The Incredible Shrinking Leg (or How To Avoid Losing Your Stirrups!)

I've been giving a bunch of seat and leg position riding lessons lately, and I've discovered some interesting things about the correlation of the pelvis, lower leg, and losing

your stirrups.…

After all the confusion with the new foal, Mia had gotten sore, I think she aggravated her arthritis some. It took a while to get Mia moving these past few weeks, and my legs have been getting sore a little from all the leg aids I had to use just to keep Mia moving faster than a slow crawl.

Last week when I finally got a good forward striding walk with Mia I got a big surprise when I asked her to halt, she actually leaned on my…

Nice older Draft Horse for adoption

This nice older gentlemen is available for adoption. He’s on the thin side and about 20 years old. Unknown if rideable or not. Call for more information about this dear old man or make an appointment to meet in

person!

Sunkissed Acres Rescue and Retirement

536 Woods Road

Summerville, GA…

Several of you have asked me if there's any value in counter flexing your horse while in true canter so I'd like to discuss that here.

1. Generally, you want to flex your horse in the direction of the canter lead he's on. That goes for true canter as well as counter canter. So if you're cantering on left lead, position his head so you just barely see his left eye and/or nostril.

2.…

Marengo with Napoleon

 …

Here is a topic that everyone can relate to, the dreadful habit of cribbing. And I have an aversion to cribbing collars that a lot of people use, as I have seen horses have swollen heads from them being adjusted too tight, and also there is risk of damage to the oesophagus. It can also create pressure in the bones of the neck, creating nerve pinches and even sometimes nerve damage. Horses can also get caught up in fences in them, and break their neck. So hence I never use…

Sunday – March 21

Shake Rattle and Show

Well – not quite in that order – today was more like Show, Shakes and Rattlers…

Gesstenia: So, my coach video taped me riding Tia on Sunday, I had been hoping to get some footage to send to Anky and Sjef's new educational center for evaluation. I rode outside in the FEI ring and Tia felt a little wild.

So watching this was REALLY helpful. The first thing I noticed about my position is that I keep my elbows too far back - I am determined to keep my elbows more in front of me - so I need to fight a few decades of muscle…

Here is my post this morning to my Facebook, thought you might enjoy the reactions.

Wednesday Mar 17 – Happy St Patrick’s day!

This is a big teaching day, so not as much time to ride. I combined teaching a student with getting Belle worked. We just rode 40 minutes, doing about 2 walking miles on the trail and then some arena trot work. Happily, it is…

This Week in Horse History - March 22nd Through March 28th

March 23, 1962 - Jacqueline Kennedy received a horse named Sardar from Ayub Khan, Pakistan's governor. Governor Khan, a horseman himself, learned of Jackie Kennedy's love of horses when he first

visited the White House. He gave her Sardar, a gelding, who she nicknamed Black Jack.…

It seems that no matter how old I get and how much experience I have, I still have more to learn. I started learning how to train with my first horse, who was just green-broke when I got him. I did not have enough money to get him trained and I had to learn training from reading books, trying stuff out on my horse, scratching my head and trying again. Fortunately my green-broke horse was cooperative, intelligent, quick to pick up new knowledge, and willing to…

Conditions: Amazing weather - high 60's no bugs no mud. able to hack both horses before and after rides. rode both in double. Rode outside in FEI ring (This ring is called the FEI ring as during the USDF dressage show, all the FEI rides are in this ring. It is a beautiful ring with great footing and 2 permanent judges booth - the actula ring is not up - so the dimensions are greater than 20mx60m

Caddymaster: OK and YIPPEE! I am…