One of my clients practicing isolating different parts of the horses body to gradually create more clarity in movement and lightness of the aids and softness in the body. She starts with the jaw asking for jaw Flexion and an opening of the poll. Then moves onto turning just the head 90 degrees in both directions and finishes off with Flexion of the entire neck followed by some jaw Flexion in the process of flexing the neck.
This is a great way to start separating all body parts one by one so that horse doesn’t move as a block of wood anymore.
Eventually she would move onto the shoulders, ribcage and then the haunches. One can also teach each leg to be moved separately from the rest 😊
In this video my client and fellow Liberty trainer Sherri is starting to teach her driving pony Smokes how to perform the walk pirouette from the ground. The goal is eventually to do it at Liberty.
Smokes knows how to sidepass away from and towards Sherri, so she uses that exercise to get Smoked started in the pirouette and then gradually changes position from being next to him to being behind him and bending him slightly to bend the haunches.
In this video I’m working with the owner and a young stallion who has a tendency to lean on the inside shoulder through the canter transition to the left either resulting in picking up the wrong lead, running in the trot before cantering or hopping into the canter.
When it comes to the leading leg, the shoulder must be lifted, so I ask the rider to elevate the inside rein which allows the weight to be lifted off that shoulder and for the horse to transition canter much easier.
In this video I’m working together with the owner of a young Andalusian to teach him gradually how to step to his point of weight with his outside hind leg, also called haunches in.
This step of two people working the horse is often forgotten in our modern riding, but can greatly help both the horse and rider isolate different movements and focus on one thing at a time. Here the rider is focusing on giving the correct leg cue for the rear and leaves the front to me, so that the reins don’t accidentally give a conflicting signal. I find horses learn much easier this way.
In this video I’m training this young horse to stretch the topline forward down and then give me a plié/Stellung in both directions.
The plié means to flex the head without the rest of the body falling out of the shape.
When asked to do this the horse should keep her head in the same height all the way around and simple look left and then right without resistance. If the movement is correct it functions the same as a bending half halt, giving the horse bend all the way through the body into the hip and sending the inside hind leg to the point of weight.
When the hind leg is sent to the point of weight it bends in the joints, takes on more weight and slows the tempo or rhythm of the horse.
In this video, the horse I’m working with has a tendency to stiffen the inside neck and fall on the inside shoulder thereby throwing his haunches to the outside of the circle. This is a common problem when riding or training horses.
As a solution I ask the horse to bend and step away from the inside rein which I’m communicating by pushing slightly in the middle of his neck on the inside. This causes the inside shoulder to stand back up, and rotate back so that the inside hind leg can step forwards instead of sideways, thereby catching the weight of the horse and unloading the inside front leg/shoulder.
In this video I’m working with a mare to gradually teach her how to start to tuck her pelvis and step her hind legs forward into a more engaged position without stepping forward with her front feet or backing away with her rear.
Again with the fence!!!
Gotta love the moaning and groaning though 😂
There’s nothing better than a big soft nose, some lovely little horsey kisses and some big mule ears to make my day.
Remember to just spend some time hanging out with your horses, preferably in their pasture where they get to just be horses 🐎
This funny boy will never leave me alone when I do that. At one point it looked like he was going to try and sit on me 😂
Leg yielding through cones or upright poles like this is a great way to straighten out your horse, ensure that both shoulders are lifting and that the horse isn’t falling through the shoulder in the leg yield. I like to almost lead with the haunches to make sure they are properly under the horse. It helps improve your half pass as well plus any straightness work.
When doing the exercise keep your body straight, don’t lean and keep the head of the horse very straight too.
This was shot by my friend and coaching client Camilla at her apartment in Sydney Australia. It’s a rainbow parakeet just hanging out.
I remember these so clearly from when I lived in Oz as a kid in Brisbane Queensland.
When I’m out riding or sitting outdoors, nature really wouldn’t be the same without the sound and song of birds.
The first few tries of Spanish walk can be a bit messy as some horses strike big or out of rhythm or even slightly sideways, so watch your knees.
This horse has had a few weeks of training Spanish walk in this video so he’s doing quite well although not yet as equal or rhythmic as we want.
However, the biggest problem I see with Spanish walk is that trainers forget to teach the horse to actually walk at the same time.
The Spanish walk is not supposed to be a strike or a stomp and then a walk, the lifting of the front feet is supposed to happen in the 4 beat rhythm of a real walk. It’s similar to a collected walk but just much more elevated
Training some Spanish walk is a great way to elevate the shoulders of horses that have a stubborn habit of being a little heavy on the shoulders. Although the regular half halt, shoulder in etc are great exercises, nothing beats the Spanish walk to create light shoulders! The horses also love the exercise and get very confident and happy when they perform it! I try to keep my voice really enthusiastic 🤩 as that helps the process too 😂