Adamo Equestrian

01/19/2025

01/18/2025

The Dressage Foundation is pleased to announce the recipient of the $2,500 Pure Spanish Horse/Pura Raza Española (P.R.E.) Fund grant is Alexis Martin-Vegue (CA). 🥳

Alexis is a professional dressage trainer, clinician, and USEF “r” judge and is currently head trainer at Dorado Andaluz, a P.R.E. Horse breeding farm. Alexis will use the grant funding to train with Pippa Callanan on Galana DA, a 14-year-old mare owned by Susanne Punch and Dorado Andaluz. Alexis’ goal with her training is to work on Grand Prix movements and create the choreography for a freestyle.

Alexis said, “I'm so humbled to be receiving the P.R.E. Fund grant from TDF to be able to train with my incredible mentor Pippa Callanan. Being able to focus on my education while developing possibly the best horse I've ever had the honor to ride, Galana DA, is the most incredible gift.”

The purpose of this Fund is to celebrate and promote the Pure Spanish Horse/P.R.E. as upper-level dressage horses because of the breed’s natural abilities, talent, and disposition. Thanks to generous donors, one annual $2,500 grant will be given to a professional, adult amateur, or Young Rider (over the age of 16) competing at Prix St. Georges (or Young Rider equivalent) or higher.

The deadline to apply is November 10. Information about the Fund and the online application are available at https://bit.ly/3FhBHrv



Photo by Tamera

01/18/2025

- If you keep losing your right stirrup, you’re probably sitting to the left.
- If your left leg feels strong and well-behaved, but your right leg feels like it’s nowhere near the horse and you just can’t get it on properly, you are certainly sitting to the left.
- If you can’t get your horse to bend to the right, you’re probably sitting to the left.
- If when going clockwise you twist to the inside too much in your upper body, but when going counterclockwise you find it hard to twist at all, then you are probably sitting to the left.
- If you over use your right rein, and have trouble building contact on the left rein, you may be sitting to the left.
- If you feel like you are collapsing/leaning your upper body to the right, you are DEFINITELY SITTING TO THE LEFT.
- If your left stirrup feels shorter than your right stirrup, you are absolutely sitting to the left.

I practice and teach riders to sit a LITTLE BIT to the inside of the bend. (Eventually we change that to “in the direction of movement” around 2nd level, but that only changes things in shoulder in and leg yield).
If you chronically sit, let’s say, to the left, then traveling left you should probably try to stay centered, and traveling to the right, you may feel like you are sitting like I am on the saddle stand. It might take a lot of exaggeration to unlock your crookedness. Go ahead and exaggerate! You’ve probably been sitting that far the other direction for years and didn’t notice. You’ll need to sit far enough to the right to get your right seat bone to drop down. You want to feel like your inside seatbone, knee, and heel are a little lower than your outside seatbone, knee, and heel. This helps your horse rotate their ribcage, and helps the rider achieve inside leg to outside rein connection by sending the energy disgonally across the rider’s pelvis and the horse’s body.

By the way, if you like posts like this, follow our page! If you love posts like this, consider signing up for a virtual lesson.

01/12/2025

Consistency is the key to everything!

01/10/2025

A horse can forgive a mistake of the leg, or a mistake of the seat, but not a mistake of the hand. Education of the hand is a lifelong art 🖤

01/06/2025

Lots of people want a quick fix for their horse or their riding, but moment to moment their consistency waivers.
Consistency is the key to everything with a horse.

Imagine you go to work, and everyday your job description changes. You probably wouldn't be very successful. You would spend each day just learning what your job is, but never being able to actually do it. You would never make any progress, because you would have no fundamentals to build on.

Now imagine your boss speaks a completely different language than you. Now imagine every day that language changes. Now not only does your job description change, but you have to learn a new language everyday.

Horses honestly do a very excellent job of filling in the holes we leave in our conversations with them. However, if we show up to our horses each day with a different language, a new set of rules, a different boundary, a different job description, then we are setting them up for failure. This is not to say that you should not explore various methods or learn new things. It simply means that your vision of the outcome should be steadfast in your mind. What do you want to teach your horse? What do you want to learn from your horse? Are you communicating clearly with the same expectations each day? That is the only secret. And guess what? It's really not a secret.

01/06/2025

The Levade is the symbol of the Academic Art of Riding.
I lost my well known levadeur Tyson (age 29) in 2024, but Dorado ist almost ready to take over in 2025.
Seeing people educating themselves and their horses makes me feel confident about the future for the art of riding.

All the best for You and Yours in 2025

Céline Rieck Photography

01/02/2025

12/31/2024

Elevation makes engagement possible. Elevation is First!

Learn more at TheBuckChannel.com

📸 Christina Fox

12/29/2024

Isabell Werth and Antony, second in the World Cup in 1999.

12/29/2024

This book is often not available for purchase in the US, but Amazon has it right now! I have urged my riders to read this and I feel anyone who sits on a horse should read it as well. Don't miss the chance to get yourself a copy.

Another Horsemanship

12/23/2024

I absolutely must highlight Spezi!!! This incredible horse came to his first working equitation clinic having never seen the obstacles. He had never carried a rider over a jump. He rocked the clinic! He did all the obstacles without even flinching and he took his mom, Shannon, over the cross rail like a perfectly schooled gentleman! I seriously could not be prouder of these two!
Thanks again Cohesive Horsemanship
Great job Shannon Tiedemann

12/23/2024

❤️❤️❤️
For the horse
❤️❤️❤️

"What lovely quiet riders and so free of ego"

This comment from a spectator followed the recent demonstration at the Horsemanship Showcase, and it was very powerful feedback.

What does it mean to approach your horse without ego?

Whether it is ever truly possible I don't know, but it's an interesting perspective to take into the saddle. Or as you go to greet your horse today. One of the reasons Philippe Karl has resisted allowing Légèreté 'competitions' is because people lose their mind when there are rosettes involved. Or that was my interpretation of what I heard him say. When we need to 'win', this desire can get in the way of doing what is right for our horse in that moment.

The middle of the winter is a great time to be humbled by a life with horses. It is largely chopping wood and carrying water. Or, pushing wheelbarrows and cracking ice. Doing what is required to keep the herd alive and healthy.

Humility in the face of training a horse is an admirable quality. How can I do better by this creature? How can I make more sense and result in them feeling better? If my only audience is the horse - what is their response ?

If we ride only with that individual horse in mind, in that individual moment, then what anyone looking on perceives is of no interest. We are only interested in our horse and their feedback. Maybe this is about as close to riding without ego as we can get.

The Légèreté community is a special one, where people are seriously committed to doing the right thing by their horse. I suspect the ripples are felt in other areas of all our lives too.

Merry almost Christmas x