Golden Reins Equestrian Center

11/21/2025

I love this one, I often compare the reins to handlebars simply to guide the direction of travel, its the pedaling that gets our horse following their nose.

Straightening your horse is a lot like riding a bike.🚲

When you ride too slow on a bike, you wobble, drift, and lose your balance.

The same happens with your horse.

If you ride forward into the bridle and you receive the connection in your hand, your horse gives you the chance to steer, to balance him, and to influence the whole body.

Forward energy makes the contact more stable and makes straightness possible.

Ride too slow and the balance drops onto the forehand.

Ride forward from back to front into the bridle, and suddenly the steering, the balance, and the reaction to your hand all fall into place.

Just like on a bike, when the forward flow is there, it becomes much easier to keep balance and direction.

Do you feel this with your horse too?

rienvanderschaft dressagetrainer dressagehorse dressagerider dressagetips

11/18/2025

Perspective right?!

At least I’m outside all the time 💁‍♀️🦄✨

11/12/2025

Some really good stuff here

This is a bit long, but important to share ❤️ 15 Fascinating Facts About Horses’ Emotional Memory and Empathy

1. Horses hold one of the most powerful long-term memories among domestic animals — recalling people, voices, and events for decades.

2. They read human intent through facial expressions, distinguishing friend from threat long before a hand is raised.

3. A single act of kindness can echo for years — a horse may seek out the same person even after a long separation.

4. Trauma carves deep grooves — a horse may forever avoid a place, object, or person tied to fear.

5. They sense human emotion through voice tone, breath rhythm, and body tension — even from across a field.

6. They respond not just to fear, but to sadness, joy, or confusion — silently, instinctively.

7. Mirror neurons in their brains allow them to feel what others feel — true empathy in motion.

8. When tears fall nearby, a horse may approach softly, lower its head, and offer a gentle touch — comfort without words.

9. A wounded horse can form the deepest bonds with a patient human — shared pain becomes shared trust.

10. Horses are proven emotional therapists for PTSD, depression, and anxiety — healing hearts, not just bodies.

11. They grieve deeply — lingering by a lost companion or withdrawing in quiet mourning.

12. Once bonded, they memorize your personal rhythms — footsteps, breath, even the silence between.

13. Their memory isn’t just survival — it’s the foundation for profound connection with those who earn their trust.

14. With gentle consistency, fear can be rewritten into safety — even shattered trust can be rebuilt.

15. Horse empathy is biological fact, not folklore — their brains and hearts sync with human emotion in real time.

11/05/2025

I have some availability for one or two lessons or pony experiences this Saturday if anyone wants to get a ride in!!

Pony experiences are 30 min for 1-2 kids of any age, great for a fun outing or to introductory lesson.

11/02/2025

We just pulled off the funnest proposal here at the farm. I love when people ask me to do fun things like this.
showed up as usual to make it even more perfect!

10/31/2025

Always liked this one

Love this visual for helping understand what the horse feels when someone sits sit crookedly in the saddle.

I also like to think of it as a toddler on your shoulders trying to reach across to grab something think how much harder it is for you to stay balanced.

🎨

🐴

10/28/2025

If you've been thinking about grabbing some Golden Reins Apparel, I'm going to submit the order at the end of the week.

See pics for front and back,
All info is in this link, and make sure you hit submit.

https://boards.com/a/12FZNS.EZV1Qz

10/07/2025

Countless times I relate horses to raising kids and vice versa. Sounds about right here.

Teaching Horses Emotional Control

In horse training, it’s not our job to protect a horse from ever feeling pressure, stress, or emotion, it’s our job to help them learn how to handle it.

A horse, just like us, is going to experience moments where emotions rise. They’ll feel uncertain, frustrated, worried, or even scared. If we never expose them to pressure and never give them the tools to work through it, then when life inevitably presents those moments, they won’t know what to do.

Our role as trainers is to guide them through emotion, not erase it. That means:
- Teaching them ways to dissipate their energy in a safe and productive way.
- Helping them learn to regulate when pressure shows up.
- Allowing them to feel, but showing them how to respond instead of react.

Avoiding pressure doesn’t build resilience, it builds fragility. Purposefully introducing challenges, and then helping a horse find release and peace on the other side, creates confidence.

The same is true for people: growth doesn’t come from avoiding what makes us uncomfortable. It comes from learning how to breathe, focus, and find balance when life gets loud.

09/19/2025

I never came back with the answer to my mounting question, which seems many of my horse friends knew the answer to that one. We mount from the left because in sword carrying days, the sword was carried on the left side of the body. Swinging a right leg over was the wiser move. Now, I am curious what the lefties did?

Most times today, we still teach to mount from the left as a universal rule. However, many people teach their horse to be ok with mounting from either side.

09/15/2025

Love this one!

Train Long to Grow Strong: What Science Says About Muscle Length and Performance

Did you know that training muscles at longer lengths leads to greater strength, growth, and athletic performance?

Research shows that when muscles are loaded in their lengthened position — rather than short and compressed — they experience:
• More mechanical tension
• Greater muscle fiber remodeling
• Stronger signals for growth and performance

🏇 What does this mean for horse training?
Exercises that encourage a full range of motion — like hill work, cavalletti, and long-and-low frames — promote:
• Stronger, more resilient muscles
• Better stride length and joint stability
• Improved dynamic performance in sports like dressage, jumping, and barrels

⚠️ Short, choppy movements or always working in a collected frame can limit muscle development by avoiding these lengthened positions.

✅ Want to build strength that transfers to real performance?
Encourage your horse to move in full, fluid ranges — not just for fitness, but for long-term soundness and athleticism.

Follow this link for more interesting info -
https://koperequine.com/articles/

09/11/2025

Seems here at GR, while our lesson program is healthy, we're in a place where we could move in a few directions. it just depends on what we want to really focus on.

We recently had a boarding spot open up, and no one has taken it yet, so I've been talking to Lilly about a training horse.
Many follow her and see what she's accomplished, we've also got some neat conversation going with what could be a really great connection for her and some outside training opportunities.
So if you know anyone with a horse that needs a refresher, some pattern work, or even a young horse started under saddle, reach out, and we can chat about what that might look like.

I'm still very open to a boarder also, must be a good fit for our barn environment. Details to anyone interested.

09/09/2025

I love a good post like this one!