Seven Hills Training

03/01/2025

Spring is in the air and these ponies are naked and muddy! 😂

02/23/2025

4 different jackets and two pairs of boots in my car at anytime. It’s WA, we can have all four seasons in one day 🤣🤣🤣

Anyone else??

02/22/2025

We have an opening coming available April 1st!

02/11/2025

Otis has had a GLOW up, thank you Mad Barn for your part in his transformation!

✨ Before & After 8-Month Transformation! ✨

"Long story short, we were in a less-than-ideal boarding situation this time last year, where my gelding lost a lot of weight and condition. We moved to a new program in May 2024, where I started him on Omneity by the recommendation of my new trainer (along with giving him free-choice hay/pasture and starting a rehab/training program).

I am just so happy with his transformation! Literally everyone who sees him comments on his BEAUTIFUL coat (the past 4 years he grew a dull, shaggy, yak-like winter coat). Now he just glows!! Thank you for helping my boy shine, inside and out 💗" – Leila

We love seeing these amazing transformations! Thank you so much Leila for sharing your horse's journey from March to November 💫

02/01/2025

01/16/2025

01/11/2025

Take a field full of young horses—doesn’t matter the breed or sport—and you’ll quickly see the harsh reality. Some will get hurt or die before they even have a chance to prove themselves. Some will be bought and rushed by people who don’t know what they’re doing, or worse, who “do”know but can’t resist cutting corners. Some will be started by hot-headed, short-fused riders who can’t handle the pressure. And only a small handful will ever get the chance to become well-trained by calm, patient, and skilled hands.

In short: there are far more potentially great young horses out there than there are people who actually know how to bring them along with the skill, the patience, and—let’s be real—“the temperament”to make it happen.

And the worst part? It’s usually the horse that gets blamed for the mistakes humans make.

And let’s not forget: the people who don’t know what they don’t know are the hardest to reach. And that? That’s a real problem.

01/01/2025

Now that you have listened to the episode, are you ready to body condition score your horse? Here is a link with the instructions and the Henneke chart to help you make your assessment. Let us know if you have any questions.

https://clarityequine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Condition-Scoring-Instructions.pdf

12/20/2024

Develop Your Eye for Correct Connection in Stretchy Trot - Dressage Fundamentals

12/13/2024

12/04/2024

Warning it’s graphic but super educational.

11/26/2024

Ingrid Klimke talks about development of the back and hind legs:
“The hindlegs must be energetic under the centre of gravity, that means the hindquarters get much more muscle, the back gets so much stronger, and the horse really shows himself. The horse has to have energy from behind, the motor is the hindlegs.”
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2023/02/ingrid-klimke-talks-about-hind-leg-development/

11/22/2024

Quite often I hear horses who are not freely forward described as “lazy.” There are a few problems with this :

1- lazy is an anthropomorphic description. Horses don’t care about our ideas of work ethic, or even know what those are. Their priorities are eat, be secure in a herd, look out for danger, and eat. Their priorities are not inside leg to outside rein, they don’t care about doing straight flying changes, and they certainly don’t care that you have a show coming up. The only way they can become invested in your work is if it makes them feel good, as in brings them mental and physical well-being. Otherwise, you can threaten with your leg all you want and inspire fear response, but they aren’t lazy - they just don’t share your priorities.

2- most sluggish horses are extremely tight. Moving forward with a rider on their back is actually double or triple the amount of work that it should or could be. They are moving with a tight back, tight shoulders and weak abs and haunches. Likely the rider is tight as well, and quite likely the rider is not balanced as well as they could be and using reprimanding or nagging aids. This horse is working FAR harder then they need to be.

If a horse’s shoulders are supple, back is free to lift, core is engaged and working without interference, hind legs swinging at optimum range of motion, movement is easy and enjoyable. So your “lazy” horse is far out working a horse with looseness and alignment, because they have to work much harder just to go forward.

Imagine being pulled off your couch, given a 70 lb pack to carry that slips around and isn’t stable, and being asked to move forward through a series of obstacles without being fit or knowing how to position yourself. You aren’t going to be moving very fast either, and someone nagging you to speed up incessantly will probably make you quite resentful.

Something to think about next time you whip out the “L” word; which in my barn is a very very dirty word, along with stubborn ;)