Chasing Dreams Equestrian LLC.

12/15/2024

12/14/2024

12/12/2024

ISO the perfect unicorn!
Starting an easy search for a first horse for a talented young rider. The perfect candidate will be a babysitter (always jumps, easy changes) that can take a joke. Height (of horse) doesn’t matter (preferably mare but not deal breaker). Horse can be forward or kick ride, however rider is petite so forward with easy manageability is a must. Under 13 yo, with experience to 2’6”with the potential to go higher. Some maintenance is okay. Budget low to mid-fives.

12/11/2024

Mila and Rock on Ruby or... is that Rudolph?
Today's Hunter Jumper show at Fields & Fences School of Horsemanship, Inc. had a ton of great outfits with their Christmas Sweater theme but this one was one of our favorites!
Thank you everyone for stopping by. If you didn't get a chance to look at pictures send us an email at [email protected] with your name and rider number and we'll help you get a web proof album set up.

12/11/2024

No lessons Thursday!

12/11/2024

This. Been at it 30+ years. It takes at least a decade just to get the basics.

This advice will NOT be popular with those who want it RIGHT NOW, but nevertheless, here goes---

If the goal is to become two things, a good rider and a good horseman/horsewoman, be willing to think in decades rather than in years.

That first decade, from whatever age you began, will take you only so far, and may even take you to the Olympics, but riding skill alone won’t give you all you need to know and be able to do. The next couple of decades will let three components, your physical skills, your control over your emotions and your knowledge, all intertwined to complement one another.

That’s why many of the best riders and trainers are in their 40s, 50s and in some cases in their 60s, even 70s. They didn’t get those tens of thousands of hours overnight.

There are ever so many riders and trainers who gave up too soon. They just needed to have hung in there another ten years, maybe twenty. Which sounds insane, but actually isn’t.

12/10/2024

Welcome to Trainer Tuesday! Each week we ask trainers a question and gather their answers for you. These trainers have a range of experience, backgrounds, and focus points of their programs, so the answers have as much variation as you would expect and also probably much more similarity.  This week...

12/09/2024

Thank you Fields & Fences School of Horsemanship, Inc. for an extremely fun Christmas themed show! As always was extremely well run and a positive experience!

Congrats to Giulia and Mia starting their show career together cleaning up all the blues AND Tri-colors! Elizabeth expertly piloted Skip around after having not ridden him for months and ribboned in every class against the adults! Mila and Presley laid down their best rounds yet and finished as champions in the Modified Eq and 2nd in the 2’6” medal!

Jenn DiCosola
Francesca Raffaelli
Annette Wilczek
Kopping Farms
Saddlers Row

12/04/2024

December Lesson Package Special!

Buy 10, get an additional 1 free
Buy 20 get an additional 2 free
Buy 30 get an additional 3 free
🎄 ❤️

12/04/2024

🏇 We’re at the halfway point in the Prep Your Pro race! 🏇

These 5 trainers are leading the pack and galloping out in front! 🥇 But don’t count anyone out yet—there are others hot on their heels, ready to make a move. 🏆

Keep those votes coming! 💻 The more you vote, the closer your trainer gets to being outfitted by Saddlers Row. Let’s see who crosses the finish line in style! 🎉

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/prepyourpro

📲 Vote daily to make your voice count.

12/02/2024

Which CDE horses apply to each??

11/28/2024

I stress this all the time!

The Importance of Collection

11/28/2024

Gymnastic Lines---A discussion

One definition---there are no doubt others---“A gymnastic line is a series of fences set at predetermined distances to attempt to obtain predetermined results.”

For example, you might start with something as basic as trotting poles, roughly 4 ½ feet apart, A trotting bounce will be around 9-10 feet for an average horse. A trotting one stride will be 18-19 feet for an average horse, a two stride might be 29-33 feet.

So you might set a bounce to a one stride to a one stride to a two stride, and the distances might be 9-18-19-31, or something like that. You have to watch what is happening and adjust accordingly.
The biggest problem with using gymnastic lines is that setting them up and adjusting them is a LOT of work, constant measuring, hauling standards and rails, changing, resetting, and so forth.

The way someone gets confident with doing all of this? You have to LIVE in a jumping arena. You must know distances. You must have an accurate stride. You must be watchful. You can totally mess up a horse if you get it wrong---You can even cause a wreck. So if you want to become a good fence setter, you must make a commitment, and if you are not willing to become educated, leave it to those who know more than you.

A slightly shorter interior distance might get a horse to land, rock back, and get his front end up faster, whereas a longer distance doesn’t challenge the use of his his knees as much. You just have to live it to learn it, A few will, but many won’t. that simple.

11/23/2024

Congrats on your 7th place overall finish in the 2024 NIHJA Puddle Jumpers Giulia! Out of 35+ riders with limited showing!

11/22/2024

https://youtube.com/shorts/bV1oBM6-eNA?si=w5qPNEVT5OoV7Skt