All Star Equestrian

12/04/2025

I don’t know what to write today. For the first time in a long time, I have nothing. Right now, my words and my voice are not what you need to see and hear. These things of which I write, this lifestyle and all that usually consumes me, feel meaningless and small.

I’m watching people and their businesses begin to crumble with taking sides, going public about what they believe. I’m not ready to take part in this, yet, though you can be sure that I have increasingly strong thoughts and feelings about what is going on in the world right now.

This is not a political page. It never has been and I would rather shut down entirely than allow Keystone to spiral down into our going tribal, with barely-veiled threats and rants. Raising our fists and voices, waving our flags.

I am very aware that some of you feel rage and helplessness about what is going on in our world. Some of you feel righteousness, while others feel overwhelming fear. I would invite you to look at this thing we are teetering on, just as you would with a frightened horse, perhaps.

I so often think that our horsemanship parallels life.

As long as the one fears, or misunderstands, or is frustrated with the other, there will be discord. Friends become opponents. Relationships are so soon undermined with distrust! We suddenly reach a point where nothing anyone says, or writes, or actually does, is going to change the mind of the other. Nothing.

We dig in.

I, for one, do not appreciate being gaslit—from any side—for being consumed with the fear that we are on the brink of worldwide war. My fears, according to reputable news sources, are entirely justified. I maintain that fearing for one's loved ones, for the wellbeing of strangers, for small and powerless countries and for beautiful, vulnerable natural spaces goes far beyond politics. It goes far beyond any one individual's beliefs.

Yesterday, I slogged out to do my daily routine, the quietly hopeful round of rehab exercises with my horses and instead, I hung onto the gate post and cried.

How did we suddenly wake up and find that we will be either on the team of victors, or among the vanquished? How did we not see that there would be no familiar touchstone of right and wrong? That life has boiled down to being on the winning team? That if you are not among the chosen, you are not worth saving, any more?

When did being tough matter more than being willing partners? How did we allow ourselves to be pitted against friends?

There are a lot of us who are no longer walking our talk. We may strive for calm, for attunement, for balance in our lives but in reality, our hands no longer have any feeling. There is no softening, no empathy, no release of pressure. In our hearts, there is no kindness, no patience, no lightening up.

Half of us are riding on the muscle, using our spurs, pushing through at all costs. The other half are sucked back, shut down, sulled up… or else, fixing to bolt.

Most years, our hearts would be light at the impending arrival of spring. Instead, we are now living in a state of fight, flight or freeze. We have given up on partnership because no one is listening. We thought we knew the rules of engagement but what we knew for sure has suddenly changed.

Just like our horses, we are unable to find serenity—in horse speak: to lick, chew and swallow—because we are feeling unsafe. Unheard. Unloved.

When our own truths and beliefs matter more than anything or anyone around us, we’re in trouble. Right or wrong, we’re no longer living in harmony, or sustainably. We’re riding for a fall.

No, I have nothing to say about horsemanship today that will make a bloody bit of difference to the world around me. Tomorrow, I might have regained some shred of strength and composure. But not today, not right now.

Text: © Lee McLean/Keystone Equine.
Photo: Theresa Chipchase.

05/04/2025

20/02/2025

Jo Stutton Osteo is here for equine and human body treatments in march, who’s interested?

10/11/2024

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=962127369284783&set=a.410720264425499&type=3

I had a client say to me once; "I don't lunge horses and I don't want one around that I have to."

I was like, well then you miss out on a lot of great horses that just need a bit of foreplay before you climb on and ride.

Blunt, but I think I made my point. 🤷

Lunging your uncomfortable, defensive or simply 'feeling bitchy horse,' before you ride them has absolutely nothing to do with whether they are a bronc or not. I often call it a systems check, or warming up their want to. And some horses need that extra attention paid to them, that gesture of respect and understanding, to smooth over the rough edges of their worry. To re-awaken their trust in even the most familiar situation or handler. It's kind of the equine version of, "Don't talk to me before I've had my coffee."

I've been training horses for a very long time, and the one thing I've learned is that my fragile human ego is not allowed to lay down any ground rules when it comes to vibing well with a multitude of equine partners. I have learned that it is easier on everyone, both horse and human, if I meet them where they are, not where I expect they should be. If that takes a few minutes of moving their feet around and settling their mind, then no harm, no foul.

Have a good day folks! 😊

Pictured below; Hombre, the horse that has most taught me the benefits of lunging...he really doesn't like to be spoken to before coffee! 😉

18/09/2024

Great club and fun days 😊

03/09/2024

🤣🤣🤣

27/08/2024

We are back after our winter holiday , come and see us !

26/08/2024

Winter is over and lessons resume on the 1st day of spring 🥳 look forward to seeing you all

28/06/2024

Things your riding instructor wants you to know:
1. This sport is hard. You don't get to bypass the hard…..every good rider has gone through it. You make progress, then you don't, and then you make progress again. Your riding instructor can coach you through it, but they cannot make it easy.

2. You're going to ride horses you don't want to ride. If you're teachable, you will learn from every horse you ride. Each horse in the barn can teach you if you let them. IF YOU LET THEM. Which leads me to…

3. You MUST be teachable to succeed in this sport. You must be teachable to succeed at anything, but that is another conversation. Being teachable often means going back to basics time and time and time again. If you find basics boring, then your not looking at them as an opportunity to learn. Which brings me to…..

4. This sport is a COMMITMENT. Read that, then read it again. Every sport is a commitment, but in this sport your teammate weighs 1200 lbs and speaks a different language. Good riders don't get good by riding every once in awhile….they improve because they make riding a priority and give themsevles opportunity to practice.

5. EVERY RIDE IS AN OPPORTUNITY. Even the walk ones. Even the hard ones. Every. Single. Ride. Remember when you just wished someone would lead you around on a horse? Find the happiness in just being able to RIDE. If you make every ride about what your AREN'T doing, you take the fun out of the experience for yourself, your horse, and your instructor. Just enjoy the process. Which brings me to...

6. Riding should be fun. It is work. and work isn't always fun.....but if you (or your rider) are consistently choosing other activities or find yourself not looking forward to lessons, it's time to take a break. The horses already know you don't want to be here, and you set yourself up for failure if you are already dreading the lesson before you get here.

7. You'll learn more about horses from the ground than you ever will while riding. That's why ground lessons are important, too. If you're skipping ground lessons (or the part of your lesson that takes place on the ground), you're missing out on the most important parts of the lesson. You spend far more time on the ground with horses than you do in the saddle.

8. Ask questions and communicate. If you're wondering why your coach is having you ride a particular horse or do an exercise, ask them. Then listen to their answer and refer to #3 above.

9. We are human beings. We make decisions (some of them life and death ones) every day. We balance learning for students with workloads for horses and carry the bulk of this business on our shoulders. A little courtesy goes a long way.

Of all the sports your child will try through their school years, riding is one of 3 that they may continue regularly as adults (golf and skiing are the others). People who coach riding spend the better part of their free time and much of their disposable income trying to improve their own riding and caring for the horses who help teach your child. They love this sport and teaching others…..but they all have their limits. Not all good riders are good coaches, but all good coaches will tell you that the process to get good is not an easy one.

📝 Kimberley Reynolds

📸 Max & Maxwell: Equestrian Photography

18/04/2024

The Spanish Riding School has very strict rules about riding etiquette and arena courtesy, allowing the entire team to train harmoniously and without disturbing each other. Colonel Podhajsky took the time to record these rules in his book, The Complete Training of Horse and Rider:

In particular, the director of the Court Riding School must enforce strictly that no rider takes the liberty to make comments, much less to argue, while mounted on horseback. If a comment appears necessary, it must be made formally and modestly after having dismounted.

The impeccably groomed and carefully tacked up horses are led from the long side to the center line and squared up parallel with the short side.

Before mounting, every rider has to check the grooming, saddle and bridle of the horse that was brought to him. He immediately alerts the Chief Rider as to any irregularities and remains responsible for the proper tack as long as he is riding.

The rider always begins on the right rein and salutes the portrait of Emperor Charles VI.

Every rider has to salute the director of the School as well as his teacher after dismounting.

When two riders meet, the one riding on the right rein always makes room. In lateral movements, there are the following exceptions:
Riders who are practicing the shoulder-in make room, regardless of whether they are on the right or left rein. Riders who are practicing haunches-in, piaffe, or an extraordinary gait, remain alongside the wall, regardless of whether they are on the right or left rein, while the other riders always have to make room for them.

Riders who are practicing renvers or gaits in counter-position always have to leave the outside track to the other riders.

If two riders meet who are both practicing lateral movements, renvers, piaffe, or extraordinary gaits, the one on the right rein has to yield, as indicated above.

When individual riders ride patterns, it is the responsibility of the other riders not to disturb them.

Passing on unspecific lines is to be avoided as poor etiquette. Instead, the rider must pass on a straight line until he reaches the next corner, or he has to turn.

It is strictly forbidden at all times to wander around aimlessly. Every rider must adhere to the formal lines, circles, and turns. The teacher as well as every observer will then be able to recognize the rider's intentions immediately, because the latter cannot cover up the mistake when he succumbs to the horse's will. Instead, he is forced to keep the horse obedient every step of the way.

Photos: SRS