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Let’s Dance! This Arena Exercise for Horses Rocks
When the circles seem to never (ever…ever) end and your horse starts spooking at his own pile of manure just for something different to do, it’s time to liven up your schooling sessions. There are many ways to make training more engaging, including imaginative uses of lateral work, props like ground poles and cones, and […]
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Sit on Your Hands to Ride Better
We all want to communicate with our horses in ways they can understand. When riding, that communication is dependent on our aids. What we might not realize is just knowing what the aids are and in what order to apply them isn’t enough to “speak” clearly to your horse. It is important sit centered, straight, […]
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Half-Halts Everyone Can Understand (No, Really)
No one can give us the skinny on how to do an honest-to-goodness half-halt like motivational speaker and dressage rider Jane Savoie. She gets that this integral part of, well, basically EVERY riding activity, can be difficult to understand and tough to put into practice in a way that it actually (really and truly) works. […]
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9 Tips for Better Flexion and Bend from Uta Gräf
German Grand Prix dressage rider and trainer Uta Gräf has made a name for herself in international dressage circles, not only for her cheerful nature and wild hair, but also for her beautifully ridden, content, satisfied horses. Now Gräf lets us in on all her training secrets in her new book UTA GRÄF’S EFFORTLESS DRESSAGE […]
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Hey Riders! It’s Time to Tame Your Lizard Brain!
Don’t we all like to feel like we’re in control of our actions and reactions? Especially when it comes to working with and riding horses—it is in our best interests (in terms of living to see another day, that is) to maintain some semblance of calm, cool, rational control in stance and movement, and to […]
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Video: Fold a Horse Blanket Like a Pro in 30 Seconds
Here’s a quick tip to take you into your weekend when you’ll be puttering around the barn and hanging out with your horses: “A blanket should always be folded neatly and hung up,” say pro grooms Cat Hill and Emma Ford in their bestselling book WORLD-CLASS GROOMING FOR HORSES. “Blankets chucked over the wall or […]
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5 Tips to Train Your Horse Turn-on-the-Haunches
In the book COWBOY DRESSAGE, readers not only discover the story of how and why this new discipline has secured such an avid and expanding fanbase, they also learn the movements recommended by Cowboy Dressage founder Eitan Beth-Halachmy as beneficial to the development of horse-and-rider partnership. Here are his tips for adding the turn-on-the-haunches to […]