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In the Company of Elephants
The elephants lumber toward us up the hill. They come ever so slowly, swinging their heads from side to side, their ears flapping occasionally at flies. Behind them, their mahouts issue short, sharp...
View ArticleWatch All the Action at the 2016 Washington International Horse Show—LIVE!
This week, more than 500 of the top national and international horses and riders in the world are coming together in Washington, D.C. for the 58th annual Washington International Horse Show (WIHS)....
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Develop Your Horse’s Eye for Distances with Amy Millar
Anyone who has been fortunate enough to get a glimpse at the inner workings of Millar Brooke Farm knows that the devil is in the details. But here’s a little known fact about Canada’s first family of...
View ArticleFocus on Hip Angle to Perfect the Half Seat with Bernie Traurig
“Jumping courses today in different disciplines requires different seats at different moments in time on course. Sometimes we are up out of the saddle, sometimes up more, sometimes sinking into the...
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Train Your Mind to Maximize Your Riding Performance
Can changing the way you think change the way you ride? In a word, YES. When you train mentally, you are engaging the newest part of your brain, the frontal cortex. This part is responsible for higher...
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Don’t Let Anxiety Hijack Your Ride
We all blame “habits” for our behavior, both good and bad. And most of us understand that the more we do a certain behavior or think a particular thought, the more we “groove” that thought or behavior...
View ArticleElisa Wallace Has a Ph.D. in OTTB
Elisa Wallace knows a good horse when she sees one. Problem is, she’s capable of bringing out the good in every horse she encounters. So it was no surprise to find Wallace competing in the Retired...
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What Is Your Mistake Formula?
Here is a common misconception about mistakes: they are nasty. Not true. What would you miss without them? How about learning, growth, and risk experience. If your mistake formula is mistakes =...
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Q&A: Looking Between the Ears With Kerry Thomas
Each year, the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale becomes the epicenter of the global thoroughbred industry. Pedigree analysts pore over thousands of pages as conformation experts dutifully examine...
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Hay is for Horses, But Which Types Are Best?
Grass or Alfalfa? Timothy or Orchard? Grain hays? Is Bermuda safe? It might seem simple enough, but there is plenty of room for confusion in selecting a hay. Legume hays, which include Alfalfa, Clover...
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Meet Equisense Care: The Lifesaving Sweater Vest for Your Horse
It doesn’t take an expert to know that horses are fragile creatures. No matter how much time you spend with them or how many preventative measures you take, horses can still become stressed. They can...
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When Your Fear Is More Than a “Confidence Issue”
It’s normal to get butterflies before a jump lesson, or feel tingly and nervous setting out on the cross country course. It’s even normal to be a bit anxious in front of a new clinician. It’s not...
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Rethinking Repetition: Is There a Better Way to Train Your Horse?
When aren’t we seeking a breakthrough? That “aha!” moment when the lesson clicks and we and/or our horses not only get it but can do it (whatever “it” might be—square halt, lead change, rollback,...
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Why Your Deworming Strategy Probably Isn’t Doing Any Good
OK, I gotta tell you a story. It’s a story that people have forgotten. Long before there were dewormers, horses and internal parasites (worms) got along pretty well. Horses had worms—worms had horses....
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11 Sports Therapist Approved Tips for Maximizing Your Riding Potential
In our recent post, “When Your Fear Is More Than a ‘Confidence Issue’” Laura Strassman examines her personal struggle with fear and anxiety while riding and the strategies that she’s found personally...
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Why Are You Yelling?! A Better Way to Talk to Your Horse
Most of us recognize that horses communicate with each other via body language, but did you know that you can learn his “words” and “phrases” and use them with horses with exciting results? Sharon...
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8 Myths You Might Still Believe About Visualization
Visualization is a tool that is often recommended to riders in order to improve their performance. Let’s make sure you’re doing it correctly, shall we? 1. Focus on effectiveness by generating the...
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Keeping Your Performance Horse Sound
I’ve spent a lot of time around a lot of performance horses over the years. Many of them have been English sport horses—show hunters, show jumpers, and dressage horses—but barrel racing horses and...
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Dressage Is Not Brain Surgery
That’s right. As FEI/USEF dressage judge Janet Foy says in her book Dressage for the Not-So-Perfect Horse, “No one will die if you make a mistake. No one has had their life ruined over an incorrect...
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Surprise! Auto Insurance (Probably) Doesn’t Cover Your Horse During Transport
Say you’re a passenger in a car and that car gets into an accident. Maybe it slipped on black ice and collided with another vehicle. Or the driver fell asleep listening to Coldplay in the wee morning...
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