As both a rider and trainer of your horse, one of your responsibilities is to help your horse build responsibility. In order for riders and their horses to take their training further, both sides of the team need to show up and work together. This cannot happen if we, the riders, are trying to control all of the moving parts.…
Just last week, I noticed a rider literally dragging their horse from the stables towards the arena. The rider was about a meter in front of the horse’s head. Her face was red with effort! And her horse was literally going nowhere slowly. It occurred to me that so many riders make things really difficult for themselves by not having…
For years, I was all about control when it came to horses. I wanted to understand how to control them better, and how I could help riders do this… Until, one day, I realized I was working under a false pretense! You see, I figured something out. It was like an ‘oh wow’ moment. There is no way to control…
Whether it comes down to circumstances, weather, or location, finding yourself without a flat, good-quality, horse arena to train in, can often derail everything. It can feel like every single exercise you see or hear about requires acres of space and dozens of poles! And, maybe even more frustrating is when you begin to feel things coming together, only to…
Rhythm is genuinely one of those things that can seem so simple on the surface. And, don’t get me wrong, rhythm is a fairly simple concept. However, when we begin applying it to horses and riding, it is truly eye-opening just how deep we can go with the idea. A little like groundwork for horses… And, because rhythm is something…
Contact can often look effortless for some horses and riders. And yet, for many other riders, consistent contact can seem like an enigma. Any efforts at consistency tend to lead to heaviness. Or a complete lack of any contact! So where is this fine line between consistent, quality contact and washing lines? In order to develop contact with your horse,…
