Every horse should learn this movement very early in his or her career! I teach the turn on the forehand to most of my babies by day 3. That means, I think it’s so important, that the minute I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get bucked off my green … Continue reading

Jumping is actually a lot like dressage: in both, the leg is the key. I always want students to understand that to get the horse stepping under his body is mostly the job of the lower leg/whip. Remember Karl Milkolka who wrote about the circle of aids said the whip … Continue reading

A great way to remind you to get your horse’s hind legs quick, and to keep him round is to use short cavalletti. Place ground poles 3 feet apart and walk through. Then trot. As a website that specializes in generic medications of viagra uk purchase such as silagra 100mg … Continue reading

The speed we ride at is extremely important. Sometimes a very slow speed is exactly what is needed to develop a feel or learn to sit the trot. Sometimes it’s effective at bringing the back up. Riders love to go slow! It feels safe and in control! However, often the … Continue reading

At a recent dressage clinic, the highly regarded presenter/judge/clinician, said, “I didn’t even notice” that the 1st level horse wasn’t coming close to tracking up in its working trot. I marveled at this, since when I went through the “r” program many many years ago, we were told a horse … Continue reading

Learning to ride is like most other endeavors. Everyone follows some basic paths in learning. First we understand it, then we master a portion of it and that part we do easily and automatically. Finally we master so much of it that we do it on autopilot. So, what separates … Continue reading

Riding is like ballet in many ways, but I especially like to relate it to the use of the rider’s hands. Here’s how: In ballet, there are different positions you learn as you progress through the levels. I took so little ballet, I know very little! But one thing I … Continue reading

When your horse is launching herself over the jumps and you feel you are always getting left behind and your instructor keeps yelling at you to fix this and tighten your leg and grab mane and nothing is working, consider changing your horse! Don’t go buy a new one, because … Continue reading

What fun! Turns out we are lucky with the snowy footing this year. So often it freezes and ices up underneath, but this year it’s great for riding and conditioning. It’s an exercise similar to working your horse over cavalletti, but you don’t have to set up or take down, … Continue reading

What does it mean to “go forward” when riding? This is probably the most difficult concept for any student, as demonstrated in lackluster performances due to weak impulsion as we struggle to evolve our skills and develop our horse’s throughness. It requires a great deal of self-motivation for a horse … Continue reading