It’s that time again- the sun’s a bit late in the morning. Geese are starting migration and horses are growing hair. School buses are out in full force.
It’s been 40 years since I got summers off to play and ride, and then lost sleep over what to…
As a judge and competitor, I’ve seen a lot of bad horse show experiences. From horses who begin to anticipate in the class to those who refuse to go in the gate. There are riders falling off and others just falling apart emotionally.
If training a horse is like climbing a staircase, many mishaps occur because riders try to skip a step, or even jump…
Added by Lindsay Grice on September 5, 2012 at 7:29am — 1 Comment
We’ve all been there: Schooling our horse, asking for something, but not getting the right answer. We try one thing and then another, the work is sticky so we try a bit harder. At the same time, the horse feels a bit more resistant.
“This wasn’t just plain terrible, this was fancy terrible. This was terrible with raisins in it.” -Dorothy Parker.
ContinueAdded by Anna Blake on August 31, 2012 at 8:32am — 1 Comment
It’s that time again- the sun’s a bit late in the morning. Geese are starting migration and horses are growing hair. School buses are out in full force.
It’s been 40 years since I got summers off to play and ride, and then lost sleep over what to…
Added by Anna Blake on August 24, 2012 at 8:37am — No Comments
Discrimination is the ability to choose or differentiate between things. We make it hard for our horses to discriminate when we’re wishy-washy with our cues.
Dr Camie Heleski, Michigan State University, describes a study that illustrates this point…
In a study by Flannery, ponies were conditioned that one of two symbols on a feed box would gain them…
ContinueAdded by Lindsay Grice on August 23, 2012 at 7:44pm — No Comments
The 2012 Summer Olympics concluded this week. Dressage got a bit more attention than usual, partly because of Great Britain’s wonderful win on home turf, and partly because of political satirist…
ContinueAdded by Anna Blake on August 17, 2012 at 7:42am — 4 Comments
Added by Anna Blake on August 10, 2012 at 8:30am — 3 Comments
Oakley had a light July.
We aren't going anywhere for August, and probably not in Septermber, either.
We are going to concentrate on basic dressage work and jumping skills over low jumps.
First, because he got kicked good and hard by a mare who wears…
ContinueAdded by B. G. Hearns on August 1, 2012 at 5:00pm — 1 Comment
My hay guy got a new truck- a pristine dually in a pearlized-platinum color, with near Porsche-like lines. That big diesel engine hums like a finely tuned tank. If Tony Soprano had a truck, it would look like this. I liked it even more the second time I saw it, muddy and mussed. Should a dually really be this sexy?
I am the other kind of truck owner-…
ContinueAdded by Anna Blake on May 4, 2012 at 8:19am — No Comments
In the information age, Q and A columns , blogs, and on -line forums provide an buffet of answers to the questions horse owners have as they try to communicate with their 1000 lb., non-English speaking partners. The process of equine training and management can be puzzling. In in the horse world, where emotion and fact often collide, how do we know how horses really…
ContinueAdded by Lindsay Grice on April 13, 2012 at 9:36pm — No Comments
So, after a couple of days off, Oakley had a good session, did some light longeing, good flatwork, and it was a very pleaseant June evening...except it's March, where it didn't belong, but overall a good day’s ride. At the end of an hour, Oakley was sweating in the unseasonable heat, so I decided a good end would be a walk up the trail: not muddy, but not baked hard, either. A pleasant evening twenty-minute cool-down walk up the hill.
Nope.
Oakley started playing scared -- his…
ContinueAdded by B. G. Hearns on March 25, 2012 at 10:57am — 1 Comment
Sometimes there’s more competition that goes on outside the show ring than inside, don’t you think?
Horse owners at a boarding stable compare training methods and horse management practices, hoping to become the barn expert. Horse show “groupies” chit chat at ringside with their assessments of competitors, judges, and show management, but never…
ContinueAdded by Lindsay Grice on January 15, 2012 at 9:40pm — No Comments
It’s the misuse of imagination according to renowned motivational speaker and salesman Zig Ziglar.
“What if..?” keeps us up the night before a horse show or a presentation or a difficult telephone conversation.
A nagging worry is like dragging a weight around on the end of a rope. Wherever we go, it comes with us. The longer we drag it, the…
ContinueAdded by Lindsay Grice on January 12, 2012 at 3:37pm — 1 Comment
This is the time of year holiday greetings include Peace on Earth. We need it- there is so much conflict in the world…
ContinueAdded by Anna Blake on December 30, 2011 at 8:34am — No Comments
I have been having some difficulty lately with two trainers. My dressage trainer herself has issues with this too. The only difference is that she has two in the same discipline, I have two in different disciplines (dressage and jumping).
Sometimes I wonder if she is sad about me doing bothe and not be a primary dressage rider. Dressage will always be in my…
ContinueAdded by Julie Quintrall on September 9, 2011 at 2:39pm — 1 Comment
There were a few dark years (between leaving home and having enough income to support a horse) that I was earthbound with only house pets. I survived it. Barely.
During that horse-less time, a box arrived. It was a surprise parrot -from a friend in Panama. I’m not saying it was a great idea to catch a bird and ship her, I’m just saying that she…
ContinueAdded by Anna Blake on July 29, 2011 at 8:17am — No Comments
Added by Jamie B on June 19, 2011 at 5:30pm — 2 Comments
Wednesday I saw a tornado. Up close, while trapped in my car on an elevated stretch of highway in Springfield, Mass. Scary! Funny what a random lethal event does to your head. It’s clarifying.
My sister, a fellow agnostic, asked me if I prayed. The question took me off guard, and its answer surprised me a bit: I didn’t. I’d wondered if this was “it”, and then thought, why not? I don’t live in the area, just happened to be there at that moment as I traveled to Vermont for…
ContinueAdded by Jamie B on June 5, 2011 at 6:30pm — 3 Comments
Inspired by the "Road to the Horse 2011" on DVD which arrived last week, I've decided to implement an intensive training program to get Brody ready to be ridden. Brody's been with us almost one year now, and he came to us with a suspensory injury. But the vet came last week for Brody's vaccinations, and gave the go ahead to climb on and ride. Woohoo!
Brody may be physically ready to be ridden, but mentally and emotionally he is not. (And, of course, there is the…
ContinueAdded by Jamie B on May 30, 2011 at 7:29pm — No Comments
"Respect is appropriate response to pressure." I heard Pat Parelli say this once, and the ring of its truth is undeniable. Whether working on the ground or in the saddle, a horse's appropriate response to pressure is essential to any activity. Brody definitely needs (re)education on this!
Maybe lack of cooperation is his passive-aggressive platform for establishing dominance, or maybe I haven't been consistent enough in establishing my expectations and requiring him to…
ContinueAdded by Jamie B on May 22, 2011 at 8:56pm — 3 Comments
The story of how a horse goes from a second chance pony, into an inspirational life changing horse.
http://horsecarezone.com/navaras-story/navaras-story-part-3-time-for-change-just-the-beginning/
Navara's story. Tell me what you think so far. I hope you enjoy
Added by Ayesha on May 18, 2011 at 3:37am — No Comments
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