Horse Fair 8/29/15
Emma and I won a clinic with advanced eventing clinician Mary Schwentker on August 29th, 2015 at the Fauquier Fair grounds. Come watch the fun demonstrations and see us…
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4 Step Run-In Cleaning
Here’s a fast and easy way to clean your run-in shed with just a rake, wheelbarrow and some elbow grease. This takes me about 10 minutes to do a 12…
Boost Your Confidence
Everyone at some point in their life runs into a task or situation that makes them feel uncomfortable and they lose confidence in themselves. Let’s look at ways we can…
An Old Horse Doesn’t Mean A Quiet Horse
I see it all the time on the Internet, someone is looking for a beginner friendly horse and the first recommendation people give them is “get an older horse.” Well…
How to Properly Mount a Horse
For most equestrians you would think that getting into and out of the saddle was a no-brainer — wrong! I don’t know how many posts I see on Facebook with…
Bad Riding Habits
Honest Horse Riding did a survey of riders to ask them what they felt their worst riding habits were. The results are interesting. Which of these bad habits do you…
How To Fix Rocky Pastures
One of the biggest challenges of our property is that it slopes downhill the entire way. Therefore when we cleared it and before it had been seeded we had several…
Beginner Rider Arena Exercises
Here are some of the exercises I use with beginner riders. They start off easy with walk and halt transitions then add steering into the mix. When they’re ready to…
Double Standards Weigh In
So I know this is a sensitive subject but it’s an important one too. I’m not here today to debate rider weight limits or the 20% – 30% rule or even…
8 Items to Improve Winter Chores
We all know winter is a drag when it comes to doing chores and tending to animals so I thought I’d put this list together of some of items I…
Horse Training Scale
Rhythm Maintaining a steady, rhythmic pace. Suppleness Stretching through the neck, back and down into the bit. Contact Accepting contact of the bit, development of self carriage. Impulse The amount…
To Blanket or Not To Blanket?
While some people are not a fan of blanketing horses since they don’t wear blankets in the wild, those of us who show our horses often feel differently about it….
Types of Leg Aids
I generally split the use of your legs aids into five different categories. There are three different positions for your leg: at the girth, slightly in front of the girth,…
Overcoming Your Fears
Enjoy this three part series of videos on how to identify your fears, determine your comfort zone and finally make a plan to address your fears.
Importance of Riding Position
How you sit on a horse is the foundation of riding and plays an important role in how well you can ride a horse. Having a proper, balanced seat is…
5 Lower Leg Exercises
Do you have a tendency to fall forwards onto your horse’s neck? Maybe you have the opposite problem and you feel like you can’t get your butt out of your…
Buying vs Leasing A Horse
As a parent of a horse-crazed child who wants to take the next step in their child’s riding experience the big question is always lease or buy? What are the…