StableManners, LLC

12/19/2025

12/19/2025

Lovely read!

Why contact?

Years ago, I was bought into the notion that anything worth doing should be done on a loose rein. I really struggled in my lessons to hear about contact because I had poor associations with it - people telling rider's to hold against the horse, like fighting a big fish on a line into a boat. It appeared to me a contest of wills, and I was completely uninterested in that feeling.

My teacher often talked about the connection being like dancing, but I had never felt anything like this. She talked about funneling the hind leg without ever trapping it, and keeping the full length of the neck intact in the contact. "Hold the horse's hand, but don't ever restrict the movement," she'd say.

It all sounded good, but every time I picked up the reins I just felt heaviness, resistance, or my horses hid from my hand. She would bring my awareness back to my seat every time and away from my hands.

"The fingers just capture what the seat creates" she would say -

But it was years of practicing with my seat before I would understand the contact.
A following seat, a directing seat, a seat that was soft but very stable: my teacher had this, and I spent years and years working toward it, understanding finally just what it meant to feel the hind leg through my seat but not always able to stay with it, and often blocking it.

But those times when the contact feels good is magical - unlike anything I've ever achieved on a loose rein. It was like being in close with someone you love very much - taking their hand and swinging in a dance. Feeling everything there is to know about them through your hand: their thoughts, their breathing, the way they feel about you and eveyrthing to do with you. There is no hiding from each other on the contact.

Exactly where the hind leg is in what phase of each stride - where it's going and how that connects to how they're feeling inside. Recieving the fullness of their trust from hind leg all the way into my hand.

You don't NEED contact for riding - you can walk trot and canter on a loose rein. But it's like any relationship - it can go as deep as you want it to go, as intricate, nuanced and beatiful as you'd imagine and more.

And like anything else, it can be poisoned. Like all tools, it can be flatted and cheapened, and downright misused. It can be weaponized against the horse or even against a student -

But it also bridges us into a flow, a beauty, a magic, available for anyone with the discipline to work toward this kind accurary - available to anyone who can be trusted with the power of having thr entirety of a horse's body in your hand and use it only to create art.e

12/10/2025

Equestrians spend a lot of time, money, and effort to be able to ride their horses. Whether you take multiple lessons a week or one a month, time with a good trainer is a privilege. It’s important to set yourself up for success, especially when starting with a new trainer or attending a clinic.

A good lesson will give you takeaways that last far longer than the time in the ring, but students have to do their part. Here are my tips for getting the most out of your lesson.

1. Arrive on time to be mounted in the ring at the appointed time so you are not late (and stressed).

If you’re late to your lesson, you’ll miss out on valuable information that you may not get back depending on the schedule. Your trainer also has a schedule to keep, and it’s frustrating (as well as unfair to others) when some arrive rate. Plus, the added stress of rushing to get ready will not help your riding. Get there early, give yourself plenty of time, and enter the ring relaxed and ready to learn.

2. Have everything you need organized in a bag or backpack.

Again, this helps your mental state for your lesson. Plus, it’s great to be prepared if your instructor asks you to add a spur or crop. It never hurts to be over prepared!

3. Focus. Focus. Focus. Listen carefully and do your best to follow directions.

It doesn’t matter if you had a hard test at school or a stressful day at work prior to your lesson. Try to flush everything else from your mind, and focus on your horse and the help coming to you. A good trainer will never get upset at someone making mistakes while trying to learn, but failing to listen to directions will leave everyone flustered.

4. A positive attitude is important.

When things don’t go well, remember that challenging yourself is hard. Take the mistakes as learning opportunities, and continue to push harder. A poor attitude will almost always ensure failure.

5. Don’t decide you already know a better or different way.

There are countless ways to teach something. Just because you’ve been doing it a certain way for a long time doesn’t mean that’s the best way. All horses respond differently. Be open to new ideas. After all, you showed up to hear the trainer’s expertise!

6. Watch what’s going on around you.

Watch the other riders in your group when they’re taking their turn. See who was able to follow directions. See how their trips worked out. Learning isn’t limited to what you are doing. You soak a lot in by observing.

7. Study the horses too.

Watching the others is also a good way to learn about different types of horses. Quick ones, lazy ones, horses that are heavy on the forehand, horses that go around with their head up in the air. See how the riders navigate their different strengths and weaknesses, and what does (or doesn’t!) work out.

8. Be open to a lifetime of learning with horses.

This is not a sport that can be learned overnight. The best riders are lifelong learners who are completely open minded. They listen to everything, and try their hardest. You don’t even stop learning, so never stop trying to improve!

📎 Save & share this article by Robin Greenwood at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2021/04/08/8-ways-to-get-the-most-out-of-every-lesson/

12/05/2025

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝗜 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗷𝘂𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀?

Because every “neat” moment you see in the ring - the clean flying change, the tidy rollback, the effortless distance - is built on a mountain of basics: rhythm, balance, straightness, clarity, repetition, and trust.

The real magic lives in the base of the pyramid - not the shiny bit at the top.

Advanced work only works when the foundations feel solid, repeatable, and understood by both horse and rider.
And that’s exactly what creates the horses who are genuinely 𝘧𝘶𝘯 to ride… the ones who jump easily, land balanced, turn like a dream, and both accelerate and wait when you ask.

So yes, I love riding the advanced stuff too.
But I love the basics more - 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦.

12/02/2025

Training Tuesday!

I think the biggest mistake we can make in developing our seat is to try and sit “still”.

Rather, work on following the horse with an elastic back and elastic arms and hands.

Learn to absorb the motion of the gait you’re in and follow the motion in the way the horse moves.

It’s impossible to sit still on something that moves, you can only make it look that way by moving with the motion in an elastic way.