Tudo Abrangente Horsemanship

08/29/2024

School walk in hand at a recent clinic in Polson Montana.

08/29/2024

Ciel Schofield teaching her horse school walk, in hand.

08/25/2024

Upcoming cow working clinic. This is a clinic designed for real ranch work.

08/07/2024

08/01/2024

From today’s lesson: Once you equip your horse with the tools of thinking and feeling, they will hold our actions and us to a higher degree of accountability.

07/26/2024

This is Maya Williams first time round penning from horseback. Those who think dressage is just for the arena are missing the point. Correct dressage, creates a handy working horse who knows and are happy to do their job efficiently and effectively. Mare trained by Miriam Orschel and Maya Williams.

07/26/2024

I feel this is a real interesting video and one that I hope will get many of you to re-think some things about what you think is going on inside a horse and begin to study what is really taking place.
This happened at a recent clinic in Sherwood Oregon. Maya Williams is round penning a mature gelding who carries a lot of anxiety. At the start of this video, the gelding has just come off the rail to face her. This is the first time Maya has done this while mounted and the first time the mare she is riding has had a flag used around her while ridden. As you can see, the gelding stands facing Maya and her mare while deciding his next course of action. After a few moments he decides to approach them, which is what most people think should be the desired result. However, if one understands what we are trying to develop as this happens you can understand that the horse facing you and then approaching you really has no value. It’s about how the horse turns to face and approach you, and why he did. The whole reason to do the round pen work is to help the horse turn loose of his self preservation which can then promote the thinking, problem solving part of the brain to engage; to take them out of reactivity into responsiveness. A response has feel and thought in it before the action takes place. Where as a reaction takes place from their natural sense of self preservation. When the gelding approaches, most people would think that they have just accomplished something very important and that the horse is coming in to connect with them. So they would reward and praise him for it. But, if you can observe and read what’s really going on inside of this horse as he approaches, you can see he is still in self preservation and therefore you won’t be surprised as to what happens at the end of the video. Regardless of what you think is going on inside of him, Maya’s mare knows what’s really going on and as he tries to make contact with her, you can see her telling him to back off. Maya’s mare knows that what is going on inside of him is not right. So she is telling him to back off until he gets right inside. The rest I’ll let you see for yourself in the video.
By the way, Maya did a great job, listening to and trusting her mare’s judgment, and then helping the mare establish leadership while helping the mare not get hurt while doing it. Watch how quick Maya is with the flag to back her mare up and where she uses the flag on the gelding. Great job Maya, way to read the situation and respond at the right place and at the right time.

06/23/2024

06/18/2024

This is Em and her mare Skeeter which I owed for the first 20 years of her life. I sold her to the Shipman Family about 6 years ago. Em just started riding seriously about a year ago at which time she started using Skeeter when her sister Hillary, who had been riding the mare went off to college. I’d say Em and Skeeter did a wonderful job together for Em’s first time attempting a canter pirouette, canter depart from a halt, and (not pictured) school walk. I also must give credit to Hillary for how she treated and rode this mare for the past several years, and to Kelly for raising such responsible, wonderful daughters Both Hillary and now Em have done right by this great mare! She is I believe, 26 yrs old now, has worked hard all of her life and is still healthy, sound and very happy. So fun to work with you Em, you did awesome.

06/17/2024

I thoroughly enjoyed offering instruction and engaging the enthusiastic participants at the Cow Clinic recently hosted by the very kinda and generous Selby's at R/S Ranch in Powell Butte, Oregon. We discussed and practiced the art of reading cattle and the important work of balancing horses for this work through the correct development. It was a joy to work with the Selby’s and all those who participated, and a special thanks to Linda Riley for all her effort to put this clinic together. Thank you all!
I apologize for not getting photos of all who participated.

Many of the photos courtesy of Kate Newburn Photography.

06/17/2024

For me, this is the balance I want a Ranch Horse in to sort and cut cattle. Using the hindquarters to elevate and stay light and mobile on the front quarters. In real ranch work, the natural terrain is your footing. Balanced in this way, the horse can out maneuver the cattle and navigate the terrain while not losing their footing and falling down.

06/07/2024

Look at Sheryl Beverly load that right hind and flex the right shoulder forward and around. Anyone who understands the natural contractions on the horses right side, can appreciate this photo.

06/03/2024

Engagement of the thoracic sling is key in the collection of the horse, but it does much more than just collect the horse. It allows us to engage and work with the horse’s mind. This is how we can bring them out of self preservation and into the part of the brain which can think and problem solve; take them out of reactivity and into responsiveness. It is also what helps us reach and work their emotions. It is the doorway into the body, mind and emotions.
If we do not understand how to manipulate and engage the thoracic sling, the horse will learn to use the force of weight and/or force of resistance against us. Once the horse has learned this we are pretty well screwed and it takes a lot to ever overcome it. With some horses you will never overcome it. So this is a very crucial part of the horse’s development beginning at halter breaking and developing it more throughout the various stages of the horse’s education. Without this understanding, there will be some very significant and potentially dangerous holes left in the horse.

And just for the sake of saying it, I don’t have “Scientific Proof” (well, except for how it helps balance the horse). I have felt, witnessed, and experienced it in thousands of horses. That’s the only proof which convinces me.

04/27/2024

PRIORITIZING THE PHYSICAL…

It’s OK to prioritize the physical.

Oftentimes, it’s necessary.

Once we realize the extent of the effect we have on the horse’s physical body, there’s no ‘unseeing’ it, no ‘unknowing’ it.

And I’m going to go out on a limb and say that, the majority of the time, the effect we have on the horse’s physical body is the number one influence on the relationship we have with them.

If we say we want to prioritize relationship with the horse, but we aren’t addressing biomechanics, it’s just lipservice.

If we aren’t acknowledging the physical influence we have on our horses, if we’re trying to go at things from a purely relational standpoint, whether that’s dominance, or prioritizing connection, we are going to plateau within the relationship.

KINDNESS ISN’T ENOUGH…

And we don’t have to be heavy-handed to be unkind.

We can ride lightly, ride bridleless, ride only with positive reinforcement and consent, and still create dysfunction.

Furthermore, even if we get to the point where we no longer create dysfunction, failing to address existing dysfunction is also unkind.

I can look back and see how riding bridleless, or only on a loose rein, or only with my seat and legs, instead of educating myself, wasn’t the answer.

I can look back and see how switching to positive reinforcement, instead of fixing my feel, wasn’t the answer.

I can look back and see how fixating on consent, instead of fixing the influence I was having once I got it, wasn’t the answer.

Don’t get me wrong, those things are still important to me, but they are secondary to acknowledging the responsibility I have to being a good steward of the horse’s physical body.

These things became tools to help me prioritize the horse’s emotional and physical health, not an end in themselves.

04/04/2024

03/08/2024

02/19/2024

I will be in Oregon from 2/21-3/5!
Please message me if you would like to set up lessons!

My current schedule is as follows and I have additional availability on these days in surrounding areas at various times:
- 2/21 at Rose Mountain in North Plains in the afternoon
- 2/22 at Rose Mountain in North Plains in the afternoon
- 2/23 at WHMF in the afternoon
- 2/28 at WHMF in the early afternoon and Oregon City (Templeton Eq. & Dreamridge Stables) in the evening
- 3/1 at WHMF in the afternoon to evening
- 3/2 at Rose Mountain in North Plains in the afternoon
- 3/5 at Rose Mountain in North Plains in the afternoon

Schedule will likely change quickly so as soon as I have an idea for who wants lessons and where, I can plan accordingly. If the schedule is confusing (I get it 😅) please just reach out and we can try to coordinate something!

📷: Pinup Pony Photos

02/14/2024

Why do the basics take so long?

The basics actually don’t take much time at all. Teaching a horse and rider the building blocks of balance and relaxation is not that difficult or complicated, as long as both are a blank slate.

What takes so much time is undoing poor basics, undoing poor movement patterns, and letting go of the wrong muscle memories and building the right muscle groups.

I’ve been riding with my teacher for almost a decade now. The first few years I barely made any progress, not because the work wasn’t good, but because I didn’t understand what she was even talking about. It went right over my head, and every lesson I had we sort of repeated the work of the last. My poor teacher repeated herself over and over, but I rode with others who’s work undid what she was trying to do, and I just wasn’t ready to understand it yet.

Then, when it clicked for me, I was all in- but my muscle memories, habits and understanding was counter productive. It took a long time (and I’m still working on it) to let go of the habits I had that stood in the way of progress. Same for my horses - they had habits that weren’t helpful either, especially the habit of coming behind the bit: some of it wasn’t my fault, some of it was. This was a very lengthy, uncomfortable and downright yucky phase. There didn’t feel like there was a lot of winning. This is where most people quit - they find a new instructor because they aren’t getting anywhere, or bounce around to different “methods.”

Then the break through: I finally understood where she was coming from, what the benefits were, and my horses were starting to buy into it too. We were finding harmony, beautiful moments sprinkled in, and getting successes to keep us motivated. This phase required lots of vigilance from my teacher and myself to not revert to old habits when we were tired, distracted or learning something new.

After these new, more productive habits were better cemented, upward progress was possible. It took so long. Not because the learning itself is fated to be arduous, but because I was in my own way for much of the time.

So why does it take so long? It doesn’t. But we make it so- and there’s nothing wrong with that process, because as Ray Hunt said, “you’re not working on your horse, you’re working on yourself.”

02/14/2024

Just had to add one more to Salvador’s album.

02/13/2024