Just-Another-Step Equestrian Training

06/04/2024

Why we canter poles...

11/02/2022

Are cold-season or warm-season grasses best for horse pastures? Our equine nutritionist offers advice.

10/30/2022

10/28/2022

❤️❤️❤️

09/11/2022

The Queens debut as princess on her horse. I tried to share original post but the whole post didnt go through.

08/07/2022

Horses are amazingly tolerant, giving creatures.

It unfortunately means they’re often exploited due to the ambitions of the human. After their basic needs are met, you must be very thoughtful in the training of your horse.

Your first duty is to preserve the purity of the paces. What does this mean? Walk has 4 beats, trot has 2, canter has 3, gallop has 4. ALWAYS. If not, something is wrong biomechanically, and your horse is at risk of injury. BTW impure paces can usually be detected in a photograph, even though it is only a “moment in time”, AND this applies to all disciplines.

Strapping a horse’s mouth shut with a crank/flash (or other) noseband very often contributes. The fact is, a horse cannot maintain full range of motion with his hind legs if he can’t move his tongue and jaw. FACT.

For jumping, if the horse bolts off - away from, towards, or after a jump, putting on a bigger bit and a martingale will not fix it. If a horse hesitates or stops, pulling out the whip will NEVER make him more confident.

These are just a few hints that your horse is asking for HELP. Go back. Consolidate the basics. Another wonderful thing about horses is they're retrainable. If you ignore the hints, eventually the horse will either break down, or will SHOUT to get your attention, and you will get hurt.

After all, horses are dangerous. We tell everyone that. But actually they are not. We wouldn’t be able to ride them if they were truly dangerous. You know what’s dangerous? People are.

Ponder this excerpt from Franz Mairinger’s book “Horses are made to be Horses”:

I recall an incident in Sydney when we had a lame horse with a very bad tendon, and the rider wanted to start the horse the next day. We asked Roy Stewart, the veterinary surgeon, and he said, ‘Yes, that’s the trouble. People always think that horses are made for man, but that’s not true. Horses are made to be horses’. I thought about that a lot, and decided that if I should write a book I would call it Horses are made to be Horses.

(Franz Mairinger was the first coach of an Australian Olympic Equestrian Team, his excellent book is out of print, but can occasionally be found second hand - buy it if you see it)

(Picture credit Thinking Art )

08/07/2022

Horse lovers...READ THIS!😊👍💗

5 Things Your Horse Will Always Remember!

Horses have an exceptional level of awareness meaning that they can understand situations much more deeply than other animals. They are so attentive that they can pick on other people's emotions through body language, voice, or just the general vibe you give off. This type of awareness can lead to much more intense experiences for horses. Here are some experiences your horse will remember forever!

1. Places

Horses have quasi photographic memory, meaning that they can remember places very clearly. It can be positive or negative, depending on the experience they had in a particular place. Imagine your horse witnessed a very traumatic event. Most likely he will never forget the place or event and move away from that area. If your horse seems hesitating to go somewhere, listen to him, comfort him and trust him, he knows what he's doing!

2. People

As horses have an almost photographic memory, it’s no surprise that they remember people by their faces. Show them the picture of someone they know and they will probably react. Horses can even recognize people after years of being apart! But their memory goes far beyond our general appearance. Horses can read our facial expressions and remember them for later, too.

As part of the study, horses were shown pictures of people with happy or sad expressions. After meeting these people in person (with neutral expressions), the horses reacted based on the original expression they had memorized in the photos. If you meet a horse for the first time, then you have to make a very good impression on him!

3. Emotions

Besides places and people, horses have an innate ability to recognize human emotions. Horses have a tendency to perceive body language, even the most subtle, which helps them determine a person's feelings. If we are feeling stressed, sad or angry, our physical appearance tends to reflect this. Same goes when we feel happy or excited! Horses don't just read emotions, they also remember a person based on the last emotion they felt from their last interaction. This is a useful strategy for horses to avoid any possible aggressive encounters.

4. The other horses

Humans aren't the only ones who can leave an indelible imprint on a horse! Horses can remember and recognise other horses from their social network. Whether it takes a few years or decades, one horse will never forget its relationship with another. This doesn't mean as much they will pair up with each other if they ever get together. One horse will only react to another if the bond they had was particularly strong. If he knows a horse from a previous encounter, he may treat it differently than others.

Other important bonds between horses, like the one that unites a mare and her foal, are known to last a lifetime. As horses also remember smells, this can help a mare recognize her baby, even years after separation.

5. The words

Horses are able to understand words much deeper than we thought, but not in the traditional sense we give words. They understand the words by tone, height and length of the voice. Words with fewer syllables tend to stick better to horses. They can tell when someone is insulting them and when someone is complimenting them. Don't underestimate their intelligence, because there's a good chance they're listening very attentively to every word you utter.

Horses are incredibly gifted animals, and should be treated as such! Having an idea of the memories horses hold with them forever will allow you to understand and communicate with them even more deeply. Whatever the experience, good or bad, you can be sure your horse has felt it fully. Do your best to give them a good memory, and they will surely do the same.

07/23/2022

Stay cool and safe everyone😎🐎

Found on Google from www.pinterest.com

07/22/2022

This is a good article and very important info, whether you own a horse or not. Know the dangers of riding your horse in the heat, how to cool him, salt requirements and more!😊👍

Summer's heat and humidity can be much more than just uncomfortable for your horse; they can be deadly and can lead to disastrous consequences as a result of inadequate care or belief in common myths about heat, cold water, and their effect on horses.

06/12/2022

🙄

10/20/2021

10 Tips to Ace Your Dressage Test with Marilyn Payne

08/15/2021

Everything you always wanted to know about that drool lol!

with Dr. Lindsay Annis

Question: Is there any way to treat slobbers? I try to pull the clover from the fields but my horse is still drooling everywhere!

Answer:
Clover can become infected by a fungus called Rhizoctonia leguminicola, also known as black patch disease, so named because it can be seen on the leaves as colored spots or rings. The toxic substance in the fungus (mycotoxin) that causes equine slobbers is an indolizidine alkaloid called Slaframine. Slobbers is commonly seen in the summer months during weather conditions such as high humidity, overgrazing, extreme heat or cool, wet periods. Horses are highly sensitive to slaframine and when they ingest it, it causes hypersalivation.

There is no treatment for slobbers except to move the horse to a field without clover, or reduce/remove the clover from the fields. Some suggestions for pasture management include mowing the field down, reducing the ratio of clover in the field by seeding other grasses, pasture rotation, fertilization and using a pasture friendly broadleaf herbicide to eliminate the clover.

The good news is that slobbers is not life threatening. Because horses can lose a lot of saliva when they have the slobbers, it is important to make sure that your horse always has free access to fresh water and a salt or mineral block to prevent dehydration or electrolyte imbalances. Hypersalivation will resolve on its own in a few days once the horse stops consuming the mycotoxin infected clover. If your horse displays any other clinical signs besides excess saliva production, I recommend that you get in touch with your veterinarian to make sure that there is not something else going on.

Dr. Annis is "on-call" this week for your questions! Comment your questions or send us a message.

(photo pulled from Google)

07/14/2020

Beautiful!

Artist Lisa Curry Mair, of Canvasworks Designs, paints amazing floorcloths and murals. But she also paints saddles. She recently painted one of Beezie Madden’s saddles for an auction to benefit the Glenayre Equestrian Program. She was kind enough to post instructions on how to paint a saddle, but ...

04/21/2019

Sunday Funday!

12/28/2018

Too sweet, had to share!💜

12/25/2018

Merry Christmas everyone!

12/14/2018

Actually im posting this for a very specific reason...watch a few times....youll notice a RIDER in the middle of the heard standing STILL. THIS is the calm i want you to bestill upon yourself and your horse in your next ride😉have a great one!🏇

10/11/2018

Casey Allen
Rodeo Life Probs

08/29/2018

07/24/2018

Sometimes it's about just getting out there & enjoying the ride whatever the judge thinks. 😂

07/10/2018

Too cute not to share!

😂

05/29/2018

Want to be sponsered??😂

LIKE FOLLOW AND SHARE The German Riding Instructor on Social Media ;) https://www.facebook.com/germanridinginstructor https://www.instagram.com/germanridinin...

05/29/2018

We Thank all those who have served and given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms!

05/17/2018

So very true!