Kearsarge Meadows

05/01/2024

So much emphasis these days, and rightly so, is placed on 'connection' with your horse. But so little emphasis is also placed on the need to ride in a way that impedes the horse as little as possible. It's no good connecting well with your horse on the ground, if every time you get on his back, you irritate him by poor riding techniques. For me, connection has to be about working with the horse, our own body in absolute sync with his movement, not bouncing or sitting heavily. Aids should be clear to the horse but invisible to the onlooker. Often riders get so bogged down in biomechanics that they have too much to think when on their horse, to be able to ride effectively! The Enlightened Equitation method of teaching is based on clear visual demonstration and simple effective explanation. The Online Classical Riding Academy website has over 160 videos covering all areas of riding itself.

www.onlineclassicalridingacademy.com

04/12/2023

Why we feed our horses a "midnight snack"....

Dengie nutritionists Katie Williams and Claire Akers take you on a tour of the horse's digestive system using a life size model.

26/02/2023

USEF Dressage test diagrams for Intro through Fourth level

25/02/2023

BITS is looking for more team members....

01/07/2022

File under "S**t happens". THIS is why I always insisted in pulling the staples before taking a paper bag of shavings into a stall. Ouch!

30/06/2022

Wonderful advice!

06/06/2022

All true :-)

THE REAL RULES OF DRESSAGE
1. If you really want to get better at dressage, take it up at an earlier age - and grow an extra 3 inches of leg.
2. A dressage test is a test of your skill against another competitor's luck.
3. Dressage is about achieving a harmonious working relationship with your horse, whose only idea of harmony is eating grass in a field with his buddies.
4. If you want to end a drought or dry spell, wear a new jacket and hat to an outdoor arena.
5. Untalented, difficult, aggressive horses have robust health, good hocks and long lives.
6. Talented tractable horses are accident prone and have OCD lesions.
7. You will ride the best test of your entire life just prior to being disqualified for not wearing your gloves.
8. Never keep more than 300 separate thoughts in your head before a test.
9. Never keep less than another 300 separate thoughts in your head during a test.
10. Horses do not improve their paces because you are wearing expensive German breeches.
11. If you chose a disco theme for your dressage to music test then the judge will be more than 90 years of age and Swiss.
12. The less skilled the rider, the more likely they are to share their critique of your test.
13. If you are considering the services of a horse clairvoyant to help you with training then you have reached the point of total desperation - try the German breeches.
14.Your horse has never heard of Podhajsky, let alone read the book.
15. No matter how badly you ride a test, it is always possible to ride a worse one.
16. If it ain't broke, try shifting your position and it will be.
17. Judges only suffer from temporary blindness (or kindness) when they are judging someone else's test.
18. If you fall off your horse in the arena you will have paid to have the test videoed.
19. If you are feeling confident before a show then three of the GB dressage team will turn up to give their young horses some "experience."
20. Your horse will perform its best piaffe ever when you ask for extended canter.
22. Since runs of bad competitions come in groups of three, the fourth competition is actually the beginning of the next group of three.
23. No one cheats at dressage because no one has worked out how to do it.
24. It is surprisingly easy to end a test with a perfect square halt once you have scored a four for every other movement.
25. The result of an expensive lesson from a top pro is that you will stop believing in that tiny piece of innate ability that was holding your riding together.
26. Remember when buying a dressage horse advertised as "needs experienced competitive rider" this really means "needs the skills of Isabelle Werth just to stay on board."
27. If you think your test was better than someone else's, it probably wasn't.
28. If you pay £60,000 for an imported WB, you will be beaten in Prelim by a Welsh Cob, ridden by a 9 year old.
29. Clinics given by someone with an interesting accent are not necessarily superior to those given by the homegirl.
30. If you go to the expense of raising an expensive WB foal, he will have a talent for jumping and no walk worth talking about.

13/09/2021

12/06/2021

The grass feels out of control again! :-) Typical mid-June! Our chickens love when we mow our paths through the tall grass.