CH Equine

06/23/2024

You do not have to be an expert in biomechanics, but you need to know enough so you do not compromise your horses body when working with them.

06/23/2024

Fish has returned for yet another weekend of auditing. Apparently he has even earned his track hat! Our friend, Davi, is here from Brazil teaching Dressage. 🙌🏼

06/17/2024

If you are fortunate to have the skill or the opportunity to sit on a horse that has a loose back the swings, allowing the haunches to thrust your horse into a soft moment of suspension landing softly, you are one of the few. When you feel this soft floating movement of a well trained horse you do not even feel a need to rise in the trot.

Imperador is beginning to find the balance between the power of thrust and carrying power. When your horse finds this balance and is loose in their back, you get amazing movements!

06/16/2024

Just finished our bath. Ready to shine!!!

06/15/2024

‘Tis the season to get your horse out of the arena!!!!!

06/14/2024

Even though we focus on Dressage at CH Equine, there are lots of things outside of dressage that can be useful to develop a strong, balanced, and confident Dressage horse.

06/13/2024

Your horse does not have to be collected to do lateral movements. It is proper lateral movements that prepare your horse for collection.

06/12/2024

Before an aid is applied, you must know these things…
Why is it needed
What aid(s) is needed
Where is it needed
When is it needed
How much pressure is or is not needed. 🤔💭

06/11/2024

“Collected exercises and loosening exercises should be used interchangeably and the combination of both is the preliminary stage for developing collection.” Egon Von Neindorff

The Art of Classical Horsemanship

06/10/2024

No Hoof, No Horse!

As an owner, you have to be knowledgeable enough to select a good farrier. You don't need to know how to do the work, but at least educate yourself enough to know when the work being done is what is best for your horse in the long run.

When you find a good one, treat them well. That means making sure your horse stands politely and does not try to bite them.

06/09/2024

A wonderful example of a trusting relationship.

Kathy is riding her PRE mare, Bravia, on a long rein in a forward trot. There is no tension or worry in either of them. 🙌

It is important for your horse to know they can relax with you. If you are unable to ride on a long rein to let your horse relax in trot and canter, then your horse is not really with you yet.

Keep working on your relationship. Building trust is crucial for the horse and rider! 🏇

06/08/2024

A good picture to show how thrust (right) turns into suspension (left).

Enjoy life!! 🤪🤩

06/07/2024

Check out this black beauty! 😍🐎

If you know of anyone looking for a Friesian with classical training, send them our way!
Jet is a cool and safe horse. Rides well in and out of the arena. He is an 11-year-old gelding imported from the Netherlands.

A rare find, a Friesian with some classical training.Imported from the Netherlands, Jet is a sweet and gentle gelding to be around. Standing proud at 16 hand...

06/06/2024

The positions of a young horse.

This is our 4-year-old Hanoverian mare, Versailles, from Germany. She has just 5 months of riding.

A horse needs to have a variety of positions and tempos in order to work their entire body.

For now, she is almost always ridden in a light-forward seat so that her back is as free as possible as she continues learning to balance.

06/03/2024

We had a fun braiding clinic on Sunday with Stephanie from EEA Sporthorses. Everyone enjoyed the learning experience and we all got to work on whatever braid we wanted to learn on our horses. Stephanie also brought each of us our own Braiding kits we got to keep! 🐎🙌🏼

Louie's braids turned out great! Even his little forelock. 😂

05/31/2024

They have the entire pasture and where do they want to be? Right where I am mowing. Lol! 🐎

05/29/2024

We just finished an exciting 2 day symposium and two training days with Dr. Gerd Heuschmann. So much learning about the biomechanics and feel of our horses. We had an attentive group and a great variety of horses to show case. Quarter horses, thoroughbreds, Lusitanos, and several different warmbloods. It was awesome to see the changes not only in the horses, but also the riders as their confidence grew. Nearly all of the riders made it out to the galloping track! 🏇🏻

After 4 days and roughly 36 hours of learning it has come to an end, but only until next time!! Now it is time to practice.

P.S. For all of Dr. Heuschmann’s dressage riders, the video in the comments shows what he means when he says “really go forward!!”

Cowboy Up!! 🤠 🏇🏻

05/26/2024

Our auditors come from all walks of life. Fish has really been studying hard, asking lots of questions and is simply a great student. Be like Fish! 💗

05/21/2024

05/16/2024

I just love the horse’s nose!
Does this make you want to smooch your horse?
😘😍

05/14/2024

Beautiful day! 💐🙌🏼

05/12/2024

Happy Mother’s Day! ❤️💐

05/09/2024

"We designed this hat to show our support for all the courageous students who have taken their horses out on our track and galloped with them. It's a symbol of pride that should be worn with honor. If you come across someone wearing this hat, know that they put on their big girl or boy breeches that morning and galloped their horse around our track, feeling one with their beloved horse, like the free spirits they are with the wind blowing through their hair! Amazing!

05/07/2024

Tips for getting your horse comfortable working in the wind.

Step one- Work in the wind. Pull your hat/helmet down tight and pretend the wind is not there.

40 mph wind

05/06/2024

Many people want to get the most out of every riding lesson and improve every lesson. While these are grand ambitions, to accomplish them, you will need to understand the many different ways to achieve them.

We first have to understand what improvement means with our horses. Simply doing better with the movements they are working on every day is not possible. A horse’s body takes time to adjust, build strength, and be in balance. This can sometimes take months for seemingly simple things. So, let’s look at some things we can improve regularly with our horses.

Things to improve on:

All the movements
Relationship
Balance
Strength
Conditioning
Problem-solving
Your understanding
The horse’s understanding
Lightness
Confidence
Technique
Learning about your horse
Patience
Knowledge
Feel
Timing
Communication
Trust

Many more things can be added to this list, and as long as one is attempted to be improved, you have improved.

An improvement can be that you were able to keep your horse in the same place as yesterday, allowing your horse to condition their body as needed and develop muscle memory for you and your horse. Waiting for the right time is difficult for many riders.

You can still have improvement with a “bad ride.” You may have learned something about your horse; you may have learned something about yourself. Perhaps you learned how to solve a particular problem. When problems arise and we have a bad day, we need to look at it like a puzzle and try to figure it out. Try not to stress about it; take your time, break it down, and enjoy the process of helping your horse. Some problems take more than just a single ride to solve.

One of the most important things to remember about your riding lessons is that you will figure out most of what you learn in a lesson after the lesson when riding on your own. Just because something may not have made sense during the lesson does not mean it was a waste. Some concepts are more complex to grasp than others. Sometimes, we need the quietness of riding alone to get a feel for them – a time when you do not have to listen to anyone but your horse. A time that you can truly focus. Other times, you may have nailed it in the lesson, and when you tried it on your own without the assistance of your instructor, it did not work. Now is the time when you really learn how to do it! When practicing on your own, in a quiet arena, making mistake after mistake. You know you fully understand it when you get it on your own.

How you view success is critical and can drastically affect your quality of life. I like to remind myself of Thomas Edison, who, when asked by a reporter about his invention of the lightbulb, replied, “What was it like to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I did not fail 1,000 times; it was an invention of 1,000 steps.”

Remember, there are always steps to take to reach your goals. To achieve your goal of piaffe or a flying change, you do not simply start trying to do them. Years of work are required to develop the horse so it can physically do the maneuvers easily and with mental and physical relaxation. You are, in fact, working on piaffe and flying changes by doing shoulder-in, perfecting circles, and doing tempo changes. Understanding how what you do today connects to future training is important.

No matter how your ride goes, please do your best to leave your horse in a place where they can be successful tomorrow.

05/01/2024

LOL! True.

04/26/2024

All set up for our Cavalletti Clinic tomorrow!

04/24/2024

Here are a few drawings from a topic in our symposium a couple weeks ago. What position does your horse have a tendency to go into when you ride?

The red numbers are just for reference.