To understand and work with your horse’s stride length, keep in mind that whilst you are riding, the horse’s legs are your legs, and your brain needs to react to what they are doing.



Try this exercise:



Build two fences five canter strides apart. Warm up your horse, thinking about the canter rhythm.



As a very simple way of understanding your horse’s stride length, call out the strides as you ride the fences. This will help your brain tune in to what your horse…

WHY DO WE TRAIN



I have would like to put across to you some part of my philosophy with regard to the very important subject of why we train. I have also given some part of this blog to what to look for in a good trainer.



BEFORE WE START TO TRAIN OUR HORSES I BELIEVE THAT A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE REASONS BEHIND TRAINING ARE MADE CLEAR.



What about human beings?



All of us human beings are capable of certain moderately athletic functions which…

Hi Guys,



Do you want to know how to become a better rider without taking tons more lessons? Do what I did. By putting the same amount (or more!) of effort into mental training as into skill development, I was able to realize my dream of representing the United States in international competition.



Here's how it worked for me. Back in 1980 I picked up a book called, Psycho cybernetics, by Maxwell Maltz. This book literally changed my life. I had always wanted to compete…

I wasn’t quite honest last week as I praised Arkle, arguably the greatest steeplechaser of all time…or to be more exact I was being disloyal. Disloyal to my childhood hero Mill House, who was the magnificent winner of the 1963 Cheltenham Gold Cup, and destined to be the King of steeplechasing for many years. So in 1964, when Mill House was hot favourite to win his second Gold Cup I could only watch in shock as Arkle swept into the lead to record the first of his three triumphs in this…

Grand National fever again last Monday. This time the €250,000 Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse in Co Meath, not far from the famous Dreaper stable which once housed the greatest steeplechaser of all time, Arkle. It was won by the English trained, but Irish bred, Niche Market, brilliantly ridden by 19 year old Harry Skelton. There is a showjumping connection here as Harry is the son of British veteran Nick Skelton, who in recent years came back from serious injury and retirement to be one…

Riding with lightness Baucher, Faverot of Kerbrech, Beudant and L'Hotte to study the second way of Baucher.





For fans of dressage for riders believe that there is no conflict between sports and horseback riding wise, Beudant Etienne, "the squire mirobolant", the "Mozart riding" book his doctrine: a dressage horse should lead to its use both in varied terrain and riding school, with the barrier on the flat.…

A total of 60 horses were flown in from all over the world to compete at the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Finals to be held in Las Vegas (USA) from 15 to 19 April. The 35 European based Jumping and Dressage horses left from Liege airport in Belgium at 7h19am local time on Saturday 11 April and arrived without incident in Las Vegas at 8h55am local time after a direct flight that took 10 hours and 35 minutes. At the same time, airplanes from all over the world delivered their precious loads from the…

April 4-5: Chance and I completed our third NAJYRC qualifer and came out with a 65% average! He was very well behaved and had two very steady tests. We also performed our freestyle for the first time and earned a 67%. This was Chance's first freestyle ever and he wasn't quite sure what to do but he listened to me and performed a clean test. I am very proud of my boy! This show leaves us with a 63.9% average for the team. In three weeks we are going to the Del Mar National Horse Show and if…

Hi Guys,



One of the biggest mistakes riders make when we're trying to overcome horseback riding fears is that we direct our efforts toward the conscious mind. You know--willpower, iron-jawed determination. The problem with that strategy is that you can only make short-term, temporary changes when you direct your efforts to your conscious mind. To make permanent changes, direct your efforts to the part of your brain that truly determines your actions--your subconscious…

There is no doubt about it...we need to put our top equestrian brains together and come up with a new design for the horse's head with six main aims:



THE DESIGN BRIEF



1 We need to desensitise the area around the poll.

2 Make the top jaw narrower or the bottom jaw wider so they are both the same width.

3 Move the exit point for the motor and sensory nerves that is just under the cavesson noseband.

4 Fuse and strengthen the delicate ends of the bones at the…

Hello,

This weeks' participating rider sent in a very technical description of her question. You can see her description in the comments section of last weeks' blog. She gave me some excellent and specific information, but I wanted to hasten to encourage you that you don't have to be as technical. Just a description of what's happening when you ride that you'd like addressed with some unmounted suggestions, and a few photos suffices..even if you don't have a photo, we can still work…

Hi Guys,



It's completely reasonable that occasionally you'll be afraid when you ride. After all, you're dealing with a reactive (reactive means bolt, spin, buck, shy, or rear!) animal that outweighs you by a lot! But you can destroy those fears by adopting an attitude of gratitude.



The first thing you need to remember is that ninety-nine percent of the things you fear never come to pass. So why waste all that energy worrying about things that will probably never happen.…

Well, it's over for another year...



HOY is the biggest equestrian event in the southern hemisphere, and a great sprawling beast of a show. It runs from Tuesday to Sunday, and includes show jumping, dressage, show hunter, saddle hunter, driving, breed classes, mounted games (eek!), ponies, hacks, small children dressed up like little dolls on exquisite little ponies wearing more make up than Paris Hilton, led by Mums who look like they are going to a wedding. This year there was…

Hello, It's great to see how many people are practicing some off-horse fitness activity during the week to help their riding. You've posted some encouraging comments. If you recognize yourself in some of the photo examples- that's great! Don't be shy about sending in your photos or posting some video footage of your ride. I won't be analysing your riding overall...just providing feedback on things you can…

We had a great show on the weekend of March 13-15 in Del Mar at the Dressage Affaire. We started off on Friday with the Junior Team Test. We had practiced hard for the last two weeks after the last show and I hoped all the hard work would pay off. Chance is only seven and is still green with the changes but he went out there and tried his best. This was only our second qualifier and our first CDI ever so I was amazed when they anounced that our score was a 64.054%! With a judging panel…

I have to pinch myself; I'm going to Sydney CDI - with a horse this time! It's an awesome opportunity to really make an impression over there, and one that I honestly didn't think I'd get, as we have not been so consistent this season.



It's a costly exercise, flying a horse to Aussie for (hopefully) 3 tests, so I'm getting my act together to do serious preparation, and get my trainer to come over. No-one else knows how to get us both firing like "Uncle Bill" does.…

Now that we have thought about rider position, flexion, and getting the horse to move away from your leg, it's time to move on to your horse's canter.



Canter, rhythm and balance is very important for a show jumper and he should be able to maintain it without too much interference from the rider. For our sport you need a horse whose strongest pace, his favourite pace if you like, is canter as most of the work is done in canter.



Many of us over-ride our horses in canter…

Greetings, my many Barnmice friends, from Riversong Ranch in Alberta. It is so good to be home again after this latest whirlwind trip to Bermuda and the Netherlands.



While I love my job when I am in the arena with the students and horses, what I am getting increasingly tired of is flying. The “friendly skies” are just not all that user friendly anymore.



So it was while enduring the 8 hour flight from Amsterdam to Toronto only to then connect for the 4 ½ hour flight from…

Hi Guys,



Attitude is a choice. You don't have to have a bad day. Here are 3 simple ways to insure that every ride you have with your horse is a great one!



1. Learn to see things in shades of grey.



Want to know how to have a great ride everyday? Stop expecting perfection. Don't look at training and competing in black or white terms. Instead, learn to see things in "shades of gray". The key to seeing shades of gray is to recognize when things…