Moon River Training

12/26/2024

OMG Missy Sugar! The most beautiful!!

12/18/2024

Absolutely!!!! Position matters!

12/13/2024

“People get to choose the philanthropy they are involved in” -Gayle Dauverd

I am in the process of moving my barn and revamping my business. In this moment I’ve had to make some really tough decisions that are forcing really hard decisions with my clients (many of whom I consider friends too). Most of these decisions are around money.

I’m raising board. I haven’t raised board in the three years I was at my current location, my costs have exploded in that same timeframe, but because I’ve wanted to keep my amazing current boarders, I’ve made up the difference with training board and leases. I chose my boarders as my philanthropy.

I’m no longer offering lesson horses. Doing the math on running a riding school and having lesson horses just wasn’t adding up at my current rates. In order for one of my lesson horses to break even they had to have five riders a week. So not only did they have to sustain five lessons, with five different people, someone also needed to be in the arena teaching that lesson. That was just to make enough to justify keeping them, not talking making any kind of profit. That’s A LOT of work for everyone! BUT there is a huge demand and need for this service (this will be another post as I hype of lesson businesses to charge more for this service and explain why).

In these two major changes, I am more intentionally choosing my philanthropy. I am choosing to no longer subsidize people’s hobbies by reducing board or maintaining lesson horses. This opens the door for me to offer other charity and looking strategically at what I want that to be.

Is that philanthropy buying a green horse for a good riding kid to help bring along when her family can’t afford to buy one? Is it offering a working student position to a rider who wants more saddle time? Is it taking on a rehab project? Having the opportunity to finally think about these things is a breath of fresh air.

The quote is from my lovely trimmer as we were discussing these changes. I felt a huge relief with this mindset; I’m not being selfish or ruthless, but I’m opening the door to provide opportunities I otherwise wouldn’t.

If you’re interested in board in Chapel Hill, contact me!

11/29/2024

This!!! I know kids (and parents) roll their eyes at unmounted lessons, but they are integral to well rounded horsemen!

BY DAPHNE THORNTON OF TWO BIT TRAINING When it comes to riding lessons, I understand that riding is the overwhelming desire, as well as the underlying principle, guiding most participants. However, sometimes riding is not possible, or even advisable. On those days, I am a fan of unmounted lessons.....

10/21/2024

Can’t wait to listen to this one!!!

Very excited about episode 33 with the incredible Helen Ingersoll! Every time I meet with Helen my mind is blown.

Her story is one of survival, grit, profound intellect and intuition. A rider, trainer, coach and facilitator, you really don’t want to miss this episode.

Find it everywhere you get your podcasts

Thank you Helen!

09/28/2024

Nuno Oliveira told us: ‘If the horse is happy, everything will be all right; if he is constrained everything will go wrong. And in case that it is necessary to use force, then one enters a domain that does not fit the equestrian art, neither for that matter, in the circle in which civilised people dwell’.
“I urge my readers to apply the aids to help the horse, not to put him in a mould.”
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2021/10/the-aids-and-the-horse-a-classical-approach/

09/22/2024

Horse show days are the best days! and Stella looking gorgeous

09/15/2024

Such a fun few days!!

09/14/2024

Had so much fun with aka Genevieve Andrews today! Such a great afternoon working on quality canter over fences.

Can’t wait for my lessons tomorrow!

09/12/2024

Starting the search for a morning feeder in Chapel Hill!

Sadly our current feeder has to focus on school, so looking for someone to take her spot.

The job: morning feeding of ~11 horses, fluctuates some but not by much, filling hay bags, some turn in/out, some stalls as it gets colder and the horses are in more. Sunday-Friday available, but days can be flexible. More hours available as desired.

You: detail oriented and passionate about horse care, we can teach everything else!

Our ideal person wants to join our lesson program, bring their own horse, and/or lease a horse with us.

Pay commensurate with experience

09/08/2024

Snagged some pictures from from their show yesterday!

Big learning moments for everyone, it was a super day!

08/27/2024

Where is the next generation of horse trainers going to come from?

In a world and an industry that values ribbons and wins right now. And in a discipline that the junior years are so valued, and time isn't to be "wasted;"

People are buying the horse that is ready to "step into the ring" with an automatic lead change, a steady canter, and a point-and-shoot jump. Riders seem to be becoming passengers, and the sport is more pay to play than it's ever been.

We saw this all the way into the Olympics. Riders competing on horses that they'd only had a matter of months, and had no hand in bringing along.

I was talking to a trainer friend yesterday about what it would take to have my ponies ready to lease out, what boxes I needed to check for them. She told me that parents won't touch a pony without a lead change, but not just ANY lead change, an automatic, the kid just has to pull on the inside rein and it happens, lead change. I'm not shocked by this, but I am saddened by it.

It brings up the conversation, if these kids never learn to actually ride a lead change correctly, how are they ever going to learn to teach a lead change? If they are only moving on to the next made up pony or horse, where will our next generation of horse trainers come from? If the only riders who are getting accolades and ribbons are the ones who can afford these horses that already know the job, who will be left to bring along the young stock?

I lament not being able to provide the environment that I grew up in to my current students. My family couldn't afford the nice made up pony, so I always had to make it. I bought my first 4 year old pony as a 10 year old and brought her up to go be a kids pony behind me, same with a number of my instructor's ponies, and my high school horse, and dozens of client horses, and now my string of ponies. I've always had to make them. I try to provide opportunities for my current students to do that where I can, but it is so easy to fall into the trap of leasing or buying the horse that can already do the job to see immediate success.

It takes riders who are hungry, gritty, up for a challenge, and willing to be patient to see success. I hope we aren't making this next generation too soft that we lose the grind, and the grit to make good horse trainers.

08/25/2024

Lord, yes.

08/08/2024

08/08/2024

THIS! Do as I say not as I do, I’m still learning too! (Did not intend for that to rhyme, but I’m not mad at it 🤣)

The tricky thing about learning not to pull is, few people who are pulling think they are.

As humans, we are hard wired to be handsy. You can think all of the nice things about your hands that you want, but fact is, you probably pull.

I didn’t think I did, until my coaches made me aware, many times, over many years, of how unaware I was of my habits.

Now I work extremely hard to not pull, and have had years of coaching to teach my brain and hands to cooperate, and to give, ride the body, and not micromanage the head of the horse.

But I still pull. I still need coaching on it. I wonder if by the end of my lifetime I will have mastered my hands, but who knows. If I can do it, it will be the masterpiece of my life.

Learning to connect with the horse and provide a feel that guides without pulling, to have awareness of our own bodies as well as the entire horse’s body, might be the hardest task we can take on.
Many of us will learn a little, call ourselves good, and describe our hands as soft, regardless of what they actually do. I know how tempting that is. It isn’t fun to realize how much we pull, but the first step to self mastery is self awareness - and that might be the most unpleasant part of the journey.

08/05/2024

Living for the Olympics!! I do love everyone coming together over a common event (that’s positive!!). Truly an amazing human accomplishment

Why do we bother with the Olympics? Every four years, humanity comes together all across the globe at huge expense, great sacrifices, and often big disappointments…

I for one am an Olympics lover. I adore seeing sports I’ve never watched before - just yesterday I saw men’s kayaking (awesome), women’s rugby (amazing), judo (super impressive) and surfing (what? Surfing is in the Olympics and it’s in Tahiti? So beautiful.) And people from so many countries coming together in joyous celebration of the amazing human body’s abilities and the human spirit needed to accomplish such things.

And I’ve really enjoyed watching the dressage. So many beautiful performances, many from those you would expect - Carl Hester, Jessica Werndl, Catherine Dufour. But also I saw some folks I’d never heard of who rode so beautifully - William Matthew of AUS, Rita Ralao of POR, and Becky Moody of GBR showing what an incredible lifelong partnership looks like, to name just a few.

Like many of you, my social media feed has been full of many “controversies” and all the chatter to go with it. I think a few things are happening. There’s some serious “common enemy intemicy” going on, to quote Brene Brown. This is what I think of when people feel connected because they hate the same things and people. You despise a horse going behind the vertical? You’re in my tribe! We can connect and feel good about ourselves because we can screen shot bad moments from peoples’ rides and point out all their faults. This makes me crazy because it’s connecting with others only through negativity. People start to feel an identity by what they hate together rather than what they DO want. And guess what, it’s a lot easier to point out faults than to show an example of “excellence,” however you might define that?

There’s also a lot of “purists” getting lots of air time. I think purists in any realm are dangerous, because they can never be truly satisfied. They want to harken back to a time before when things were done “properly,” but there was never such a time. Humans are always fallible and also always striving to be better. If riding with a beautiful seat and quiet connection in a double bridle is wrong, is riding in a snaffle the “one true and right way?” Or bitless…. Or not riding… Or not keeping horses in fences at all?? No one can ever be pure enough for these folks.

But mostly what’s happening is that the social media algorithms are really working. They’re making you spend more time on their platforms. They’re outraging you. They’re making you outraged at the outrage. They’re making you want to check back and see the new comments. They’re the only ones winning here.

So pay attention to what you’re paying attention to. Is it true that there’s “so much horrible riding?” I don’t see that if I watch the actual rides. Is it true that “everyone is so negative?” Go watch Steffen Peter’s beautiful video of him grazing Mopsie and pouring his heart out, and see that 99% of the comments are loving and hugely positive.

Don’t feed the beast. Ignore the troll accounts that are only there to stir up hate. Don’t comment on others’ obnoxious comments. And if you don’t like what you’re seeing, please share something better, more beautiful, more “correct” in your opinion. I don’t agree that people are not allowed to have an opinion if they themselves can’t produce a perfect Grand Prix ride, but show us what it is we SHOULD aspire to. Because most everyone I’ve met in this sport, is trying really really hard to do right by their horses and ride better. Always better. I’ve never met anyone trying to do it badly. This sport is so hard. It’s SO hard. Let’s keep trying to be better for our horses.

Congratulations to every rider who has made it this far and are willing to put themselves “in the arena,” both literally and figuratively. Faster, Higher, Stronger - Together!

07/30/2024

When we know better, we can do better.

As I’ve shared on here previously, I attended an amazing clinic taught by . She took us through the functional anatomy of the horse, and how those pieces influence our riding and the longevity of our horses.

This photo of me riding Clover during the last summer Olympics came up today, and I cringed.

Today I know so much more about how I was riding and the stressors that ride was adding to my already tense horse.

I’m not here to nitpick or look for reassurance. Just to call out that learning is a never ending process in our sport. Anyone who says they have all the answers, run, anyone who doesn’t actively seek education for themselves, run.

I’ve written about that before, if your trainer doesn’t have a trainer, leave. In this moment of change in the horse world to kinder, more correct work with horses, I believe that is true more than ever.

There is so much to sort through and learn, we can’t take this journey alone.

As one of my favorite TikTokers says “come along if you want to.”