All Blog Posts Tagged 'horsemanship' (180)

Teaching a horse to ground tie.

I'm of the opinion one of the best things you can do for you and your horse is to teach them to ground tie. Two reasons I like to teach horses to ground tie is for convenience and safety. We have all been there, we are up on our horses and realize we dropped something or we forgot something in the barn or trailer. It may be you need to tend to another rider or adjust someone’s tack, whatever the situation it may require two hands and be in a location where there isn't enough room or be safe to… Continue

Added by Steve Wawryk on January 22, 2010 at 12:46pm — 4 Comments

Best of William Micklem - 7 - RIDE LIKE AN INTERNATIONAL RIDER - TODAY

This is my ten year old son on his 24 year old 11.2 pony - both of whom need to be carefully minded. They are jumping a fairly substantial fence. Quite a challenge and quite a risk many would say, but the two of them can do this time and time again with little risk. In fact my son can ride down to this fence like an international rider, in terms of getting his balance right and presenting his pony at exactly the right take off point, despite…

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Added by William Micklem on January 22, 2010 at 4:00am — 8 Comments

Best of William Micklem - 6 - THE YOUNG WILL JUDGE THE OLD

I remember the occasion well. It was the Fourburrow Pony Club camp in Cornwall, in the south west of England. I was 12 and a typical thin gangly kid. As you can see in the photograph above I was six foot tall on stick legs and all curled up on a 14.2 pony....my brilliant mare Charlie's Aunt. So what did my coach do? She took away my irons and made me ride and jump all morning with no stirrup irons, just like so many coaches have done before…

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Added by William Micklem on January 15, 2010 at 4:00am — 9 Comments

Method or the Moment

In December 2009, I moved Shadow to his new home. Unfortunately at the time, he was suffering from an infection in his hoof, which we have been treating with the help of hot poultices, aloe vera, onion water, and some flower remedies.

While his hoof was bad, I did some gentle ground work with him, following the advice of a wwoofer* who has many years of experience with horses and is a stringent Parelli-ite (my name for anyone who follows Parelli’s every word). She taught me some… Continue

Added by Gabrielle on January 14, 2010 at 9:00am — No Comments

Building That Vital Connection with Your Horse, part 2

In my previous blog post, we looked at how the interactions wild horses use within a herd to maintain harmony and unity can also be used by us humans to help develop a horse’s character in the same way.

Now let’s look at the different personality types within the society of wild horses and how that applies to our relationship with horses and what we can learn.

In nature, the spectrum of the equine personality goes from “submissive” to “dominant” but at the top… Continue

Added by Carolyn Resnick on January 13, 2010 at 7:00am — 1 Comment

No more frozen water tanks, your horse will thank you.

For those of you that live in a warm climate you can skip over this tip but for those of us battling the winter weather and freezing temperatures you might want to read this.

Keeping water from freezing is a real concern for many of us. Horses need their water just as much in the winter as in the summer so it is vital we keep our stock tanks from freezing over. Here are a few tips that might help in the battle of the frozen water tank.

If electricity is around try using a… Continue

Added by Steve Wawryk on January 12, 2010 at 5:18pm — No Comments

Building That Vital Connection with Your Horse

As a student of equine communication and behavior, I believe there is a vital ingredient missing in today’s equestrian world. I think that the foundation of any relationship with a horse not based on a deep connection can, and indeed does, lead to problems. To add this vital ingredient, I recommend that before you even start to train a horse with traditional methods, you take the time to bond with him and shape his character and attitude to fit in harmony with you. My focus is on… Continue

Added by Carolyn Resnick on January 7, 2010 at 11:30am — 1 Comment

BEST OF WILLIAM MICKLEM - 1 - A special horseman…and a lifelong lesson about difficult horses.

This is an amazing true story about acceptance and lack of acceptance. It shows how wrong it is to assume all ‘difficult’ horses just need to be ridden more forward. It is wrong to assume that just because a horse is unwilling, napping, rearing or bucking that they are being naughty and need discipline. Indeed it is dangerous to assume this. A proportion will undoubtedly have this behaviour because of pain.

ONE LADY AND TWO HALF BROTHERS

As part of his… Continue

Added by William Micklem on November 27, 2009 at 4:00am — 8 Comments

Back to Basics

I board a horse in Blackwater, north of Uxbridge. His name is Apache, and we just became companions in the beginning on September. I have not ridden in years, and am new to learning natural Horsemanship. I have had a few lessons with him, and have done research on groundwork, and we have worked together to the best of my ability, thus far. I realized two days ago that the two of us have a long way to go, in that since he has been moved to this barn, we seem to have lost a bit of our connection… Continue

Added by Jennifer Pitt on November 23, 2009 at 2:42pm — No Comments

Vermont Horse Farm Showcases Dressage and Good Horsemanship.

Horse Farm in Vermont Showcases Dressage Training and Good Horsemanship

www.ruthhoganpoulsen.com

www.easthillfarm.org

Working together

East Hill Farm in Plainfield, Vermont showcases the best dressage training and horsemanship around. Founded in 1976, East Hill Farm is one of the oldest and well regarded equestrian… Continue

Added by Ruth Hogan Poulsen on September 28, 2009 at 5:00pm — No Comments

HARNESSING HORSEPOWER? - Don't "put the cart before the horse".

As we all know, the old expression “don’t put the cart before the horse” is a metaphor about making sure that we have our priorities straight. Having said that, what is literal is how tragic it can get when someone arbitrarily assumes that it would be fun to drive their horse in a cart or buggy and that the horse will just agree do his or her job and be okay with pulling the contraption down the road.

Unfortunately, what all too often happens when even the best riding horses are… Continue

Added by Chris Irwin on August 29, 2009 at 5:00pm — 5 Comments

Do You Demand Your Horse's Complete Attention?

When you are with your horse, do you demand his/her complete attention? I don't.

In the worlds of traditional and natural horsemanship, there is a lot of talk about what constitutes respect. Determining the nature of respect can help you get it from your horse. Commanding his or her full attention while together is an element of respect. Last week I had a conversation with a trainer who was called in to help a horse owner who was having trouble getting the respect of her horse. Here… Continue

Added by Kimberly Cox Carneal on July 28, 2009 at 2:41am — 1 Comment

EVEN MARK TODD CAN BE LED ASTRAY – Part 1

So be honest… before buying your groceries who looks at the list of ingredients on the back of the box as well as the appealing tag lines on the front? Probably not many of us, but now the research indicates that we are becoming much more aware of the true contents of the beautifully packaged and photographed goods on display. We have learnt that ‘90% fat free’ actually means 10% fat, which is a high fat content and probably also includes a high sugar content. We have learnt that ‘100%…

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Added by William Micklem on July 17, 2009 at 7:30am — 21 Comments

Walking The Talk of Natural Horsemanship

Hello and greetings to everyone from Riversong Ranch in Alberta. I’m sitting here in my office reading over a recent chat I found on Barnmice about the merits – pros or cons – of Natural Horsemanship. And I must say that I am truly encouraged by most of the comments I read that seemingly indicate that now that the natural horsemanship “revolution” is over that perhaps now the evolution of natural horsemanship into “supernatural horsemanship” will begin.

Despite all the marketing hype… Continue

Added by Chris Irwin on July 12, 2009 at 1:00pm — 13 Comments

COURAGE & PARTNERSHIP COMPETITION

Why did I choose Courage and partnership as my two themes? Winston Churchill can explain the former...."Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities, because it is the quality which guarantees all others." And Partnership? I believe the Power of Partnership is the key to fulfilling your potential and indeed in some cases to even go beyond what would appear to be possible.

To be either a good coach, student or rider you need to be a good team player because each is half…

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Added by William Micklem on July 3, 2009 at 3:30am — No Comments

TRAINING BEFORE SCHOOLING?

When it comes to developing a truly willing mind from a horse there is a critical difference between training and schooling. Focused schooling for specific tasks as to exactly when, where and how the rider wants the horse to perform should only begin when the horse consistently chooses not to fuss, challenge or search to find a way out from between the legs and reins of the rider. Once the horse has had enough training to willingly choose the easy path of staying balanced with a rider and is no… Continue

Added by Chris Irwin on June 9, 2009 at 3:00pm — 7 Comments

FEEL THE RIVER IN YOUR HORSE

As I travel the world working with people and horses there are significant cultural differences between the various countries. However, it is always true that wherever I go - people are people and horses are horses. But then again there is the very real challenge of how often the time needed for translation of verbal languages takes us “out of the moment” with the horses.

Of course, that delay between a rider hearing what I have to say - and then translating my English into their own… Continue

Added by Chris Irwin on May 24, 2009 at 10:30am — 5 Comments

Tips for the Ring: Part 2

Continuing with last week’s blog, here are 6 more helpful tips for the ring:

Plan your corners. A typical course builder’s challenge is to place a jump so that you are jumping towards or into a corner. Deliberately designed to test you and the horse, as this naturally stifles the jump and may tempt your horse to jump off centre as he anticipates the turn you will be making. So keep straight, jump the centre of the jump… Continue

Added by Tim Stockdale on May 15, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

WHEN STRAIGHTNESS THREATENS THE PYRAMID

Hello friends and greetings from England. After a very rewarding week of work in Ireland last week I now find myself in England enjoying a clinic with the Brit’s and taking time to shoot some new video footage for Riding the Wave 2.

Yesterday I was invited by Roger and Joanna Day to be their guest at the Badminton Horse Trials during the first day, the dressage test, before I drive north… Continue

Added by Chris Irwin on May 8, 2009 at 10:30am — 10 Comments

Tips for the Ring: Part 1

I’ve always believed that rosettes are won at home. You just collect them in the ring. With that in mind, here are five of my top tips to help you put all your schooling to good effect:

1. Be clear in what you ask your horse. You walked the course and your horse didn't, so you need to make it clear to him which fence he has to jump. As you enter the ring, the first jump your horse sees may not be the first on the course and he may get drawn to the wrong fence. This is one of… Continue

Added by Tim Stockdale on May 8, 2009 at 9:00am — No Comments