Using Your Indoor Arena Voice
Sometimes when I get wound up, excited or nervous my voice will rise and rise until I am nearly shouting and don’t realize it. This was a big problem when I was a child and…
lightness
Are You One of the Discarded?
It’s March and the weather is warming, then cooling, then raining, then snowing. My body is in a fight to survive this weather. I have Fibromyalgia and CFS/ME. I am in 24/7 pain and have…
Disengaging the Hindquarters
If the horse is spooking one or more of these elements is missing, plain and simple. If the horse is incapable of being ridden in this way then it is time to investigate a pain issue – be it muscle, joint, hoof, saddle fitting, etc.
Flexing the Stiff Horse
This question is raised frequently – how to soften and flex a horse who is stiff in the neck. There is a problem with the question however, because it assumes that addressing the horse’s stiff neck will actually correct the stiffness. In reality, flexing the horse’s neck alone only causes a disconnection between the neck and the hind legs. If you do not understand the implications of this disconnection you can create more problems later on – making it difficult or impossible to get true collection from the horse.
Relaxation is a Virtue : Calm, Forward, Straight
When training the horse relaxation must come first. Anything we gain in ‘training’ without the horse being relaxed is compromised. Any measure of tension prevents him from fully committing to your request.
Now, the rub is that most training methods are built upon manipulating and maintaining some measure of tension in the horse.
Half Halt
The Half Halt… is it really as confusing as it seems? Endless articles describing it in vague, half-terms and hidden meanings. I don’t believe so, but for how simple it is it can be a challenge to understand and apply. Practice does make perfect…
Overview of Lightness
Lightness comes in part with the advent of relaxation. Lightness relies on movement, constant movement. Lightness is the result of the mental, emotional and physical aspects between horse and rider reaching harmony.
Two Uses of the Legs
Go into any barn during lessons and you’ll often hear some combination of a few choice phrases describing the use of the leg aids. In the simplicity of these descriptions however, it is easy to be left confused, frustrated or just ineffective.