Barn-tested lessons in timing, feel, and trust.
Be Your Best Horsemanship is a working-barn education show about colt starting, rope horse fundamentals, young-horse progression, and equine health. Its strongest episodes move from a specific arena problem into a larger point about leadership, patience, preparation, and keeping a horse’s mind available.
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Be Your Best Horsemanship is a hands-on education show for people who think about horse training as a daily process, not a quick fix. The episodes work best when they begin with something ordinary from the barn. An outdoor arena being rebuilt, a set of colts moving into the next phase, a trainer gaining feel, or a horse getting anxious while tied can all become the center of a lesson. The show keeps returning to one practical question: how does the rider help the horse understand what is coming next? That question shows up in rope horse fundamentals, colt starting mentorships, barrel turns, scoring, pin roping, and the first steps of exposing young horses to noise, movement, pressure, and release. The instruction is detailed. It talks about hands, body position, swing timing, rating, separation, speed changes, and the difference between a horse thinking and a horse reacting. It also puts responsibility squarely on the rider. If the horse struggles, the show usually treats that as information rather than failure. That gives the episodes a patient, coach-like quality, even when the message is blunt about safety or sloppy preparation. The show is especially useful for listeners who want to hear how a working trainer reasons through problems in sequence. It does not stay abstract for long. A principle about focus may turn into a roping example, then into a point about multitasking, then back into the need for clearer signals before the pressure arrives. Some episodes broaden beyond training into equine health, including vaccination programs, rabies prevention, and EHV-1 outbreak awareness with Dr. Chrissy Pariseau. Those conversations keep the same practical frame: what should horse owners understand before a problem becomes urgent? The result is a grounded, repetitive-in-the-right-way show about horsemanship, process, and responsibility. It is made for people who are already close enough to horses to care about the details, but it remains accessible because each lesson starts with something visible in the arena.
Made for: This show is for horse owners, trainers, ropers, barrel racers, colt starters, and serious riders who want practical training detail rather than general inspiration. It also suits listeners who care about equine health decisions tied to real barn life.
What sets it apart: Its strength is the way it turns specific arena moments into broader training principles without sanding off the messiness of the work. The show teaches through repetition, concrete examples, and the constant link between rider discipline and horse response.
"Be Your Best Horsemanship" is hosted by professional horse trainer and clinician, Phil Haugen. Inspired by his “1% better everyday" training philosophy, Phil explains the methods, mindset, and performance tips that drive continuous learning and growth in horsemanship, as well as in life. Join us each week as Phil shares his experiences over the past 30+ years in the horse training industry, discussing the methods that have helped him bridge the language barrier between horse and rider to enhance understanding and performance from foundation to finish.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Phil Haugen turns close observation of horses into practical lessons about technique, judgment and patient progression.
Phil Haugen teaches from the arena outward, using a horse's response to explain what the trainer should notice and change. Episodes move between solo instruction and guest conversations, with recurring attention to young-horse development, rope-horse fundamentals and the mental…
Phil Haugen turns a horse's rough moment into a training plan, not a verdict.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Colt starting is treated here as communication and leadership, with feel and timing doing the real work.
Phil Haugen uses this horsemanship conversation to frame colt starting as a matter of communication and leadership, with feel, timing, and balance doing the practical work.
A focused horsemanship lesson on using one clear task to prepare horse and rider for the moment that matters.
Phil Haugen gives multitasking a practical horsemanship frame, tying the brain's one-thought-at-a-time limit to what happens in roping and barrel racing.
Steady horsemanship, filtered advice, and a reminder to treat setbacks as information.
Phil Haugen and Mark Upton focus on the slow work of bringing young horses along, especially the point where new demands expose old gaps. The conversation stays practical.
A practical vaccination discussion that gives rabies the seriousness it deserves.
Be Your Best Horsemanship shifts into vaccination programs as Phil Haugen speaks from Weatherford, Oklahoma with Dr. Chrissy Pariseau of Merck Animal Health.
A grounded roping lesson on corner position, hand placement, and the first swing.
Establishing Rope Horse Fundamentals treats roping as a chain of small decisions that start before the horse ever leaves the corner. Phil Haugen ties corner position, scoring, and body shape to the rider's first swing, then keeps returning to one clear idea: keep the hand down,…
A practical look at helping young horses find steadiness in the noise and motion of daily training.
Phil Haugen follows young horses as they move from colt-starting repetition toward the next discipline, keeping the focus on trust when a horse gets uncomfortable. The work is not limited to what happens under saddle.
A grounded rodeo conversation about routine, hauling, and the work behind a first NFR berth.
Be Your Best Horsemanship follows Katie Scott after her first national finals rodeo qualification, and it stays close to the daily habits that carry that moment.
A steady horsemanship check-in on winter weather, reading horses, and treating daily work as a privilege.
Phil Haugen opens on a brisk Monday morning at his training facility, taking stock of how fall is giving way to winter after an unusually late stretch and sharp temperature swings.
Equine medicine, explained case by case.
Goat medicine from the barn floor.
Héctor and Beto dissect Mexican grammar, slang, and news in native-speed Spanish conversations.
Small habit changes meet hands-on AI experiments.
A call-in helpline where listener questions turn into reported science and history investigations.
Phil Haugen recaps his recent clinics in Utah, highlighting the diverse group of trainers and their progress.
Professional horse trainer Phil Haugen interviews barrel racer Katie Scott, who recently qualified for her first National Finals Rodeo.
Phil Haugen discusses the difference between coaching and training in horsemanship, sharing insights from his preparation for Road to the Horse.
Phil Haugen discusses the opportunities for today's colt starters and shares his personal history with his training facility in Weatherford, Oklahoma.
Phil Haugen explains why multitasking is ineffective and how focusing on one task at a time improves horsemanship training.
Phil Haugen and Mark Upton discuss the process of training young horses and the challenges and rewards of working with horses.
Phil Haugen interviews Dr.
Phil Haugen discusses the importance of establishing fundamentals for a rope horse, sharing training philosophies and personal morning routines.
Phil Haugen discusses the importance of controlling one's thoughts and body movements to influence a horse's responses, using pin roping as an example.
Phil Haugen, host of Be Your Best Horsemanship, describes advancing a group of coming two- and three-year-old colts he bought before Road to the Horse, a March 19-22 competition he calls 'an adrenaline rush.' He details training rope horses with intern Millie, including working four-year-olds in the roping box and desensitizing a gelding named Midnight Super Freak to the chute.
Dr.
Phil Haugen interviews Katie Scott, who just qualified for her first National Finals Rodeo, discussing her background and journey in horsemanship.
Phil Haugen interviews horseman Nate Horner about how lessons from horses apply to life, business, and mindset.