All of the great riding masters emphasize the classic riding position. Eyes up, heels down, hands in front of the withers…this is the most effective way to ride and beautiful to watch a talented rider allow his horse to perform with invisible aids.
As in any great design, form follows function. Having your heel [...]
Prepare for the eventing season with a solid show jumping training. Work on gymnastics to improve the quality of the jump and rhythm to the fences.
Save your horses jump for the competition, practice over cavaletti and poles. Develop a better eye to the jump, always look up and ride over the center of [...]
Effective immediately are many new rules for eventing. It is the responsibility of the rider to know the rules of competition, they can be viewed on the web site www.useventing.com Here is a sample of one of the new rules:
TECHNCIAL ELIMINATION = TE
“Technical Elimination” is a term now adopted for use at recognized [...]
Plan on attending the Aiken Event Horse Sale! We hope you will make time on your calendar Wednesday and Thursday February 20-21, 2008 to attend two great days of horse shopping in the United States’ fastest growing horse country, Aiken, South Carolina. Our goal is to bring together event horse sellers and buyers [...]
An inevitable part of riding horses is that we will all hit the ground at some point in our career. Because of this given, it is critical to learn to roll and fall without damaging our arms or legs or other important joints. Injuries are frustrating and can be avoided if you learn [...]
Training properly requires tremendous patience and disicpline as well as a gifted teacher. Many of us often work alone and benefit greatly from the “eyes on the ground”, that is someone who can tell us exactly what is going on that we may not feel or see from the saddle.
It is critical while training [...]
Understanding your horses’s muscle system is key to keeping him sound and happy. Daily training should include warm-up and lots of stretching excercises to supple and loosen your horses muscles and spine for optimal movement and health. Think yoga for horses when starting out your training session. Allow him to stretch his [...]
As a judge, I pay particular attention to the horse’s transitions for an overview of the quality of training accomplished. Recently new tests score specific transitions, lending more weight to the final score of the test. This was done for a very good reason. Riders tend to train movements in each test, [...]
The Ford Ranch, several miles outside of Sante Fe is the setting for the new film “Appaloosa” (2008) starring Ed Harris, Viggo Mortenson and Rene Zellwiger. I have just returned from the set where they were shooting the final scenes before wrapping the film. Final edits will take place in the next months [...]
Congratulations to Lizzie and Berry for a stellar performance at Weston, here is Berry dropping into the water complex, galloping around the cross country course with no time faults.