Sacred Connections Horsemanship

09/24/2024

I was so blessed to be taught "how to teach" at a young age. My trainer emphasized that a good instructor needed to be able to "see" what was really going on and understand the theory behind how to make things works.

The clear distinction between a horse trainer and a riding instructor has been nearly lost. These are two very different skill sets that are related in the performance of a horse. One obscure but meaningful distinction between a riding instructor and a horse is the ability to train the speed horse shown on the graph below. Ballistic horsemanship training was everyday work for cavalrymen while today it remains only in a few disciplines.

The graph shows the time and speed in the various gaits. There are two kinds of horses shown, the speed horse and the average horse. Both types of horses are essentially the same at the walk, trot and canter. For both, the typical walk tops out around 4 miles per hour (6.5 km/h), the trot at 10 mph (16 km/h) give or take, and so on.

In the disciplines that require top speed, a horse is trained in the gallop and the ballistic gallop. Most horses gallop under control up to approximately 25 mph (40 km/h). After that, the laws of physics take over the significant mass of a horse and its forward motion. This is when a horse goes ballistic.

bal·lis·tic /bəˈlistik/

adjective

the propulsion and flight of a projectiles

Because few riders today are comfortable riding a ballistic horse, or even for some a galloping horse, few horses today get trained to be effective at top speed. For most riders today this is an obscure distinction, but it is important in terms of understanding the difference between the roles of instructor and trainer. There is no shame in defining yourself as a riding instructor. This designation adds specificity to your work with clients. Instructors provide the essential teaching of proper equitation that allows and encourages a horse to move correctly.

Trainers focus not on the rider, but rather on the horse. Sometimes it is important to ride for a horse trainer in order to discover if a problem's source is in your riding or in your horse's movement and balance. I am a trainer, and many competitors came to me for assistance when their previously successful competition horse began to repeatedly fail.

Real horse trainers train the entire range on the graph. They train polo horses, hunt Staff horses, racehorses and horses in a few other less prominent speed sports. They are able to ride and train a horse at speed, including when a horse goes ballistic. This ability is one of important elements of the difference between a horse trainer and a riding instructor.

Horse trainer and riding instructor are two very different careers with different skill sets. Today we mostly have "trainers" who are actually riding instructors. Both are equally valid careers, with the difference reflected in the approach to teaching the student. A trainer's approach begins with the horse while the instructor's method begins with the rider.

Sometimes a client will come to a riding instructor who wants to explore a new discipline that requires ballistic riding. In that case, someone with the horse trainer perspective and experience might be a better choice. This is because the change will require changes in the horse's performance first, followed by the client adapting to the changes in their horse.

I am a horse trainer. If you come to me for help, I begin by assessing your horse and how it moves under you. I will teach you to ride from your horse's perspective because I am a trainer who focuses on the horse. By contrast, a riding instructor begins by assessing your equitation, knowing that horses go better with riders who have proper equitation.

Neither of these two roles, horse trainer or riding instructor, are purely or singularly focused on the horse or on the rider. The two cannot be completely separated. The distinction is in the starting point, horse or rider. It is important to understand which approach helps each individual horse and rider pair. After many years working as either a horse trainer or instructor, this distinction can become blurred. Still, it is important to let your clients know the perspective of your approach to teaching and where you begin to assess a horse rider pair.

And BTW, the free walk is the most difficult gait to perfect. ;)

07/25/2024

07/22/2024

I imagine the feed companies may come after me for this one but . . .

07/22/2024

I imagine the feed companies may come after me for this one but . . .
Why are so many people feeding their horses like they are training for the Grand National? In my equine evaluations I always ask what the horse is eating. So often its alfalfa and/or timothy cubes or pellets, senior feed for an eight-year-old trail horse, feeds full of sugar and carbs, feeds with high protein, plus additional supplements, vitamins, minerals etc.
Then the owners can't understand why their horses are full of energy, are a handful to ride, or are anxious and nervous.
When I recently asked a new client why she was feeding her ponies alfalfa pellets, she was honest enough to say she really didn't know, it was what others had suggested.
While I'm NOT a veterinarian nor a nutritionalist, I have had decades of experience feeding horses and had a lot of success creating calm, quiet, fully engaged, healthy, well-trained, responsive horses.
I've also noticed that while I have very little, to NO problems with colic, laminitis or metabolic issues, such problems seem to be increasing these days.
So my thoughts as to why horses are anxious, nervous, spooky and otherwise difficult, why are we seeing so much online about laminitis or metabolic issues—might be answered in the way we are feeding our horses. Consider the following:
1. Most equine senior feeds contain 14% or more protein. I've seen some as much as 17%
2. The molasses in sweet feed and/or pellets adds a lot of sugar to the horse's diet.
3. For the most part, vet schools use information from the feed companies to train the vets, and feed companies make more money from processed, mixed feeds than from simple whole grains. (Similar to buying boxed, processed food in the grocery store as opposed to fresh produce.)
4. Most mixed feeds, i.e. sweet feeds. pellets, etc, contain fillers such as soybean hulls, wheat middlings, hay, rice bran, beet pulp and other fillers to bulk up the feed. Horses aren't designed by nature to eat a diet of wheat, rice bran and or beet pulp.
One owner I knew years ago used to take hay to the local feed mill to have it ground up and added to some processed (crimped, cracked, rolled, etc.) grains to create his own feed. The folks at the feed mill told me they added molasses to, “cut down on the dust.”
Another problem with mixed commercial feeds is, when grains are processed, i.e. crimped, steamed, rolled, cracked, ground or otherwise processed into mixed feeds, they immediately lose part of their natural oils, vitamins, etc. Of course the feed companies put some vitamins back in, but a lot of these are also heat processed—meaning the body can't break it down and get the full benefit from it.
We can compare processed feeds for our horses to us eating white bread as opposed to whole grain bread.
For several decades now, I've fed my horses whole oats and a good basic supplement that allows them to get the maximum from their food. This of course goes along with a good mineral supplement and free access to grass and/or a good, but basic, grass hay (No I don't get it tested and stress out about the protein content, etc.).
My Thoroughbred (Count of War), who was my cavalry mount, stayed healthy on ½ scoop of oats a day. He only colicked once in his life—when someone fed him sweet feed.
When we were riding to New York City, I would feed Count as much whole oats as he wanted at night and again the next morning. Unlike sugar filled, processed feeds, when he'd eaten all he wanted he would stop.
What I've noticed is:
1. My horses don't always seem starved for food, i.e. dragging me to every bucket or blade of grass they can find.
2. My horses have good quality muscle with a shiny healthy coat, even before I groom them. Skin problems are almost non-existent.
3. They are calm and happy with NO anxiety or nervousness.
Once, when I ran a boarding stable, I opened up a new pasture. The boarders' horses walked out and immediately started tearing at the untouched grass. My horses, that had been on whole oats for some time, took the time to explore the pasture, check out the fences, then calmly picked a spot and began grazing. I think that says a lot.
AND YES I've heard the hysteria about horses having whole oats in their manure. Sure, a few grains will pass through—that is one way nature spreads seeds. It's NATURAL.
Another thing I like about whole oats is, it gives the horses what we used to call “bottom.” This is an old horsemen's expression describing a horse that had reserves, that could pick up and keep going, even if the trail was long and hard. While alfalfa and timothy are great sources of bulk food, they do not give horses that bottom that a good trail horses, foxhunters, etc. might need for getting up that hill, or keeping up with the hounds.
And before the haters get started, I love alfalfa, timothy and other quality bulk feeds. I feed them when conditions call for it, such as to add some warmth for my horses in the winter. I also feed bulk feed, such as hay and grass first, THEN supplement with oats per the individual horse's requirements.
I know there are horses out there with weight gain challenges and/or metabolic challenges that need more, or should not be fed grains. But I can't help wondering if some of these metabolic issues, the prevalence of colic and laminitis and other diet related issues these days, might be a direct result of over feeding high protein, sugar and carbohydrate filled, over processed feeds?
Just wondering . . .

07/05/2024

Why are people more impressed with the cowboy that can make a horse lie down, or fake, stiff-back piaffes, than with a relaxed horse going quietly on loose reins?

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06/17/2024

This is for all the horse Dads out there. It is because of my Dad that I had such wonderful experiences with horses, along with an amazing opportunity to learn.
When I was 16, my folks bought a property to convert to a horse farm. We were a basic middle class family—far from well off—so we worked very hard.
Dad worked at the office on weekdays to pay the bills, then spent his weekends, building stalls, putting up fences, building a ring, clearing trails and much, much more.
Because he sacrificed so much, Mom and I were able to develop a riding school where I learned to teach and train. Because Dad provided the farm, I was able to save my babysitting money and buy a two-year-old Thoroughbred filly, break, and train her myself. She became a small hunter champion, a wonderful hunt horse, and later I Whipped In on her. She also won many point-to-points while Mom and Dad cheered us on.
Though he rode enough to earn his Colors with the Mooreland Hunt, Dad never really rode much. It was more for Mom that he learned to ride at all. I don't have any pictures of him with the horses because he was always the one behind the camera. He took the majority of pictures for my first book, and because of him, I have pictures of my horses and carriages in Asheville and of Count and I at Civil War reenactments.
When I rode Count on my Peace Ride to New York City, Dad created a web site about my trip. From the road, I sent rolls of film back to him to be processed and saved, so its because of him I have so many pictures from that grand adventure.
Dad passed away at Thanksgiving 2022. Like so many horse Dads out there who don't ride, my Father supported my dream with all his heart and all his hard work. It was a gift that shaped my life. Thanks Dad. And thanks to all the horse Dads out there, quietly in the background, supporting our love of horses.

06/03/2024

"You cannot expect to positively influence the horse without first learning how to not interfere with it." ~Kelly Snyder

05/26/2024

With Equitation Science International - ESI – I just got recognized as one of their top fans! 🎉
Hey! This is pretty Cool! What a great organization. They seem to be all about the best training for horse and rider. In 2018 the International Society for Equitation Science hailed Caprilli, and his Forward Riding System, “. . . as having revolutionized the jumping seat and introduced the concept of “natural equitation” which today is recognized as ‘the revolution in modern equitation’. Good for them!

05/19/2024

"30 years of working with sport horses has made it evidently clear that that the development, training, riding and tack are the main offenders in the soundness problems experienced by our horses. Without knowledge of proper training and development and an education about tack how are veterinarians supposed to know which issues they can help and which ones need other support ? It just simply isn’t enough to know WHAT, you need to know WHY !!!!
So in summary,
Who should know about the body work, in hand work, be trained in saddle fit, evaluate the muscle symmetry, development and fitness
If these are ALL outsourced who is evaluating whether these jobs are being done well ?
In short, whose advocating for your horse?"

Over the years I have seen many good horse owners give up on owning horses because they can't get a straight answer from anyone concerning their horse's care. For one sweet client I met several years ago the finale straw was purchasing a used saddle from a local saddle fitter. She had already dealt with multiple issues with several farriers before finally finding a decent one, and then had this happen to her next. With a properly fitted saddle, the panels should put even pressure over the horse's back, with and without, a rider in the saddle. This saddle had an obvious gap between the horse's back and the saddle. The saddle fitter told the horse owner that once she sat in the saddle it would sink to where the panels would then be touching the horse's back! While that was true, it was not correctly fitted due to the uneven pressure it was exerting over the horse causing the horse to be sore and not want to move forward. A visit from her horse's bodyworker who is trained in saddle fitting, revealed the saddle being the culprit. The poor woman had spent a good amount of money on this saddle and was now stuck with it. She couldn't handle the lack of knowledge, skill, and concern from the various "professionals" she was spending tons of money on and decided to give up owning horses.

Unfortunately, thanks to weekend - week long certification programs available online, anybody can become an expert on some small piece of horsemanship. Add to that marketing, and you have a ton of so-called experts running around ready to "help" your horse.

05/19/2024

Commercialism has killed horsemanship

Commercialism is the enemy of good horsemanship. I came across this "Club" that offers "No Worries" from a big name trainer. Don't take up space in the comments with his name, no one cares. It caught my attention because of the rise of content about rider fear on social media recently. This club idea seems to be a direct attempt to cash in on that sad trend. It even has levels of membership. I'd want the premium membership, not really.

This clearly commercial attempt to exploit rider fear with a "club", a community if you will, got me thinking about where is the line between commercial and authentic horsemanship?

I had to make money in my horse business. All of us who train horses or teach riders do but when does commercialism in your business cross the line into territory where the marketing, emailings and client pleasing begin to undermine the horsemanship that you offer?

I was pretty strict. I had a new boarder who asked me to be with their horse when their farrier came the first time. This horseshoer demonstrated such a lack of skill and understanding that I made him leave the farm. The owner called and asked how it went, and I told them they needed a new farrier. I did stuff like that a lot. Clients left. That's why I drove a older rig. I'm very clear about my horsemanship boundaries and I know the cost.

I wonder what the percentage of barns and facilities without strict horsemanship boundaries is today. When do they start pandering to uneducated clients because they have to make payments on their living quarters trailer and premium edition truck? I know I worked for some who did when I was young and learning the trade. One fired me for speaking out against obvious horrible horsemanship.

I think this question was easier in the time of the horse community before the horse industry. You could get cheap decent healthcare insurance through ag extension. There were plenty of good farriers and the competition kept prices down. But mostly, you didn't have to show off a lot of glitz and bling to prove to clients that you knew something. Now you have to look prosperous because the clients are so completely uninformed that glitz is the only measure of competence the public uses to make decisions.

I believe that building the horse community is the best counter move against commercialism. It might be the only practical way.

05/12/2024

My Mom, GiGi Hoelscher, gave me the magic of horses. I started out riding at age 2 on the saddle front of her after she finished schooling a horse.
You can see by the picture, we started out riding Saddle Seat Equitation—back when it was real equitation. I don't remember much about it, because she changed to hunters when I was around 6 years old.
When I was 6, Mom went to Sweet Briar College one summer and studied Forward Riding with Clayton Bailey and Jane Marshall Dillion, both who trained with Capt. Vladimir Littauer. That summer changed my life.
Mom came home and said we were going to start training our new horse, Me and My Shadow, a different way. She was talking about Littauer's approach to Forward Riding.
Littauer wrote Common Sense Horsemanship, which is a civilian adaptation of the US Cavalry Forward Riding System. It is an easy-to-learn approach to a wonderfully versatile method of riding and training. It produces calm, quiet, willing cooperative horses and bold confident, highly-functional riders.
This system opened up a wonderful world of equestrian adventures for me. These fun, amazing experiences included foxhunting and whipping in for a recognized hunt, winning hunter championships, and breaking and training my new Thoroughbred filly. I foxhunted her, then taught her to race over timber. We ran at the Iroquois Chases and in Tennessee and Ohio, and won point-to-point races in Alabama.
Her son became my cavalry mount for Middle Ages and Civil War reenacting. For me there is nothing more fun and exciting than charging cannons, pretend sword fighting on horseback and rescuing the colors (the flag) at a gallop. Count and I were in movies and he became the star's mount for the movie, The Last Confederate. Count stood quietly around burning buildings, jumped trenches with cannon and rifles firing around him, and was calm around camera booms, huge billowing reflecting light boards, smoke machines and the general chaos of the movie set.
He was also my mount for our Peace Ride from South Carolina to Ground Zero in New York City. I was so blessed to have such an amazing horse.
For the last 20 years or so, I've been using what I learned through the US Cavalry System and Littauer's teachings to help horses and riders that have been damaged by today's lack of knowledge and rushed, commercially driven, abusive training and riding. It fills my soul to help a scared horse, that is either bucking and out-of-control, or so sore and unbalanced it's owner is afraid to ride. I love seeing them become wonderful, quiet, willing, happy mounts.
My Mom passed away last May, but her legacy lives on through these amazing riders who love their horses enough to find a better way. Thanks Mom!
(Photo is my Mom, Gigi Hoelscher, and my sister when she was about 5 years old.)

04/23/2024

Is it Leadership or Dictatorship?
I was recently having a conversation with a colleague about the role of a leader when it comes to the horse/rider relationship. I think the idea of leadership of horses has become somewhat confused with the idea of telling the horse what to do, “letting it know who's boss,” and the other extreme of allowing unsafe behavior.
This confusion has been made worse with the recent feel-good marketing around “asking” the horse and allowing it to “say” yes or no.
The role of leader is a sacred obligation. It begins with keeping those being lead, safe. A true leader makes decisions based on the well-being of those being lead.
A true leader listens to those he or she is leading, and includes their needs into the decision making process.
A dictator does what they want—without considering the well-being of others. Often a dictator hides their abuse with kind sounding, buzz words, manipulates others into doing what he or she wants, and punishes those following, if the dictator doesn't get their way.
In the horse world dictatorship is overworking, over drilling, flooding, desensitizing, or otherwise forcing horses beyond their physical, mental or emotional capacities. This happens when “trainers” don't recognize horses' individual physical, mental or emotional capacities.
Unfortunately in our efforts to be kinder, there is a lot of “feel-good marketing” around “asking” horses and giving them a “choice” to “say” no. While this sounds good, it is often misapplied by well-intentioned owners and can become dangerous.
I see many owners with horses that have poor ground manners because the owner wants to give the horse a “choice” to cooperate. This sounds really good and loving except when the horse doesn't “choose” to respect rules that are there for its, and the owner's safety. The horse and/or its owner often wind up getting hurt.
Just as when protecting a young child, being a good leader sometimes means enforcing rules intended to keep the horse and others safe.
In addition, allowing the horse to choose, until the time the owner decides the horse must obey, confuses and frightens the horse, making it impossible for the horse to trust the owner.
Clear, consistent boundaries are extremely important in a healthy horse/human relationship. This includes communicating in a language the horse can understand, not using over-marketed, feel-good, anthropomorphic ideas that sound good, but the horse can't understand.
Leadership also depends on NEVER, EVER asking the horse to perform beyond its current level of physical, mental or emotional ability. This means having a proven training system based on historical results—not feel-good marketing or rushing to the show ring for economic gain.
Cavalry horses had to follow their riders in scary, unusual, dangerous situations. These horses had to be calm in busy city traffic, around gun and cannon fire, and willingly cross any type of bridge. The cavalry had to find a way to train these horses that was kind, consistent and the horses could understand. The training also had to keep the horses sound and healthy.
In the 1920s the US Cavalry combined French Classical Dressage and the Forward Riding of the Italian Cavalry to create calm, quiet, horses that would willingly follow their riders anywhere. These horses were the ultimate sport horse, excelling in the Olympics and proving the US Cavalry to be a world class training institution.
While this wonderfully effective, and easy-to-learn system has nearly been lost to show-ring pressures and feel-good marketing hype, it is still the very best training to become a leader your horse can trust. If you are seeking a proven way to become the reliable, loving leader your horse deserves, contact Sacred Connections Horsemanship. We still have a few spring opening for new clients. sacredconnectionshorsemanship.com 828-505-9221

04/18/2024

Did you know there is an authentic American riding method or Seat. Most people don't. In fact, most Americans think that their discipline is a Seat when this is not often true today. For example, Hunter Seat Equitation is not an authentic Seat. It is fifty years old while Xenophon's horsemanship, a method referenced since the 4th century BC being 2,500 years old, is a true method.

The authentic American seat is called the Fort Riley Seat, or sometimes the Balanced Seat in civilian books. The images below represent the evolution of our national American riding method. The story of our national method begins with Fredirico Capprilli, an Italian Captain Cavalry (top left) who came up with his Forward Seat in 1904. Prior to Caprilli, the nearly universal method, generally called the "chair seat", of riding went back to Xenophon. There have been several significant changes since Xenophon, such as those from William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, in the 17th century that included improvements more natural for the horse.

The top right image reflects the next step in the development of the American method that came from the French Cavalry School at Saumur. This step includes an unsettled controversy between the Italian Cavalry and the French. The Italians claim that soon after 1904 the French stole Caprilli's Forward Seat and renamed it the Saumur Seat. Be that as it may, the next step in development of the Fort Riley Seat came in 1914 when the US Army, seeing that WW1 was inevitable, decided that the US Army needed a central cavalry training school to replace the long standing, Colonial regimental system of training cavalry.

At the time of this decision, the US Cavalry did not have a horsemanship training manual with each regiment having their own training tradition. This made it difficult to transfer cavalrymen between regiments. The French came to our rescue when they provided the US Army their Saumur classified cavalry riding manuals. The French manuals were the basis of horsemanship training at the Fort Riley Kansas Cavalry School until the 1920s.

After WW1 Harry Chamberlin, shown jumping in the bottom left image (with the 1940 US Olympic Team from Fort Riley beneath him), updated the Saumur manuals creating the final version of the Fort Riley Seat. While the Fort Riley Seat is little more than 100 years old, its roots go back thousands of years to Xenophon and through horsemen Cavendish. This is very different from the new riding methods or styles from individuals like Morris, Parelli or the other new fragmented variations on authentic horsemanship like modern reining, current western pleasure and modern dressage.

Lastly, the bottom right image of a cowboy represents the western ranch riding influence on the Fort Riley Seat. Chamberlin, an intense student of horses and riding methods, appreciated the cowboy's practical effectiveness he saw in Fort Riley recruits. Many Fort Riley instructors, like Gordon Wright, came from the ranks of the Cavalry cowboys who thought nothing of sixteen hour days in the saddle.

Our uniquely American Seat became the envy of the horse world until the 1960s when US military riders began to retire or pass on. As a boy, I was fortunate to have a Fort Riley method instructor starting in 1953, ten years after the US Cavalry replaced the horses with mechanized fighting vehicles.

The family tree of global horsemanship is ancient and has many branches. The methods that have endured the test of time. The changes in horsemanship since Xenophon up until the 1970s were the result of new military battlefield advantages with horses. When one nation's cavalry found a better way, other country's cavalry copied and adapted innovations from their enemies or allies.

After the 1970s American horsemanship has been in chaos having lost its connection to military goals and standards, while most European countries kept theirs. Later I will explore these horsemanship methods from countries like the Spanish Riding School, the Russian Hussars, the Ottoman Empire horsemen as well as others like the Portuguese and Spanish methods.

The point is that if you are receiving riding instruction, it is important that you are learning an authentic riding method or seat with an evolved history. The American horse world is now confused by the many instructors who teach the new commercial methods, from Morris, Parelli, etc. or a random combination of methods they usually call "my own combination of what I learned".

These instructors have no real method and you, in order to learn how to ride safely and effectively, must have an instructor who teaches an authentic Seat. It is OK if an instructor includes other influences, but they must teach from a core system or Seat in order to give you a safe practical way to ride.

04/15/2024

“I just want to ride my horse.” I hear this so often.
My heart goes out to these riders, because it's not hard. It's simply a matter of following an easy-to-learn, PROVEN system that supports our horses' health soundness and well-being. Unfortunately, in our competition-focused industry, this proven system has nearly been lost in the rush for ribbons and economic gain.
For the last 20 years or more, most of my work has been restoring and retraining horses (and riders) damaged by today's modern, rushed, competition-focused riding and training techniques.
I get called out to evaluate horses that are acting out, have become difficult to handle, try to evade or run away, or display some other type of uncooperative or even dangerous behavior. Many are rushing fences or refusing to jump. Many times it's the sweet horse that gradually became sour and hard to handle. Others are spooky on trails.
I've been called out for horses that continuously stumble so badly their owners were afraid to ride. Other times the owners know there is something off, but just can't quite figure out what's wrong.
The frustration builds when the teams of vets, chiropractors, acupuncturists and bodyworkers can't find anything tangible. The owner spends thousands on a saddle fitter and new saddle, and thousands on endless clinics—everyone with a different magic to fix the problem.
Then the trainers come in. Often this turns into severe bits, martingales, draw reins, desensitizing, flooding or over-drilling the horses. Yet nothing seems to help.
And the frustrated owner just wanted to enjoy riding her horse.
Many of these horses are body sore. This is usually in the soft tissues (muscles, fascia, etc.) and doesn't show up on x-rays, so it's difficult to diagnose.
In his book, Balancing Act, Gerd Heuschmann, DVM, uses the term, “rein-lameness” to describe this problem. He states, “A high percentage of horses brought to veterinary practices and clinics with lameness symptoms are not satisfactorily diagnosed, if at all, by veterinary means.” “Generally speaking, most 'rein-lame' horses show no pathology.”
These horses will act out, often with aggressive behavior, bucking, kicking, or biting. Others can't stand still, appear anxious or may paw the ground. Still others are simply difficult and uncooperative to ride, stiff in turns, spooky or reluctant to move forward.
One of the main causes for this type of soreness that I see, is imbalanced hooves. Today long toes and low heels has become epidemic, and I see this in nearly every horse I go to evaluate. This problem causes soreness in the poll, the top line and the sacroiliac. Left long term it can cause lameness in the hocks, stifles, back, etc.
Another big cause is asking for contact or collection too early in the horse's development, and/or riding the horse in hyperflexion (nose on or behind the vertical). Horse's must be given time, and the correct training to develop the muscles that allow them to balance a rider while on contact and/or in collection.
They also must be given time to rest on loose or long reins. This gives them the opportunity to relax, stretch their necks and build quality muscles in their backs.
Of course the prevalence of hyperflexion we see today is a huge contributor to difficult to diagnose rein-lameness.
The solution? Back to good basics that support the horse's health, soundness, well-being and quality performance, both inside and outside the ring. In the 1920s the US Cavalry system developed a highly functional system of riding and training that supported the health, soundness and willing, cooperative nature of their horses. This system perfectly combines French Classical Dressage and the Forward Riding of the Italian Cavalry to create calm, quiet willing horses and bold, confident capable riders—without hurting the horses.
Sacred Connections Horsemanship works with this system to help today's horses and riders rediscover the joys of riding. We specialize in creating calm, quiet, willing equine partners and riders that enjoy riding inside and outside the ring together. To see if the US Cavalry System can help your horse be the loving, happy, willing partner we all dream about, contact sacredconnectionshorsemanship.com or call us at 828-505-9221.