Unique Horsemanship

Click here to edit subtitle

Why Choose Unique Horsemanship?

Sabrina Alvarez is known for her effective approach, working with horses in many disciplines. With a focus on what each individual horse needs for optimum learning capabilities, Sabrina believes horses deserve a training method uniquely formed to each individual horse. Using this method for speed event horses, she has won over 30 trophy buckles saddles, and money earnings from competing in barrel races, playday/gymkanas, and pole bending events such as being the NBHA Texas State 1D Pole Bending Champion, ANHA Shootout Winner and setting 3 arena records throughout her career, thus far.

In addition to her success in the speed world, she has taken her horses and many clients' horses to the win in western dressage, trail and competitive trail, team sorting, team penning, and reining.

With a vast knowledge and an open mind to each horse's specific needs, the Unique Horsemanship training method is a great option if you want your horse to get a great education and really have the time put into them necessary for success.

With a natural horsemanship approach, this program focuses on ground work, desensitizing and other key fundamentals to ensure each horse receives a proper education with a great foundation, so they can go any direction.

Whether you're wanting your colt started right, your riding horse to advance to a high level performance horse or you just want a dependable riding mount, Unique Horsemanship's training method offers a custom program that will help your horse achieve those goals, along side the ONE THOUSAND + horses that Sabrina has transformed with her unique training method over the years.

While your horse is in the Unique Horsemanship training program:

~ Horses in training receive 5 days a week of training with 1 hour duration hands on sessions. We pride ourselves on giving horses the time they need to succeed, so we limit the number of horses we have in training in order to give them the opportunity to have longer sessions when needed.

In addition to their work time, horses will also spend time being groomed, hot walked and tied for patience under super vision.

~ Each horse in our program will have their own 30x30 horse-safe-pen and will not be penned with other horses, to ensure their safety.

~ Stalls available upon request for an extra charge.

~ Every horse in training is hand fed by Sabrina or her husband (who also has many years of experience with horses and medical care) 2x daily, 7 days a week. This means you're not relying on someone without extensive horse knowledge to notice if there's an issue with your horse. This also gives the horses the opportunity to learn feeding time manners! Peace of mind is important to us when it comes to our horses, and we know it's the same for you and yours!

Feed: Here at Unique Horsemanship our personal horses and client's horses are fed a reduced sugar (5%max) alfalfa+beet pulp hay replacement pellet 2x daily. This eliminates the chances of debris in their lungs from dust, allergies from unseen mold, or just plain inconsistent hay quality. Not only have we been happy with the results for years, but many vet clinics use this product in substitute for hay due to it's natural ability to coat the horse's stomach, helping to prevent ulcers while the horses is under the stress of moving to a new environment.

We encourage the use of this feed while in training, however if your horse has any special needs, we are willing to accommodate!

~

Sabrina running barrels bridleless with nothing but a neck rope on Chiquita, a kill pen horse she started and trained!

A Sneak Peak Of What Unique Horsemanship Has To Offer In Under A Minute!

Sabrina's ribbon wall at the ranch. Ribbons won by her personal horses and horses in training. ^

~

Click here to follow us on Facebook and see more of our work, get updates, follow horses in our program, and enjoy entertaining training posts while getting tips and tricks! This is also a great way to get additional updates on your horse while they're in training!

"When I was five years old I started taking riding lessons, and that is when it all started. I didn't have a set path of what I wanted to do on my horse riding venture, however I knew my love for horses was growing, and my parents knew it wasn't something they could just brush off.

At the early age of seven I earned enough money picking up rocks for my parents and neighbors to afford a pair of ponies, which were untrained, unbeknownst to us. By then we had moved to another location, so we didn't have the guidance of a trainer to get us through this experienced... I remember sitting down in front of the TV watching Clinton Anderson's Downunder Horsemanship then running out to work my ponies, and this was my day to day, home-schooled life. Fast forward 2 years and I had trained those ponies up to the point that when I outgrew them in size a year later, one went to a special needs 4 year old to help her learn to walk, and the other went on to pull a cart through children's hospitals. By then, the desire to train had already set in.

So I trained my own horses for the years to follow, and studied every natural horsemanship training book and program I could get my hands on. I took this knowledge and applied it to my horses which I trained for reining, team sorting and penning, competitive trail, western dressage, and eventually, speed events, bringing in dozens of trophies, trophy buckles, trophy tack, checks, and many many blue ribbons.

My dad was a contractor and when the recession hit when I was fourteen years old, we lost the funding for horses. My parents approached me about selling most of the horses we had, personals and competition horses, and that didn't sit well with me! I knew where they were coming from, but knew there had to be a way to keep my horses. So for dirt cheap I offered training to the folks who I had been beating in competitions and to my surprise, I started bringing in training horses. Enough to fund not only my horses, but competitions too! A desire to train and the motivation of keeping my dream alive fueled something incredible.

I began interning whenever I could with natural horsemanship trainers, attending clinics and studying the work of Clinton Anderson, Ken McNabb, Craig Cameron, Chris Cox, Monty Roberts, Buck Brannaman, Kyle Shurig, Carson James, Pat Parelli, Sean Flarida, Tim McQuay, John Lyons, Martha Josey, Dena Kirkpatrick, Bo Hill, Troy Crumrin, Sherry Cervi, Lance Graves, Kay Blandford, Charmaine James, Al Dunning and Bill Dorrance.

From all of these studies and hands on experiences, I developed a program that had the open mindedness to reach into this plethora of knowledge to help a wide range of horses. I strongly believe and still do, that every horse is an individual, and that not every horse fits into a cookie cutter program! I believe that natural horsemanship is the clear way to go, and that when you speak a horse's language and get the attention of a calm mind, they are truly able to reach their full potential, and that's something pretty special.

So what have I done with all of this? Well, I've been training professionally for 10 years, and training my own horses and acquaintances' horses for many more than that. My program has successfully trained over 1,000 horses, and helped train and home over 400 rescue horses from kill pens, neglect seizures and other bad situations. On top of these successes, I've gone on to take my passion of speed events to the next level, competing in national events, winning an ANHA Shootout Open Pole Bending Championship, and claiming 3 different arena records. In speed events and other competitions, my client's horses and I, along with my personal horses have won 28 trophy buckles, 8 trophy saddles, dozens of trophies, over 300 blue ribbons and countless others, and an array of tack awards.

In 2019 I made another change to the program, but of a different sort!

I married a young man with a passion for horses named Gavin, who I meant 12 years prior while competing against each other in local rodeos.

That first year I trained his cow horse to run barrels and for years to come we battled for 1st at local events, eventually working together and later, tying the knot. We worked great together then and we still do now, on the client's horses, rescues, our horses, and everything in between. You will undoubtedly meet Gavin or watch him lunge me (or vise versa) on colts if you're around the ranch for much time at all. It's helpful to have someone on board who believes wholeheartedly in your training program, and this guy is no exception!

Along the way I have enjoyed coaching students young and old on how to become better horse men and women, in everything from basic horse handling and riding, to accomplished competitors and certified trainers in my Trainer Training Course.

What good is knowledge if it's not applied? If it's not shared? If it's not used for good? I believe in natural horsemanship. I have seen it change literally thousands of lives and to say I have a passion for experiencing this, is a massive understatement. I take pride in my teachings, and in turning out horses with good, solid foundations, built on understanding and clarity, which gives them a happy, healthier life, where they can be adored by their owners.

I'm Sabrina Alvarez, and this is my training program, Unique Horsemanship."