Don’t ride dysfunction

Your intentions will become your outcome, choose wisely.

Don’t surprise your horse

Training functional movement and functional posture take time. It takes the time it takes for each individual horse. Don’t compare your hor

If your hands are too busy, the horse can’t hear the rest of your aids.

Teaching Takeaways

Our horse can’t advance forward in functional movement, with functional posture, if we are pulling on the reins.

Many times our horses need the opposite of what our brain and body want to do. A good portion of riding is overcoming what our body wants to do for the betterment of our horse.

There is no guidebook because the answer when finding the right path is, “It depends”.

Video Exercise for Masters Level Subscribers

Part of enjoying horses means feeling safe while we are on them. Let me just say that riding a 1/2 ton prey animal is never 💯 safe. But there are some ways we get ourselves into trouble.

However, just like that sponge, the horse learns and retains more when the aids are released vs applying more pressure.

May Master Zoom

Having horses is expensive. Most of us try to save where we can. Investing in good equipment and proper care is important but expensive. I have a few musts for horses leaving my program. It’s to keep the owner and horse on the best track forward in their relationship. Some owners head the advice. Some don’t. The ones that don’t usually end up with far more problems.

Don’t train weakness. I don’t believe any of us intentionally do this but by not riding with intention we inadvertently do it. So what does unintentionally training weakness look like? Here are some phrases you may find yourself using when you unintentionally train weakness.

If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend that you do. You will look at your horse differently.

A day late. Sorry. It’s hard to get life at home back in track after being out of town.

I just spent two fabulous days learning! I’m super exhausted so this will be short. But expect some detailed posts coming up as I recover from surgery.

They talk to us. We need to be more educated listeners.

Work that walk. The spine is very mobile in the walk. We can have a lot of influence in the spine good and bad. If we don’t pay attention to straightness, bend, activity in the walk, the rest of our gaits will suffer. The muscles need to be recruited at the walk to be used effectively in trot and canter.