Sugartown Equestrian

11/16/2023

Horses need horsemen. It's that simple. I get asked the same questions over and over again and nobody gets it. What level rider is this horse suitable for? I'll tell you, the best one she can get, the best horseman that's willing to buy her. The horse will only ever be as good as the rider. It doesn't matter if it's trained to jump hoops of fire, you're gonna bring it down to your level in no time. Your kid doesn't need a $15,000 horse if they haven't already had $15,000 worth of lessons. You can't buy a violin that will gift you the skill of playing. It's the same for horses. There is no magic horse, only a love for the animal, and a commitment to learning.

Most of you are so unfair and demanding of the horse you miss the forest for the trees. "I want a horse that rides out alone!!" well guess what, you better be ready to spend a year developing that relationship, that bond, that trust, she's not a bike, you can't buy trust.

"I want a horse that can sit and be the same after time off" well friend, this is a commitment to a relationship, not a classic car you take out of the garage twice a year. You can't buy what your looking for.

"I want a horse my kids can ride" you better be ready to teach your kids how to be horseman, because if the horse has to do it, you'll likely see the inside of an ambulance, or a morgue.

You can't buy trust, you cannot buy what comes with building a relationship with an animal over years of dedication.

Brittnee Woodward-Whitehead wrote this

11/07/2023

So much great information in this post!

Question #5 in our Q+A series!

Q: Hello! I have a question for the Q & A! How do you first introduce flying changes to a young horse (what are the steps you find important)? How do you manage the flying changes to be clean and your horse to be reactive? And after they are clean, how do you manage to make them more expressive? Coming from an amateur rider who particularly struggles with flying changes and who would like to rise up the levels!

A: Putting flying changes on horses is something I’m extremely experienced with and very particular about mainly because I made the huge mistake with the very first dressage horse that I ever trained of completely screwing them up and training the horse to do them late behind and then I had to fix my own mistake (and there is no greater teacher than your own mistake!!). I was very fortunate though that after I had screwed up the flying changes on that first dressage horse of mine I was riding in clinics with a trainer at the time who was a complete wizard with flying changes and she showed me all of the holes in my canter work that I was, at the time, completely unaware were there and how to correct them and from that I was able to systematically repair my mistakes on this horse and it also definitely taught me in the future to never make those same mistakes again-and consequently I have fixed flying changes on horses for more people than I can count over the years, it’s a skill to put proper flying changes on a horse to begin with but it’s a much bigger skill to correct the mal-trained flying change and I have to say that I’m thankful for that first horse of mine who taught me that skill and was such a good soul to allow me to correct my mistakes with him and learn from him.

I cannot stress enough that when you are beginning to ride changes on a horse if the horse is getting them late behind do NOT mistake this for the horse “almost getting them clean” or “being close to getting them clean”, changes that are late behind are a very clear indicator that your horse is not educated enough about the engagement of their hindlegs in the basic canter strike off and thus not ready for the flying changes and needs to go back and revisit the basics. The flying change is the only movement we have in dressage that happens immediately-every other movement (half passes, pirouettes, extensions etc) we can stay in for unlimited strides to explain to the horse what we need from them-the flying change happens immediately and once it’s gone it’s gone, so if the horse becomes confirmed in doing them the wrong way it is extremely difficult (and unfair) to then explain to that horse that they’re doing them wrong rather than just setting them up for success by making sure that they learn the flying change correctly and cleanly in the first place.

Okay so the prerequisites for flying changes-cannot stress enough do not be in a hurry please do your basics first! There is a reason that second level, which contains simple changes and counter canter, comes before third level and yet there are so many people who want to jump ahead to the flying changes when their horses are not completely and utterly confirmed in the second level work. You have to have complete control in the simple changes and the counter canter, this means that you can do approx 3-4 simple changes up a longside with the horse having no confusion about clarity of the transition and picking up the lead asked for, the simple changes (through walk of course) should be very fluid, clean and easy and the horse must strike off to the canter with the outside hind. When we look at the basic footfall of the canter it should be outside hind, inside hind and outside fore together and inside fore followed by a moment of suspension-if you watch 10 second level horses do walk canter transitions 8 of the 10 will drag themselves into the canter on the first stride with the front legs and then catch up with their backends and carry on-these horses will be pre-disposed to learning the flying change late behind because they don’t correctly associate the canter strike off from behind. A flying change is simply a transition from one lead to the other so if your horse understands the correct sequence of footfall in an upward transition there’s a very good likelihood that they will associate the correct footfall in the flying change and this is why these simple changes are so important. Don’t be discouraged if your horse doesn’t understand or find it super easy to strike off from behind in the upward transitions when they’re learning, plenty of horses don't and it’s no reflection of their athleticism or ability it’s simply a training issue and that is your job as the rider to educate your horse on using their hind end properly in these transitions by focusing on it and insisting each and every transition is a good one. Now you also need to have complete control of the counter canter, people often get greedy when horses start trying to steal changes in the counter canter and they go ahead and start doing flying changes thinking this means the horse is ready-it doesn’t, it means your horse is not on the aids and not on your seat and this will lead to horses that will later on start stealing change on you in the counter canter and it will become very problematic when you get to the stage of starting to ride tempis and need to have that horse 100% on your aids so that you can master your tempis with a correct count and no anticipation. Tempis are extremely easy with a horse that is on the aids as it’s then simply a matter of being able to count, if the horse is not on the aids good luck. To test that you have complete control in the counter canter work you should be able to make figure eights going in and out of counter canter, serpentines in and out of counter canter and able to make half 10meter circles in counter canter, forward and back transitions in counter canter etc without the horse trying to steal a change, falling into trot or any other loss of balance, they must be able to maintain the counter canter on any line without loss of balance and simply maintaining the lead in relaxation while staying on your leg and seat aids with complete balance, they also have to be able to counter flex while in true canter and counter canter without swapping leads and/or losing balance.

Now assuming that we have properly done our homework and our horse is ready to begin the flying changes here are a few of my favourite ways of doing the first ones (most trainers have their preferred ways of starting changes with horses and there are certainly many roads that lead to Rome but these are just a couple of my preferred methods). I find most horses tend to get crooked in the changes in one of the following two ways-they’ll either want to swing their quarters around or they’ll want to drop and turn their shoulders into the change. For the horse that is going to tend to throw the quarters around I usually will start the changes coming out of a leg yield at the wall, the leg yield will help to ensure that there is sufficient jump in the canter for the change to come through the whole body and the wall will block the haunches from swinging outward. For example, I would come up centreline on the left lead, leg yield away from my right leg (outside leg) over to the wall and make the flying change to the right lead after I’ve arrived at the wall (approx 2-3 strides after straightening onto the wall ideally), the wall will help to straight the horse into my new (left) outside rein and leg and will prevent the quarters from swinging out-if the horse then tries to swing the quarters inward after the change you can proceed down the wall in a shoulder fore right to counter this. For horses that tend to drop the shoulder and turn in the changes I like to approach them by coming from a counter canter and making the flying change into counter canter. For example, you would come across the diagonal MXK coming out of the corner at M on the left lead (counter canter) as you come somewhere between the quarter line and K you ask for the flying change to the right (and will then enter the corner at K in counter canter) I like this approach as the horse sees the wall coming up and this usually makes them “stand more up” which gets them up off their shoulders so that they aren’t so inclined to dive down, swap leads and run out of balance (this is similar to doing a downward transition off of a circle toward the wall using the visual of the wall to rebalance the horse onto the quarters) and riding the flying change landing into the counter canter will also require the horse to rebalance themselves coming into that corner in counter canter which will prevent the horse from dropping the shoulder and running through the corner.

With the horse that is experienced in flying changes you can work to improve expression by riding transitions in between the changes, so as you land off the first flying change, bring the horse back for two strides to create good loading of the hindlegs (like coiling a spring) then send them forward 2 strides and on the third stride ask for the next flying change and repeat, this exercise is great for creating better scope, jump and ground cover in the changes.

11/04/2023

11/03/2023

10/31/2023

This might shock some riders. Four or five decades ago horsemanship included a primary concept of matching riders and horses by body type. Today few people have heard of it. Matching the conformation of the rider with the conformation of the horse was based in the physics of balance and movement, or compatible biomechanics of each to create an optimal whole mass between the two.

When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. To achieve optimal balance with a horse it is better if the rider "fits" the horse. Imagine if the second rider in from the left were to ride a 14.3 H Welsh, The Welsh would have difficulty balancing the rider in every gait. Or what if the rider on the far right rode a big draft cross or a big Warmblood. It would be difficult to achieve unity of movement because the light weight rider would be like a fly on the horseback with too little body mass to effectively engage the horse's powerful movement.

Likewise, a person with a short torso and long legs would do well to ride a horse with a large barrel to take up their leg, and a short legged rider would be better off riding a narrow chested horse for a better fit. We used to match riders with horses. Now everyone, regardless of their body type, seems to want a big Warmblood or other trendy breed because that is the current fashion. In this fashion based standard for selecting horses, the small rider gets tossed around on their trendy large horse. Then the rider needs a saddle with an extremely high cantle and all kinds of blocks on the flaps to compensate for the mismatch.

And that is my point. I see a lot of riders compensating for a mismatch with their horse instead of riding simply in unity with their horse.

I see this mostly in dressage but in other disciplines as well. Modern riders are slaves to fashion in horses, equipment and attire. Who set the horse culture goal to be uniformity and not effectiveness? Everything comes down to unity between horse and rider, and unity comes down to shared balance and movement. Mismatching horses and riders fights against the commonsense physics of balance and movement and that makes unity much more difficult to achieve. We need to stop using fashion as the basis of our decision making when it comes to horses and riding.

10/30/2023

I found this so interesting!

10/27/2023

Dr. Parks has been managing a group of horses who unfortunately munched on wilted red maple leaves from a down tree and wanted to remind everyone of the danger of red maple toxicity.

Eating the bark and leaves can cause severe damage to the red blood cells, resulting in life threatening anemia and kidney damage. We can give medications to reduce uptake from the GI tract if we see the horse early and IV fluids once horses are showing signs of toxicity.

Know what these leaves look like and contact your vet immediately if you think your horse has ingested any!

10/22/2023

Paul Belasik explains why neck position is so important: “The positioning of the neck is critically important, because the neck is the gatekeeper to connecting the topline of the horse. If the topline can be made into one strongly connected piece, then if the rider can get the horse to start bringing the great muscles of the hind end more under the mass, the rider has the possibility of lightening the forehand, not by a few percentage points, but by an infinite range all the way up to 100% lightening of the forehand, as in the levade.”
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2023/03/collection-and-the-neck/

10/20/2023

❤️❤️❤️

It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you ride twice a week consistently.
Sometimes I get more done with my horse if I only ride for 15 minutes then I do if I ride for an hour.
I focusing on my goals, helps me achieve way more than guilt ever has.
You shouldn’t have to push yourself - instead, pick goals that pull you!!!
Then slowly, steadily plug away at it!

Horsemanship is a slow burn. It’s constant returned the fundamentals. It’s ridiculous amounts of patient slow work. Not that it can’t be fun and exciting because it absolutely is!!

“Most people over estimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in a decade.” Tony Robbins.

Just know- you are in this for the decades, not the years!! if for some reason, you lose momentum for a few months or even a year, it’s really not that big of a deal. When life allows pick up and start back at it again.

So many times students declare they are in a funk because they had three or four not great rides. I mean, if you had a few bad rides, you could definitely be problem-solving, but it really does not mean that you are a terrible rider!  We put a lot on ourselves.
If you had a bad fall, and it takes six months to get over it, so what? That’s a perfectly acceptable timeline. Your life really was in danger-you were not making it up.
 If life drama pulls you away from horses for two years, you’re not done! In the course of a lifetime, that’s a pretty short break. It’s fine.

Hey, someday they are going to isolate the horse girl gene and then we will be able to confirm that this is not just a thing we do- it’s what we are. And with that means that this is a lifelong endeavor, and it’s going to have highs and lows. Those lows will pass (and so will those highs!) Things will slow you down and that’s fine. Your goals will change. Horses will go lame. Life will happen. But you are in this for the long game!! You will ride again/ find new goals/ accomplish that dream/ regain your confidence/ improve your seat/ master inside leg to outside rein connection/ achieve harmony…, whatever it is. You’ll get it because you slowly and steadily work towards it because it’s important to you, it’s who you are, and you’re in this for a lifetime- not a moment.

Remember that in this sport you are never going to “make it”. There is no grand place that you arrive. There is no summitting- just climbing. And you enjoy the climb, which is why you do it! Sometimes we forget that and expect to arrive at some harmonious destination, where it’s no longer a challenge, but that’s not how this works. So get cozy, enjoying the climb and putting in the slow work

10/17/2023

Judging young horses with Carl Hester and Peter Holler:
“If they don’t have relaxation it affects their paces. Some horses can be tense and produce spectacular movement, but that’s not right either. Others go into themselves. You just have to think of the Training Scale, how the horse uses itself. Look to the head and neck, if the neck is not nodding outwards, the horse cannot be supple in its back. Nod outwards – if they nod inwards it shows they are tight in their back.” Valegro demonstrates...
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2020/09/carl-hester-and-peter-holler-on-judging-young-horse-classes/

10/13/2023

This is pretty good, particularly the hind end conformation illustrations. Too many people worry about what the front end is doing.

10/13/2023

A really amazing experience and hard to describe. I hope he comes back soon, I wouldn’t miss it!

10/13/2023

🥃 Our Whiskey on Wednesdays Webinar Series is back!

We’ve got a stacked line up of talented women and interesting topics that will be full of education and lively discussions 🙌🏼

Head to our website for all the deets & to Register

10/12/2023

Pammy Hutton FBHS, an international competitor, and trainer of Olympic and Paralympic medallists, on why the dressage world is so lucky to have Carl Hester

10/06/2023

10/03/2023

We went to the Jessica von Bredow-Werndl demo today at the lovely Addington Equestrian hosted by Equestrian Management Agency
The event was really well run (and a great Christmas present from Judy Fw )

💫Wow wow wow 💫

Jessica is a European, World and Olympic champion, so we definitely had high hopes for her demo.
It is safe to say that the day exceeded all expectations, Jessica's passion and joyful approach shone through whilst working with very talented horses and riders.

I thought I might share a few of my key notes from the day (maybe not all 10 pages on my phone...)
Some of what Jessica said really resonated with me, some points were a refreshing reminder, and others took an entirely new angle/solution to things.

✅️The Young Horse - it's all about good experience, creating the happy athlete. Although at times it's easy to hang on with a young horse, lengthen the rein, slow down, praise the horse, and breathe.

✅️ Give them no reason to run away, give them a moment, and let them look around (especially mares!). Over excitment is a good thing, it shows the horse loves to move. It's better than kicking around trying to create energy. Allow the horse to gain self-confidence, give them space in the contact, don't fear mistakes. Don't suppress them in their natural energy. Influence their character in a positive way.

✅️Warm-up time should be as short as possible and as long as necessary. If teaching a new movement, teach it at the beginning of the session after the warm-up. They are more focused at that time.

✅️ Centre line then leg yield into shoulder in. This is Jessica's exercise for all horses as a warm-up. The leg yield helps relax the horse, and it allows you to get your leg on and wrap around the horse ready for communication.

✅️Don't always praise with hand. It can be a shake in mouth. Use voice for reassuring.

✅️ Walk breaks are super important. How do they give you everything if they don't get a break regularly. It also sets you up for competition, practising switching the horse on and off.

✅️Medium canter, use travers before collecting the canter to engage the inside hind leg within the canter. This helps with showing the horse HOW you want them to collect (e.g, hind leg under).

✅️When asking a question (e.g, canter balance), don't be afraid to let the horse make mistakes, make the correction, and carry on. Having a mistake is a learning process.

✅️Suppleness is found behind saddle, not in the neck.

✅️Only go as much forward as you can do without holding them in contact as young horses. Choose a tempo that you can give the rein. Let them find their own balance.

✅️If they have a joy to move, thats what a grand Prix horse needs.

✅️Long neck- short body. Younger horses need a slightly more lifted neck.

✅️Always feel responsible for the exercise, if it doesn't work, change it.

✅️It is easier to explain horses to 'jump' more under with the hid leg by SLOWING DOWN. Explaining HOW we want them to move (e.g hind leg under). Listen to the footfall of the hooves, if it's loud in front it is often an indication of an unbalanced way of going.

✅️Less is more!

✅️Look for the big picture when training, how should it look? what is needed to make it look like this? If you want to change something you have to do it consistently.

✅️Always train long line of half passes with shoulder in. It's the in and out that teaches them how to carry themselves.

✅️Travers through corners helps activate the hind end through the corner.

✅️The neck follows the ribcage. It's all about the ribcage.

✅️Warm up/cool down is an easy jog, not an expressive jog. It's a stretching out for the back. You must still want the hindleg from the first movement (e.g when you first move off). Don't let the horse run away from the hindlegs and then try and explain later that you want them on the hindlegs!

✅️Slow down!

✅️Tell them how great they are and they will become greater!

✅️Don't train extended trot- it happens when the balance in the collection is better.

✅️With the changes, ignore the mistakes, praise the correct ones. Riding a circle with changes on makes the horse supple and even both ways within the change. On the circle, move the body away from the direction of change to open the side of the body for the change.

✅️If the horse paddles out behind in piaffe, add the sideways. Piaffe in shoulder in and then out in shoulder in. Focus just on the transitions in and out, not the piaffe itself. It's ok to be tense in piaffe, stay in it, work through it, explain it! It's not stressful, use shoulder in. Sideways (shoulder in) is a door you open (a vent) to allow the energy to positively go somewhere. This helps the horses find the right solution. Piaffe from ground first is essential. Then ask for it sitting on the horse, but still with someone on ground.

✅️Get them infront of your seat!

✅️Don't focus on the horses weaknesses, look for their strengths and use them to improve the weaknesses.

✅️Within canter Pirouette, flex to outside to connect with the inside hind leg. Don't train whole pirouettes, train them HOW to use their body.

💫These are a few of my notes💫
I think it was very clear from the way Jessica presented herself, although she is world number 1, it is all about the journey training horses to Grand Prix.
To sign off Jessica wanted to remind us that...

It's great to have goals, big goals. But more importantly is the how...how we interact daily with horses, how we act with our horses as partners, how we train.
When you win a gold.. it's a few moments of a high. What stays with you is the journey, the horse who did everything for you. We want our horses to be excited and happy to see us, happy to move. This is what it's all about. It's about the love. The joy. Is about the journey and we are privileged to spend our time with them.

💫💫💫

10/01/2023

Who matters more? The mare or stallion?

In a 2015 study, 675 foals were divided into 4 categories.
1. Elite dam x Elite sire (EE)
2. Elite dam x Poor sire (EP)
3. Poor dam x Elite sire (PE)
4. Poor dam x Poor sire (PP)
Unsurprisingly, the best offspring came from the Elite dam x Elite sire group. Here’s a twist… the worst offspring did not come from the Poor dam x Poor sire group as one would expect. The worst performers came from the Poor dam x Elite sire group!!

Overall, the lesser performing foals came from the PE and PP groups. The highest performers were in the EE and EP groups.

Can you say ‘girl power?’ Mares have a large impact in the quality of the foal! Keep this in mind for the upcoming breeding season 😉

Www.equineeggslist.com

10/01/2023

𝗥𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗶𝘁𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀

𝗔𝘀 𝗮 𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲'𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀, 𝗳𝗶𝘁𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗶𝘁𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀. 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗰𝗸, 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲!

𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 ’𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝘁𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀’

𝗥𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗷𝗼𝗴𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘁𝗰 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗼 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹, 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆. 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲.

𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗺𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁. 𝗕𝘆 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲. 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗲/𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘁/𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗯 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆. 𝗢𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮 𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀, 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗮𝘀𝘆𝗺𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀.

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗸, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲. 𝗜𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆, 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗴𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴) 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲.

𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝗮 𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗽𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘀, 𝘄𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲, 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗻 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗳𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗸/𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿.

𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 😀

09/26/2023

Let’s talk about the difference between rhythm and tempo. I hear these words used incorrectly all the time, and it’s more than just a nit picky thing to correct. It’s a very important concept to understand.

Rhythm (in dressage) is the footfall of the gait - 4 beats for walk, 2 beats for trot, and 3 beats for canter.

Tempo is the SPEED of the rhythm. You can discover your horse’s ideal Beats Per Minute (BPM) for each gait.

A huge moving warmblood and a tiny Shetland pony have the same rhythm in trot, but they have VERY different tempos.

If you have a RHYTHM problem, you have a big problem. If the walk is lateral (leaning towards 2 beats rather than 4), or the canter is a 4 beat canter - this is a big problem. Could be a physical issue with the horse, but you will need good help from a pro with a rhythm fault.

Most riders have a TEMPO problem - too fast, too slow, too varied. Ideally, the tempo should be like a metronome - steady and reliable, and YOU have to set it for the horse. (Side note - it’s super easy to download a free metronome app on your phone and ride with one. It will be seriously annoying to find out how NOT steady your tempo is 😂. But it’s very helpful to discover your horse’s BPM for each gait and try to stay steady.)

The rider has to be like the conductor of the orchestra - you SET the tempo for the horse, but you don’t play all the instruments. Tell your horse how quickly (or slowly) to march in walk, push in trot, and jump in canter. Then leave him alone and only adjust when that tempo goes too fast or too slow. You have to be a quiet, feeling rider to notice immediately when the tempo begins to slow down or speed up too much.

Illustration by Susan DiFelice Design

09/26/2023

A nice reminder from Carl Hester that surrounding yourself with the right support can be more important than owning an expensive horse.

09/26/2023

Making the most of the horse you already have, a discussion----

Absolutely, not all horses are created anything approaching equal, and absolutely, those who have elite horses are well ahead of the game.

But I think that there are lots of horses who, under the right management and training programs, could be ever so much more than they might appear.

So here are some ideas, and please feel free to add others, of ways to take good old Back Yard Harry, aka the horse that is already sitting in your barn or pasture, and doing a makeover on him.
Word of caution---Some is routine and relatively easy, but some will require skill and time.

But first, have a thorough check on Harry’s overall health and general management. This will include shoeing and/or trimming, so that his hooves are in good shape. Is his worming program up to date? Has he had any shots that your vet might recommend? What about his feeding program? Is he in a good weight range? Does he have constant access to clean water? Does he get turnout and fresh air?

Now look at Harry’s tack. Does his saddle fit him well? What about saddle pads? Does his bridle fit? Does the bridle have a bit that hurts him? If so, get one that does not, highly important.

Now, and this is a BIG one---Is Harry being worked consistently enough to be in general good fitness? He should not be weak. He should not sweat and pant under normal work. He should not be too thin or too fat.

OK, so let’s say that Harry is in good health, good condition, and is being ridden with good tack---Do YOU know how to train Harry correctly in the type of riding that you do? Because Harry will only become as adept at, let’s say, jumping or dressage or distance riding, or reining, or whatever, as your skills prepare him to get there. Sad but true, many otherwise talented horses get held back from reaching their potential by uneducated riders.

The point of this post is simple----Yes, horses come out of the egg with various abilities built in by their genetics, and those will either open or close various doors, but SO MUCH of what a horse can become is based upon factors WITHIN our control. There are thousands of horses right this moment all over the world that under different circumstances could be light years ahead of where they are right now if they were given a fighting chance.

Don’t dismiss the Harry you already have before you give him management, condition and training, because the one you already have may be the one you dream about.