TruBlu Equestrian

05/02/2024

Isn’t he a stunner?! Love Ringo!

05/02/2024

Not even one month in the program - today Ranger not only performed his first lead change entirely off the seat, he performed SEVEN more, and he jumped several logs. Beyond proud of his fantastic example of the Thoroughbred breed. 🧡💙

04/26/2024

Polo season is right around the corner! Can’t wait to go galloping with the crew! 🌞💪🏻

04/25/2024

Throwback Thursday 💙 Truman is still the king of my heart!

04/24/2024

A huge welcome to Ringo to the TruBlu program 🧡💙 We over the moon with this gorgeous guy! 🌞 Logan Hoover

04/22/2024

It has been a truly fabulous, biodiverse, and beautiful week here in Metamora. Lucky that this is my office!

04/18/2024

Jackie Davidson and Martin (QH) have made outstanding progress in just a few months. I am beyond thrilled with this pair! Excited to see what the future holds for them.

04/11/2024

I would like to follow up with a previous post by pointing out everything that Logan Hoover is doing right here and the resulting mechanics of her horse:

-elastic connection between bit and elbow
-soft, forward gaze
-springy, flat back
-seat positioned directly above the center of gravity
-balanced parts

Results in…

-lifted withers and shoulders
-open throatlatch
-hind legs swinging under rider
-engaged thoracic sling
-soft ribcage that can breathe and receive leg aids
-tilted pelvis
-springy, continuous topline, connecting hind to front
-soft ears and eyes, calm demeanor, soft mouth
-soft, loose underneck

04/11/2024

Enjoying this fantastic spring weather with Logan Hoover and her PRE, Modoso. This pair is growing together every week, it’s a treat to watch. Thank you to Global Equestrian Imports and Tex Sutton Equine Air Transportation for making this possible.

03/28/2024

Having some springtime fun with Donna Marie Bromm’s Friesian/Dale gelding, Dublin. Cardio and balance work this month.

03/09/2024

Both horse and rider should develop extensive emotional regulation and self-soothing skills.

Often, I will see pairs where neither horse nor rider will know how to simply allow emotions to flow right through them without physically reacting to them. These pairs are often seemingly pitted against each other - never able to actually just enjoy their time together.

The biggest breakthroughs don't come from a change of bit, footing, breeches, or any other "fix." The times I've seen pairs "click" is when the rider initiates emotional regulation and space to "breathe." Moments of release and quietly turning inward must be found before moving forward.

02/28/2024

Excerpt from the journal of CJ Carpenter:

"You can solve almost all the problems you have with your horse's basic locomotion by conquering it in the walk first.

Walk is the most natural gait for a horse, and the one they spend the most time in by far. Because it is also the slowest gait, with the slowest footfalls, it is easier for both horse and rider to process information and problem solve. There is no moment of suspension in the walk, so balance issues are much easier to solve when you're both not worried about where to put body parts while you're hanging in the air.

Keep the walk pure and strengthen the walk. Return to the walk constantly during your journey, and continue to improve it. Above all - Forward First!"

02/26/2024

Excerpt from the journal of CJ Carpenter:

"In the end, the horses will always know if we are hiding something. They will sense anything we are trying to conceal. They are prey animals, and they naturally hate 'black holes.'

So if you are feeling sad, anxious, scared, miserable, weak, etc. when you get on - don't try to hide it. Lay it all out on the table. Be honest with what you're working with that day. Tell the horse - with your intention and your breath - what are you are feeling and why. Horses are amazing co-regulators if you let them be. You can help each other this way.

Throw out the idea of stoicism and clean professionalism - the horse doesn't understand that language. They speak in the Language of Energy only."

02/20/2024

Good things take time. Have patience.

Whether you’re a professional or a beginner - remember that anything that happens quickly will be hollow, and real change will take time.

Your horse’s body changes slowly, your body changes slowly, your business changes slowly. One step at a time, one day at a time. Enjoy the journey and process. There is no such thing as a quick fix.

Slow everything down. You’ll go further.

02/19/2024

Clients tell me all the time, “I don’t want to mess up my horse.” My response is “I just screw up every horse a little less every time”. It’s how we learn..

02/18/2024

02/17/2024

02/17/2024

THE FORGOTTEN CONCEPT OF THE JAW RELEASE

It is a concept and practice developed by Francois Baucher and over the years has been misunderstood, misused or ignored by professional trainers and amateurs alike. Baucher deduced from long and conscientious observation that whatever the conformation faults that affected the distribution of the force within a horse, it was always in the neck that the immediate effect was felt. No resistance could occur without being preceded by a contraction in the neck, and the jaw is ultimately connected to the neck. Baucher further established that as the head and the neck were the two most important levers enabling a rider to place and steer the animal, it would be impossible to obtain control of the horse without total mastery of these areas.

It produces a softness in the horse, through yielding of the jaw. Yes, horses can be taught to relax and yield the jaw.
When it comes to jaw flexions, many people are discouraged from attempting it for themselves, and those who do often attempt a twisted version of it, which causes them to think that it doesn't work.

Jaw flexions/releases are, at their core, a very practical and attainable exercise that can be used by any thoughtful horseman with feel, to the benefit of any bitted horse. The release of the jaw can be practiced and attained from the ground or mounted, with a green or a trained horse at any level provided they are done—like any good training—with patience, feel and much sensitivity.

Tension in the jaw, which causes resistance in the neck, can be released by a lifting and releasing action of the tongue, and this wave of relaxation will cascade down the other joints of the poll as well.

Jaw flexions/releases have less to do with the jaw specifically than they do with the TMJ. Baucher recognized that his horses were more flexible through their poll, easier to bend and collect, and in general better and more relaxed to work with after releasing the jaw. So, though this chewing response is often a product of relaxation, if it can be manually encouraged, it can also be used to create relaxation.

Horses, like people, can carry their tension (what we often call resistance) in their jaw or temporomandibular joint (TMJ). People under stress also tense their jaw and grind their teeth. In a horse, this tension transfers all the way down the rest of the neck and topline. They clench, they grind, they get heavy in the hand or they just plain don’t cooperate.

If you clench your jaw tightly and lock your molars, try to swallow. The minute your tongue lifts to the roof of your mouth and releases, your jaw unlocks and relaxes. Swallowing in general tends to relax the muscles. This is the same principle behind the jaw releases for horses: get the tongue moving, the jaw will unclench, and the poll and topline will begin to follow.

What was revolutionary about Baucher's way of getting the horse to "savour" the bit, is that perhaps for the first time, horsemanship came to view the bit and the hand as aids rather than weapons—tools with which the rider might consciously force the horse into a partnership rather than an enemy to be conquered and dominated. A way for the horse to accept the bit as "a friend". That, combined with his “hand without leg—leg without hand” formula, disposed of many common causes for resistance.

It is generally accepted that there are two main approaches to training dressage horses:

1. the first being the gymnastic approach exemplified by the Versailles School, which has been followed by all the subsequent cavalry schools, including of course the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. This approach is also pursued by many competition dressage trainers, who tend to place a greater emphasis on powerful movement.

2. The second approach is that of François Baucher, the French genius trainer of the 19th Century. Baucher invented a method to take complete control of the front end of the horse based on his now famous jaw flexions.

A detailed explanation of this process is available in Hilda Nelson’s book “François Baucher, The Man And His Method". Explanations can also sourced from Jean Claude Racinet’s book Another Horsemanship.
There are of course many other books on the subject but mainly in French.

Image: James Fillis

02/16/2024

Look at that stretch! An open throatlatch = fabulous, floaty movement

02/15/2024

When will the sunshine return to us in Michigan? 🌞 enjoyed last summer with my friend, Patty Banfield’s QH, Rock

02/14/2024

Remember to enjoy your horse, too 🧡

01/28/2024

It was beautiful in Metamora this week before all the snow melted.