Our Story
Through classical training methods, Mary imparts on both her horses and riders a confident, relaxed, and harmonious partnership. These methods encompass the gradual progression of skills, physical and mental development, and continual review of the training scale in both daily and long term work.
Mary's own philosophy has evolved from her experiences and education. She has consistently worked with top level instructors who have drilled home the importance of a correct seat and effective aids, as well as the patient development of the horse. She has found consistency in the training methods shared with her, and has achieved success with the horses she rides and the students she trains by following those methods. In addition to regular instruction with Steffen Peters over many years, she also has regularly taken advantage of clinic opportunities such as working with Conrad Schumacher, and educational events such as the CDS & USDF symposiums. She also completed the L (Learner's Judge) Program. Mary continually works at expanding and honing her own skills, and therefore is able to bring the methods imparted to her by some of our best riders and instructors into her daily lessons and training sessions for her students. She encourages her students to ride in clinics and participate in various events which broaden their personal experiences, and bring home consistent themes in their own work. There is ALWAYS more to learn!
For the riders, she emphasizes a correct seat in order to deliver effective aids and communication. Many of her riders have spent a great deal of time with lunge / seat lessons, and have made wonderful breakthroughs that their horses immediately let them know about. For the horses, she encourages responsiveness to subtle aids, and daily work through the training scale relative to their level of accomplishment at that time. While working up the levels, the horse and rider should never lose sense of the most basic requirements. A grand prix horse should still be able to perform a stretchy trot and simple trot-canter-trot transitions as easily as he can do the very difficult extended trot-passage-piaffe transitions.
Mary also encourages her riders to cross-train. She has found yoga to be extremely complimentary to riding dressage, creating a quiet, relaxed state of mind, and a supple and strong body. As most of her students have been Adult Amateur professional women, Mary understands that riding time can be limited while sitting behind a desk and in the car can dominate their schedules. Yoga is an additional way to achieve harmony with horses. Mary also continually works together with each student to determine and assess short term and long term goals, making the most of their often limited time.
Most importantly, the horse's welfare comes first. Skilled veterinarians and farriers are used, in addition to chiropractic/accu-pressure care, and educated saddle-fitters. Mary will question training challenges or sudden changes in a horse by first addressing any possibly physical causes such as dental, feed, soreness or injury. Caution and patience are taken to address these challenges.
Feel free to contact Mary (Kehoe) McCarthy directly at [email protected] for more information on her training philosophy.
