Gates Equestrian

09/07/2024

This fall we will have a welcoming spot for one adult or selective Jr. and their horse. Text or Pm for details (360) 420-5534

09/06/2024

Watch this

08/30/2024

Guess who? 😉 Today’s PSA: Clean your tack, groom your horse, and shine your boots. Every day. If you can control nothing else, you can control your turn out. There is no excuse to not do the minimum effort.

08/28/2024

The awesome folks who have participated in Mindset Boost with me for the past few years have helped offer support, inspiration and encouragement to one another as we talked about riding mindset and mental skills. I have been honored to see awesome growth and development in everyone - truly the energy is so fun. I especially love how folks have stayed in touch and friendships and support networks have remained after each group is finished. 🌈✨

Now I am considering offering a Fall 2024 edition - this would be our 12th group! We work together once a week for 8 weeks, from September - October.

Please help me decide by commenting or messaging me if you would be interested! Thank you in advance 🎉🌻😊

08/25/2024

2025 will be exciting with babies on the way !!

08/20/2024

When someone leaves a comments or a like here, I often click on their name to see their riding images on their page. I do this to keep track of what today's typical riding looks like. I see all kinds of riding. Some images and videos show very good balanced riding. What seems to be a common riding flaw that I see recently is with head position. So many riders post pictures of their riding with their eyes looking down. This might seem a minor issue, but it is not.

When your eyes are down, your horse can feel that your balance is forward, more over the forehand. This will put your horse onto their forehand. When your eyes go down, your head that weighs 15 pounds (7 kg) goes down and forward, and usually your shoulders fall forward as well. The fact that your head is up high at the end of an effective lever that is your upper body, multiplies the forward weight that you place over your horse's shoulders.

The negative effects this has on your horse show up in several ways. It makes both upward and downward transitions more difficult for your horse. This is because Horses need to push off or reach under with their hind, and you have shifted their balance off their hind. Lead changes become more difficult for the same reason.

Worst of all for riders, looking down makes it more difficult to develop "feel". I briefly had an argumentative student who insisted on looking down. She would argue with me when I said "eyes up", saying "I like to see what my horse is doing". I'd explain that with eyes up you can feel what your horse is doing and that makes all the difference.

If you look down when riding, just stop doing that. If you have to look down, move your eyeballs, not your head. If you do this, many improvements will follow. You will sit the canter better because your head and neck position will no longer interfere with your hips swinging to the 1-2-3 beat of the canter. "Eyes up". It's simple and fixes a lot of things.

08/16/2024

This is a great visual

Great visual

08/16/2024

The use of cavalettis date back as far as Caprilli and were introduced to most army cavalry schools in Europe in the early 1900s. Bert de Némethy found that by using cavalettis to control the take-off, he could enable riders to practice what they needed to work on without upsetting their horses temperaments. When Bert modernized his system of controlling the take-off with cavalettis by combining them with gymnastic lines, he really found the formula for success. I was privileged to learn this system personally from Bert. Watch “Incorporating Cavaletti with Fences as developed by Bert de Némethy.” https://equestriancoach.com/courses/incorporating-cavalettis-fences-developed-bert-de-nemethy/

08/05/2024

Congratulations ladies!!
Sunday Rebecca and Brie finished with WINNING the .80 Classic!! Gus owned by Michelle Connor put in great rounds , Huge thank you to Jessica for sharing Quicksilver Ivory Keys with Rebecca, they had fun in the hunters, the 2’6” derby and the pony Eq… And we can’t for get our mascot ( maybe the real leader🤣) Aoife and Rupert ♥️

08/02/2024

Good morning Evergreen Classic !

07/30/2024

07/25/2024

07/03/2024

How do you make a great pony???
1st: start with great breeding.. Wyndham Hills Tiny Diamond, 2nd : Train! Ponies have to be trained, tonight I choose to ride ba****ck while fireworks 💥 are going off.. I would say he is bomb 💣 proof 😳

07/01/2024

Thank you Cascade Horse Show !! We had a great week at the Pacific Crest Open. 2 Res. Champions and so many great rounds … and the memories 🥰

06/25/2024

Hello Cle Elum..

06/24/2024

Middleburg, Va.—June 6 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 bro...

06/24/2024

Definition of team: 2 of us clipping and one holding!

06/17/2024

06/09/2024

Happy Birthday to Rupert.. Sweet 16!!!

06/06/2024

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.