Added by Tom Gumbrecht on April 14, 2009 at 10:08pm — 3 Comments
Every April in the UK the world stops for The Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree. It is the richest race of the year with the incredible prize money of £900.000. The winner immediately becomes front page news on every national newspaper and will still feature in quiz questions round the country twenty years afterwards!
I was brought up with the history of the Grand National and those famous Aintree fences, Beechers Brook, The Chair and The Canal Turn…..1954 The Queen’s horse…
Added by William Micklem on April 10, 2009 at 1:00pm — 4 Comments
Jumping a Single Fence
How many times have you seen a rider approach a single fence in canter, hold the horse back and then suddenly release it and send it forward when they think they see a stride? And what happens? The horse accelerates at the last moment over the jump, lands on his forehand, runs on from the jump and has to be pulled back! Worse still they learn to rush their fences, standing off a long way and jumping flat.
Up to intermediate level,…
Added by Tim Stockdale on April 10, 2009 at 11:00am — 3 Comments
Hi Guys,
Riding with soft hands is an awesome goal, and your horse will thank you for it. In this training tip, I'm going to give you both some simple physical exercises and also some fun mental exercises to help you achieve this goal.
Here are 2 physical exercises:
1. Tie two reins or ropes or even two pieces of baling twine to a sturdy fence. Hold the ropes as if they are reins. Take up a contact of at least 10 pounds in each…
Added by Jane Savoie on April 10, 2009 at 10:30am — 1 Comment
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…
Added by Jane Savoie on April 3, 2009 at 10:00pm — 1 Comment
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…
Added by William Micklem on April 3, 2009 at 11:00am — 25 Comments
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…
Added by Heather Sansom at Equifitt.com on April 1, 2009 at 11:00am — 4 Comments
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.…
Added by Jane Savoie on March 27, 2009 at 5:00pm — 7 Comments
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…
Added by Ottilie on March 24, 2009 at 3:00pm — 2 Comments
Hi Guys,
People often tell me that their horses leg yield very well as far as going sideways is concerned, but they tend to toss their heads and show resistance to the reins. In desperation, some riders even use a tie down to put pressure on the nose to discourage their horses from yanking at the reins.
If your horse finds it fairly easy to cross his legs and move sideways with his body, yet he's tossing his head during leg yields, it sounds like he's objecting to your…
Added by Jane Savoie on March 20, 2009 at 9:00am — 3 Comments
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…
ContinueAdded by Heather Sansom at Equifitt.com on March 18, 2009 at 11:00am — No Comments
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…
Added by Tim Stockdale on March 14, 2009 at 9:30am — 2 Comments
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…
Added by Chris Irwin on March 13, 2009 at 8:00pm — 8 Comments
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…
Added by Jane Savoie on March 13, 2009 at 10:00am — 11 Comments
Before you even begin to jump, you need to make sure you have done the groundwork to establish the foundation for success. I'm not talking about pure dressage; I'm talking about the basic skills that are vitally important to a show jumper.
There are 5 basics that will provide an excellent foundation for show jumping. Build them into your schooling program and you will see the results.
Today I will talk about the first three basics.
1. Rider…
Added by Tim Stockdale on March 6, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments
Hi Guys,
It's important to have a training system so that you school your horse in a clear and consistent way. The down side of having only one system is that one approach doesn't work for all horses. If a particular system isn't right for your horse, and you try to force him to conform to that method, he can fall by the wayside.
Because I want every horse to develop to his potential, I've come up with my system, which I call "Benign Antagonism". Simply put, if your…
Added by Jane Savoie on March 6, 2009 at 9:00am — 5 Comments
Hi Guys,
People often ask me to explain the difference between "running" and "lengthenings". In fact, in this article I'm also going to describe the difference between running, lengthenings, medium gaits, and extended gaits.
1. Running- When you ask your horse to lengthen his strides and frame, and you hear his tempo (the rate of the repetition of the rhythm) get QUICKER, he's not lengthening. He's just running.
2. Lengthenings- In a good lengthening, your…
Added by Jane Savoie on February 27, 2009 at 8:00am — 1 Comment
How well do you warm up and cool down your horse?
Warming up your horse prior to working him must not only be in his body, but also in his mind, getting him mentally prepared for the work he is going to do.
Put simply, warming up is getting the horse ready, relaxed and prepared for accepting what you are going to say to him. Time spent warming up will also allow you to release your own tight muscles and warm up as a rider.
During the warm up process, you will…
Added by Tim Stockdale on February 26, 2009 at 8:00pm — 3 Comments
The Fine Art of Letting Go or Making Go
By Chris Irwin
Hello and greetings to all from Pearson airport in Toronto. As I type these words I’m sitting beside my lovely wife, Kathryn, waiting to board our early morning flight to Bermuda. For the next five days I’ll be coaching dressage riders and jumpers on this small island nation in the Atlantic before flying next week to the Netherlands for the first European Train the…
Added by Chris Irwin on February 26, 2009 at 3:00pm — 2 Comments
I travel from horse show to horse show and see poor-fitting saddle pads all the time. Not enough by itself, some misguided riders often combine a too-short saddle pad with a thick halfpad, creating even more pressure points.
Imagine wearing flip flops where the back of your foot hangs out by an inch. Now go walk for 10 minutes. Comfy? I don’t think so.
So how to avoid that:
1. Buy a saddle pad that fits your…
Added by Patricia at ECOGOLD on February 24, 2009 at 10:30am — 1 Comment
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