Learning a new skill in riding can be pretty daunting. Not only do you need to coordinate your entire body (including the ever-pervasive ‘core’ of your body), but you also need to stay in balance while moving, in time, in partnership with the (much larger) horse that happens to be using his own feet while yours are dangling in mid-air! You get my drift….

So at best, it’s not easy. When other people tell you that riding is all about the horse and not about the…

Before I got Oakley, I'd never actually loaded a horse on a trailer myself. I've led horses up to someone who took them onto the trailer, I've seen it done a dozen times, but never done it myself. So, I figured, since he's going to have to go to shows, therefore I'd better learn how to put him on board and get him there safely, in comfort.

The first thing I learned was how not to do it.

Under instruction from his previous owner, we led him to the trailer. I climbed up…

First lesson of the next group of 10 but I am just going to continue numbering them as if it were in sequence.

It was after 7 by the time we got to the barn tonight. I groomed and put Coopers boots on him and took him into the round pen as the sun was going down. By the time I was done that and tacked up it was time to for the lesson. It is dark now and the earlier lesson was indoors too, I think it was too cold for them outdoors. It will soon be too dark to do round pen work and we…

The equestrian world can seem kind of bi-polar. Some of us ride like headless (brainless) horsemen with little consciousness for our horse or surroundings.  Some of us are such control freaks that we slow every walk stride and micro-manage our horse’s nose into being afraid to take a breath. Most of us are working towards a middle ground.

Dressage seems to attract riders who like…

Your horse’s skin and coat form an important protective barrier against bacteria and infections. If his coat is short on shine, that could be an indication that his skin isn’t as healthy as it should be. Adding a high quality skin and coat supplement to his diet isn’t just a great way to boost his good looks, it’s an investment in his good health.

Fat Facts

To get a glossy coat, add essential fatty acids to optimize skin health. When comparing…

Yup, that seems about right.  The ad flat out states the the mare is not sound, and yet they want you to breed her and put an additional 100 pounds on a bum hock.  Let us then ask you, oh knowledgeable seller, if you were crippled in some way, would you want to carry a child around your midsection for 9 months?  No?  WE DIDN’T FREAKIN THINK SO!

We’ll stop taking ads from craiglist when… no wait, we can’t think of scenario wherein stupid people stop posting on craigslist.  Case in…

Remember the mare from “Solid doesn't even begin to cover it"?  Well we think we’ve found her long lost twin on equine.com! 

 …

Then don’t go to the show. Seriously.

DON’T go if:

- you aren’t getting excellent rides at home, mentally and physically, both you and your horse.

- you haven’t taken your horse off-property in many months (go somewhere lower-key first).

- you haven’t done your “homework”: both you and your horse are fit, and riding AT LEAST one level (regardless of discipline of riding) higher than what you will be doing at the show.

- you are struggling…

Sorry about the wait; as Dressage Princess delighted in pointing out the other day, I’ve been slightly distracted lately…  I promise I’ll improve!

And now, without further delay, our (my) thoughts on the ponies:

None of the examples are ideal, especially if we are considering the POA breed standard.  That said, our first place pony is Pony C.

 …

W. Brett Wilson, Canadian Entrepeneur and multi-millionaire, stated that on his upcoming "Risky Business" television show “We’ve got a guy who’s been a standard bred horse trainer and he is a hustler. This guy knows how to buy horses, run them and then flip them. So we’ll probably buy a race horse, run it in four of five races, and then we’ll see if we can make money by flipping it."

What is being planned as regards a…

One of our regular readers sent us a photo of her project POA in the hopes that we would use it for a conformation clinic.  We happily agreed and immediately started searching for comparable ponies to use in our post. 

Holy hell, was it ever depressing!

This is Natchez.  He’s a 4 year old we found on equinenow.com.  His owners…

I first decided I wanted a horse in 1974. Life circumstances changed and changed back until I was seriously getting ready to find one next year.

Opportunity knocked in early July. I answered, and on 1 August 2011, became the human half of a new partnership with a seven-year old bay gelding, a 16.2 HH Quarter-horse named Oakley Pine.

Pithy phrases like 'seize the day' and 'when opportunity knocks, answer the door' don't mention the corollary about needing antacids to…

We did some round pen work first and Cooper was very good.

I got my husband in the round pen to have him try to work Cooper but he wasn't assertive enough and Cooper just wanted to come in to him.

It's dark now by lesson time at 8:30 p.m. so we rode indoors.

We continued on trying to slow the jog around 3/4 of arena and 1/4 did posting trot, trying to extend and stay collected.

I was trying to relax my legs but it wasn't working tonight.

I had a stiff neck…

I have been having some difficulty lately with two trainers. My dressage trainer herself has issues with this too. The only difference is that she has two in the same discipline, I have two in different disciplines (dressage and jumping).

Sometimes I wonder if she is sad about me doing bothe and not be a primary dressage rider. Dressage will always be in my…

The calendar changed and so did the weather. These first September days have been undeniably Fall- shorter, crisper and with a bit more oxygen in the air. The moon rules the prairie and this weekend is the Harvest Moon, the full moon nearest the autumnal equinox. I won’t say the word- but tick, tick, tick.

The horses didn’t need a calendar to know. There has been a break out of the Fall…

Craigslist is really making our job  easy…  We happened across this first ad a few days ago and just couldn’t stop ourselves from commenting.  And commenting not just on the horses themselves, but on the pricing.  Yes, all the horses below are from the same area within the same state and within a few hundred dollars of a $6000 price tag.  No, we’re not sure why either.

Must see 7 year old,…

There IS a difference between a “broke” horse and a “trained” / broke horse” just because a horse is “broke” to ride does NOT mean he or she is “trained” Does your horse know how to “flex” and “give” to pressure? Can you do a “one rein stop”? I can train your horse to do these two simple tasks and more. I can teach him or her to lunge, neck rein, correct leads/lead changes, to back, side pass, run barrels, poles, trailer load, etc. and I can teach YOU as the…