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This…

Well, our mare delivered unto us a very adorable little boy on July 6. True to the adage that mares are cagey, at 9:30 pm the milk didn't test like she was imminent, she didn't look quite right, 11pm I get the call that the colt is on the ground. After a very tiring 2 hour drive down, I was pretty awake when I saw the little guy.

Momma was a maiden, delivery was easy, but she wasn't sure what she was supposed…

Hi, I just posted a blog entry about managing age and injury as a rider. The post was doing some funny formatting, so I had to fix it. Here it is again:

EquiTip July 2010: Those Old Bones…

This Week in Horse History - July 19th Through July 25th

July 20th, 1946 - Misty of Chincoteague, the mare after which Marguerite Henry wrote her famous book, was born. Misty was born on Assateague Island and was a palomino pinto with a marking in the shape of the United States on her side. Marguerite Henry traveled to Chincoteague in search of inspiration for a children’s book and…

Summer is hard for most people with MS. The heat reduces the effectiveness of my nerves, and when it is really humid then my body can't cool down and my core body temperature just goes up and up. Since my ice vest was causing days long muscle cramps I switched to the system that works by evaporation, but since the humidity is so high the cool vest does not evaporate very well and I just get hotter and hotter.

I…

Hi, I thought I'd share a recent fitness tip I send out in my newsletter about how to recover from injury and manage age so your body works the way you want it to when you're riding. (by the way, you can sign up to receive free monthly fitness tips for riders at www.equifitt.com )…

Happy children and happy summer riding days. Full of friendship and partnership with both their ponies and other riders. How lucky these young riders are as long as they come under the wing of a good coach. A coach who fully understands that what children learn first tends to stay with them, just as with a young horse. So our young riders and young coaches need excellent coaches. They don’t need to be high-level coaches of elite performers,…

I love reading all of John Lyons books, magazines and articles.

Does Your Horse's Bit Fit Properly?





Dear Julie,

How do you know when a bit is properly sitting in the horse's mouth? We have always heard that you look at the "wrinkles". However, this can be confusing to us.

Thank you,

Devonna





Devonna,

This is a confusing issue to lots of people and one that almost always comes up in my clinics. It's an old-fashioned concept to say that the bit fits correctly when you see one or two wrinkles in the…

Hello All

Please take a moment to view the two attached links regarding the travesty that happened last weekend at the Festival of the Horse when…

One of the things I see often – even in professional pictures in various magazines – is that the rider is not sitting straight on the horse. (this is especially obvious when you see the rider from behind!)



Do you often have to step into one stirrup while riding to center your saddle on your horse’s back? This could mean that your saddle does not sit straight on your horse’s back, for whatever reason.



Once you have determined that your saddle has a gullet/ channel that is…