Best Ride Lessons

09/24/2023

Learn what you need to change to make it easier to ride your horse.

05/28/2023

I am back in WI and will be back to teaching on Tuesday. Call or message to book your lessons!

Most frequent comment from all the students in Kentucky was, "that is so much easier to do than what I was doing."

05/26/2023

Hello from Lexington, KY. I've been helping a new owner get her Racewood RDA and Dressage model installed and learn how to operate and teach on it. Congratulations Anne, it is going to transform your students riding and keep you busy for quite some time. The horses will love you for helping their riders.

I have had a great time meeting new people and showing them how the simulator can help them to be better riders. Amazing changes after only one or two rides for some of them.

I will be back in Madison next week!

05/13/2023

Only a few simulators in the US.

04/07/2023

Yes.....

FACT: A simulator cannot replace the real thing. Of course not, but what it can do is:

❗️Provide riders with a deeper understanding of their body’s tensions and asymmetries
❗️Enable riders to target weaknesses and revisit key areas for improvement
❗️Build confidence, let go of anxieties and transfer new skills and attitudes to their own horse.
Our horses will thank us for it.
Photo credit :

03/17/2023

Hip replacement was successful. I am back in the office teaching! Schedule today.

01/19/2023

I know I should post more, but I am having so much fun teaching that I run out of energy to post!

Students coming from Minnesota, Chicago, Milwaukee and all the locals are improving and having fun, too.

Looking forward to continuing to help people to become better riders and make their horse's lives better.

Personally, haven't ridden Splash since November as I await a hip replacement in early March. I have only been on Max a few times in that span. I expect to be back on Max as soon as I can swing my leg over the cantle. I plan on being back on Splash by the end of April and to hopefully start riding Tempi shortly after that.

I am helping a new simulator owner from Lexington who is expecting her simulator to be delivered sometime this spring. She will be coming to visit and learn from Max and me in early April, hopefully.

That's all the news for now!

12/06/2022

Ingrid Klimke teaching with a Racewood Simulator!

Need some Monday Motivation?
Check out the day on the Eventing Simulator, featuring Olympic Champion and other guests sharing training insights and techniques! ALL DAY LIVE TRAINING on FEI Tv, Facebook Live or .tv_de

09/20/2022

Dover Saddlery is offering sales all week on helmets and safety vests. Schneider Saddlery and Bit of Britain are offering sales on helmets today. Anyone who is thinking of purchasing new safety gear should act now.

05/26/2022

Max has been working steadily this year. A few fuses have had to be replaced, but all is good.

The U.W. Equestrian Team and Hoofer Riding Club came for lessons during the school year. They will be back in the fall. Individuals will continue to take lessons as they are able over the summer. The Madison Mounted Patrol has a number of new members this year. They came for a few lessons before beginning work with the Patrol horses.

I am starting to use Franklin Balls for helping riders to feel where they are right and to release the tension in their legs and seat. As I learn more, I will incorporate more into lessons. Positive feedback from riders tells me I a m in the right track.

Remember, the weather doesn't effect Max's riding! Hot or cold, rain or shine, as long as there is power, Max can keep on going.

03/26/2022

What I have been trying to explain to a number of students recently.......

The Seat Explained

The seat has two meanings.
One is the specific area of contact that extends from the lumbar
back down to the knee, in other words, whatever moves from the lumbar area down to the
knee is the rider's seat.
But in a broader sense, the rider's seat is everything because its influence is entire, from the top of the head, which should be the highest point, of course, to the bottom of his heel.

The seat should be a cohesive unit that comes to the horse as a communication medium and as a transformation medium, one that is communicating cohesively and as a unit rather than in bits and pieces. I would like to say that even when a teacher gives specific directions to the rider to do something with his arms and with his legs, those directions
influence the rest of the rider. Because the rider is one person, he must communicate as one unit, one seat.

Riders should have balanced, deep, adhesive seats that allow them to make independent aids. Riders who remain adhesive to the saddle and their horses do so because they
understood and they learned that when the horse impacts on the ground the two points of
absorption are in the lumbar back and ankle. Riders who stiffen the ankle paralyse the toe
outward or downward, or push themselves away from the saddle to some degree. Riders
who cannot absorb the horse's movement in the lumbar back will, of course, pop loose of
the saddle and part from it.

Correct riding is done with the abdominal muscles, not with the back.
The rider's lumbar back should always remain relaxed. It should act as a hinge that allows
the pelvic structure to float forward with the horse's motion. The lumbar back allows the rider to remain isometrically toned - not tense -- in his torso while letting the buttocks and thighs remain adhesive to the saddle. The buttocks, the pelvic structure, should not slide on the surface of the saddle. Nor should the buttocks wipe or buff the saddle but rather "stick to it to allow the pelvic structure to surf the “wave" produced by the motion of the horse's back.

In contrast to the loose and supple use of the lumbar back, the torso above it should be
turned into one isometrically toned "cabinet." The rider's “cabinet" is a complex isometric unit.
For its formation, the rider should circle with the points of his shoulder back and down until
both shoulder blades are flat in the trapezius muscle of the back. This action will stabilise the posture of the torso. It will allow the front of the rider to lift the rib cage high, out of the abdominal cavity. It will broaden the chest, straighten the shoulders, stretch the front of the rider, and give him the feeling that the lowest ribs have been lifted, and the waist is more slender.
The rider's upper arms should then hang from his shoulders perpendicular to the
ground. This, importantly, stabilises the arms, hence the hands of the rider because in this
position the upper arms and elbows hang weightlessly. The earth's centre of gravity places
them. The direction of the upper arms and elbows will point to the rider's seat bones, and past them, to the ground. The stability provided by this upper-arm position is at the heart of riding - from the seat to the bridle, rather than wrongly, riding with the hands. For the vertical position of the upper arms is, indeed, responsible for the transferring of the seat's effects to the bridle.

Extract from Dressage Principles Illuminated by Charles de Knuffy p.140

Image:
To understand how to use your lower back to develop an adhesive seat, sit at the edge of a chair, and place
your feet on the floor in line with, and under your hips.
Thrust your pelvis forward so that you lift the back legs of
the chair off the ground. Then rock the chair forward and
backward to various different tilting angles and at different
rhythms without dropping the chair's back legs to the floor.
As you ride the walk, trot, and canter, this action simulates
the movement of an adhesive seat by emulating the pelvic
activity necessary to follow the horse's movement.



Credit Xenophon Equus Centre

11/21/2021

I have ridden Splash (my 18yo Oldenburg/Arabian/Lippizan/TB) in two clinics this month. Thanks to my work on my position with Max, I actually managed to work on Splash, instead of on me! The first clinic was held at Lindinhof Dressage with Jennifer Kotylo and we worked on paintbrush in the forehand in motion to improve use of the right hind leg which is an issue because my left twin is too porous. Today's clinic was Fun with Ground Poles at Big Red Stables with Kelly Shetter-Ruiz. Splash finally started using his hind again. He has had too much time off because of check ligament issues in both front legs- a year apart. My conclusion today is that he is back and ready to get back to training. Yay!!!

09/18/2021

Max is back to work! Replaced the bad fuse and ready to go.

09/15/2021

So, Max has decided that he wants a vacation. We are awaiting a replacement fuse to coax him back to work. Until it arrives, I will not be accepting appointments. When Max is ready to work, I will post here.

04/14/2021

If you have ridden Max would you leave a few words about your experience to help other riders?

04/14/2021

Horses are so expensive to keep in Japan that a club bought a bunch of simulators to teach people to ride before they get on a real horse. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2527120457545069