HC Equestrian

05/01/2024

Only 2 weeks left to sign up! Link in comments

04/14/2024

Early Bird Registration for Santa Cruz Super Clinic ends tomorrow. Only a few spots left, reserve your spot before the price goes up on Tuesday! 💸

03/15/2024

08/22/2023

Rode in the wind and rain today. Lena’s jog is feeling 🔥

08/06/2023

I taught a clinic full of wonderful horses and riders today, and this was the only photo I took. Isn’t this dog fabulous?!

08/03/2023

This morning I rode Lena through the murder of crows out on the field. Our goal was to move through them, without then flying away. I looked down and saw our shadow. I thought there way the little flowers showed up on us was beautiful.

07/31/2023

A snakey day at the ranch! One beauty by the Dressage court, and another in the barn! 🐍

07/20/2023

Channeling my inner .colman and trying to take a pretty picture of a good horse.

07/16/2023

River and I tried a ranch riding trail class on a lark. It was fun and we have transferable skills!

07/11/2023

Bug and Chocohen.

07/09/2023

New trick for River! My cue got in frame a little too 🦵

04/07/2023

Happy 30th Birthday to Poni! She is still sound and jumping. She hasn’t slowed down 😂. Poni lives at Webb Ranch and is a member of Saratoga Pony Club. She is lovingly owned by Alice Bizri’s family. Please share your favorite memories or pictures of Poni in the comments!

08/04/2022

Congratulations to Norma on her purchase of Magic Mike! He’s already bringing joy and making us laugh ♥️

07/19/2022

Food for thought

Preparation

I was late to the mechanic today. My car was booked in at 8am sharp, and I rolled in the driveway at 8.05.

Many may read this and think that ‘5 minutes’ doesn’t really matter, and I guess 100 years from now it won’t. It did however get me to thinking about something my mentor said to me many years ago.

I was attending his clinic, and I was already ready to go in the arena, like many others. It was about 8.55am for a 9am start and I was chuckling about one of my fellow attendees who was ‘faffing about’ still brushing her horse and saddling up. I said “I don’t think she is going to make it” as I saw his gaze cross over to her. “You watch how it reflects in her horsemanship” he said - and then he had my full attention.

I must have looked at him with a quizzical expression because he went on to say “it’s true. If you watch the people that are late, then watch them with their horses and you will see it makes a difference”.

Over the years I have learnt that there are many areas where this is reflected.

Rushing. Usually when you are running late you have a ‘hustle’ in your movements. This is picked up on by the horse and can translate into confusion in aids and a general air of anxiety in your interactions.

‘Good enough’. If you thought that 5 minutes wasn’t really a big deal, this can translate into a ‘good enough’ attitude. “Oh he did the movement, it wasn’t perfect, but it was ‘good enough’. Good enough is the enemy of excellence.

Loss of training and learning time. Every 5 minutes is 5 minutes you could have learned something, trained something or taught something. Did you know that if you miss 5 minutes per day on a 5 day week, over the year that is 21 hours of training!

It would be remiss of me to not mention the impact to others. Turning up late to a clinic or lesson is not only disrespectful to your coach who has made the effort to be on time, but is disruptive to your fellow students.

Back to my being late to the mechanic. I had allowed 1.5 hours to get there, and it is usually about an hours drive, however certain things happened at home which caused me to get on the road late. At 7.55am I was still all set for being on time, but then was caught in roadworks just before the mechanics shop. This caused a delay of 10 minutes. I could ‘blame’ the roadworks, but at the end of the day preparation is not about leaving 45 minutes before your appointment when you know a ‘good run’ gets you there in 45 minutes. It’s about leaving an hour or an hour and 15 minutes before to have time for any ‘unexpected’ issues.

As we practice this preparation in our day to day life, it is reflected in the quality of our horsemanship.

Tk

Train with

July 30 & 31 - Liberty clinic, Port Macquarie NSW

August 18 - 27 Cadillac horse course 10 days, Glenreagh

September 3 & 4 - Connection & Self Carriage - Gold Coast hinterland

September 3 & 4 - Cowboy Dressage Wauchope

Shine by CEN Horse Nutrition

03/17/2022

Hang tight everyone! You don’t want these cooties.

03/04/2022

Stay put everyone!

12/09/2021

New from USAWE, objectives for the levels. Very helpful for understanding performance expectations at each level.

12/08/2021

I really like the part about the "pelbow"

THE RIDERS ARMS

A common issue we see is too straight an arm, this tends to set or lock out the arm so it becomes rigid and lacks the elasticity from the elbow.
The wrists, hands, and fingers have to be completely relaxed. If the wrists are stiff, they block the energy flow in both directions, and the horse will brace with his jaw and poll.

The info below is courtesy from Riding

Original post
https://www.facebook.com/RitterDressage/photos/a.626824274029086/4827621343949337/

In this photo from the Cadre Noir the hand looks very soft and relaxed, without any tension. You can also see the pelbow connection. Without a good Pelvis-Elbow connection (a.k.a. “Pelbow”), the wrists and fingers tend to be stiff.

"This mobility of the wrist enables the fist to feel gently, which contributes so much to the pleasantness as well as the skill of riding, whereas a stiff joint cannot help but be hard, transmitting all rein aids in a rude manner, without any sensitivity or delicacy."
(Christian Ehrenfried Seifert von Tennecker, 1805)

11/24/2021

Hooray for long ears!

Did you know that in just over a week, the rule change permitting mules to compete in Jumper classes goes into effect? This new change mirrors the FEI’s action of including mules in our sport.

We're making sure you Know Before You Show by highlighting new rules for the 2022 competition season that will affect our members. Learn about all the rule changes that will affect Hunter/Jumper competition at ushja.org/knowbeforeyoushow.

📸: JJ Sillman, courtesy of USHJA Assistant Managing Director of Education Programs Whitney Barnard and her mule, Alan!

11/15/2021

Enrichment is so important for your horses! Who remembers when we made our own horse toys at camp?

11/01/2021

We had a nice turnout in our annual Costume contest! The winners of the free lesson are King Cola and King Romero! Thank you to everyone who played. Happy Halloween!

10/30/2021

Congratulations to Eva on her purchase of Muskrat! This mustang was named for the Muskrat Basin Herd Management Area where he was gathered in Wyoming.

09/25/2021

Something we all need to be reminded of.

09/09/2021

Today a horse that I would consider one of the bravest in the program spooked pretty hard because I was sitting in a chair facing away from her, instead of towards her. This helps explain why.

Understanding that horses view different sides of objects as entirely new means we can desensitize them to everyday objects from all angles for better safety and welfare, the researcher says.