Request FEI to change any and all references to ‘on the bit’ to ‘in the hand’.

Request that Article 401 Part 5 be re-written to read as follows:

In all the work, even at the halt, the horse must be “in the hand”. A horse is said to be “in the hand” when the neck is more or less raised and arched according to the stage of training with the lowest point of the underside of the jaw to be in front of a vertical line downward from the poll at ‘all’ times and with the…

As a way of sharing a little more about myself, I thought I'd post the introduction to my book, ON THE BACK OF HORSE: Harnessing the Healing Power of the Equine-Human Bond, available on Amazon.  In upcoming blogs, I will be posting book chapters.

People have always been fascinated with horses. From mankind’s first experiences with them, either through the parochial methods made timeless by the Spaniards (and later the Spanish riding school), or through the…

As I got back into riding years ago I knew that my horses had started objecting to my hands years before as my undiagnosed Multiple Sclerosis got worse.  Once diagnosed I finally understood why, it was because my hands had gotten too bad to keep contact like I used to.  I decided then that the only way I would ever be able to ride with contact again was to listen to the horses, and to find areas where we both could agree that riding with contact could be pleasant for both of…

We all make resolutions, and sadly, many of us will never realize these often lofty goals. And what do we do then? We wonder why. First, why did we make the resolution in the first place, and if we are the introspective type, what is it about us that prevented us from reaching our target. But to answer these questions, we’d probably have to have a window into our unconscious. And really, we may just not have the time or patience for psychoanalysis.…