CH Dressage

07/22/2024

07/22/2024

Don’t assume that every horse with a high poll is correct, and don’t assume that a horse that is low and round is incorrect. You have to look at the state of the horse’s *back* to truly judge how correct it is. The horse’s back should be relaxed, swinging, and elevated under the saddle, rather than still and hollow. When the horse’s back is properly “up” (arched upwards under the rider’s seat,) he will be correctly seeking the connection. And this can be achieved with many different relative heights of the horse’s neck. Never forget that it is equally as damaging to horses to ride them with a high head and neck with hollow back as it is to ride a horse cranked down in Rollkur.

07/22/2024

🙌🏼

The importance of the warm up with Ingrid Klimke:
“I always make sure I do a proper warm up. I make sure my horses are really properly stretching and giving their back, and coming from behind. When you trot over the cavalletti, the hind end is active, they are over the back and soft and swinging. Then they give and stretch into your hand, then you can take them up, have them in front, and have good contact, because the whole body of the horse is loosened up.”
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2021/08/a-warm-up-session-with-ingrid-klimke/

07/22/2024

A great day yesterday for Team CH Dressage riders and horses at the super fun schooling show at Skyreach Equestrian Center!!

Jackson landed another 71% at Training Level with trainer Christine Headley aboard winning his class!! 🏆

Connie Irving moved up a level on her Tony pony also receiving a score above 70% and her first ever “10”!! ❤️🥳🥂

Nicole Virden piloted her beautiful Gemma in some lovely 2nd level tests and really is showing harmony and relaxation at this level!! 🩰

Sara Venn made me the most proud!! Her first time down centerline on her handsome Jackson!!! It had been 24 years since her last competition!!! She has invested so much into her relationship with this horse and it is just the beginning!! 🤗🫶🏼☺️🥰🥹💕

This was a great day for all, love the relaxed atmosphere to put your skills to the test!! Excellent prep for the recognized show in 2 weeks!! Everyone at Skyreach did such a great job for all of the competitors!! Dragging and watering the arena multiple times throughout the day and an ice cream social was much appreciated!! Thank you Jude, Jen K, Drew & Leo!!! Teamwork makes the dream work!!!

07/19/2024

Dressage trainer Eliza Sydnor Romm and professional artist Susan DiFelice were first introduced decades ago, when Sydnor’s family hired DiFelice to paint a portrait of her horse. Some 20 years later collaborated on a dressage training video for DiFelice’s website Allpony. In this new “Drawn T...

07/18/2024

The ladies enjoyed their pedicures, snuggles and scritches from Uncle Seth & Chris. Sorry for the butt shots boys!! 🫣 Seth Noble Christopher Lenhart 🙈 I was focused on their 👂🏻

07/17/2024

It is so good to sit on other horses when given the chance…. It can give you the feeling of how you want things to work with your own horse, showcase your strengths as a rider or highlight where you are needing more work. Riding various horses well is like skiing various slopes. If you can navigate different terrain with competency then you will get better at skiing!!

Very proud of CHD client, Kathleen Barker for knocking it out of the park on Raven yesterday!! But the best part was she had fun!!

07/17/2024

“Learn from each and every horse you ride. Every horse has something to teach you, and sometimes you don’t realize what that lesson was until years later.“
- Carl Hester

I love how the more that I invest in myself and my riding the more it creates a chain reaction for all of the horses I ride and lessons I teach. I am addicted to getting better and I want that for everyone in my circle too!! It has been a ride and one that I am so passionate about!! Exciting times are afoot and you are invited to jump on this magic carpet ride with me and share in the journey with these amazing animals with a system that revolves around partnership and connection. There will be some spaces available for training, lesson and sales coming available soon. Reach out to me if you are interested in learning more about what has to offer!!! pc:

07/16/2024

Ribbons are lovely mementos and symbols, but be careful... when you allow ribbons to tell you if you have done a good job, then their absence will try to tell you that it was bad. And that is never the whole story.

Although one mistake can deny you a ribbon, one mistake cannot negate the positive growth, teamwork and joy that exists in every single ride. Always carry your own goals and progress closest to your heart.

💙💗💙

07/15/2024

Olympic Equestrian Schedule 🇫🇷🐎

07/15/2024

Judge’s perspective to add from Janet Foy:

“Ok this is going around FB and let me say this!
A quick thank you is appreciated but some competitors want to have a longer conversation. Right after the salute the judge is busy doing final comments and collectives. This requires thought and concentration.

Also if the halt is at X to walk up to C usually takes awhile and some horses don’t really march along so this often causes the show to get behind. I suggest saying thank you at X and then walking out and not coming to C.

Riders coming around the arena remember this time belongs to the last rider- see above comments. Giving your number to the scribe is all that is needed. We don’t need your name, the horses name or the test you are riding!
Again the judge is concentrating on helpful end comments and collective marks. Please don’t feel the judge is rude if they don’t have a conversation with you.

Thank you!”

It's .

Here's a tip from one of 's trainers, Sue Martin: Thank the judge after your final salute!

07/14/2024

Gratitude transforms challenges into opportunities and achievements into milestones. 🌟

07/12/2024

CH Dressage at Skyreach Equestrian Center in Roy, Wa will have a few training/sale spaces available in the near future!!! Schedule a tour soon before the spaces are full!!

Join our fabulous team with many fun on-site clinics and competitions to choose from!!

Professionally managed and run by a dedicated team of horse care providers.

This is truly a horse friendly facility where your horse’s are at ease and content in their living environment and therefore thrive in their training and education.

Super footing and tranquil forest paths throughout the property makes it like heaven for the horses!!

https://www.skyreachequestriancenter.com/

07/11/2024

Sometimes in my practice I come across an owner who wants to normalize something that isn’t normal.

This sounds like:

❌ My horse works out of the stiffness/lameness after 15 minutes under saddle.
❌ He always crow hops after a bigger jump.
❌She throws her head around in the arena but not on the trail (or vise versa).
❌He always makes a face when I do the girth up.
❌It usually takes me 15 minutes to catch her and I need food to do it.
❌The left lead is always harder to get.
❌She’s always weaved in her stall.

These kinds of statements are usually followed by “that’s just the way he/she is.”

This is your horse speaking to you, over and over and over again. Please listen, before they have to get louder. Stop and think about what behaviors your horse demonstrates that maybe don’t seem totally right to you but you’ve just accepted them as “normal”.

This is a question very much worth asking of yourself, then your horse, then work with your trainer/horse care professionals to get to the bottom of it.

Answer the question as best you can, and you build a deeper, more solid partnership with your horse. Why? Because you listened. And then you did something about it. And your horse knows it.

07/11/2024

This is an amazing grant that is available for trainers through the TDF!!! Being awarded this grant has given me such a boost in my career!! Being able to use the TT Mentorship Grant to work with Jen Verharen for the Cadence Coaching Leadership & Business Coaching Program for High Performance Riders & Dressage Professionals along with covering some costs for my Lilo Fore clinics has been a game changer!! Thank you again toThe Dressage Foundation & Jessica Jo Tate!!

Reminder!⏰

Team Tate Mentorship and Leadership Fund grant applications are due July 15!

The Team Tate Mentorship and Leadership Fund provides grants of up to $5,000 for dressage professionals, age 25 and over, to receive business, leadership, or personal coaching education, and to work with their dressage mentors to improve equestrian skills.

Learn more at https://bit.ly/3tv5F5J

07/10/2024

🤩😍

07/09/2024

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Kyra Kyrklund tells a story about strawberry jam. How do you describe the taste of strawberry jam? You can say that it’s sweet, and tart, and sticky, and red, but really, until you’ve had a taste of it, you can’t fully appreciate it 🍓⁣
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Learning to ride the upper levels on a horse that was trained to do it by someone else, versus learning alongside one’s horse, are both valid paths. They’re also different paths, teaching different skills. The opportunity to ride schoolmasters, as well as the opportunity to get on your horse after a more educated rider has “tuned up” your horse to be sharper and more honest to the aids than you might be able to get them, is your strawberry jam. You then get to bring that jam knowledge to your next horse, and the horse after that. ⁣
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No matter what, though, there’s no jam on the planet that makes riding a schoolmaster easy. That meme that goes around about how the low level horse is like an on-off switch, and the upper level horse is like NASA Mission Control? It’s funny because it’s true. No matter how someone gets up the levels, no matter how stellar your jam is, it’s all still freaking hard.

07/09/2024