Training for Optimal Balance

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Training for Optimal Balance Training For Optimal Balance™ is focused on the operating systems of both horse and rider.

When the inherent operating systems are optimized then the software programs called trail riding, jumping, dressage or cow working run better.

So much confusion.... Is our horse supposed to bend through the midline like a banana on circles and turns? NO! The spin...
19/06/2024

So much confusion.... Is our horse supposed to bend through the midline like a banana on circles and turns? NO!
The spine does not work that way and when we do bend the midline into a curve that we can feel, then inverted or excessive rotation of the spine (twisting) is always the side effect that cannot be escaped. It's just how s**t works and is not an opinion. Do your own research if you don't believe me. We cannot ignore mechanical realities of the body for the sake of tradition. If we can upgrade to smart phones, then perhaps we can update our horse training too.

Discussion about the traditional idea of "straight on a circle" meaning that we bend our horse's midline into the shape of the circle compared to the biomech...

By recognizing and working with thresholds, in ourselves and our horses, we accomplish a couple of things: - we make all...
12/06/2024

By recognizing and working with thresholds, in ourselves and our horses, we accomplish a couple of things:
- we make all work more enjoyable and less stressful
- we save time by not creating resistance or defensiveness that then has to be resolved
- we remain in a curious state, which allows more options, new solutions or previously unrecognized possibilities to come to our awareness

When we look past our horse's behavior and look deeper into the intentions of our training program, we begin to clearly see the moments that personal thresho...

Horse Geeks Podcast 123: Working With Thresholds
12/06/2024

Horse Geeks Podcast 123: Working With Thresholds

When we look past our horse's behavior and look deeper into the intentions of our training program, we begin to clearly see the moments that personal thresho...

Horse Geeks Podcast 122: Uncomfortable Realizations
02/06/2024

Horse Geeks Podcast 122: Uncomfortable Realizations

While we are authentically learning or making substantial changes, then we encounter many moments of uncomfortable realizations. Sometimes the realizations f...

Horse Geeks Podcast 121: Intentions and Goals
08/05/2024

Horse Geeks Podcast 121: Intentions and Goals

Defining the difference between our big intentions and our goals is something that is beautifully shared by Trevor G Blake in his book, Three Simple Steps an...

May Newsletter with a short lesson on developing through cycles of learning. The cycles from unconscious incompetence to...
05/05/2024

May Newsletter with a short lesson on developing through cycles of learning. The cycles from unconscious incompetence to conscious competence are universal, for us, our horses and even for the butterfly featured in this newsletter.

I am a professional horse trainer and developer of the program, Training for Optimal Balance. I share information that helps horse owners train their own horses, or helps horse professionals find a new perspective on training - and personal development is the number one side effect of authentically....

Horse Geeks Podcast 120: This Whole Back Use-Saddle Fitting Thing
26/04/2024

Horse Geeks Podcast 120: This Whole Back Use-Saddle Fitting Thing

We look at the relationship of saddle fitting, saddle fitting issues and how our horse uses the back - all in relationship to each other - and throw in how t...

Horse Geeks Podcast 119: The Polyvagal Nervous System
08/04/2024

Horse Geeks Podcast 119: The Polyvagal Nervous System

New guest, Dr. Anne-Marie Hancock DVM, shares information about newer research on the nervous system for both humans and horses. We discuss the vagal nerve a...

April Newsletter with a lesson about turning training into a human-horse enrichment program.
02/04/2024

April Newsletter with a lesson about turning training into a human-horse enrichment program.

I am a professional horse trainer and developer of the program, Training for Optimal Balance. I share information that helps horse owners train their own horses, or helps horse professionals find a new perspective on training - and personal development is the number one side effect of authentically....

Horse Geeks Podcast 118: Getting Grounded
26/03/2024

Horse Geeks Podcast 118: Getting Grounded

What the heck does getting grounded even mean? How do we recognize when we have lost our grounding, ground connection or inner stability? And... how to we ge...

Horse Geeks Podcast 117: Horses Teach Us About Relationships
22/03/2024

Horse Geeks Podcast 117: Horses Teach Us About Relationships

My very special guest, and childhood friend, Teresa Vossen helps us make the connection as a sociologist between relationships in families and our relationsh...

The March Newsletter for Wexford Training, offering monthly micro lessons from Training for Optimal Balance methods. Hop...
06/03/2024

The March Newsletter for Wexford Training, offering monthly micro lessons from Training for Optimal Balance methods. Hope you enjoy the sneak peek at the new, revised version of the Groundwork Workbook in this month's newsletter!

I am finally finished with the revised Groundwork workbook. Whew!! With the release of this workbook, all four of the workbooks in the series are complete. The four workbooks, Basic Handling, Groundwork, Rider Balance and Horse Balance Under Saddle are the practical application of all the theory I h...

Horse Geeks Podcast 115: Horses Teach Us Resilience
05/03/2024

Horse Geeks Podcast 115: Horses Teach Us Resilience

With horses things will always go a bit wrong. It is not the fact that challenges cross our path, but how we recover from difficulties when they do. Resilien...

Horse Geeks Podcast 114: Lunging Horses
26/02/2024

Horse Geeks Podcast 114: Lunging Horses

Lunging is a groundwork training technique that is probably as old as riding horses! We all may think we know how to lunge a horse but the truth is that the ...

Horse Geeks Podcast 113: Kinesphere, Lateral Muscles and Pausing
10/02/2024

Horse Geeks Podcast 113: Kinesphere, Lateral Muscles and Pausing

Discussion with my old Alexander Technique instructor, Jana Tift about a lot of things! Hearing Jana's description of the kinesphere, a term coined by Rudolf...

Horse Geeks Podcast 112: Horse Training Matters For Health
31/01/2024

Horse Geeks Podcast 112: Horse Training Matters For Health

What is often left entirely out of health issues or wellness with our horse is how we balance as a weight and mass on our horse while riding or driving and h...

Horse Geeks Podcast 111: The Training Scales
21/01/2024

Horse Geeks Podcast 111: The Training Scales

Review of the traditional Training Scales or Training Pyramid which is the foundation of the German Classical method of training. The Scales invole1. Rhythm2...

This month's newsletter has a short lesson on the essential spinal functions that help us understand our horse's movemen...
05/01/2024

This month's newsletter has a short lesson on the essential spinal functions that help us understand our horse's movement. Getting familiar with the terminology and what it really means when our horse is "straight" or "lifting the back" or "dropping the back" during our training sessions is helpful for improving our horse's comfort level in work no matter how we ride or what we do with our horse.

Wexford Training Newsletter Vol 1., Issue 12 January 2024 Wexford Training Newsletter Finding Balance from the Inside Out Dear Friends, Happy New Year 2024! I hope you had a beautiful winter holiday season and got to catch up with family and friends. And now.. back to your horse time! This month’s...

Horse Geeks Podcast 110: Connecting With Horses and All Animals
28/12/2023

Horse Geeks Podcast 110: Connecting With Horses and All Animals

Interview with Kat from RichKat Ranch - who is another animal lover, nature enthusiast and shares a passion for the subtle magic involved in getting to know...

Horse Geeks Podcast 109: The Pleiades Equine Group
16/12/2023

Horse Geeks Podcast 109: The Pleiades Equine Group

Discussion about all the different types of professionals that we need to work with in order to help our horse find optimal health and soundness, especially ...

Horse Geeks Podcast 108: Recognizing Defensiveness
07/12/2023

Horse Geeks Podcast 108: Recognizing Defensiveness

Psychological research has mapped out four universal defensive strategies that all kinds of people use when feeling fearful. While each individual will have ...

Horse Geeks Podcast 107: Case Studies
21/11/2023

Horse Geeks Podcast 107: Case Studies

Review of Deb's first project horse working with the holistic veterinary group. Discussion of why it can be important to keep a training journal with video o...

Horse Geeks Podcast 106: Mechanical and Painful Lameness Issues
18/11/2023

Horse Geeks Podcast 106: Mechanical and Painful Lameness Issues

Continuing the discussion about how biomechanics and physics overlap, we look at an individual story about a person looking for a new horse and how things we...

Horse Geeks Podcast 105: Biomechanics and Physics (made easy)
08/11/2023

Horse Geeks Podcast 105: Biomechanics and Physics (made easy)

Let't take the intimidation out of the science that directly influences rider and horse balance. While the body is complicated and the interactions of forces...

I know I did a podcast about horse herd dynamics - and this month's newsletter has the more detailed written version cov...
01/11/2023

I know I did a podcast about horse herd dynamics - and this month's newsletter has the more detailed written version covering the same concepts. Learning to communicate with our horse through energy and spatial awareness, instead of voice commands and conditioned response training, is how we can dynamically earn our horse's trust and work through all the little challenges that arise.

Wexford Training Newsletter Vol 1., Issue 10 November 2023 Wexford Training Newsletter Finding Balance from the Inside Out Dear Friends, This month’s lesson is an excerpt from the new, updated and completed version of the first workbook, Basic Handling. I am including this excerpt because I find i...

Horse Geeks Podcast 104: Herd Dynamics
26/10/2023

Horse Geeks Podcast 104: Herd Dynamics

What we need to know as horse owners about herd dynamics and how they play a role in our horse's inner sense of safety. Many of the problems we have with hor...

Horse Geeks Podcast 103: Internal Straightness
16/10/2023

Horse Geeks Podcast 103: Internal Straightness

Discussion about what internal straightness means, as two dimensions or as a combination of two spinal functions. Internal straightness is an important part ...

Thought I would share the latest newsletter. The monthly newsletter, with a short lesson included, is a new, free offeri...
08/10/2023

Thought I would share the latest newsletter. The monthly newsletter, with a short lesson included, is a new, free offering that I do once a month. If you would like to be on the mailing list, then you can sign up at the bottom of my website homepage at www.kirstennelsen.com I do not sell, share or abuse the email list. I consider those on the mailing list part of this growing horse community and simply provide a monthly lesson, my calendar updates and news of anything new in the works or finally available. If you are interested in the type of horse training I teach, then I welcome you to join our community of misfit toys where we all support each other in our journey of learning about our horses.

Wexford Training Newsletter Vol 1., Issue 9 October 2023 Wexford Training Newsletter Finding Balance from the Inside Out Dear Friends, In all the years I have been sharing what I know about horses and what I learn as I go, I have always struggled to put into words exactly what I teach. I...

Horse Geeks Podcast 102: Ease Is Always The Right Path
08/10/2023

Horse Geeks Podcast 102: Ease Is Always The Right Path

Horses do not understand the concept of "no pain, no gain" that is entirely a human idea! Horses may struggle with change and be challenged, but cannot cross...

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