Pyramid Equestrian

07/30/2025

07/13/2025

The Power of Slow: Why Slow Work Is Beneficial for Horses

In a world where fast-paced training, high-level competition, and immediate results often take the spotlight, the value of slow, deliberate work with horses is sometimes overlooked. Yet, slow work is one of the most powerful, foundational tools in developing a sound, balanced, and mentally healthy horse—regardless of discipline or breed.

Whether you're bringing on a young horse, rehabbing an older one, or simply trying to build a better partnership, slow work is essential. Here’s why.

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1. Builds Strong, Healthy Muscles and Soft Tissue

One of the most important reasons to include slow work in your training is its effect on the musculoskeletal system:

Encourages correct muscle development over the back, shoulders, and hindquarters

Reduces the risk of strain injuries by gradually conditioning ligaments and tendons

Strengthens core muscles that support balance, posture, and self-carriage

When horses move slowly, they must engage their bodies more mindfully, using strength and stability rather than momentum. This leads to correct movement patterns and long-term soundness.

Slow work also asks the joints to flex more.

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2. Enhances Balance, Coordination, and Proprioception

Slow work helps horses:

Find their balance without rushing

Improve coordination as they become more aware of where their feet are

Develop better body control through transitions, bending, and straightness

This is especially important for young horses, horses returning from injury, or those struggling with crookedness or tension. By removing speed, you give the horse time to understand and organize its body.

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3. Supports the Horse's Mind and Nervous System

Fast work can easily overstimulate a horse—particularly young, anxious, or sensitive ones. Slow work:

Calms the nervous system

Encourages focus and thoughtfulness

Builds confidence through repetition and clarity

Reduces tension and mental resistance

A relaxed horse is a thinking horse. Slow work allows them to understand what's being asked without triggering their flight instinct.

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4. Teaches Body Awareness and Responsiveness

In slow work, every step counts. This helps the horse become more:

Responsive to light aids

Aware of their body placement

Willing to carry themselves rather than rely on the rider or speed

This kind of responsiveness builds the base for higher-level maneuvers later, whether that’s collection, lateral work, jumping, or precise movements in a show ring.

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5. Prepares the Horse for More Advanced Work

You can’t build brilliance on an unstable foundation. Slow work is the groundwork for:

Collection and engagement

Suppleness and straightness

Rhythm and regularity

Lateral work and transitions

Skipping slow work may get quick results short-term, but it often leads to physical issues, behavioral resistance, or training holes down the line.

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6. Benefits for Riders, Too

It’s not just the horse who benefits—slow work helps riders:

Improve their feel and timing

Develop a softer, more independent seat

Build better communication and trust

Address their own balance and posture

By slowing everything down, riders can become more aware of subtle changes and learn to work with the horse instead of pushing against resistance.

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How to Incorporate Slow Work

Here are a few simple ways to bring more slow work into your training:

Long, slow walks (in hand or under saddle) to build muscle and calm the mind

Pole work at the walk to engage the core and improve body awareness

Lateral work (shoulder-in, leg yield, turn on the forehand) at walk or slow trot

Slow, controlled transitions between and within gaits

Hill work at the walk for strength and balance

Stretching and bending exercises to loosen and align the body

Consistency is key. These don't need to be long sessions—just thoughtful and regular.

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Conclusion

Slow work isn’t “easy” or “lazy”—it’s intelligent, intentional, and incredibly effective. By removing speed, we give the horse time to learn, strengthen, and settle. Whether you’re working toward competition or simply building a better relationship with your horse, embracing the value of slow work will reward you with a more balanced, supple, and confident partner.

05/19/2025

Valentino owned by Marjorie Ann Parker at First Level, his first show with us, scoring between 69-71% (we won't talk about the scary train incident...😜) He's such a fun, sweet youngster!
Half Friesian 6 yr old.

https://youtu.be/Cw61yk7GoXQ?si=MSRVaeOEyzHqLmvB

05/18/2025

05/07/2025

Yes!! Read the part about leading as well. A horse must give to the lead rope. It is the VERY first thing all horses learn when I start their training, no matter their age or background. Yield to pressure downward and forward, with relaxation.

A FEW THOUGHTS ON TYING HORSES

I want to talk about tying horses.

To summarise a 1000-word essay into just one sentence; “every horse should learn to tie up brilliantly, but very few horses should ever be tied.”

Let’s start with the first part of that statement.

“Every horse should learn to tie up brilliantly.”

I want to trust that if I tie my horse to something solid, it will still be there 2hrs later. During that 2hrs, I want it to feel comfortable. I want it to feel safe. I want it to experience a minimum of anxiety. I don’t want it to ever lean back on the lead rope. I don’t want it to feel fidgety or scramble. I want it to feel secure. I want it to feel like it is in a happy place no matter where or to what it is tied.

I published a post arguing that the most important lesson we can ever teach a horse is to lead brilliantly. The majority of horses that do not reliably tie up are horses that have holes in their ability to follow the feel of the lead rope. Like so many issues we might have with our horse, the root cause is often problems with how well a horse leads.

However, it’s not always the case that tying up problems are due to leading problems. Occasionally, a tying-up problem comes from a trauma a horse has experienced. In this case, the leading still needs to be brilliant, but some tweaking may be needed in the tying-up lesson to re-shape a horse’s auto-response to being tied and help them find a different response than sheer panic.

However, it is my experience that if a horse learns to follow the feel of a lead rope from the very first lessons, problems with tying up later are rare.

Now let’s consider the second part of the statement.

“Very few horses should ever be tied.”

This is probably a little controversial because there are instances when tying a horse is necessary. But let me clarify that when I say “should ever be tied”, I mean “should ever be tied to something solid with a knot that is fixed.”

When I tie a horse, it is almost always in a way that the lead rope can slip if the horse pulls away. If a horse reaches the end of the lead rope, I want it to step forward to put slack back in the rope. This is what good leading teaches a horse.

But if a horse reaches the end of the lead rope and pulls harder, I want the lead rope to slide to give the horse room to move. There may be some resistance in the lead rope that requires the horse to put in an effort if it has a strong thought to leave the scene. But the resistance in the rope should not be so strong that it creates a life-and-death struggle to see which breaks first - the rope, the fence, or the horse.

This means I don’t tie the lead rope with a knot. Instead, I use some type of method that allows the lead rope to slide around the fence or rail. Often it just involves wrapping the lead rope around a post or rail 2 or 3 times. The number of wraps depends on how much resistance I want the rope to have when a horse leans against it. The more wraps, the more resistance. Other times I will use a gadget, like a Blocker tie that can be fixed to a post or rail and allows the lead rope to slide if enough force is used. The photo below shows a ring bit that I cut in half and used to tie horses. It allows the lead rope to slide and can be adjusted to apply different degrees of resistance.

My horses are seldom tied, even with a rope that slides. They ground tie well. If I take them somewhere new and challenging I can tie them safely with 2 or 3 wraps of the rope around a post or rail.

So why do I not recommend tying a horse to something solid with a fixed knot?

Any horse can be startled or frightened resulting in them pulling back. In a state of fear, being tied up without a way to escape will often lead to panic. This is when horses fall and injure themselves. This is when tie-up rails break causing injury or panic. This is when spinal damage can occur. This is when somebody standing nearby can be run over.

If a horse gets a fright and pulls on a lead rope that can slide and go with the horse, very often it diminishes the feelings of panic because the horse feels escape from the life-ending threat is possible. For a nervous horse, I suggest using a long rope of say 7m (25ft). I have never had a horse pull to the end of a 7m rope. They have always stopped long before reaching the end. They may have pulled back to 4m or 5m, but they always stopped and remained tied.

I know some people will be concerned that a horse may pull back enough that the rope unwraps around the tie-up post and gets away with the rope dragging. They fear it will run onto the road, and cause a car to crash into a power line. The power line will fall to the ground and break a gas line. A spark from the power line will set off a gas explosion and houses will be destroyed. A military satellite will see the explosions and interpret them as an attack from a foreign enemy. Nuclear weapons will be armed and the world will be put on a war footing. All because somebody did not tie up their horse with a solid knot. Yes, it could happen. But on the bright side, somebody will make a lot of money from the Hollywood movie.

To ensure nobody misinterprets the message of this essay I will repeat it.

Every horse should be able to be reliably and safely tied to a solid post with a solid knot. But very few horses or on very few occasions should it be done.

Photo: This the ring bit cut in half and used like a Blocker Tie.

04/30/2025

I speak about this in every lesson. Timing is so important! What is even more important FIRST is that the horse must react the moment you use your aids, not delay. Otherwise the timing gets muddled.

The movement of your horse’s hind legs can be broken down into the following three phases; thrust, reach, and carry.

Each phase is important and each one impacts the next, e.g. the more weight the horse takes during the carry phase, the more power he can produce in the thrust phase.

This knowledge is useful because it helps you in timing your aids and influencing the horse.

👉 EXAMPLE 1

During a leg-yield, the horse’s inside legs are required to step in front of and across his outside legs.

Therefore, if you apply your inside leg aid at the same precise moment as your horse lifts his inside hind leg (into the reach phase), then you can encourage the horse to step further under and across with that leg.

This will give you a greater degree of crossing during the leg-yield and a more sweeping stride.

👉 EXAMPLE 2

If you want to encourage your horse to take more weight behind, then apply your half-halt just as the horse’s inside hind leg is coming down to the ground (the carry phase).

At this moment, you can encourage your horse’s inside hind leg to take more weight.

👉 EXAMPLE 3

The horse’s canter stride starts with the horse’s outside hind leg. Therefore, to make a smooth transition from trot or walk into canter, apply your canter aids as your horse’s outside hind leg is in the reach phase.

This means that as that hind leg touches the ground (the carry phase), instead of it being another step of trot or walk, it will be the first step of canter.

This also encourages the horse to reach further under with that hind leg, producing a more uphill transition.

Give it a go!

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04/03/2025

I love this! Let the reins breathe. This is the essence of harmony.

I was maybe 21 or 22 when I had a lesson that’s stayed with me ever since.

It was one of those early spring days when the arena was still cold, but the sun was shinning.

My horse, a spirited youngster, was tense, and so was I. We were both fighting each other, me trying to hold everything together, him trying to escape everything I was holding.

My trainer at the time was soft-spoken, but her feel in the saddle was sharper than any words. She called me into the middle with just a glance.

She didn’t say much. Just walked up, took the reins from my hands, and held them for a moment.

Then she looked at me and said,
"You’re holding your breath. And you’re holding the reins the same way."

I laughed awkwardly, because she wasn’t wrong.

“Okay,” I said. “Soften my hands. Try not to die. Breathe. Got it.”

But she shook her head.

“No, it’s more than that,” she said. “The reins are the breath of the ride. They should move like breath. Expand. Release. Flow.”

I don’t remember the rest of the ride. But I remember sitting in silence at the end of the day, thinking about what she said.

Back then, I didn’t fully get it. I was too focused on outline, on contact, on “getting it right.” But over time, the lesson kept echoing back to me. Especially in the harder rides, the ones where nothing seemed to click.

And I started to notice:

When I held my breath, I held the reins.
When I was soft and present, so were they.
And when the reins breathed, so did my horse.

The reins aren't tools of control.
They’re a shared inhale, a shared exhale.
A rhythm not made of sound, but of feel.

Now, years later, it’s one of the first things I feel for in every ride:

Are we breathing?
Are we listening?

Because that space, the space between pressure and release, between ask and allow,
that’s where the magic lives.

That’s the breath of dressage.

03/12/2025

A delayed post, but we had a blast at the chilly Pinehurst Dressage schooling show by Sporting Services! 4 brave students strutted their stuff and all achieved their goals. Kathy and Jimi got out there at 2nd level again, and won their class and came home with some great homework (leg means go, Jimi!). Nancy and Crosby went out after a 4 year show hiatus, and successfully completed Training 3 and First 1, placing first with a 69%! Rochelle and Kobe and Ann and Mickey came with my help with coaching in the warm up and reading their tests, but did everything else themselves for the first time, even the trailering and warm up! Rochelle delt with Kobe's nerves like a pro and kept it all together, making it look quiet and easy. Ann and Mickey had some discussions the first test and came back with a much more harmonious ride the 2nd test. They rode 4 lovely Western Dressage Intro tests between the 2 of them, mastering the main goals of a first show: stay on and stay in!
EVERYONE did a great job of riding the geometry of the tests that they practiced so diligently at home. I'm so happy seeing these ladies getting out there and having fun!

03/04/2025

Don't be afraid to suck for as long as it takes to get good. Fear of failure isn’t really about failure—it’s about what failure means to us. We’re not scared of messing up; we’re scared of being judged, embarrassed, or proven our worst insecurities right. . Mark Manson

12/22/2024

Some fun pictures of Captain Nemo! From the Fall Pinehurst Schooling Show. 6 yr old Dutch HH gelding. photo credit

11/07/2024

H. SZOVALJO and Allison dance their way into FEI and achieve the final scores needed for Allison's USDF Silver Medal during their debut at Prix St George! NCDCTA put on a lovely show and we got blessed with amazing November weather!
PC: Hightime Photography

10/17/2024

Pinehurst Harness Track Sporting Services fall schooling show was a huge success! The first outing for most of these horses in a long while!

Huge congrats to Kathy and her beautiful Jimi, rocking their Second 1 rides with a high score of 69% and blue ribbons! Jimi has had a string of bad luck, and Kathy's determination and dedication to keeping him healthy and happy has been inspiring. This was their first outing in nearly 3 years!

RU Ready to Rock, lovingly owned and bred by Tami Noftz was literally a rock star this weekend! He scored an impressive 76.6% in Western Dressage Intro level, and 69% in Basic Level, winning all 5 of his classes! This was his second outing this year, the first not so successful as he was extremely buddy sour. After 2 weeks of "sleep away camp" with Allison, he was a happy camper and a perfect gentleman all weekend.

Wilderness Farm's Captain Nemo, owned and loved by Cathi Jensen, was also a wonderful boy! This was the first outing with Allison since his arrival to NC late spring. He had a light summer due to her judging travels, but has been back to solid work, winning all 4 of his Training level classes, with scores in the upper 60s to 70%!

And last but certainly not least, was Allison’s own H. Szovaljo, aka Sam. He tried his hand at PSG this weekend, scoring 62 and 65.6% from a S judge, even with a few piloting mistakes! We are looking forward to the next recognized show to try for my USDF Silver medal!