Hebel Equestrian

07/17/2024

Here’s an interesting view on horse movement from above. Try to imagine how your seat would move to follow this horse’s back

06/07/2024

Riding under a double rainbow tonight 🦄

03/07/2024

Happiness is a sunny day spent with horses ❤️

02/11/2024

Horseback riding lessons available for all levels at Hebel Equestrian!!
Enjoy our indoor riding arena and heated barn conveniently located in Bloomingdale which is minutes from Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph.
We offer instruction in a quiet and welcoming environment where students can expect a fun and safe-learning experience from our knowledgeable coach and team of high quality school horses. Our program values horsemanship and students learn to groom and tack up their horses. Hebel Equestrian’s English-style riding lessons focus on biomechanics and classical foundations for Hunter/Jumper riders.
We offer both private and small group programs. Part-boarding, leasing and purchase options are available. If you own a horse, inquire about our training and boarding services. Hebel Equestrian is proud to announce that we have a brand new arena footing which is soft and stable.
Reach out to register today!
[email protected]

01/31/2023

It is with a heavy heart that I am sad to announce that we lost Remi this weekend. He was a wonderful, loving horse that was well loved by the Hebel Equestrian community.

Just a few weeks ago during one of our makeup clinics, a group of lesson students enjoyed dressing Remi up and participating in a holiday photoshoot with him. We are glad to have this special photo to help celebrate his life.

Remi will be dearly missed ❤️

11/14/2022

The things that wise and veteran horse trainers DON’T say----
If you spend long hours down in the training arenas with the men and women who have spent years training, you won’t hear “He’s doing this because he’s a brat.”

Or “He knows better.”
Or, “He always tries to embarrass me.”
Or, “He loves to show off.”

Or any of the many anthropomorphic statements that less savvy humans make about why a horse is or is not doing something. So many people think emotionally about horses rather than rationally, and somehow they think that horses are somehow big, furry mini-humans in the ways that they react and respond.

They will say “my horse loves---” or “my horse hates,” or “my horse wants” placing human-like reasons for behaviors which have little to do with how horses evolved as a far different species from humans.

But try to un-convince them---It is a way of processing that I heard described as “eight year old thinking.” Actually, the way that I heard it from a veteran teacher went like this---She said, “It’s OK to think like a little 8 year old when you’re 8. Hell, what do you know when you’re 8? Not so OK to hear it when they’re 18 or 80.”

As I say, hang around the true experts, hear what you hear.

07/10/2022

07/02/2022

Patches hopes everyone enjoys their long weekend!

06/27/2022

There’s nothing like a freshly harrowed ring and a beautiful sunset on a Sunday evening 💛

04/12/2022

Chester looking spring fresh after a grooming session 🤩 who’s looking forward to riding outside?

04/05/2022

Horse & Rider biomechanics play an important part in our lessons at HebelEq. We will often video a student to allow them to SEE what they may or may not feel! A great read 🤓

03/29/2022

Bella enjoying the beautiful sunshine ☀️

03/12/2022

Happy horses enjoying turnout and sunshine

02/27/2022

Coach Rachel working with Obi.
They were working on furthering his understanding of the inside leg. As Obi continues his training there is a focus on building a correct base to help him excel!

02/22/2022

As you go about your day, remember to check your posture! Sit up, flatten your back, “don’t be a lurch”! Then transfer that new found posture to the saddle 🏇🏻

Rider posture

“Posture” is defined as posture
[ˈpäsCHər]
NOUN
1. the position in which someone holds their body when standing or sitting.

Posture matters in riding probably more than we realize, and most of us suffer from indifferent upper body carriage, especially when we are just out trail riding, and not being watched, as at a show of some sort.

The horse has to carry the rider, probably hard enough to handle when the rider sits in balanced alignment, but when we lean, tilt, lurch forwards, backwards, side to side, slouch, kick our feet out in front, all the common aberrations, the horse really struggles to deal with a shifting and unbalanced load.

A tiny little person can get away with this more easily, simply because that rider has less mass, but the taller or heavier rider who has improper posture will have more negative impact.

I am tall, and have found sitting up and open to be a life-long challenge, especially on long rides. For me, at least, one of the worst habits is to look down, because it’s like dominos, first the eyes go down, then the head tilts, then the shoulders round, then the upper body leans, and, BINGO, terrible posture.

So, if you want to make things easier for your horse, try not to look like Lurch----Stay more tall and open, maybe not to the elegant pinnacle of someone like Mr Watjen here, but this is an example of what to strive toward.

02/16/2022

One of our wonderful Schoolies, Whiskey 🦄

From Merton Equestrian Centre:

“They are never just RIDING SCHOOL PONIES:

One day you may move onto bigger, fancier horses, but never forget the school horse who made you, as without them, you wouldn’t be able to ride anything at all.

The patient soul that tolerated your bouncing while you figured out how to sit the trot.

The kind mare that didn’t walk off when you fumbled with the bridle and figured out how to pop that bit in her mouth.

The sweet gelding that picked up the correct canter lead even though your body was telling him to do the exact opposite.

The saintly angel that never spooked, which was a dam good thing because your balance was precarious at best.

Too often we forget where we came from. We move on to the next chapter in our lives and say, “Oh my gosh, I’m learning so much! I’m going so far! I could never do this kind of thing on that old school horse!”

But infact you could, you were just not ready to do all these things back then.

But that school horse gave you the confidence to move forward. That school horse took care of you in all respects and allowed you to take the time you needed to find your way. You couldn’t have become the rider you are today without that riding school horse, always remember to love them unconditionally for our riding school horses are what help start your dream, make dreams come true and get you ready for those bigger dreams 🐴

If like us you love our riding school horses as much as we do, we’d love to hear which one you will always remember and why 🦄”

Original Post:

https://www.facebook.com/131638306885889/posts/4710313415684999/?d=n

02/14/2022

One touch is all it takes to make you fall in love with a horse 🐴 💕✨

02/11/2022

The bigger your dream home, the bigger basement you need to support it! As the dream takes shape, the basement may need some “renovations” to maintain support.

https://m.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10158120992600947&id=109161715946

The Basement/Cellar Analogy

When a house is being constructed, often the first part that is dealt with is the basement, which, once the house is built above it, will be known as the cellar. In the places that I ride, there are old cellar holes, made of stone, the houses having long since succumbed to fire and decay.

When a rider starts to learn how to ride, beyond the “sit there and kick and go” stage, this is the place where the cellar hole is being dug, and the foundation being laid. If these basics are correct, then that which follows has a chance of being valid, but if there are fault lines, they will prevent correctness later.

The problem for the rider at this stage, at least it was for me, has much to do with that old saying, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” You are so ignorant. You think you know, but that’s because you are unaware of the magnitude of the learning that you will need to begin to be ready to learn. If you want a big house, you will need a big basement, and few riders have the patience to flounder around down there while they are learning. They want to get on with it, to show, to jump, to whatever.

Here I was just sixty years ago, the early summer of 1962, at Mr Van Schaik’s farm in Cavendish, Vermont, sitting on Lighting Magic. I had never had a dressage lesson, not really, and I had no clue that I had no clue.

Ideally and theoretically, I should have stayed there “in the cellar” for several years, but for all sorts of reasons, that didn’t happen. But if I had to custom design a program for someone who is now in the same situation that I was then, it would be to start at A. Learn A. Then go to B. Learn B. And so forth.

Most don’t. I didn’t. Most either can’t or won’t. Which is normal----
But at least be aware that mastery takes decades.