Stable Riding at Horsehaven Stables

02/05/2025

It’s Intensive Season here at Stable Riding 💪

You hear about “seasons” in the horse world.

Show Season.
Hay Season.
Breeding Season.
Foaling Season.
Shedding Season.

But only here at Stable Riding do we talk about Intensive Season.

Because…we invented it!

Originally the program was for our Mongol Derby riders who fly in, but since 2014 when we had our very first intensives…

We have taught 22!

TWENTY TWO different riders for their Half Day, Full Day, Two Day and Three Day Intensives 💪

Some were getting ready for the Mongol and Gaucho Derbies.

Some wanted to learn to canter.

Some wanted to be more confident.

Some wanted to fall less.

Some were only with Solange Ellis.

Some included Martial Equestrian.

What did ALL these riders do?

They learned, they rode.

And they left here better riders and more importantly happier riders!

In the next 8 weeks we have two 1 day intensives and four 3 day intensives 🤩

Buckle up.
It’s about to get LIT 🔥 ((as the kids say))

02/04/2025

Baby Goat knows that if you are going to be In The Way, you need to look Fabulous doing it 💅💅

02/03/2025

This week we are pleased to introduce Navy! ⚓️

She has a real name 🤨 But her barn name has been Navy so long no one remembers it! 🧐

Navy has been with Solange { REDACTED }.
An amount of time that makes Solange feel an age she cannot possibly be.

Navy has done just about every job at the barn over those { REDACTED } years 💪

Lately, she can be found here two days a week, cleaning stalls, making ramen and helping with math. 🍜🧮🐴

Navy has done it all and can do it all 💪

Every barn needs a Navy and we are so lucky to have one of our very own 🍀😇🤩

THANKS KID!!!!

02/02/2025

Negative Comment Post! Pt 2!

A few days ago I posted a video of a rider having a great time cantering their horse around, for fun. For the joy of cantering ❤️

And this post immediately got a strong reaction, with comments about how what this happy, forward, stable rider was doing wrong.

I was surprised as a rider just riding along, having fun on their horse seems innocuous 🤷‍♀️

But then again, it is unusual?

Is it unusual to see someone talk about riding with Joy?

Is it unusual to see a new rider ( under 5 years ) canter about calm, happy and stable?

Is is unusual to see a rider on a horse
of unknown breeding, pick the tack and position that works for them and just go ride?

Is it unusual to see a rider who doesn’t show, doesn’t compete?

Is it unusual to simply just ride?

For Joy of doing it?

Maybe.
Maybe not.

But I ride for fun all the time.
And I think you should too.

Here is a photo of Tiger, the last horse I rode who made me exclaim with joy ❤️

02/01/2025

Let’s talk Negative Comments!
Part 1!

Occasionally a post of mine will get the type of comment that could be read as “negative”. Generally these commenters are disagreeing with the position I put riders in.

FB is like a ladies high tea compared to the wild wild west of Tiktok.

It’s pretty tame over here and I’m generally un-offend-able in all things, including Social Media 😇
So I’m not bothered.

But as an instructor I felt a follow up may be helpful. We shall see, the internet is fickle on the best days 🙏

In this post I want to make clear my postion on rider position ((see what I did there??))

I will put a rider in the most stable position for their body, their horse, the activity, the amount of time the rider has been riding, the tack….the list goes on.

So it’s never *exactly* the same. As there is complex nuance.

The majority of the time, I DO NOT put riders in the classical equitation position that the masters teach.

Such as the shoulder hip heel alignment of the classical dressage and cavalry masters.

Why?? Cries the comment section!! 😫

Simple.

The classical riding masters were men.

They were tall and thin…like me!

And tall thin curve-less riders (like me!) who have the correct horse and tack can ride in that classical position all day long. ( I can! But I don’t always. )

And I do teach men, and some are really tall and lean.

And sometimes they ride like that, and sometimes even they do not. (( and it’s ok ))

But the majority of riders I teach are not advanced skill set tall thin men.

They are :
Women
Kids
Short
Curvy
Older
Have joint replacements
Have injuries
Have young horses
Have green horses
New to riding
Returning to riding after a long break
Nervous/anxious or low confident
Are on gaited horses
Are in all different types of tack
Are performing all different actives with their horse

So for these students, that singular highly specific riding position is not the most stable.

Something else is.

So I teach them what is in their own best interest.

Because I believe All riders deserve to be stable.

Not just tall, thin, men.

01/31/2025

🎉Rider Line Friday🎉

This gentleman is a c**t starter and horse trainer, he asked a friend to have his Rider Lines done 💪

Stable Riding is for everyone 👏
Even horse professionals!
And if any of us are interested in stability, it’s those of us breaking your young horses to saddle 😎

Let’s dig in!

The top green line shows his head is perfectly level ✅

The green lines on his legs show a perfectly deep seat lower leg position. His leg bones are on the vertical line to the ground. With his toes out and heels down. His stirrups are the correct length and he is interacting correctly with his stirrups.

The Red Torso line shows he is rounding forward from his shoulders, this is from his hand position. He has over released his reins to give the young horse totally freedom from the bit in what’s probably one of his first canters under saddle. This is a common “trainer position” and one that he can only access because his feet are so correct.

Bringing his hands back, will align his shoulders over his hips. This change will allow better application of his weight aides via his seat bones as well as better stability if his horse moves out from under him.
He can still allow the young horse a large amount of freedom to travel forward by simply lengthening his reins from that new closer to his body hand position 👍

Thank you Sir, for participating in our series 🙏

We are looking for a future Rider Line Rider 👀🕵️‍♀️🏇
Could it be you? 🫵
Let us know 😎

You can message us here, or email [email protected]

01/29/2025

Solange here! I have a question for you.

When was the last time you whooped with joy on a horse?!

No. I’m serious, think about it 🧐

When was the last time you felt so stable, so comfortable, so safe. That on your horse at a canter you felt and allowed yourself to express joy?

I can tell you exactly when it was for me.
Oct 2023, galloping across Fayoum Egypt on a Stallion. He leaped across a dip in the sand dune and like a little kid I whooped!

This video is of Phillip, whom you may remember from his Stable Rider in posts March of last year.

He flew up from SC for a 3 day intensive to learn how to canter.

Looks to me like he did 💪

Canter on Phillip. You earned that joy ❤️

01/28/2025

BE ON THE LOOKOUT!

A gang of small hairy car thieves have been spotted in the parking lot.

All we currently have is this blurry back up camera footage and a hind-end mid break in.

We are doing all we can to apprehend the suspects and put them in the pony barn where they belong.

In the mean time if you see any suspicious activity below knee height please call the official hotline at 1-800- Why-Do-We-Have-Goats.

Thank you for your cooperation 🫡

01/27/2025

Frankie Lovato may not be here at Stable Riding at Horsehaven Stables ~

But his Equicizers are!

Rex, Winston and Woody are Key Members of our family ❤️😇

So check out this awesome article about Frankie and his one of a kind business 🤩

Frankie’s journey will inspire and encourage you, no matter what stage of growth your horse business is in.

01/25/2025

Hi 👋

It’s Solange, your favorite Stable Riding Coach 💪

I am an entire week late for my South Carolina Recap 😱

I flew home and hit the deep freeze and taking care of the farm in the cold put me behind…about a week! 🥶🥶🥶

I spent two busy days teaching my usual riders as well as meeting and teaching two lovely fellow foxhunters 😎

The horses were amazing as always and the riders all rode SO WELL!

I swear, I have the best luck in SC 🍀

Thank you for having me ❤️
I cannot wait to see you all again 😆

01/24/2025

🚨Rider Line Time Everybody 🚨

Today’s rider lines are brought to you by Tara and Krista!

These two riders are both demonstrating a near perfect 2 point/jumping position 🤩

The entire purpose of learning a Light Seat is to be able to shift your weight onto your stirrups and pick your hips up off the horses back by unbending your knee. We do this when we post, gallop and jump.

Jumping requires stability from the rider for the human and horses safety. Yet over and over again riders are asked to put their body in an unstable position over jumps.

Something to note ~ Tara and Krista have almost identical body positions. But they do not have identical bodies.

The height difference between these riders is greater than 6 inches!

Tara is on Rex, who is small horse sized.

Krista is on her horse Aspen, who is 17hh.

This is an excellent example of Stability for all riders 👏👏

The green lines show :
Chin/skull level with the ground keeping their head weight back.

Hip over heel.

Lower leg on vertical line to the ground.

Toe out 45 degrees, heel down, inside edge of their foot pushed down.

You look fabulous ladies 😍😇🥳

Do you jump? Or know a rider who does? If that rider is interested in more stability over fences they can be a Rider Line Rider 💪
message us here on FB or email : [email protected]

01/22/2025

We are pretty lucky over here at Stable Riding 🍀

Not a week goes by where Solange Ellis doesn’t get a message , text or call from a riding saying “this happened while I riding and I felt stable!” or “for the first time my horse and I…”

This photo was sent to Solange with the caption “Snow Stable!” and it was just too good to not share 💪❄️

Go Molly and Mark!!! You look 👏amazing👏

01/21/2025

Baby Goat needed an emergency coat upgrade!

She runs cold 🥶🥶🥶

Thanks to Aurora for rush buying her a new outfit and to Horseware Ireland for making a goat coat with an internal velcro belly band and tiny goat sized back leg straps!

01/20/2025

This week we would like to introduce ((drum roll)) SHAWN THE BLACKSMITH 🔨🔨

We have 16 horses at our place ~

Ponies, drafts, Quarter horses, Arabians, old horses, young horses, horses with great hooves…horses with less great hooves!

64 horse hooves in total 👀😵‍💫😵

And you know who keeps the shoes on and the horses sound? Through trail season, hunt season and everything in between??

SHAWN THE BLACKSMITH.

Aside from a fabulous horse shoer he is also a gifted story teller who can entertain the person holding horses for him along with anyone else in ear shot 👂😆

If you happen to be lucky enough to be here on Shawn Day be sure to tell him that we are his favorite place to work, he loves to deny it…but we know he’s lying 😉

01/19/2025

My horses love the cold. They would have a legit rave if they could 🪩

Scooter Goat is FAT and the cold bothers him not at all.

But Teeny Goat and Baby Goat are _small_ and cold effects them.

So we go thru all the options, keep them in the LAB? The Warm Room? Heater in the Pony Barn?

Goat Cave Hay Igloo won out.

Two layers of pallets.
Straw on the pallets.
Plastic stapled over that.
More straw.
Walls of hay.
Roof with hay ontop.
Horse blanket on top of that.

If this fails, I fear they will be in my garage 😱

01/17/2025

Traveling to teach has it’s occasional logistical challenges ~ but the scenery sure is pretty 😍🤩

01/15/2025

“Hey! That’s us!”

We are already preparing for our ✨Triple Booth✨ at the Equine Affaire, Inc. (Official) in April 😎

Everyone come on by and learn about the Stable Riding system and ride one of our 3 Equicizers 💪

Give yourself and your horse the 🎁 that never expires, never gets outgrown, and never gets lost in the pasture: education! Come to Equine Affaire in Ohio this April to spend the weekend learning from experts and industry professionals about an incredibly diverse variety of topics related to riding, training, handling, horse care and management, biomechanics, and so much more.

We'll be posting the clinic schedule soon, but in the meantime, have you seen our presenters' list? Bookmark it! 👀 We'll be adding more names every week until Equine Affaire gets here!

👉 Here's where to look: https://equineaffaire.com/events/ohio/ohio-attend/ohio-educational-program/ohio-presenters/!

Julie Goodnight Horsemanship
Tik Maynard
Ryan Rose
Luke Reinbold Horsemanship LLC
Barbra Schulte
Ivy Starnes - Ivy's Glide Gait

01/14/2025

Title : “Nope”

Medium : iphone

Artist : Baby Goat and Scooter