A quick reminder: My goals for this weekend’s show were to have rhythm and clarity. I put them in that order because it’s hard to achieve clarity without rhythm and the level of control and calmness that it provides. And I also wanted to not die of heat stroke. So did we achieve our goals? … More Show Recap: Sweet Summertime
We recently had our first outdoor jumping lesson of the year. Actually, it is the only real outdoor jumping we’ve been able to do because every other time we’re planning on riding outside, it rains. #WisconsinLife Smaller heights to acclimate to the jumps that were just set up in the outdoor arena. Nice and easy, … More Video: First Outdoor Jumping of 2016
It’s not dramatic when I say that riding in a clinic with Kirsten Nelsen this weekend was life-changing. Her whole philosophy is called Training for Optimal Balance, which includes both physical and mental balance for horses and riders. She is a follower of Jean Luc Cornille and his philosophy of the Science of Motion. The weekend … More The Life-Changing Kirsten Nelsen Clinic
There’s something about me that you may have picked up on if you read this blog regularly: I’m big into research and planning. It’s why I do things like start thinking over the perfect items to fill a horse show cooler during the month of January, make braid-string budgets and plan goals a year or … More Breed Profile: Foundation Quarter Horse
Autumn is a time of transition, and for me it is no different. Twinkle and I have competed together in our last show as a team, and we’re parting ways. This was always the plan: Ride and compete with Twinkle for a year, then go on to riding Drifter full time. It’s bittersweet all the … More Moving on, with a Twinkle in My Eye
Last week, Twinkle had a visit from the chiropractor, so I rode Drifter in my lesson. Usually we either jump or work on fairly advanced stuff since the lesson is a group of older competitive riders, so I was both excited and slightly nervous about riding Drifter in that environment. But I was mostly looking … More That Time I Jumped Drifter
Title: Basic Training of the Young Horse Author: Reiner Klimke Publisher: JA Allen (1st edition) Date: 1985 Pages: 144 Topic: Training, young horses, dressage Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 My Take: This is a great overview of a method of training a young horse. Given that I am working with a 4-year-old who has … More Book: ‘Basic Training of the Young Horse,’ by Reiner Klimke
I had an unfortunate incident last night during my lesson, while we were doing grid work. Heels down, leg on = beautiful form: Heels not down, leg not on = nearly going over the jump without the horse: These are both screen captures from videos that my patient mother took. For giggles, here are the … More Heels. Put Them Down.
Throwback Thursday this week resurfaces a post from October 9, 2013. You can also read the original here. I recently came across a post called “Top 3 Reasons Why America’s Producing so Many Mediocre Instructors” and was intrigued enough to read it. Partially, my curiosity stemmed from the fact that I don’t believe my instructors are … More Throwback Thursday: Are American Riding Instructors Mediocre?
This morning I read a post from Horse Listening (a great blog, you should definitely check it out!) that is called “Top 10 Ways to Be a Star (Horse Riding) Student.” Normally I find the articles on Horse Listening to be insightful and thought-provoking. However, I completely disagreed with much of this particular article. Obviously I did … More The #1 Way to Be a Good Riding Student
Centered in the Saddle 