Unity Equestrian, LLC

03/11/2024

Congratulations to Nikki with Adventure Thyme and LillyAnna with Hey Akhalua Bey on their Horse of the Year awards with USEF! What an accomplishment!

03/08/2024

🎉 Introducing…. 🎉

01/22/2024

A handful of people that make Unity the place it is. Thank you for all those who could make it out to our gathering this weekend. So very thankful to Sarah and Niamh for sharing their beautiful home and fantastic hospitality. Congratulations to our award participants! 💕

11/13/2023

FAMILY. A fantastic outing at Equine Affaire!

10/30/2023

- When my instructor repeats to me: ′′Straighten your shoulders and open your chest!” He’s not just teaching me how to stand up. He's teaching me that in life we should always walk straight and face problems head on.

- When my instructor asks me to lower my legs and keep them close to the horse, he teaches me that in life we do not allow distractions and that little is enough to deviate from his path.

- When my instructor tells me "Too much hand, don't hang on to the reins! "He teaches me to give and not to take, with the greatest respect of others.

- When he yells and repeats endlessly: "Look forward in the direction you want to go!” He teaches me the importance of setting goals and never losing sight of them to achieve them.

- When I ask to move up or do more and my instructor says I'm not ready, he teaches me that in life you must always respect your rhythm and never skip the steps.

- When I fall and get back up, I learn that there are always setbacks, times when we back up, but the important thing is to get up more determined than before.

- If I hold my breath during a ride and he jokingly tells me "breathe! You are purple!” I understand that you have to let your emotions flow in order to get rid of them.

- When at the end of the course I am happy with the work done and my instructor says to me′ ′Well done, thank your teacher′′ I know he is not referring to himself but to my horse.

- Now you, you who are watching a rider pass in the saddle, keep saying that riding is not a sport because it is the horse that does everything. I agree. Horse riding is not a sport. It is a life lesson.

10/19/2023

https://conta.cc/46ysXJn

Hooray! Our swag store is here!   IT's HERE!!!!! I'm excited to announce to you all that we finally have our own swag store! Show your team spirit by ordering a swag item (or items) at your own conven

08/31/2023

ISO for a client-
Been there done that step up lease horse out of the short stirrup. Geldings preferred. Please PM me what you have available.

08/01/2023

We will be hosting a clinic with Dorthy Demis on August 20th!
Dot is a “S” ranked Judge as well as a bronze, silver and gold medalist! Don’t miss this opportunity to ride and expand your knowledge with an exceptional judge and clinician!
All levels and ages welcome! Auditors Welcome $15

07/26/2023

Congratulations to our riders at Autumn Sky Farm Hunter show! Goals set? Yes! Goals Crushed? Yes! Awards won? Yes! 🥇 way to go girls!

07/21/2023

Just a little write up in the “Tip of the Hat” magazine by NEDA. Thank you so much Kristin for the opportunity! 🥰

07/19/2023

Something finally arrived! Brand new barn, brand new GGT footing, brand new drag! 😁😍

07/08/2023

Another great day at Region 15 & 16 Championships Championships!

Vallejo Full Moon and LillyAnna-
Region 15 HA Ranch Rail ATR- Top 5

SK Nikoli Al Bidayer and Erica-
Region 15 W/T Sporthorse Hunter Type- Champion
Region 15 W/T Equitation- Reserve Champion
Region 15 W/T Pleasure- Top 5

SK Nikoli Al Bidayer and Andrea
Region 15 Sporthorse Open- Reserve Champion

07/05/2023

Day 1 Regional Region 15 & 16 Championships is a wrap! Congratulations to Erica and SK Nikoli Al Bidayer on a Regional Reserve Champion in Walk/Trot 10& under Equitation.

07/02/2023

All set up at Region 15/16 Championship Show in Virginia! Good Luck to all competitors!

07/01/2023

Well it’s time! Here’s a little peak…
Everything happens for a reason! 💕

06/26/2023

And a lot of Faith….
5 days until our big reveal!!

What is something your working for?

A new horse? 🐴
An upgrade to your home? 🏠
A new car? 🚗

Dream Big!

06/25/2023

Exciting news countdown initiated! 6 days and counting!

You won’t want to miss our amazing new reveal!

06/18/2023

Happy Fathers Day to all the wonderful supportive dads!

06/08/2023

Things your riding instructor wants you to know:
1. This sport is hard. You don't get to bypass the hard…..every good rider has gone through it. You make progress, then you don't, and then you make progress again. Your riding instructor can coach you through it, but they cannot make it easy.

2. You're going to ride horses you don't want to ride. If you're teachable, you will learn from every horse you ride. Each horse in the barn can teach you if you let them. IF YOU LET THEM. Which leads me to…

3. You MUST be teachable to succeed in this sport. You must be teachable to succeed at anything, but that is another conversation. Being teachable often means going back to basics time and time and time again. If you find basics boring, then your not looking at them as an opportunity to learn. Which brings me to…..

4. This sport is a COMMITMENT. Read that, then read it again. Every sport is a commitment, but in this sport your teammate weighs 1200 lbs and speaks a different language. Good riders don't get good by riding every once in awhile….they improve because they make riding a priority and give themsevles opportunity to practice.

5. EVERY RIDE IS AN OPPORTUNITY. Even the walk ones. Even the hard ones. Every. Single. Ride. Remember when you just wished someone would lead you around on a horse? Find the happiness in just being able to RIDE. If you make every ride about what your AREN'T doing, you take the fun out of the experience for yourself, your horse, and your instructor. Just enjoy the process. Which brings me to...

6. Riding should be fun. It is work. and work isn't always fun.....but if you (or your rider) are consistently choosing other activities or find yourself not looking forward to lessons, it's time to take a break. The horses already know you don't want to be here, and you set yourself up for failure if you are already dreading the lesson before you get here.

7. You'll learn more about horses from the ground than you ever will while riding. That's why ground lessons are important, too. If you're skipping ground lessons (or the part of your lesson that takes place on the ground), you're missing out on the most important parts of the lesson. You spend far more time on the ground with horses than you do in the saddle.

8. Ask questions and communicate. If you're wondering why your coach is having you ride a particular horse or do an exercise, ask them. Then listen to their answer and refer to #3 above.

9. We are human beings. We make decisions (some of them life and death ones) every day. We balance learning for students with workloads for horses and carry the bulk of this business on our shoulders. A little courtesy goes a long way.

Of all the sports your child will try through their school years, riding is one of 3 that they may continue regularly as adults (golf and skiing are the others). People who coach riding spend the better part of their free time and much of their disposable income trying to improve their own riding and caring for the horses who help teach your child. They love this sport and teaching others…..but they all have their limits. Not all good riders are good coaches, but all good coaches will tell you that the process to get good is not an easy one.

*thank you to whoever wrote this! Not my words, but certainly a shared sentiment!

06/05/2023

The movement of your horse’s hind legs can be broken down into the following three phases; thrust, reach, and carry.

Each phase is important and each one impacts the next, e.g. the more weight the horse takes during the carry phase, the more power he can produce in the thrust phase.

This knowledge is useful because it helps you in timing your aids and influencing the horse.

👉 EXAMPLE 1

During a leg-yield, the horse’s inside legs are required to step in front of and across his outside legs.

Therefore, if you apply your inside leg aid at the same precise moment as your horse lifts his inside hind leg (into the reach phase), then you can encourage the horse to step further under and across with that leg.

This will give you a greater degree of crossing during the leg-yield and a more sweeping stride.

👉 EXAMPLE 2

If you want to encourage your horse to take more weight behind, then apply your half-halt just as the horse’s inside hind leg is coming down to the ground (the carry phase).

At this moment, you can encourage your horse’s inside hind leg to take more weight.

👉 EXAMPLE 3

The horse’s canter stride starts with the horse’s outside hind leg. Therefore, to make a smooth transition from trot or walk into canter, apply your canter aids as your horse’s outside hind leg is in the reach phase.

This means that as that hind leg touches the ground (the carry phase), instead of it being another step of trot or walk, it will be the first step of canter.

This also encourages the horse to reach further under with that hind leg, producing a more uphill transition.

Give it a go!

05/29/2023

AHANE is a wrap! What an amazing weekend with our long distance horse friends! Team Unity had a fabulous weekend. Lots of ribbons and lots of goal crushing!!
One of my favorite part of the weekend was a comment made about how our riders always give their horse a pat regardless of how the class went. I love how our riders treat their relationship with their horses as a companionship. Go Unity Blue 💙!

05/08/2023

What a lovely day to spend with Girl Scouts! AND May is month! We were excited to have Erica and her PB Arabian, Nik greet the girls with his charm.

04/17/2023

Our next new partnership post! Meet Dhiplomat. Dhude as we call him is a 4 year old Oldenburg gelding owned by Adelina and Hannah Stamm. This family puts the work in with all this lucky boy needs as a developing baby. From ground work /long lining, to desensitizing and consistently they are ready to learn and work. Congratulations ladies! We look forward to watching this amazing guy develop and learn.

04/05/2023

The 1st new team to announce (in no particular order) is Ella and her new young mount “Saayeb Muejaza” affectionately know as Orion. 💕 This handsome fellow is a 1/2 Arabian Warmblood cross. We look forward to guiding this team together in the Open Hunter and Arabian Sport Horse Classes. So excited to see this team grow! 🤩

04/02/2023

Mama Credence was due on April 1 (this is not an April Fools! 🤣)

Let’s play a game. Guess the foaling date and gender. Closest guess wins a leather halter! 🤩

🌸 for filly
🧸 for c**t

03/24/2023

🌸Spring has sprung!🌼
Our favorite time of year! Lots of big news in the making! ✅ Check back to stay in the “know”! 🙂

The winter was very busy. We were searching for dream horses for our barn family. 💕And we found them!👏 Stay tuned for our new team spotlights! Sneak preview pictured 😉

01/27/2023

Please help our IEA riders with this supply drive. A collection box will be in the tack room and picked up on February 4th.

01/17/2023

https://conta.cc/3CTSBvs

Way to go Regional Qualifiers! The 2022-2023 IEA Regular Season came to an end this past weekend with a co-hosted show at Century Mill Stables and Clover Hill. This year was filled with many "Firsts"