The Cavalli Connection

07/22/2024

"We must never forget, every time we sit on a horse, what an extraordinary privilege it is: to be able to unite one's body with that of another sentient being, one that is stronger, faster and more agile by far than we are, and at the same time, brave, generous, and uncommonly forgiving." William Steinkraus, Olympic Gold Medalist

07/21/2024

Recently, a friend and I were discussing our journey as horsewomen thus far. She and I both have older, retired mares who helped us take our riding careers to the next level and realize many of our dreams, as well as 2-year-old geldings we hope will be our riding futures. We’re at an interesting p...

07/20/2024

Good riding requires that we re wire our natural instincts. When we get afraid, we tip forward, or clutch, or pull. We stop breathing, and somewhere deep down we hope the horse will adapt and take care of us. But a good steward takes responsibility: it is our duty to practice honing our reflexes. It is our job to practice controlling our position, our breath, and learning to create a productive mindset.

It is the hardest thing in the world to do to control our natural instincts- but it is the most important. And expecting the horse to adjust to us without the necessary skills is folly. Take the time, put the hours in, get a good coach and an appropriate horse, and master your body and mind.

07/17/2024

07/02/2024

A bit of a rant today in attempt to encourage riders to use their critical thinking skills and not do something because 'so-and-so told me' or 'big name rider' does it.

I have been meaning to voice my concern about nosebands for a very long time. Thanks to Becks Nairn who posted a great video on her public page about the anatomy of the Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) today, with even deeper detail on her Patreon, to give me a reminder to voice my concerns. If you're squeamish it's a dissection video so beware.

I am literally gobsmacked at the number of educated and well meaning equestrians who still insist on tight nosebands and flashes on their horses. This is not limited to newbies to the sport, but encompasses those at the highest levels and education. In this day and age of easy access to evidence based, scientific documentation of virtually any topic you can imagine, how is it that equestrians fail to recognize the importance of a horses need to mobilize their jaw in order to have full proprioception of their legs, not to mention the strain created as they are trying to open their mouths against this forced closure. Read - Headache, TMJ pain amongst others.

If you ride with me, one of the first things I will do as a conscientious coach is check your tack. I will always remove flashes and loosen nose bands with the riders permission - educating them on why this is important. When I ask why the rider feels the need to have the noseband and/or flash too tight, the number one response is, 'my coach told me to have it this tight'. The second, 'my horse fusses with the bit and opens his mouth' or my favorite, 'to hold the bit in place'. Just think about that one for a moment.

A couple things. Bit fit and acceptance needs to be taught from the ground. Few are skilled enough to teach it from the saddle. If your horse chews softly on the bit it's not a bad thing. I would far rather have a mobile jaw than a clamped shut, tense jaw.
If you think tying the horses mouth shut is going to save you from a horse running off with you by getting the bit between his teeth - that is a huge training issue. A good stop is a must before we ever get in the saddle. We need to go back and train the halt from soft pressure from the ground and then add from our seat in the saddle.

Having taken a considerable amount of body work and energy work courses with horses over the years, I have developed the ability to 'feel' the horse. Call me woo-woo or a quack or whatever you like, but many more horses than we realize have headaches and jaw pain from trying to escape bit pressure with their mouth tied shut. The very least I can do, and I feel it is my responsibility as an ethical coach, to relieve the horse from that pressure and educate the rider as to why it's detrimental. Control comes from the seat not the hands, (except in emergencies, then all bets are off).

So, try this. Hook your thumbs under either side of your jaw and loop your fingers over the bridge of your nose. Clamp as tightly as you dare, then try to open your jaw. My guess is that you will let go of the fingers across your nose before very long. If you are able to hold it, your jaw will begin ache and you will very likely get a temporal headache from the strain. Not to mention the discomfort on the bridge of your nose.

The ability of humans to have cognitive dissonance when it comes to the equipment we use on our horses just boggles my mind. I know we love them. Why then can we subject them to such a cruel practice of tying their mouth shut??

Google 'hyoid', 'TMJ' in horses. Look at the images and read about their function. Education is power and education can make us more empathetic to the harm and ultimately dis-function we cause to our horses.

I was going to include one of the many horrific photos of dogs with their mouths tied shut for impact. I just can't do it. Think of these images when you're tightening that noseband or flash next ride. I highly doubt you'd do this to your dog.

Instead, I'm going to leave you with a lovely image of my friend and colleague who visited recently, Lauren Phelan-Rivard, owner/operator of Bellrock Stables in Kingston, Ontario on my mare Gracie. Note there is no noseband yet the horse looks relaxed and effortless. ❤️

07/01/2024

07/01/2024

Horses were studied wearing five different bridles using two different pressure measuring systems in an effort to standardize the method.

06/25/2024

When a horse walks, trots and canters its body throws off waves of motion. Some riders get flung around by these concussive forces, some can pretty well be in rhythm with the horse, while the best riders have become so integrated into the motion of the horse that they become almost one flowing entity, like the Centaur of myth and fable.

Having this blending seat and body more than any other skill defines the better riders, so much so that the former multi-gold medal winning USET 3-day coach Jack LeGoff phrased it like this---

“What are the three things that you must have in order to become a good rider?”
1. A good seat
2. A good seat
3. A good seat

Jack wasn’t big on listening to riders in self-praise mode. I have heard him say more than once, “Don’t tell us how good you are. Get on that horse and show us.”

Almost instantly he could spot the fakes from the real deals just by whether or not they were part of the motion or apart from the motion. The seat doesn’t lie. You either bounce or you don’t bounce.

If your body isn’t supple enough and trained enough to merge with those waves of motion thrown off by the moving horse, you are not, by LeGoff’s high standards, a good rider, nor will you be until or unless you learn to blend.

If this seems harsh, too demanding, that’s not LeGoff’s intent. He wasn’t a coddler, rather he was telling a truth as he saw it. You either can sit the gaits or you can’t sit the gaits. Pretty basic and simple as he saw it.

06/25/2024

06/17/2024

In terms of bad horsemanship, there are few things worse than doing things that make a horse nervous and anxious, and then punishing the horse for the “bad” behavior that the rider caused.

And every day, any place that humans deal with horses, this is exactly what we see so much of.

It is easier and more satisfying to blame the horse than to blame our inability to train and ride well.

Learning how to ride and train well enough to create calm, willing partners is hard. Not too many riders can do it, but most think they can.

And that’s why the vicious circle keeps playing out, the rider does something to make the horse worry. The worried horse reacts. The rider punishes the reaction. The horse gets more worried and ramps up the reaction, which makes the already annoyed or angry rider react with MORE pressure, and yet another World War Three is under way. We watch this all the time.

Go for a walk instead, Learn to ride, maybe?

06/16/2024

http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/skip-the-gimmicks-stick-to-the-basics-with-mclain-ward/

‘Look where you’re going. Practice going from place to place.’ They say, ‘I will in the ring.’ I say, ‘Oh so in the training you’re not going to practice these good habits, but when you go in the ring, and you have pressure, and there’s a test, and you’re nervous, and it’s much harder, you’re going to get rid of all the bad habits?’

It would have been easy for McLain Ward to jack up the fences and put together a challenging course for his clinic at Rutledge Farm. After all, all four riders in attendance compete in grand prix classes themselves and brought experienced mounts. Instead Ward dialed it back, looking at the small det...

06/10/2024

"This type of schooling also helps to train the rider to be more effective, more balanced, more subtle."

06/06/2024

Long, but important, read!

An FEI rider explains how you can create a training schedule for a Second Level horse—but the “planning” principles apply to horses of all levels.

06/06/2024

Something that you might want to test---See what happens if you are cantering along and you soften your reins totally to your horse.

If he keeps on cantering at basically the same speed and in the same balance then you know that you weren’t holding him up in too much constraint.

But if he drops onto his forehand, or heads off into parts unknown, maybe the canter you thought you had wasn’t the canter you should have had?

06/05/2024

https://equusmagazine.com/riding/stiff4603?tum_source=EQUUSFB&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=Facebook

Improving a horse's flexibility and suppleness under saddle can be an uphill battle. Consider these flatwork tips when leg-yielding and circles don't do the trick.

06/04/2024

I read a theory about why so many riders lack a deep command of basics, and it was explained like this---

Correct basics are hard to master because there is an enormous amount of repetition involved, and if someone has tried something hundreds, possibly thousands of times, and still can’t do it, it is easy for the person to conclude that he/she is taking on an impossible challenge.

In his book “Mastery,” George Leonard wrote that on the quest to become good, there will be long stretches of “seeming non-improvement.”

Like watching grass grow, change is happening, but so slowly that it can’t be measured daily, weekly, or even monthly. But at some point, for those who stick with it, “suddenly” they can do things that before they couldn’t do.

The issue is giving up in frustration before putting in those many many many many months of practice.

That is ONE theory. I am sure there are many others, but this one does ring true.

05/30/2024

https://equisearch.com/articles/schooling091103/

A trainer discusses the benefits of riding your horse twice a day to build up strength and understanding. Written by Judy Westlake for Dressage Today.

05/29/2024

https://www.fei.org/stories/lifestyle/teach-me/checklist-horse-warm

Ensure your horse is relaxed, loose and responsive before beginning every session...

05/29/2024

"And stop before you create damage, physical and emotional injury and distress."

Developing Empathy

Frustrated by your horse? Try this---

Go for a run. Yes, you, human rider. Intersperse your run with sets of push-ups. See how long it takes before you lose athletic buoyancy, before you “just can’t.”

Fatigue in a horse, which is pretty much the same thing that you just felt, creates leaning, tripping, stumbling, slow reactions, poor coordination, lugging on the hand, all sorts of what you may be mistaking for “bad behavior.”

The tired horse will feel just like a “disobedient” horse. And then what will happen to that horse if the rider doesn’t tune into the horse’s fatigue? You know exactly what will happen to the horse. It will get drilled on. Drilled on just when the exact opposite should happen.

Trainers who lack the ability to sense what the horse is going through are among the worst drillers, and they create tense, scared, resistant horses, and they then do something even worse, they blame the horse.

Change your mind set. Think how YOU would feel if you had gotten beyond your limits and then got ground on and punished to fix your bad behavior.

You think I’m kidding? You think this isn’t going to happen today, all across the world where people ride and drive horses? That unfit for the task horses won’t be cranked and pressured? Dream on.

The best thing that you can do if your goal is to become a competent trainer is to constantly be aware of your own frustration meter. And stop before you create damage, physical and emotional injury and distress. Get a little and end on that. If even a little seems elusive, DO NOT GRIND. Go walk, try again tomorrow. Don’t add fear and anxiety to the training process.

I will say this one more time---“Don’t add fear and anxiety to the training process.”

Why am I saying this so often? Because if I had learned this decades sooner, I would have been a far better trainer and horse person---That’s why. Learn, if you are capable of doing so, from the mistakes that others have made. Do not drill your horse.

05/25/2024

This one's a little meaty. I'm often asked, "How do you really know if the information that we're seeing all the time about products is really good?" It's a great question, and there's no easy answer. However, you can take some steps - as long as you're willing to take the time - that will give you at least some idea if a product or service that you're being pounded over the head with is really useful for your horse. I hope this helps.

https://www.doctorramey.com/if-youre-wondering-about-information-about-horse-info-s-i-f-t-it-first/

05/23/2024

"The world is full of riders who blame the horse instead of realizing that the problem is because they are not well enough educated, or not good enough riders, to train and condition properly."

05/16/2024

Dressage is not abusive.
It’s a kind and ethical training.
Dressage is not flashy.
It’s about correct posture and spinal alignment.
Dressage is not exhausting.
It's about lightness and motivation.
Dressage is not about getting fast results.
It is quiet and humble.
Dressage is not about external validation.
It’s an art.
Dressage is not for building up your ego.
It’s a journey of self-discovery.
Dressage doesn’t wear out the joints.
It keeps your horse fit until old age.
Dressage doesn’t shut down the horse or cause anxiety.
It is about a human and a horse connecting on a deep level, from heart to heart.
When riding is abusive, flashy, exhausting, promises fast results, used to get external validation, needed to build up your ego, wears out the joints, and causes shut down or anxiety, it’s not dressage!

05/11/2024

Learn what to do if your horse gets tense or acts up when you take him to new places. Learn how to prepare and stay a calm leader for your horse.

05/04/2024

We eventually learn that just hanging on and letting the horse travel incorrectly is not the solution. On the other hand, we don’t want to push, pull and pretzel the horse into a fake shape t…

05/01/2024

Training a horse to stretch over its back may have positive side effects in more ways than we may know.

When I went to a Klaus Balkenhol clinic given by NEDA at U-Mass Amherst a few years ago, he had all the horses from the greenest 4 yr old to a grand prix veteran start and end each session stretching as long and low as the rider could get the horse to go, as a means of creating suppleness.

In John Lyons' magazine, "A Perfect Horse" John said that a relaxation cue was teaching a horse to stretch over its topline and reach for the ground.

Lyons said that the first thing a nervous horse does is to raise its head, and if the rider can induce the opposite, it will create a soothing effect.

So take a tip from two great horsemen, coming at the same thing from differing perspectives. Teach your horse to reach for the ground, lowering its head "from the withers" to create both a physical increase in range of motion, as well as an emotional lessening of inner tension.

05/01/2024

Not only for kids, but adults, too!

BY PONYMOMAMMY I am firmly in the camp of never blaming the horse/pony when things go wrong. This concept has been engrained in me since I first put a foot in the stirrup, and I hold strong to that belief today. Sometimes I wonder if this mentality is universal for all equestrians, and if it […]

04/03/2024

[email protected]__" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://dressagetoday.com/instruction/greater-degrees-of-throughness-with-lisa-wilcox-dressage-training/?lid=9ejqkbqq78o1&utm_source=braze&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_content=DTD%20-%20%20Newsletter%20-%2020240403%20-%20Weekly&uuid=[email protected]__

An American Olympian describes her system for developing her horses mentally and physically from their start as young horses to the Grand Prix.

03/31/2024

https://www.horseillustrated.com/horse-experts-english-horse-training-high-headed-horse

Q: I lease an older horse that’s a retired jumper. He’s a good boy but he holds his head really high. I spend lots of time on flatwork between my lessons and I’m good with my hands. Why does he still hold his head up? How can I get him to lower his head? I […]