In between all the winter weather I just got to ride once this week. Debbie was worried about the ring being so wet, but since I was stiff from lying around the house I was perfectly happy just to walk. When we had finally groomed all the mud off of Mia, tacked her up and got to the ring I sort of groaned inside, lots and lots of big and bigger puddles. I was expecting having to coax Mia through each one.



I have been trying to get Mia completely comfortable with her…

Well I took two of my 4 horses to a sleep over at another barn for some lessons in Classical work, and I was very proud of them. Stonee, my giant horse, is afraid of everything and very insecure, due to being kept in one barn for 8 years of his life and not really getting out. He was much better this time, the anxiety is lessening. And Indy, my 4 year old Appendix was an absolute star! She loaded well after having inspected the trailer, and travelled well. After the lessons she hung out with…

It is commonly heard in almost every lesson or at every warm up ring at shows.

"Get those shoulders back...or point the toes up"

I find this particular articulation to be misleading to the rider.

When a rider "brings the shoulders back" they generally believe the coach wants them to bring the shouldes back by engaging the muscles along that run along the spine while wrapping the shoulder blades around an imaginary fist to bring the upper body back…

Can you tell if your riding position is straight and centered on your horse? Or are you collapsing at your waist and sitting crookedly?

Ask a ground person to stand behind your horse.

1. Is your seat in the center of the dressage saddle so that each…

It is so easy at times to lose control slightly and ask too much of your horse...or possibly worst, to intentionally ask too much in a deliberate and continual way in the belief that 'stretching' the horse in this way will yield greater progress. Education is the key, but to develop the experience, feel, and sensitivity to judge with some accuracy how much a horse can be asked is not a short journey. However what a hugely rewarding…

Here is a question from one of my saddle fitting colleagues that represents a problem some of you may have experienced:

She wrote:

When I have the saddle on the horse, the tree fits, the panels are leveled (flair), the rider is sitting on both his seat bones, the rider is sitting in balance, so statically everything looks ok.

And then the horse start moving. The saddle does what is has to do, it stays in place and at this moment I am satisfied what I see, how the saddle is…

This Week in Horse History - February 1st Through February 7th



February 2nd, 1997 – A life-size bronze statue of the Thoroughbred racehorse Cigar was unveiled at Florida's Gulfstream Park. The bay stallion raced in 1993 as a three-year-old and continued to race through 1996 as a six-year-old. He was declared Horse of the Year in both 1995 and 1996, and won the inaugural running of the Dubai Cup in 1996. He now lives at Kentucky Horse Park. Cigar retired as the leading North…