True North Equestrian

25/07/2025

Good riding requires that we re wire our natural instincts. When we get afraid, we tip forward, or clutch, or pull. We stop breathing, and somewhere deep down we hope the horse will adapt and take care of us. But a good steward takes responsibility: it is our duty to practice honing our reflexes. It is our job to practice controlling our position, our breath, and learning to create a productive mindset.

It is the hardest thing in the world to do to control our natural instincts- but it is the most important. And expecting the horse to adjust to us without the necessary skills is folly. Take the time, put the hours in, get a good coach and an appropriate horse, and master your body and mind.

17/01/2025

As equestrians, we usually think that our time spent riding creates most of our learning and progress. After all, our goals are centered on improving equitation, making adjustments that resonate with our horse(s), and becoming experts in our chosen discipline. Naturally those goals are met in the sa...

01/01/2025

If I were asked to name two things I’ve loved for as long as I can remember, it would be horses and books. When I was applying to grad school and an admissions counsellor with a Southern Accent asked me how long I’d been interested in ‘riding’, it took me a second to realize she actually mea...

23/10/2024

“Stirrup placement is such an important part of a rider’s position. Having your stirrup in the right place on the ball of your foot is the foundation for the rest of your body as a rider and affects how you can properly use your legs, seat eyes and hands. Having elastic, following arms and hands are ideal, as is a correct upper body position going with the motion and staying in balance over the fences”

Welcome to Trainer Tuesday! Each week we ask trainers a question and gather their answers for you. These trainers have a range of experience, backgrounds, and focus points of their programs, so the answers have as much variation as you would expect and also probably much more similarity. This week....

06/10/2024

💙❤️💛 You can be champion anywhere, anytime. Excellence and progress = winning. 💕

www.TonyaJohnston.com

06/06/2024

Things my young horse has taught me about sport psychology

Success is not linear. Highs, lows, forwards, backwards. Buckle up.

Keep your head down but chin up by setting small goals. One foot in front of the other and you’ll be amazed to see just how far you’ve come without realizing it. You’re getting where you’re going, you’re just not there yet.

Progress is a reasonable expectation, perfection is not. Perfect often gets in the way of good enough.

The outcome is never within your control. Your effort and attitude are.

Mistakes are a good thing. It means you’re learning. Put your ego aside and and be coachable.

Appreciate the process. You get to do this, you want to do this, you don’t have to. Riding, especially competing, is a privilege not a right.

Emotional control is mandatory. Lose it on your own time, not on your horse’s time.

Ask for help. Learn something new. Try something different. It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.

Resilience and confidence are flip sides of a coin. Exhibit resilience to grow your confidence, establish resilience by leaning into your confidence.

23/05/2024

Imagine you’re assigned a partner project in school. Only one of you gets to read the directions for the assignment, and then you have to explain it to your partner in a language that is secondary to both of you. You’d expect some miscommunications and misunderstandings, right?

That’s basically what’s happening while riding a horse. Whether in a lesson or a ride of your own direction, you as the rider are the only one who knows the assignment. It’s then your responsibility to relay that information to your horse, speaking through intention and cues that are a second language to both you and your horse. Your horse doesn’t understand what your trainer is saying he’s supposed to do - he’s relying on you to tell him.

Keep this in mind any time you’re riding and you feel like your horse isn’t listening, or you get frustrated with a missed distance or a sloppy transition. Remember that you’re the only member of this team who knows the assignment, and your horse is relying on you to tell him the game plan. Sometimes we make mistakes in our cues or our timing, we start thinking too many steps ahead or we forget to clue him into the next movement in time. Sometimes the horse is a little distracted, or tired, or not feeling it today. But most of the time, he’s doing his best he can with the information you’re giving him!

07/04/2024

06/04/2024

Some physiological and psychological reasons for a horse’s deteriorating performance, and why we might miss some red flags.

19/03/2024

Welcome to Trainer Tuesday! Each week we ask trainers a question and gather their answers for you. These trainers have a range of experience, backgrounds, and focus points of their programs, so the answers have as much variation as you would expect and also probably much more similarity.  This week...

18/03/2024

As show season approaches, I share my thoughts on the blog on why Equestrian Canada's coach status program misses the mark.

Last summer, I participated in a focus group in which Equestrian Canada requested feedback about their coach status program. When it was my turn to speak, I shared my concerns about the program. As a young professional with a small number of showing clients, the cost of licensing is prohibitive. If....

13/12/2023

Even though six years have passed, Jessica Van Wyen still can’t explain why she felt so compelled to go see the unregistered 3-year-old Thoroughbred filly whose ad popped up on her social media. It was late 2017, and Van Wyen was a newlywed; she and her husband Reese were putting every penny they ...