Have I ever ridden in a bitless bridle? Yes. Have I ever ridden bridle-less? Yes. Do I recommend or do either regularly… no. And here’s why.

It is “easy” to talk about Rollkur from a distant point of view – perhaps not with a clear-cut opinion, but certainly a disjointed and ‘objective’ one. What isn’t easy is to address Rollkur when you’ve seen the effect it has; not on the horses who are succeeding and making money for their international-celebrity riders [...]

As a once-upon-a-time-ago student of Competitive Dressage, this term is very familiar. As a student of Classical Dressage this term is foreign. But why? Do you know what “on the bit” means? Can you put it into words? What does being “on the bit” do for you and your horse? What does it lead to?

What do you do with a horse who seems to be snoozing, relaxing, even napping… and then suddenly spooks!? Not only is it dangerous, but it catches us all the more off guard than spooking from an otherwise hyped up or highly sensitive horse.

I love days like today, that bring tears to my eyes and bring up such a well of emotion, excitement and curiosity! I managed to escape what was looking to be monotonous office work this afternoon (which reminds me I still have to do taxes!..), in order to enjoy the company of my horses.

You guessed it, Monday has rolled around and marks another ‘the day after AIR Radio Channel’s Online Radio Broadcast!’ If you happened to miss the live show, never fear! You can listen to this Sunday’s show, and all our previous shows, online still.

This topic not only keeps showing up in front of me, but is something I feel could use the help of all possible until it has been fully recognized and eradicated. Besides, I found that there is a petition to impose a 2-finger noseband looseness rule to the FEI, which would prevent riders from crank-noseband [...]

I’ve talked about the use of pressure when working with horses before, written about it on here as well… which is exactly why I am excited to say that it will once again be the topic of conversation during my next online radio broadcast this Sunday!

Achievements and success seem to be the expectation of every person living today, young and old. The old we ask what they have achieved in their lifetime, and the young we ask what they will achieve in their lifetime. All the people in between we press for information; in what way are they achieving their [...]

Pressure is what we experience every day of our lives, either self-imposed or given to us by those around us and in our lives. For the horse it is a little simpler, from our perspective anyhow, the horse does not take ‘home’ pressure from the rider or trainer when the session is over. They don’t [...]

Part I; Introduction, Half Halt & Reverse Half Halt I should think that the best place to begin with describing the aids we use to influence the horse, is to first find the exact meaning of aid. By Definition: