Not everyone wants a fancy warmblood with European bloodlines. And, quite frankly, not everyone can afford one. Despite the trend toward warmbloods in the show-ring, there are many diehard Thoroughbred fans. The Thoroughbred is an athletic, courageous horse with a...
Teaching a green horse his leads isn’t easy. Before you resort to running around in circles, stop and consider whether you’ve adequately prepared your greenie for this new lesson. Your horse should willingly move forward from your leg. Next,...
All riding horses are taught to respond to pressure from the rider’s leg, whether it’s pressure telling the horse to move over or pressure telling the horse to move faster. Spurs can help enhance and fortify leg pressure cues....
A horse that bolts is scary indeed because it’s like being aboard a runaway train. Though your first impulse is to stop the horse by pulling back with both reins, that’s usually ineffective. A panicked, determined horse is simply...
The half-halt is probably one of the most misunderstood, misused, skipped over and hardest to learn skills in riding. That may sound exaggerated, but even if you think you know how to half-halt, are you really sure you have...
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...
Every horse should back willingly on cue. Not only does this trait come in handy during a variety of all-purpose riding scenarios, but it also demonstrates a certain amount of obedience and submission to the rider’s aids. Yet many...
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...
