Beyond performance horses

01/14/2025

Open arena this Friday January 17, 6-9 pm. Message me if you plan to come out! $10 per horse/rider combo.

01/06/2025

Ruger’s 12th day of riding (we had a week of just ground work early December when he had his wolf teeth pulled). Hes naturally wanting to reach into the bridle most of the time and is picking up on the “back to a squeeze” fast! (Notice at the end of the video I take my hands off the reins and he continues backing to just my legs). Watch out Cheryl I may have to steal this one from you 😜

01/04/2025

We had a fun group lesson this past Thursday! Students got to test their horses on some different obstacles and see what they would do for them. I may have more group lessons like this in the future so if anyone else would be interested, let me know.

01/02/2025

Open arena tomorrow evening, Friday jan 3, 6-9 pm. Pm me if you’d like to come. $10 per horse/rider combo.

12/14/2024

We are having an open ride next Friday 12/20 from 6-9pm. I’m trying to keep it friends/clients if there is enough interest $10 per horse/rider combo. Pm me if you’re interested.

12/09/2024

Day 6 of training: Ruger’s first independent ride. Walk, stop, back. Watch for another video at the end of the week to see how far he gets this week!

12/05/2024

This is Ruger’s first time being ground driven. He’s only been at the barn since Sunday .
Monday we just lunged , Tuesday we lunged with the saddle, Wednesday we lunged with the saddle and bridle (with bit), and this video is today (plus he gave me a pony ride around the arena being led). I just introduce one new thing at a time and when he seems to have that figured out, that’s all he has to do that day.
He’s going to be an easy one to get riding!

12/03/2024

Thea and bravo had a very successful lesson today. He’s starting to look comfortable in his frame and relax through his topline. Thea has been working on getting better with her pressure timing and it’s paying off nicely!

11/11/2024

Eric and bullet working on soft hand and body communication. Not bad considering I didn’t adjust my stirrups for him 😆 they’re starting to become good buddies.

11/04/2024

I have one open training spot starting in December . Winter conditioning, c**t starting, tune ups. Pm me for more info

10/28/2024

https://www.dreamhorse.com/ad/2275243.html
This mare is still available and would be a great one for someone to work over winter and have ready to show by spring!

Bay Friesian Cross Mare, Very pretty friesian cross mare in Ohio. DreamHorse.com is the premier horse classifieds site with horses for sale, lease, adoption, and auction, breeding stallions, and more.

10/19/2024

This mare is really starting to get it… Big props to Sarah who has done all the work herself turning this previous broodmare into a really cute ride. She does a lesson once a week (or less depending on busy schedules) but gets out to work her horse almost every day. She’ll be working toward youth show in May and it will be her last year being able to show there. I think they’ll really rock it by spring! #

10/10/2024

One last ride on “Brew” before he heads home today. He is a thoroughbred who has been in training now since July. His owner’s goal was to have him ready to start working towards a western (and classical) dressage career and I think he’s got the moves to be successful! Good luck to Mel and Brew … I’m excited to see what you accomplish together !

10/02/2024

Here’s a “Bliss” update…
She has been doing well at home since I had her in for training earlier this year. Her family has taken her to a few shows and done some walk trot classes and she took that all very well. Here is Aubrey riding her in her lesson yesterday (Aubrey is 9).

09/12/2024

Fair week always seems to fly by once we get started but it all went pretty good! I had 10+ students showing all week and most of them showed every day. There was a lot of success, some disappointments, tons of improvement and most important… support for each other!
I think everyone reached most of their goals in one way or another and a couple even discovered some new potential in their horses that they hope to keep building on for next year.
I hope I got everyone pictured… if not send me a picture and I’ll add it!

I do want to say that what I’m most proud of in all my students this year is their independence. This is one of the first times I was at fair and didn’t really feel like I needed to be there … but I wanted to for those last minute questions, tips and just to see how they all did. But I have full confidence that if I wasn’t there everyone could have gotten through all their classes just fine. It’s nice to be needed… but building confident, independent riders is really my goal!
Congratulations to everyone!

09/08/2024

Clamping onto a horses reins and bracing your hands/arms until they give creates the top picture. Learning how to ask but still be giving and soft through your body and arms creates the bottom picture.
Don’t lock those elbows!

Riders often confused "lightness" and "softness". Both are important, but one is a byproduct of the other. Lightness originates in softness: without it, lightness is just avoidance of one source of tension via the creation of others.

These two horses both are demonstrating lightness. Note the draping rein in both images. However, only one of these horses is soft. The gelding in the top photo is exhibiting a compensational tension pattern commonly referred to as "breaking at C3". This often occurs when the horse is educated to go forward into the bridle via the rider driving the horse with the leg aid into a fixed, unyielding hand. It is so common it is often mistaken as correct because the horse can become quite light in the bridle and yet the horse - biomechanically speaking - will never be able to demonstrate true lightness or softness working in this way because the tension in the neck creates a block from any energy that might come from the hind end. Note the hollowed out neck just in front of my hands, the highest point of the neck being several inches behind the horse's poll and the tucked nose, leaving this gelding carrying himself behind the vertical. It took several years and a lot of careful work by his owner before this gelding was able to learn how to carry himself properly.

The draft cross in the bottom photo is demonstrating softness and lightness, appropriate to his level of education and fitness at that point in time. There is a draping rein here, too, but the shape this gelding's neck in comparison to the other horse is completely different. The contour of the top of his neck is a smooth, gentle, consistent curve and his head position is neutral and relaxed. There is no brace in his poll and he's started to raise the base of his neck. Note how lifted the area just in front of my hands is compared to the black gelding.

The black gelding learned to be light to avoid pressure, creating kinks in his posture. The paint gelding learned to be light by softening, creating the beginnings of true carriage.

Training your eye to recognize the signs of good riding and good posture versus poor riding and poor posture is as important - in my mind - as learning how to ride well in the first place.

09/06/2024

So true. Especially when they are learning something new!

𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭 ❌

The quickest way to take effort out of your horse is not knowing when to quit.

Think about this scenario:

A football coach tells his players to run up-and-backs down the field as fast as they can. The players respond, put out their best effort, and run the sprints to the best of their ability. Then, the coach says "Great job! As your reward, let's do that again."

Now, apply the same scenario to your horse:

You ask your horse for a specific response. The horse responds correctly and gives you the 'feel' you were looking for. You say, "Great job! As your reward, let's do that again."

In both scenarios, the players and the horses put forth maximum effort thinking that their reward would be to rest once they completed the task at hand. But instead, their reward was more work. That has to be frustrating, right?

I know that when you finally get the 'feel' you are looking for, it is tempting to keep repeating that feel over and over again to make sure that your horse has that skill mastered―but, you have to remember to 𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 their effort first, then 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 the skill later. 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤.