Every Time, Everywhere - Wrong lead! It’s one of the earliest alerts a young rider hears from her coach. One’s heart sinks to hear that same alert from the coach calling over the show ring rail. The novice rider learns the outside leg back and kiss cue to canter but I’ve found that riders are often unsure why they should use this cue. Let’s break it down. We’ll review the phonics of teaching your horse to pick up the correct lead and some hints to help the rider recognize it.

Gail Greenough was born in Edmonton, Alberta in March of 1960. She started enjoying equestrian sports at age 11 and by the time she was 23 she had competed at World Cup show jumping events and had been selected to the Canadian Equestrian Team. Then at the 1986 Championships in Aachen, (then) West Germany, as a relative newcomer, she made her first appearance in an international team championship.

A hot humid day. One rider. One horse. Both are exercising at a moderate level. Who is more likely to overheat? It might surprise you to learn that your horse gets hotter much faster than you and is more susceptible to the negative effects of heat stress. Prof. Michael Lindinger, an animal and exercise physiologist at the University of Guelph, explains: “It only takes 17 minutes of moderate intensity exercise in hot, humid weather to raise a horse’s temperature to dangerous levels. That’s three to ten times faster than in humans. Horses feel the heat much worse than we do.”

Preparation is the key to success in every sport. One of the best ways to prepare to jump your course at a horse show is by walking it first.