That should not even be a question!

 

I’ve met many people who are fascinated by horses enough to want to ‘get’ their own horse. Often, acquaintances or people I’ve met will ask me my opinion about buying a horse – where do they start?

 

I run through all the typical questions with them: Why do you want a horse? Are you aware of all the aspects of horse ownership? Have you budgeted for all the upkeep costs (and we go through the breakdown – the…

Continue

I gave Cooper the weekend off as it seemed he was sore after a lot of hard work that he is not used to. I worked him a little in the round pen, he was a little stiff on his left rear leg. He went at a nice slow pace, kicked out a little when asked for a lope (canter) but did very well. I did some stretches on his legs and tacked him up and went for a ride. We were both relaxed and it was a very nice ride. We didn't work long, on the ground for about 15 minutes and in the saddle for 15. We…

Continue

Much, much better ride tonight during our lesson.

I got to the barn early and did some natural horsemanship ground work in the indoor arena. He is very bored with it, you can tell. I have to start doing some of the things from the next level, challenge him more. I am still doing Level 1 Parelli things with him. I am also viewing my Jonathan Field dvd's, I think I might do his method when I finally add in loping to our work with the rope hackamore, which is still a long way off. I do…

Continue

July 2/11

Finally got back in the saddle. I rode around at a walk only for about 15 minutes and got off. I was tense but things went well, just me being worried. Another boarder got on Cooper after and gave him a little workout. They did great together, an experienced rider makes him look so good.

 

July 5/11

We have finally started taking training lessons together with Gail Haynes at Five Star Ranch where I board. At first I was very nervous and tense and almost…

Continue

… and Grace gives herself a promotion.

Dressage borrows lots of language from ballet -after all, we are the dancers of the horse world. Pas de Trois is a dance of three. I have commandeered that phrase to describe riding lessons as a conversational dance between horse, rider and instructor. All three participants have to be heard for the dance to succeed.

I am always…

Continue

Had a lesson last night, which is certainly not unusual, Wednesday is lesson night. But, we're working on getting Maggie more sensitive, so off with the spurs and on with the GET MOVING!!! It was not the most fun anyone has ever had, but, at the end, we had the best walk ever, good trot, but awesome walk. And my trainer and I talked about the work we're doing with Mags. And her comment was that a LOT of trainers won't GO THERE. They aren't going to engage the work that needs to be done to truly… Continue

Yesterday, I gave Bella Benedict another riding lesson on Gunny. This wouldn't be so significant, after all I teach horseback riding lessons for a living. But Belle is just 6 yrs old and she has to clean corrals to EARN her own lessons. Her family is Very tight financially, so I offered Belle a chance to join the 'work to ride' program. She works Hard to earn enough credits to get to ride.



So, this was her 3rd lesson, and we worked on developing a SMOOTH whoa - a nice easy slow pull…

Continue

With all the event announcements for Myrddin's lecture series floating around facebook, and other media, I thought it would be nice to post some background on a teacher I have enjoyed learning from! Not sure if this will be reach anyone who is interested in knowing more about a remarkable coach, but its worth a try...

MYRDDIN EQUESTRIAN CENTRE Head Coach Bio:

Margie Godson is National Level 3 Coach; With a Pony Club A, she was longlisted for the Olympic Eventing team and has…

Continue

Meet Suzanne. An endlessly jolly character who absolutely loves having lessons and learning new things. Suzanne helps out at a riding school by managing the whole operation on Sundays. She pretty much does everything from mucking out to meet & greet, open and close, feeding the ponies and hacking out with clients. In return, she gets the lessons, mostly on a Cleveland Bay mare, Rosie.

 …

Continue

During my youth, I used to read dressage books that insisted that a person could learn to ride dressage only by riding an already schooled horse. I used to dream of finding a stable full of these wonderful equines who could transform me from my usual slightly effective riding to become a polished top rider.



And guess what? I never found that dream dressage riding stable, not that I would have been able to afford lessons at one. When I finally got to go to a…

Continue

Lesson went well Frankie is starting to respect my inside leg on circles and ease off it.

I learnt if I open my rein a little before I start to ask for bend he understands and can get his big ol' butt to come in.



Frankies Plan:

I ride Frankie 5-6 times a week so he's in top phys. condition and out of those rides two are lessons.

Heres my plan to get ready for show season:

Warm up: 1 way around on rail at walk both directions,

2 at trot both directions on the… Continue

I'm back to riding again! That really makes me happy.



My ride this week was pretty relaxed compared to the previous weeks of preparation.

The others in my group that qualified are now working hard to prepare for the Nationals in a few weeks. so my ride at the moment is not so focused.

But I will get myself back in to that focus again, as I want to become the best rider that I can possibly be despite my FM - I don't want it to get the better of me.



Riding is my… Continue

From the Alberta Equestrian Federation

May 15, 2009



The AEF is very excited to announce that we are now offering a brand new Western learn to ride program! This program is designed for children 5 years old and up and their parents and/or coaches. It is a program devoted solely to the initiation of equitation and to the horse world so that young children can discover the pleasures of western equitation and understand how to care for the horse. This program fills a need with young… Continue

What I'm about to say is not inspirational, as my trip to Yorkshire has been very... interesting, to say the least. The area of Yorkshire is fine and very beautiful, with big farms and delicious tea, but Yorkshire Riding Centre is a place I would rather not go to again.



I was supposed to stay at YRC (Yorkshire Riding Centre) for the week, but after the first night and the first day of group lessons I was not very impressed. The second day was not any better. I didn't come halfway… Continue

Wow so much has happened already! Yesterday we met nearly everybody who was doing the course at the State Equestrian Centre, and they are mostly americans who are really nice! Alex Wortman, the Chief Instructor, is such a great guy who is so funny, and so is his wife.



This morning we went to Stall Ramsbrock, which is home to 1400 horses and the owner is the world champion in breeding. We got to ride, and i rode 3 horses. the last two were only 5 months under saddle, and the other 2,… Continue

Hey!

I finally found a barn that looks very good and professional. I'll finally get to start jumping and I'm very excited to trail ride! I've never done it before but I'm sure its a blast! I get to start my first lesson on Friday after school. The first few lessons will be pricate so mt trainer can get a bearing on what I can do, and then i'll get to ride with some girls my age. She has some beautiful appaloosa's and a few quarter horses. My trainer has been riding almost all her life…

Continue