SD equine

09/02/2025

A fabulous day with the team yesterday at Addington. Z Concorde was amazing 😍

06/02/2025

Clarendon Stud days are the best ☺️❤️🐴

27/01/2025

Last week was another busy week at SDequine ☺️🐴❤️

22/01/2025

Had fun exploring the Dorset countryside with clover and company

22/01/2025

Awww Maybelline, Wizard and Finally ❤️🐴. They have now been weaned. Looking forward to helping them explore the big wide world this year 😊❤️🐴

21/01/2025

Great arena to hire 😀

19/01/2025

Another busy week 🐴❤️😊
Wonderful horses and great people. Work is pretty good, I'm so lucky 😊

18/01/2025

Saturday mornings with the BFG Alfie ❤️🦄☺️

17/01/2025

I'm so excited to be involved in this guy's transition from racehorse to riding horse. He's super sweet and keen to learn. As his body is changing and he's not quite up to carrying a rider yet, I've been giving his owner some longlining lessons. Today we had some obstacles out to bend around and go over, Both the horse and the owner really enjoyed this challenge (there will be more to come 😁)
Longlining Will help build a good foundation for his new career. Looking forward to watching him develop in his new home 🐴❤️☺️

14/01/2025

Sometimes it's the little wins that mean the most ☺️
I'm so proud of merlin and his first indoor experience. It's been 4 years since his back was X rayed and we found not only kissing spine but a few fractures between T12 and T18. It's been a very long road to get back in an arena for the both of us, as his behaviour although pain related and justified was terrifying the last time I tried.
We walked and trotted in a lovely outline and he sussed out a little x pole. It's amazing what time and patience can achieve for both horse and rider. Now looking forward to the next time 😁❤️🐴

11/01/2025

Wow a busy first week back at in 2025 ☺️
Riding
Lessons
Holiday cover for two lovely horses
Young horse first indoor arena experience
Met a beautiful new coloured
Got the ex racehorse longlining
Started walking out a youngster
Back with the team at Clarendon Stud
And more clipping
Good times ❤️🐴☺️

02/01/2025

Happy new year 🎉😁
I'm back after a lovely break over the holidays so will reply to all messages today ☺️ xx

30/12/2024

Hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas and is enjoying the holidays 😊

✂️✂️ Clipping ✂️✂️
Just a reminder that traditionally we shouldn't clip after valentine's day/February if you are wanting a lovely summer coat to grow through. Unless of course you plan to clip all year round 😊
January and February are booking up fast, so if you want to get a last clip in or your horse is in need of a tidy up please get in touch sooner rather than later 😁

Wishing you all a happy new year ###

24/12/2024

I'd like to wish all my clients a very Merry Christmas 🎄 🎁
Thank you so much for all your support this year it means a lot.
Enjoy the holidays 🍾🎄🥂🎁🎅

21/12/2024

Whoop 🙌🏻 …

Get in ! … lighter mornings and evenings are on their way!

18/12/2024

Everyone who trains with me knows how much I go on about how you can be too forward with a horse and how it just puts them on the fore hand. There is a huge difference between impulsion and speed. Balance is the most important thing and this article explains that very well

Slow Down
For decades, human athletes have understood the benefits of slowing down. The complex orchestration of muscles, fascia, closed kinematic and kinetic chains, involved in gaits and performances is easier to coordinate slowly. Our equestrian linear concepts of forwardness and balance are simplistic and false. Scott Grafton (Physical Intelligence) discusses ordinary people trying to walk on a balancing beam versus ballet dancers. The ballet dancers perform better because their education has developed muscle synergies that are not specific to the problem of walking on a balancing beam but allow them better balance control. Just stay still for a few seconds on a balancing beam. You will make numerous and minute muscle adjustments, maintaining the forces above your center of mass. You will remain in balance as long as your physique controls minute shifts. You will be off balance as soon as the shifts become larger movements. You might give yourself an illusion of balance running through the beam. You will be off balance and crash at the end, but if the video is edited to show only the run, you will show the same illusion of balance as a horse rushed on the forehand, leaning heavily on the bit.
Now, go back on the balancing beam and walk slowly. You will not be able to control your balance on the first day. For each leg moving forward, your whole physique will have to complete minute and numerous adjustments as does the horse walking slowly in balance. Indeed, it is more difficult than rushing through the beam with a hand supporting you, but your mind and physical intelligence will identify and develop muscle synergies and fascia work, improving your balance. The horse needs to do this when performing in balance while carrying a rider. For each leg movement, the back muscles need to center the forces above the center of mass. This education demands that we create an atmosphere that gives confidence to the horse to explore further. The horse must feel respected, encouraged to explore, and given the time to process. Concentrating the forces above the center of mass is complex and involves the whole physique. The education is easier if the horse performs slowly and we work at the level of minute shifts that we channel between our upper thighs. The second we bend the horse’s neck or shift our body weight back to front or from one seat bone over the other, we alter the horse’s mastery of balance.
We can go fast and inject or slow and educate. Teaching the horse to master balance does a lot more than balance control. Mastering balance reduces the intensity of the forces stressing the lower front legs and cervical and thoracic vertebrae at impact. We can lead the horse to better hoof placement as we do by controlling our back on the balancing beam. Better joints’ placement at impact includes knee and hip joints. At a slower frequency, our physical intelligence can reach mastery of forces that our consciousness cannot master. Tai chi and other martial arts further the capacities of the human physique. The science of slow motion furthers the capacities of the horse’s physique.
Dressage boot camps will urge you to go fast because a boot camp aims to numb critical thinkers and make them obey stupid orders. When dressage returns to its original function, which is to educate and coordinate the horse’s physique for the athletic demand of the performance, the horse’s mental processing is the primary asset. The horse needs to process questions and have the time to explore solutions. Our understanding of the horse’s body function and the performance’s athletic demands allows us to assist and eventually redirect the horse’s processing.
Jean Luc

16/12/2024

Mooching with friends in the countryside, what Sundays are for 🐴❤️