Endeavor Farm

12/03/2025

Good morning Endeavor. ❤️

11/23/2025

This man…do you recognize him? Are you smart/lucky enough to have seen him ride and train? Instruct and coach? Have you been to a clinic and watched him transform horses and riders?

This man is Jim Koford. And I got to watch him again yesterday, and wondered why the sides of the arena were not SRO with dressage learners.

I have attended a fair number of clinics in my time. Honestly, most are disappointing with clinicians who lack passion, knowledge, exercises, or experience. Horses do not improve; riders come then leave without clear “take homes” they need on their positions, aids and expectations.

But watching Jim work with riders on horses is inspiring and redemptive. (Yes, I’ve watched Jim
ride and have been equally impressed on many, many occasions.) And if you weren’t watching him this weekend at Pepperwood Farm, you missed a chance to learn from a master.

Jim insists that horse that enters the arena works on suppleness. He talks about how horses need to relax their ribcages, how they need to be shown to react to the rider’s leg without bracing. He places his hands on the reins to FEEL the horse’s interaction with the bit. He explains how to differentiate the leg aids so there is clarity. He works all the movements, figures and exercises not as something for the horse to “do”, but as a playbook of showing the horse how to “be”. Riders translate. Horses transform.

Jim’s voice, vocabulary, body language, roving position in the arena…all of these exemplify an instructor who cares deeply about helping riders understand not just what they need to do, but how to do it. He NEVER grandstands. He is there for the horses, the riders, the dressage.

Three of my students were with me yesterday. One, an adult amateur with a talented young horse. The other two were junior riders, currently beginning their eventing careers. We all watched and learned. My hope for them is that a bar was set; this man, Jim Koford, is the bar of what we should expect from our clinicians. This is decades of learning being shared with us For me, it was as always, pure reverence and a reminder of what a good clinician can do, in every session with every horse.

Thank you Jim. All ways.

11/02/2025

YESSSSSS!

Many riders try to create collection by lifting the neck,
but that only makes the horse tighter, not stronger😬

True collection starts from behind.

When the hind legs step under and carry more weight, the back lifts, the withers rise, and the neck naturally finds the right shape.

You can lift the neck with your hands, but you can’t lift the withers. Only your horse can do that through correct riding, balance, and trust.

Real power comes from the hind legs, not the hand.💪
That’s what creates lightness, balance, and true collection.

10/30/2025

Greens, golds and blues…

10/28/2025

Dressage was never meant to be about the picture, it’s about the purpose.

Every exercise, from transitions to collection, should help your horse become stronger, more supple, and more balanced both in body and in mind.

The goal isn’t to make the horse fit into dressage.

Dressage exists to help the horse move better, feel better, and develop correctly.

When you train with that mindset, everything changes. The work becomes lighter, the connection easier, and the horse truly enjoys his job. 💛

💭 Do you ride for the picture, or for your horse’s progress?

10/20/2025

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐚 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬

Polework is the most undervalued training tool we have and it shows. Everyone says they want a sound, confident, long lasting horse. But then you see ponies Grade A at seven years old, and you can’t help but wonder, how much jumping did that take? How many schooling rounds? How many miles on joints that aren’t even fully developed until they’re eight?

𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 “𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭.” 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩.

At six and seven, horses should still be learning how to use their body, not hammering around 1.20m tracks twice a weekend. By rights, their job at that age should be rhythm, straightness, balance not chasing points.

And this is where people roll their eyes, because the truth isn’t glamorous, polework is where the real training happens. Not when you’re on top of a fence. Before you ever get there.

A horse that can’t regulate its stride over poles won’t suddenly fix it over a jump. A horse that can’t stay straight on the ground won’t stay straight in the air. If your polework is weak, your jumping is a lie. You’re skipping steps. And skipping steps comes with a bill later usually in the form of lameness or fear.

We don’t have a jumping problem. We have a patience problem. Everyone wants the result, nobody wants to put in the miles. Polework doesn’t “look impressive” on a sales video. It doesn’t get likes online. But you know who did polework religiously? The horses that were still winning in their late teens, the ones who stayed sound long after their peers were “retired due to injury.”

You put a young horse through poles like the set up shown below, and you will learn very quickly if they drift, if they rush, if they lengthen one stride and shorten the next, if they think their way through questions, or panic through them. That’s education.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐝𝐨, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰.

It’s not talent that makes a future horse. It’s time. Time spent in walk over poles. Time spent in trot learning rhythm. Time spent building the brain before asking for the jump. Anyone can point a brave horse at a fence. A horseman builds one from the ground up.

And let’s be honest, this industry has stopped prioritising the horse. It’s not about producing athletes anymore; it’s about producing price tags. Horses are being fast tracked up the levels not because they’re ready, but because someone wants to sell them before the weaknesses start to show. We talk about welfare, but then applaud speed of production. The answer isn’t more jumping. It’s more polework.

𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆.

Photo credit: RFS

10/15/2025

This is from a post on “the internet”.

I’ve seen a good number of posts for training horses that are about as accurate. 🙄

👍

10/14/2025

Yup.