sessions. Planted at the back of the stock trailer, occasional rear. They had stopped hauling to events entirely.

By week 8

Loads in under a minute with a verbal cue. Travels quietly for six-hour days. Linda has started hauling solo to her granddaughter's playdays again.

"We had tried everything — butt ropes, feed in the trailer, a trainer with a whip. None of it changed the picture in his eyes. Maren's team asked us to slow down and that is what worked."
A spotted pony stands with lowered head in a round pen while her handler waits relaxed at the center.
Groundwork only · Senior owner

A 28-year-old pony who finally lets her owner pick up her hind feet.

Margaret W. · Asheville, NC · 28-year-old Appaloosa mare, retired

At intake

Hind feet had not been handled in three years. Daily farrier was a 30-minute negotiation. Margaret was afraid of being kicked and it showed in how she moved around her.

By week 8

Both hind feet handled in under five minutes each. Farrier appointments back to a normal length. Margaret is no longer bracing when she walks past the hindquarters.

"I thought the window had closed. I am 67 and she is 28 and I had accepted we were just going to manage. We are not managing anymore. We are partnering, even at this stage of both our lives."
A thin Mustang gelding with a kind eye stands in a small paddock at a rescue sanctuary.
Rescue retraining · Mustang gelding

Three years unhandled. Haltered in week two. Adopted by week nine.

Heartwood Sanctuary, CO · 6-year-old Mustang gelding, off-track and range-caught

At intake

Three years past his last handling. Pressed into the corner of any pen a human entered. Sanctuary had decided he would live out his days as a sanctuary horse.

By week 8

Haltered, leading, picking up all four feet, loading in a stock trailer. Adopted by a returning rider (see Junie's story below) at week nine.

"Our team had written him off. Maren's clinicians came out for a clinic weekend and showed us the timing we were missing. We have since used the same protocol on four more horses we had on the 'permanent resident' list."
A returning rider stands beside her calm paint gelding in a quiet indoor arena.
Returning after a fall

Back in the saddle at 54, after nine years off.

Junie H. · Loveland, CO · 12-year-old Paint gelding, adopted from Heartwood (above)

At intake

Nine years since a bad fall. Two failed lessons at other barns. Junie had stopped driving past the stable on her way to work because the anxiety was too much.

By week 8

Riding walk-trot on a loose rein, both directions, in the arena and on the trail. Has a clinic weekend booked for spring. Drives past the barn without bracing.

"The first session was literally just standing next to him in the round pen while he ate. Nobody had given me permission to do that before. It turned out that was the only way back in."
A therapy horse stands with lowered head while a clinician guides a client to brush his shoulder during an equine-assisted session.
Therapy · Equine-Assisted Practice

A herd of four "session horses" retrained for low-stress handling.

Cedar Branch Wellness, OR · Four mixed-breed geldings and mares, ages 7–17

At intake

Two of the four horses had bitten in session. The practice was about to lose its insurance. The clinicians felt the horses were telling them something they did not know how to read.

By week 8

Zero bites in eight weeks of retraining. Practice kept its insurance. Clinicians now run a parallel track teaching clients the same pressure-and-release language, on the ground only.

"We realized we had been bringing very stressed horses into very vulnerable rooms. The retraining changed our clinical practice as much as it changed the horses."
A graduate, in her own words

"I came in wanting a horse who would do what I said. I left with a horse who would do what I asked. I did not know those were two different things until this method showed me they were. The horse was not the problem. My timing was the problem. Once I could see that, everything got quieter — including me."

Elaine B. · Santa Fe, NM · graduate, 2022
By the numbers · 2023 graduate survey

The 71% figure holds across every discipline we measured.

We do not promise specific timelines for any one horse. Across 1,104 surveyed graduates, the average reduction in unwanted behaviors within eight weeks of starting the method was 71%, and the figure was consistent — not identical — across every category below. Internal survey, January 2024.

68%
Average reduction, English riders (n = 312)

Most-reported change: a softer halt, willingness on the right lead, quieter grooming and tacking.

74%
Average reduction, Western riders (n = 287)

Most-reported change: trailer loading, ground-tying, and trail-horse confidence past novel objects.

69%
Average reduction, groundwork-only students (n = 241)

Most-reported change: leading, foot handling, separation anxiety from herd-mates, and clipper tolerance.

77%
Average reduction, rescue / retraining cases (n = 164)

Most-reported change: willingness to be approached in a pen, haltering, and tolerating touch on the hindquarters.

Source: internal graduate survey, January 2024, n = 1,104 self-selected respondents from active enrollments. "Reduction" = graduate-reported percentage drop in frequency of their named target behavior over an eight-week period. Full methodology available on request to [email protected].

The natural next step

You have seen what graduates change. Now see whether the method fits your horse.

The free 7-Day Foundation walks you through the same first seven days our paying graduates start with — a clear intake, a calm groundwork session, and the first three releases that change the conversation with your horse. It is the work, not a teaser of the work. 218,000+ riders have downloaded it since 2019.

  • Day-by-day video lessons, 8–14 minutes each
  • Printable groundwork checklist for the first week
  • Email answer from a clinician within 36 hours, every submission
Start With the Free 7-Day Foundation

No credit card · Unsubscribe with one click · Your email is never sold or shared

Prefer to read the method first? Start with the Naturally Trained Method overview.