I had a wonderful time on Inscape Quest Podcast: Horsepower with Heart “Ep.8: Racing Hearts: Exploring Horse Racing”, alongside NBC commentator, author, and former top jockey, Donna Brothers, and our host, Trudi Howley. On this episode of the podcast, we discuss women’s involvement in the sport of thoroughbred horse racing, equine welfare issues within the sport, social media impacts, and more…
If you’re questioning the timing of when to start your young horse, read on! Working with young horses can be among the most wonderful and enriching experiences in a horseman’s career. It’s not only a joyful time (healthy young horses are innocent, playful and fun-loving), but it’s also an important time in terms of physical and mental development. Working with young horses will give you an opportunity to experience the earliest days of the athletic development process, and a firm…
Canter Aids: Driving Forward or Striking-off? It is possible to achieve an organic canter strike off (left-lead exampled below) with either the weight to the inside OR the outside hip. To learn more about the seat aids, see my two-part article, Fundamentals: On the Seat. The following explanation outlines what happens in each scenario: Method A – Imbalance and Drive Forward Our first example is through the weight to the inside hip. This is a strike off that achieves its aim…
Obedience vs Partnership Obedience is required of our horses…in our dressage tests, our jumping classes, and our daily routine whether that routine is to safely cross a street, or simply lifting a hoof to be picked. We obtain it by rote; through repetition and a series of varying degrees of praise or correction, depending on the task at hand. In fact, obedience is a wonderful thing, and when we train for obedience in conjunction with an agenda that is geared…
THE AVERAGE HORSE Background: Over the years, I’ve looked at a lot of horses (and dogs, cats, birds…the list is endless, yes?) from kill-lots, rescues, or being given away for free, and one thing is clear: I’ve seen a lot of average horses that I would be glad to train, because even though they don’t look like something special right now (they’re run down, or they’re too skinny, or they’ve just simply been out of work for years and have…
