Update 01.21.2010 — I was written requesting one of the images I displayed below be removed from being displayed on my blog, and have replaced it with a ‘censored’ image in it’s place. The link will direct you to the page where the photo I linked to can be viewed. Please note that I do [...]

I hate the references to “training” a horse. I know it is such an innocent statement, but often what is unsaid is more loud than what is said and I think the same comes true in regards to training a horse.

There are times when I get caught up in routine, in habit, in responding to situations without even being aware of conscious of my own actions or feelings. And what does that bring about in my horse? Nothing but tension and poor communication, even distrust if you will.

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?

Live close to Berlin, Wisconsin? Want to improve your horses health and performance while improving yours as well? Join me at Edgewater Farms on October 10 to treat and pamper your equine partner and yourself through private sessions with 6 Clinicians, among them :

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It never ceases to amaze me what our horses will allow us to do, but then when I step back and consider what we as people are willing to put up with in regards to one another I am less surprised. And still, do I always appreciate how much my horses are willing to do [...]

The masters of Classical Dressage are few and numerous, depending on who you talk with and their take on a master of horsemanship. But there is little denying that the majority of Dressage enthusiasts will claim their stake to one, François de la Gueriniere, as being the foundation of all they practice. Whether I make [...]