Inside Track Training, LLC

01/24/2025

Transitions, serpentines and counter-canter were the tools of the trade for the first day of this week’s two-day Adequan/USDF FEI-Level Trainers Conference. German dressage team coach Monica Theodorescu and U.S. dressage team Chef d’Equipe Christine Traurig put eight horses and riders through th...

01/22/2025

A long read but PACKED with great information!

01/22/2025

Finally had an opportunity to get on Rhys now that he is home! The weather has been incredibly uncooperative lately, but today was decent enough to hop up and do some walk work. The ground was too frozen for anything more, but that’s ok. He was such a good boy for our first work together. I’m so thankful for Cayla Stone for getting him going. I can feel how easy he moves and how calm and willing he is about everything asked of him. What a good boy. 🥰

01/21/2025

Prerequisites for your horse before utilizing “Inside Leg to Outside Rein” connection!

(In no particular order and guys this is just a Facebook post- not a 1000 page
Riding manual. Please adjust expectations accordingly!)

1.) A hindquarter yield. If you can’t get the horse to move the b***y over, there’s absolutely no way you’re going to get inside leg to outside rein connection.
2.) Lateral poll flexion. If you cannot get the horse to bend both directions through the poll joint, consider in hand work.
3.) Responsiveness!  You can’t get your horse to move correctly if you can’t get your horse to move.
4.) A rudimentary leg yield.  This one might be confusing because you need good inside leg to outside rein connection to get a proper leg yield. But you need a rudimentary “move over” before you can get inside leg to outside rein. To get students started I will often have them bend towards the wall and leg yield down the rail nose out, tail in. As they start to get the idea, we do it a few meters away from the wall. 
5.) Two reins!!! Lol. What I mean by this is that you should be able to have a little connection in both hands traveling both directions. It’s very common for horses to completely avoid contact on one side.  You might feel like if you engage your outside rein at all, that you lose all bend to the inside, and/or that your horse completely shrinks their neck all up, affectively training you to not use that rein! 
6.) “Bend” (axial rotation) through the rib cage both directions.  Again, this becomes a chicken or egg conversation!  Many will say that inside leg to outside rein is how you get bend through the body, But if it’s a concept you are already sketchy on, and your horse is totally locked in his torso, you’re going to have to work on this ingredient by itself before you are going to be able to orchestrate multiple things happening together. That said your hind quarter yield and rudimentary leg yield will already be helping with this. But it’s important, so I’m also listing it separately.
I teach students to sit to the inside of the bend to help the horse swing through the rib cage. You should be able to step down into your inside stirrup and get the horse to swing the rib cage to the outside, which appears like bend through the torso.

01/19/2025

01/16/2025

Why you will not see me being spectacular on a young horse:

Klaus Balkenhol explains, "Although breeders have created a better horse, the market has created a demand for a stronger, healthier, more powerful horse. It's easier to sell a horse that looks like a carefully developed eight-year-old, and not like a three- or four-year-old just beginning his career. If you force it, you can get a three-year-old to physically look like a developed eight-year-old. Too many colts remain stallions which, if approved, promise breeders higher prices as three-year-olds. Now 250 to 300 young stallions are presented each year, when only 40 or 50 will be approved.
Few breeders have the sense to geld the yearling stallions and leave them on the pasture to mature naturally. Instead, yearling stallions are brought into a stall, fed too much grain, and at three, look like six- or seven-year-olds. They have muscle mass, but not enough bone structure to support it. They look mature from the outside but aren't . . . and when started to work, degeneration sets in. Competitions also create pressure to push horses too fast as competitions are now scheduled throughout the year without any breaks."
Common Mistakes In Pushing Too Fast
Tightening the noseband: "A horse resists by sticking out his tongue. Tightening the noseband too much puts pressure on the nose and on the poll. If it is necessary to tighten the noseband very tightly, then something has gone very wrong in the basic training of the horse. The horse cannot be relaxed, the first step on the training scale," warns Klaus.
Specializing too early: "Drilling every day in the indoor arena is too intense for the young horse. It's very important, especially in the first two years of training, not to specialize the young horse. Training should include a variety of activities, including trail riding, which is good for the mind as well as building strength with hill work. It should include jumping, either free or low jumps under saddle, including small natural obstacles on the trail, and cavaletti. A variety of work will allow the horse to stay mentally fresh and to enjoy his work. Only when the horse is happy can dressage become art."
Not checking tack frequently: "Saddle and tack need to be checked constantly for proper fit and adjusted as the horse's body changes with growth, and as his fitness improves with the training. If the noseband gets too low, for example, and the skin between the noseband and the bit is rubbed and becomes sore, this causes the horse discomfort and loss of relaxation. Regularly check for sharp edges and bit problems in the horse's mouth and teeth."
Working too long: "The goal of our training is to build the horse's mind and his muscles. Suppleness and relaxation require adequate muscle strength. strengthening requires both contraction and relaxation. Blood flow and oxygenation occur when the muscle relaxes. If the muscle is kept in a constant state of contraction, it loses power and strength, and actually becomes smaller. Frequent rest periods, especially for a young horse at a free walk on a long rein, are necessary. The rest periods are not for a rider's fatigue, but to allow the horse to stretch and relax his muscles. The rest breaks will give you a completely new horse. This is the systematic gymnasticizing of the horse."
Riding when the horseman is tense: "Horses are particularly sensitive to the rider's mood. A rider shouldn't ride if she is under undue stress or doesn't have the time to ride. If the rider has a bad day, give the horse a rest day or go for a relaxing trail ride; don't work in the arena. The horse mirrors the rider's mood."
Not praising the horse enough: "The horse must perform from joy, not subservience. Praising a horse frequently with voice, a gentle pat, or relaxing the reins is very important to keep the horse interested and willing. If the horse offers piaffe, for instance, because he's excited, praise him for it. You shouldn't stop the lesson at that point nor make a big deal out of it. If you don't want piaffe, quietly urge him forward into trot, but you should NEVER punish him for offering the piaffe. - Klaus Blakenhol

01/14/2025

Won some more year end awards - this time from RMDS! This year I was blessed to have the opportunity to show Lisa M.’s Caradoc (“Calvin”) at 2nd level. Together we earned 2024 Holsteiner Horse of the Year, Champion Professional Rider at 2nd level, and 5th place Open Rider at 2nd level. The statue if the Holsteiner HOY trophy!

01/14/2025

Lessons are not where the magic happens.

I am very fortunate that I get to teach many different people and horses and at this stage pretty much everyone wants what I have to share. I no longer have to persuade students - they come with a deep desire to learn more about this specific school of horse training .

And in reverse, I have a teacher I greatly admire and who never fails to provide me with insights and information; for which I am very grateful. I only get to see her a couple of times a year, but each opportunity is a gold mine.

However, what I tell students, and what I know to be true for myself, is that the real diamonds are discovered when it is just you and your horse. The information and ideas which get shared in a lesson become something personally yours when it is just the two of you. That is where you turn someone else's information into your embodied knowledge.

My friend Jane Pike tells me that when you are being watched you can assume your body is to some extent functioning in the sympathetic. I find this hugely reassuring - when I am being taught (and therefore being watched) my body is to a greater or lesser extent defending itself. I know that I will not be riding as my most adaptable, functional version of myself. You can give yourself this break too - thank you your body for its help, and know that's what's happening. When you're being watched this is a given.

When I am going to be at my most capable, intuitive, adaptable, flow based best is when it is just me and my horse. I had one of those sessions last week, before the snow fell and the flu kicked in. I was riding Des and he was on the grandest of form. He is not an easy horse to ride, and we have had many years in the wilderness, so I never take these sessions for granted. And he can be utterly brilliant. It was just one of those days when I had my sparkle on and so did he and we had a time together where everything else in life falls away. I don't want to be too gushing as he hates that kind of thing, but you get the idea. It was a golden ride.

And what was important and imperative is that there was no other human there. There were plenty of birds and other wildlife various and most likely a cat (disapproving) but there were no humans. It is this personal practice - taking the years of lessons and seeing yet again how I can do better, understand more, feel how things are between me and the horse - where the beauty lies.

So each time you have a lesson don't expect that to be the point where you have everything come together. This is just your chance to get more information, gather new ideas, take on board feedback. Where it becomes your own knowledge, where you and your horse develop and create your own art together - well that is just personal and private to you two. No one else gets to be a part of that.

01/14/2025

Ingrid is a personal favorite. And this would be part of why I admire her so much.

Please share with your horsey friends!

01/13/2025

Honestly I’m a fan of any color, but I thought this was kind of fun

01/11/2025

Yay!!! Thank you Cayla!!