Heart Centered Horsemanship With Kimberly Horman

05/18/2024

Upcoming Rate Change:

I have always been clear, straightforward, and fair with rates. I feel it's an important part of doing good business! Here's an outline of the upcoming changes to my pricing:

Starting next month, lesson and training rates will be increasing from $50.00 to $70.00 per session. Travel fees are assessed for out of state clients on a case by case basis, but for most of NH, there is no travel fee assessed.

🖥️ Virtual lesson rates will be increasing to $45.00 per session.

🚙 Trailer loading is increasing to $50/hour.

Why the change? As you know, inflation is causing a cost of living increase across the board and providing top-notch instruction/training requires ongoing education investments on my end. I want to continue offering you the best services possible, and this rate adjustment will help do just that! ♥️

Here’s what you need to know:

Effective Date: The new rates will take effect on July 1st, 2024. So please mark your calendars! 🗓️

Booking Sessions: Please contact me if you're a new client interested in joining my program so we can discuss your needs! Summer is often far busier than winter, but I do have a couple of spots per month available prior to having new clients join a waiting list.

Special Offers: Keep an eye out for occasional promotions and discounts for online coaching.

If you're an existing client with questions or concerns in regards to this increase, please contact me privately.

05/02/2024

It's trailer rental season! We have many clients contacting us for this service. The trailer is located in Northfield NH. Need to move your horse, other livestock, or even a large item? Get in touch today so we can discuss your rental needs. All details regarding trailer rentals can be found on the pinned post on the top of my page, or on my website, heartcenteredhorsemanshipacademy.com

02/20/2024

I'm finally able to go live with the good news! Hors Concours Coffee Co is now live on Shopify! Ever wanted to sip on some high quality equestrian themed coffee? Well, it's now a thing! Hop on over to https://horsconcours.myshopify.com/ to learn more!

Hors Concours Coffee Co

01/25/2024

I have a big announcement coming soon. It's horse related but on a different trajectory and is not training related. In fact, you don't even need a horse to enjoy it! Stay tuned!!

12/01/2023

Friendly reminder to chill with your horse by/in the trailer, even if they load perfectly. It's important your horse doesn't associate the trailer with being shut in and taken on long rides every time they get close to it.

08/17/2023

A few of you have already reached out to me to ask for information about the Online Winter Academy and what it will offer. Here is the topic syllabus for each week of the program. More info to come!

08/16/2023

Winter is tough in New hampshire without an indoor. This year, I will be offering a 4 month Online Winter Academy Membership from December to April that includes theory videos, a weekly zoom Q&A, a private Facebook community and ride reviews. For those of you who did the 30 day confidence challenge, it'll be structured in a similar manner but open to more members. Save your riding times for the warmest day of the the week. Can't ride? No problem. The videos don't expire for members and many subjects don't require you to be mounted. You can expect a more detailed outline of this membership program in the coming months. Stay tuned!

05/28/2023

Hello everyone!

All lesson days and times are filled at this point for in-person sessions. I have three virtual lesson time slots that are still open. If you're interested in working with me, please do get in touch and I will get you on my waiting list. 😊 you can always hop onto my website in the meantime for training and riding tips. See link!

Innovative, species specific training for your equine partner. Free content available including blog, podcast, and YouTube videos. Online Classroom coming soon!

05/23/2023

Happy to announce that starting in mid June I'll be offering trailer rentals!!
Rent a brand new 2024 Valley Stock Combo 2 horse bumper pull for as little as $90/day.
⚖️ Weight: 2760 lbs
🔮 Ball size: 2 and 5/16ths
🪜Loading Type: Step-Up
Weekday rentals - $90
Weekend day rentals - $125
Discounts available for rentals exceeding 3 days.

Please call or text 603-254-9720 for additional details and information.

04/29/2023

Heart Centered Horsemanship is a proud sponsor of the Serenity Stables Pleasure Horse Show taking place on August 20th! Would you like a chance to win a gift certificate for a freelance or virtual session? You will have a chance to do so by entering their raffle on show day.

04/13/2023

Laterals - what types are there and how do you properly set a horse up for them? The quality of laterals are often in the setup and the understanding of the movement itself. Listen to my latest episode for more info:

Listen to the most recent episode of my podcast: Setting Your Horse Up For Success in Laterals

A discussion about proper setup, positioning, and coming back to straightness after lateral movements. Want to learn more? Visit my website, heartcenteredhorsemanshipacademy.com!

04/04/2023

What's the correlation between a piece of metal wire and your horse's bones? I recently watched a seminar by Chris Whitton, a leading expert on equine skeletal injuries. He made an analogy about a piece of metal wire being bent multiple times. Eventually, the wire will break. This is due to an accumulation of microcracks from the cyclic load of multiple bending forces on the wire. In photos of a thoroughbred's fetlock under a microscope, the appearance is strikingly similar to a wire with microcracks. Multiple loading results in damage. the fatigue life of bone can be graphed. There can be substantial fatigue life with no signs of failure (70% of the graph shows little change), and changes in the bone occurs just prior to catastrophic failure. The greater the load on the limb, the less number of cycles can occur before failure. for example, the fetlock joint load is 0.8 tons in walk, 2.3 tons at trot, and 2.6 tons in canter. Evidence extrapolated from data estimates there are 4 tons of fetlock joint load in the gallop. The good news is bone is a dynamic tissue with the ability to adapt and repair. the bone adapts to the load applied. For example, trotting adapts the bone to trotting. This adaptation can occur with low volumes of exercise (2-3 times a week will form good bone adaptation). Adaptation also increases resistance to fatigue. When we start training, or resume it after a break, the bone needs time to adapt to the load levels applied. The bad news is that intensive training inhibits bone repair. The majority of repair happens when a horse is resting (not being trained or competed). When a horse accumulates bone damage in intense training, the repair is reduced due to lack of rest. So, what can we do to reduce the risk of bone fatigue in our horses? First, we need to minimize the distance of speed work needed to keep a horse fit. Allowing more time between competitions reduces intensity of the loading over time. Shorter training and competition periods coupled with longer rest and recovery periods are also part of the solution. It's important to note that catastrophic injuries are not always random and out of our control. There are limits to the amount of fast work a horse can sustain. It's crucial to remember that horses are elite athletes that work at the limits of biology, and the skeleton has limits. When you're in doubt about your horse's soundness, contact your vet. If something feels "off," go with your gut and let your horse rest.

03/29/2023

An excerpt from my "Trail Ride Troubleshooting" episode of the Heart Centered Horsemanship podcast. Prevention is key! Here are some ways to prevent problems on the trail before heading out. The episode itself will be released April 26th. You can find it by visiting Heartcenteredhorsemanshipacademy.com or listen wherever you get your podcasts (Spotify, Anchor, Google podcasts, etc.)

03/20/2023

Quality over quantity. Don't beat yourself up over not setting aside an hour to ride.
Bad footing for "real work?" Pressed for time? Still have 8 minutes to ride? Do it! 😊🩷 - this is a reality, especially for those of us (🙋‍♀️) without an indoor. When I say I've ridden all winter, there have been lots of rides that looked just like this. If you can hop on and work on a few transitions and trot for 4 seconds out of your ride, enjoy it. Have fun. Happy spring!

03/03/2023

03/02/2023

Did you know that 250mm/Hg of pressure is the same as a tourniquet meant to stop the flow of blood in a trauma scenario, and nosebands produce 200-400 mm/Hg?

Read the study here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312185959_An_Objective_Measure_of_Noseband_Tightness_and_Its_Measurement_Using_a_Novel_Digital_Tightness_Gauge

Did you know that tight nosebands increase a horse's heart rate, affect swallowing/yawning/licking, and restricts tongue movement? It's also shown that tight nosebands increase a horse's eye temperature which is an indication of physiological stress.

Read the study here:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0154179

Did you know that in a study of 750 sport horses using a taper gauge, 44% of these horses had a noseband so tight that the gauge couldn't even be inserted, and just 7% had the standard two fingers of width most of us deem the appropriate measurement for a proper noseband tension?

You can read the study here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5207535/

Did you know that a study of 3,143 horses showed a confirmed link between horses with tight nosebands and increased mouth lesions? Another interesting note here, is horses without a noseband at all appear to have more irritation to the mouth's corners due to increased maneuverability of the bit. You can read that study here:

https://www.usdf.org/EduDocs/Tack/Bit_and_Noseband_Hurting_Horse_Hilary_Clayton.pdf

This is a hot topic at the moment. I think understanding the science showing links between tight nosebands and their effects on a horse holds a lot more weight than our opinions.

03/01/2023

Advanced Riders: Are you struggling with canter pirouette? These tips might help! Listen to my podcast on how to train and troubleshoot pirouettes by clicking the link below.

Let's talk about some advanced tactics today. How do we introduce the canter pirouette in a way that makes the most sense to your horse? What foundational loophole may be leading to any issues you're having with pirouettes? You can find information about all of that in this episode. Want to get in t...

02/23/2023

Methods of osteopathic treatments vary. There are many different techniques an equine osteopath might use including the following: