Seabreeze Equestrian

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

10/24/2024

There’s some pretty cute noses around here.

10/19/2024

ENGAGE THE SLING BEFORE YOU DRIVE FROM BEHIND

baby race horse getting thoracic sling engagement 😊😊😊🧡🧡🙌🐴

You can see how in the before picture this horse appears collapsed into the ground. His feet are splayed and chest is wide and soft and looks like it is falling into the ground. This is called ‘columnar loading ‘ it means that the horse is loading into the ground like a building, it is the opposite of ‘tensegrity’ which implies a balance of the compression elements giving you suspension and recoil. If your not using your tension elements and just start collapsing into your front end the only way you can really hold yourself up is by tensing through the elbow and thus splaying your front feet.

This baby is 1 year old, never been ridden and already is collapsing into the front end and is losing the ability and desire to engage and lift the thoracic sling.

There is no pectoral activation in the before. He is wide and collapsing in front. For a race horse this is a posture that will make him prone to injury because as he fixates this way it will be more and more difficult for him change and get his front end out of the way.

In the meantime those folks that don’t believe in spinal flexion of the thoracic spine will insist on driving into this braced, blocked, fixated front end that is now being stabilized by the elbows that will externally rotate and brace and a activated brachiocephalicus muscle which will further contract trying to stabilize the neck trying to prevent further compression as the hind end is driven into a front end that is locked down and collapsing into the ground.

I learned in vet school that when there is much opposing discussion about things it usually means none of the answers are correct.

If you cannot lift and engage your thoracic sling so that you have the ability for suspension and recoil as in tensegrity please do not think that driving into it is the solution. If you want your horse to feel like a motor boat you have to have the lift first and then you can drive into it.

Yes you need drive but the road must be open

If you don’t have lift the drive will cause more compression and collapse, creating more dysfunction.

Does that make sense ?

So the answer is your need lift for the drive to have a place to go otherwise you just drive into a brace.

The horse on the right has an engaged thoracic sling. This only took about an hour and this particular little fellow still had a lot of restrictions that will need follow up. But it’s a start - he can now get his front end out of the way allowing for hind end to come under instead of around.

He will be able to push off the ground instead of collapsing into it allowing triceps activation and development.

He will be able to open up his rib cage and breathe deep fully expanding into his diaphragm and creating internal lift to his back. His waist will lengthen, lumbar spine align and psoas relax creating movement to the pelvis and softening the angle so the hips now in alignment can push back at the ground with their full power.

All this in an hour.
All this from re training your nervous system out of dysfunction into function
Lift your sling to lift your back.

Please don’t drive into your horse if he cannot engage his sling and definitely do not back these horses up !!

09/09/2024

Seabreeze equestrian has horses for lease or individual lessons. This is a great opportunity for junior ir adult amateurs looking to get riding time on educated horses. Training with USDF Silver medalist and L grad. Showing and clinic opportunities also available. Located in Ocala, 20 min from WEC. Message for more details. 412-901-1827

09/08/2024

Peaceful evening on the farm

09/05/2024

🌼Daisy🌼
2019 Westphalen Mare
Exciting prospect for dressage or jumping. Daisy has correct, powerful gaits, and is schooling first level.
16.3, with a solid build and sensitive without being hot. Super sweet in the barn, no vices. Currently barefoot with no health/soundness issues. Jump video also available. Located in Ocala, Florida.
412-901-1827

2019 Westphalen Mare, prospect for dressage or jumping

08/30/2024

Seabreeze Equestrian is offering up to 5 dry stalls available for the winter season in Ocala.
12x12 stalls with mats and attached 12x36 runouts
Covered riding arena with maintained footing
Climate controlled tack room
Multiple grass paddocks
Only 20 minutes to WEC
We are mainly a dressage barn but welcome all disciplines of riders and horses.
No dogs
Text 412-901-1827 or dm.