Amy Skinner Horsemanship

28/01/2025

half my clinics for this year are now full! There's just a few spots left in the following clinics.
Nampa, ID
Pequot Lakes, MN
and Gowanda, NY

contact me for your spot!

27/01/2025

27/01/2025

“You’re overthinking. Just get on and ride.”

“I wish this page wrote more about horsemanship instead of irrelevant philosophy”

I have become very interested in people’s natures, and how that benefits them in horsemanship and also holds them back.

My mind tends to analyze, analyze, analyze.

The benefits of this are
Pattern recognition
Environmental awareness
Trying to deeply understand one topic all the way down to its nucleus

The drawbacks are
Staying in one place for too long, accidental drilling in an effort to perfect one thing
Overanalyzing myself and others which can lead to feeling paralyzed or debilitated

We all have strengths that can be weaknesses on the flip side. If we get criticism, we can take that and look at the opposite side of that too. And, we have to remember that any quality we like about our selves can be developed, and any quality we dislike or hinders us can be developed too.

One of the reasons we need quality instruction is to have someone who believes in us help us develop our weaknesses into strengths and become the best we can be.

Photo by Caitlin Hatch

26/01/2025

Any movement is only as useful as the first straight step out of it. That is to say, practicing a movement for the sake of just doing it doesn’t do us much good, if the principles that make it beneficial aren’t practiced.
How can you tell if you’ve maintained the principles of a movement ? You can leave straight right away, with no wiggling or crookedness, and the neck balance should be improved.

25/01/2025

Let horses move past their “story”

When you’re in the thick of it, the story is real. The behaviors can be explained by a past, near or far. Some of it may be valid, some may be our interpretation, some may be best guesses. Either way, here we are.

But horses have a strong desire to be balanced. If given half a chance, most of them, I’ve found, adapt. Some need a little more help, some have a missing ingredient that helps them complete the recipe of wellness. But usually, people are in the way.

I’ve been that person too. It’s easy. You tell the story over and over - “she was traumatized.” “You won’t be able to catch her, she hates men.” “She doesn’t trailer.” “She had an accident while tying so she doesn’t tie.” These things may have been true at one time, but without adapting our awareness to the current moment day by day, moment by moment, we so often keep the horses progress stifled.

I can’t tell you how many troubled horses I’ve had that I tip toed around, told the public to watch out, and one day discovered them calmly standing. Before my very eyes they had turned into another horse, and I was so busy talking about them I hadn’t noticed who they were now.

Photo by Caitlin Hatch

25/01/2025

This concept is third hand, in the sense that Jeffie Smith Wesson told it to me as something explained to her by Mr. H L M Van Schaik (photo)

So I may get Van Schaik’s message slightly garbled in translation, but the essence is that when someone goes to a riding teacher to get a lesson, almost invariably the teacher teaches the student where she is right now in her riding, rather than teaching her what she needs to be taught.

His point was that ideally and in theory the explanation of riding should begin at the beginning, and progress a-b-c-d-e-f-g and so on, but if a riding teacher actually took her students back to square one and filled in the holes in their basics, most students wouldn’t come back for many lessons. Too boring. Too basic. Too demeaning. Too lots of reasons.

And I do get that. I was thinking of a clinic, for example. Some clinician has been imported to teach riders she’s never seen, and into the ring comes a rider with an entire array of incorrect basics, wrong tack, wrong posture, wrong use of hands, wrong ideas, wrong attitude. And, yes, this DOES happen in real life.

So, does the clinician treat this rider like a total beginner and have her do nothing but walk while she attempts to explain where to begin? Nope. The rider would be angry because “she didn’t get her money’s worth” from the clinic.

So teachers like clinicians and those who have the once or twice a month haul in students are likely to mend and patch rather than to break down and start at the beginning and rebuild.

But the REGULAR instructor has a better chance of going step by step, if the student will allow it.

But that word “allow” is key, and reminds me of something said by Jack Le Goff, who, like Van Schaik, had been trained in the European military tradition. Jack said, “Americans don’t want you to teach them how to ride. They want you to teach them how to compete.’

24/01/2025

Often when a horse shows resistance, the best solution is the farthest from the riders mind. While the rider may be thinking of fixing- getting back to what they had intended, sometimes going with the flow for a minute does wonders. This isn’t to say reward the horse for evasion or resistance, but, using their movement they’ve offered productively. To take what’s offered to you and shape it beautifully - when a rider can get into this mindset, they stop waging war on horses, and start making art.

22/01/2025

Who do you think you are?

An image, an idea, a belief -
We make decisions about who we are and paste it all over everything like a bumper sticker. We proudly proclaim our identities to the world- conversational pieces, vacations, clothing and food choices, religions, political affiliations, easy tropes and sayings like a get out of jail free card. No effort required- you just put on the costume makeup and there you are.

But what about when the heat is really on- when two babies are screaming in the backseat on the way to the gas station, on your last dime- what about when the world is pulling you apart, and the pressure is building? Who are you when it’s pouring rain and the baby is screaming, drenched in the stroller, and the injured horse you need to doctor is uncatchable?

You have your ideas of self, and you have vignettes, a kaleidoscope of different selves moment to moment. If you blow your stack one minute, is that echo forever through time, like an alternate reality in which you are always angry? Are you “angry” as an identity ? If you can be patient when it’s easy to be patient, is that who you are?

A self, like a shoebox project full of magazine clippings, some images you wish to be like, some you were, some you are - is a fluid thing- and the harder you try to hold it in your hand the more it oozes through the cracks.

An identity : what good is it to say I Am Patient when you haven’t been put in a position to blow your stack yet? What good is it to say I Am Angry when you haven’t had the ingredients required to find peace before?

And why do we find it so important to identify as something, that we base all our self worth around it, our so called friendships or cliques and clubs and associations of folks, clothes, food, music, cars- even down to our speech - identity - we hold it so tightly, and yet, like ghosts passing through the night, we really are unidentifiable

21/01/2025

One of the great, awkward but wonderful joys in life is looking back over the years at your riding and handling. I've learned to love the squirm - the discomfort at looking at past versions of yourself and saying - "what was I thinking?" or "why didn't anyone tell me I looked like that?"

And yet, at the time, it was the best version of you. I recall feeling proud then of what makes me gag a little bit now. And I'm certain I'll feel that way again in a year's time, or maybe less.

And the beauty of that is choosing daily to show up - imperfect as it is, with the same curiosity and eagerness to be there as ever, knowing you will fall short, and deciding to be proud anyway. Knowing some day it will not be soothing to your eye, and still deciding to appreciate the effort you have to give.

That's really what this learning stuff is all about - climbing a mountain that never ends, only winds up and around and down and back up - and pausing for brief moments to enjoy the sunshine of success - only to return to the same road. To put one foot after another daily, knowing the path gets you nowhere except deeper within your self, and to love and enjoy that at time arduous, at times awe inspiring, trek.

19/01/2025

Everybody is cold, everybody is bored and everybody is feeling guilty for not getting anything done.

Some thoughts on the winter of our despair:

1- guilt is a waste of time. Take some time to organize and take stock of what you actually have : if you look at your day objectively, you’ll see what amount of time you have to work with your horses, and what the footing or situation is. Are horses are standing in three feet of mud or snow or frozen trenches? Do you have a barn or indoor arena? Do you have lights ? How much time in your day remains after working or whatever your responsibilities include? You may find yourself looking at a normal winter reality - not much daylight, not much time, bad footing.

2- get creative : what CAN you do? You maybe can’t do canter sets in -2 degrees in the snow, but you can think of what ingredients go INTO canter sets and break it way, way down. What’s required for a canter? Alignment, good flexion, responsiveness, lifting the inside shoulder, diagonal unity - how can you work on those ingredients in the space and time you have? (I have videos on this in my video library for those interested)

3- when consistency is not possible, stick to awareness and high quality. Can you give the time you have - a ten minute session, or whatever the case is - can you keep your thoughts 100% (or as close to this as possible) to the session? Can you be aware of the details and your movements and how you breathe and how aligned the horse is doing the small things you CAN get done? You’ll feel a much greater sense of accomplishment if your mind is here in the session, rather than in some potential situation you can’t create with the following disappointment of not creating it.

4- as tempting as it is to wish for summer, don’t waste this valuable time. Winter has its purpose : rest, reset, reorganize. Don’t wish this period away but instead find its value and turn toward introspection.
Your summer will be better off for it.

18/01/2025

My interview with Temple Grandin is up! Check it out on my YouTube channel.
Link in the comments

17/01/2025

A surprising fact about the world is that often, all you have to do to recieve is ask

Temple Grandin has been an inspiration of mine for many years. I met her for the first time about eight years ago and dreamed of interviewing her then, but insecurity held me back. Recently, I reached out to her for an interview, and to my delight, she said yes. All I had to do was ask.

Talking about her career, being both autistic and a woman in the cattle industry in the 70s was an obstacle. But she discussed discovering doorsways to opportunity, and walking through them. She knew that writing would be a window into the cattle industry, and she gained respect through journalism. She knew how to introduce herself to people who could connect her; and made leaps of chance to find jobs.

Now a well respected influence in the cattle industry, Temple talked about people not taking advantage of resources and opportunities as one of the main sources of lack of success. She mentioned students not reaching out for help though she makes herself well available, not wanting to make phone calls or meet face to face with people who could influence their career, and being too nervous to ask questions or take leaps.

It’s quite amazing how much the world opens up to you when you ask. Of course Temple mentions many setbacks, and many “no’s.” I have also experienced many no’s, but the better you get at asking, and making those leaps, the more opportunities become available.

You don’t get what you don’t ask for, and you can’t know until you try. The worst you can hear is no - and if you don’t have the stomach for a no, you can’t get a yes.

This interview will be available on my YouTube channel within the week. Stay tuned for more !