One of the biggest questions concerning young performance horses is when to start their serious training. Being too hasty can risk both physical injury and behavioral problems. Horses mature at various rates, and their readiness to work needs to...
If you’ve competed much, you’ve surely seen the evergreen horse. At the start of each show season the same horse is trotted out at the same circuit of shows and pretty much produces the same sort of mediocre results....
If you've gone to light, active aids with your legs (squeeze-release, squeeze-release) and you're still not getting your 35-degree angle, you can transfer part of the responsibility for going sideways out of your right leg and into your right...
One minute you’re riding along and everything is fine, and the next thing you know, your horse erupts into a bucking fit. Sound familiar? Problem behaviors under saddle are fairly common, but that doesn’t mean you should just accept...
Setting up some ground pole exercises in your arena or schooling field is a great way to make flatwork more interesting to the older horse, and it’s a stress-free method of introducing a green bean to jumping. Walking, trotting...
Breathing in the new leather fragrance in the tack shop, facing a wall of tall English boots, all gleaming softly, waiting to be tried on, you wonder: Will I be Cinderella, or an ugly stepsister when I take up...
You’re so excited to be at the show! The in-gate swings open, you nudge your horse into the arena and then… you feel like you’re going to pass out. That corndog you ate at the concession stand is about...
Attention to detail is critical when you’re competing in showmanship. Follow these tips for maneuvering the patterns during a class.
Memorize the pattern. Before your class, close your eyes and visualize you and your horse performing the pattern confidently...
When Hannah Burnett and her horse, Keep the Faith, contest the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, they won’t be accompanied by the grooms and expensive equipment most competitors bring to this rarified, world-class competition.
But if hard work, dedication, and commitment...
Trainer and judge Julie Winkel believes that a more perfect position makes a more effective rider. In line with that philosophy, she explains the four different seats she teaches her riders in order to be effective.
The first is the...
