Johnson Equine

11/17/2024

The ability to pull a rectangle from my pocket and look up ANYTHING I don’t know, amazing.

The Google in your pocket is the world's biggest library, the world's largest source of instruction videos, and the best college in the world. Ignorance is now a willful act. Dare to be right.

11/17/2024

Too true 😅😂

11/17/2024

Your body is always trying to protect you, you can teach it balance 💅

A story about my right leg - and riding from center

Something I have been learning more and more about with great interest, is just how much the nervous system protects our balance. It doesn’t care about how you look, or if you feel good in your body - it only cares that you don’t fall off and 💀

I have had many concussions, and as every horse person, my share of injuries. My nervous system worked very hard to stabilize me by giving me these solutions of tension- and one of them was a scrunchy right leg. This was compensation for a right hip that didn’t move well, and couldn’t get into the horse’s motion well.

Naturally, right bend and right lead canters were difficult for me. These imbalances make us overuse our exterior aids- when our center is not congruent with our aids, our arms and legs do funky things to get the job done.

Thankfully, I’ve been receiving some good help to create better stability, and enjoying a longer right leg. Thanks to some vestibular and visual exercises to help concussion recovery with Leah Astrup, and some
Excellent riding instruction, my body is feeling better, and consequently my horses are too.

If you’re fighting the same issues over and over again, no amount of drilling your position will counter a nervous system desperate to stabilize you. Find center, and the legs and arms stabilize as an extension of that.

The top two photos show my right leg acting as a hook, to compensate for a hip that doesn’t move. You can see my rib cage thrown to the left as a result - making right bend quite tough.

The bottom two photos show a much more stable position with a longer thigh, and consequently a more centered rib cage and quieter hands.

This stuff really matters. You’ll feel better and your horse will too.

11/11/2024

Keep growing 🌱

Follow Book library Hub

11/07/2024

😂

Sooo accurate....😂😂😂

11/04/2024

Yes! This is why I say “don’t get sucked in by the cuteness of the ears” 📚

11/03/2024

If your rider does walk only for three months, barely trots, and never canters, it’s fine.
If someone wants to groom, do a little ground work, and an occasional pony ride, that’s great.

Let people enjoy horses at their level.

So many instructors only want the students that are going to buy a fancy horse, compete at rated shows, and be all in… that’s just not reality. It’s also NOT a more profitable businesses model!

If someone wants to pay you to spoil your older lesson horse, or if someone wants to learn the technical stuff at a walk, but their body just isn’t going to ride a real dressage test ever, then help them accomplish THEIR goals!!!!
*Too many instructors push their own goals onto students.*

(That said, most horses DO need to move out, and preferably should be moved out with a rider as a critical part of keeping them physically and mentally at their best- but another rider can do that. )

10/27/2024

Rib fracture in horses 😢

10/27/2024

Blanca did *not* do this. I confirmed.

10/25/2024

10/25/2024

It’s Blanca’s world, we’re just living in it 💁‍♀️😌 (out of sight is the new bale, don’t worry, Frosty had full access to a fresh meal)

10/23/2024

Pelvic/Hip stretching in my old horses 🤗 they were not able to get this much stretch before! I started using the Masterson Method on them, thank you Brenda Thompson for teaching me your ways to help my horses 🤝

10/23/2024

Naughty or truly in pain? I have two horses that I know when they’re in pain, a third seems to depend on the breeze🤷‍♀️