How much time do you spend strengthening your relationship with your horse while on the ground? Many riders only think in terms of ‘riding’ when they think of communicating with their horse. However there are many other ways you can begin to not only create a stronger sense of trust but also to improve your horse’s overall training. Groundwork is…
. Have you ever found yourself out on the trail needing to reverse? Or even in the arena, knowing that your horse reversing in a calm, quiet fashion would be a really useful achievement in that particular moment? You ask him to go back. However, rather than the smooth, no-fuss reverse you were imagining, it rather feels like you left…
You have spent the past few months diligently improving your young horse’s standard of education. A lot of time invested on the basics of moving forward in a balanced rhythmic way. He is happy, you are happy and the next natural progression is to ask for the canter. However, it seems all those carefully cultivated hours in the arena fly…
Do you find that the only time you begin seriously thinking about lunging your horse is when you are about to ride, and he has just a little bit too much ‘enthusiasm’ for your liking? Or perhaps your idea of lunging is chasing your horse round and round in circles until one or both of you are too tired (or…
Young horses! It is such an honour as a rider to be one of the first people they get to work with, however can sometimes feel like you are riding an eel! They are moving up and down in the rhythm and if there is a dance that you are both moving to, it quickly becomes evident that no one…
There seems to be two types of riders in the world, those that love an OTTB and those that don’t! I am squarely in the former category and if you are also there, well make yourself comfortable because this week on Daily Strides we are focusing on basic exercises you can begin implementing with your OTTB today that will help…
