Seabreeze Equestrian

03/09/2025

🌴Sometimes we go off the farm for a little fun…..🏇This is Byron - he is a 5 year old Danish gelding with a solid dressage foundation. He is an elegant type and will be a fun partner for someone who wants a horse that can do a little bit of everything. 🏇Contact me for more info.

02/07/2025

💎🌟SuperStar in the making 🌟💎
6 year old Westfalen mare
Lots of scope
Tons of presence
Big stride
Beautiful mover
✨This mare will develop nicely in any direction yiu decide to take her. ✨
16.3, no vices, no health issues.
🙂Nice temperament. 🙃
Located in Ocala.
412-901-1827

01/26/2025

🐴🐴Open working student position at Seabreeze Equestrian! 🐴🐴
🌟We are looking for some help with horse care, tacking, and some small barn chores. This is a great opportunity to learn care of quality horses. Compensation is lessons/training on your own horse, or one of ours. Flexible schedule, and safe, quiet, working environment. 🌟
No experience necessary. Please contact Rhianna Pankhurst 412-901-1827 with questions or to schedule an interview.

01/19/2025

Many riders struggle under saddle with physical and emotional relaxation in the horse because they jump too quickly "up the scale" into contact/connection before the horse has learned to manage his own emotions. Until a horse can prove that he is relaxed in his mind and body, he is not ready for contact, in the way that we typically talk about it and see it used. This is why rhythm and relaxation are at "the base of the pyramid," and why we need to always return to this many times throughout each ride with our horse.

Too many riders are working hard to shape the horse into frames, cadences, and movements before the mind and body is open enough to accept being educated and molded. This only proves to create more frustration and tension in the horse (not to mention the rider!) as we attempt to progress further. It does not need to be this way. We need to recognize the horse's emotional state.

Everything must start with mental acceptance and relaxation for the horse in order for education to be possible. We need to return to this, also, when troubles start to shape up. Rather than trying to out-muscle the horse's emotions, we need to help him find relaxation again by stepping back and allowing him to manage his own emotions once more. From here, training can start again.

Tempo is an emotional condition of the gait. This is why rhythm and relaxation must be tied together at the base of our training. The horse must be allowed to find his own cadence and relaxation at all gaits with minimal (if any) interference from the rider. Only once he has come to this relaxation as a personal responsibility can we expect him to accept more advanced and sophisticated understandings of the rider's expectations.

01/15/2025

🌴🦄🌴🦄🌴🦄not everyday you get to ride a true life unicorn🌴🦄🌴🦄🌴

01/10/2025

Chilly 🥶 morning snooze. 🐴🐴

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas and happy new year!!🎄🎁🎆🎆

12/18/2024

12/11/2024

🦄🦄🌟🌟If anyone is looking for a quality young horse, I have a superb candidate! Dyno is just 3 years old and is showing so much talent for the future. 3 amazing gaits, with a canter that is uphill, balanced, and a dream to sit on. He is one the easiest young horses I have sat on, he has a great work ethic and temperament and is improving quickly with each ride. His natural talent is making the work easy and fun for him. He will easily do well in young horse classes and is a definite prospect for FEI level work. Contact me for more information about this young superstar. Located in Ocala. 🌟🌟🦄🦄
https://youtu.be/ZY1Pnegwuvc?feature=shares

10/31/2024

Elbows elbows elbows!

ELBOWS. ONE OF THE KEYS TO HAVING AN AUTHORITATIVE SEAT.

I taught a group of mostly young riders this past weekend and a consistent correction in many lessons was the placement of the riders elbows.

The biggest issue I saw was the riders' elbows being too far in front of their bodies and therefore, there was a corresponding instability that resulted from this position of the elbow and by extension, an instability in the hands.

In a way, the elbow is really the connector of the contact to the rider's seat. When the elbows jar away from the rider's body, essentially there becomes a disconnect between the contact and the seat. When this happens, the seat has lost its authority. A good visualization to keep awareness of your elbow placement is instead of visualizing the reins going into the hands, you can visualize the reins connect directly to your elbows. This will drive home the point that whenever we give a rein aid, the horse should feel it going down into our seat and therefore, down into its back.

An issue I see often is when some horses are cantering, they rhythmically jar down into the rider's hands with each canter stride. In other words, they're rhythmically pushing into the forehand. If the rider's elbows are not secure, hanging down from the shoulder and stabilized along the torso, the elbows will also be jarred forward with every stride. To prevent this jarring down by the horse and rebalance it to the hindquarters, the rider needs to PASSIVELY resist the jarring with their elbows transferring weight down into the seat.

By focusing on stabilizing the elbow in this instance, the rider finds no need to pull actively with the hands. When the horse feels that the rhythmic jarring is no longer accommodated by the rider, they'll start to shift their weight to accommodate the rider's lack of giving. As this weight shift happens, the rider can once again harmonize, breathing in the contact to verify to the horse that this new balance is approved. This process may need to be repeated multiple times to make the point that the horse now moves in a new balance, but this is how we set the horse "on the seat" in the canter. There are many more instances of using the proper elbow position and stabilization to positively effect the horse's balance underneath us, but this is one example I see often.

One of the challenges, in the elbow position is to make sure it doesn't get too tense. We want the elbow to be quiet and steady along our torso, but not locked otherwise we lose the elasticity of the contact. The old saying from Charles de Kunffy is that we should have "tone without tension". In our riding position. This applies to the elbows perfectly. They should be stable, but relaxed enough to the let rein aids be transmitted to the horse in an elastic way. Focus on your elbows for a bit and see how it can transform your horse's way of going!

10/29/2024

10/28/2024

I have some openings available for haul in lessons to my farm in Morriston, or some availability to travel to you!
USDF Silver medalist and L grad with distinction.
I have a passion for teaching and love to find the little details that make a big difference.
I enjoy all breeds of horses and teach beginners through Grand Prix.
412-901-1827