Schooling

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Miscalculating the effort level of exercises for horses often derails the process of gaining fitness. Whether or not a horse finds any given exercise hard is left to a lot of guesswork. And since many riders form assumptions based on their own perspectives of sport and physical challenges, this guesswork is frequently inaccurate. To gauge this better and to deliver beneficial doses of effort, we need to clarify how and when certain tasks are difficult for the horse.

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The relationship between hurry and worry - My first horse rushed his jumps. He never refused. I reasoned that he was a “bold” jumper — he loved to jump and so did I! On approach to every fence, my horse’s head would elevate, his ears would perk up, and his legs would speed up. I figured the jumper ring, with its speed element, was a more natural fit for my eager jumper than the hunter ring.

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“Show jumping is a sport of millimetres. You can’t wing it.” — Tiffany Foster.

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I work with a large variety of horses and have worked with thousands of horses and riders in the past eight years. This has given me the opportunity to work with some fairly complicated horses. Although more difficult and sometimes seemingly impossible to train, the complicated ones teach us the most and challenge us to work the horse as an individual.

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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.

Horse Personality Profiling

When starting to work with a new horse, I am never sure what I’m faced with. In order to make my training time with that particular horse more efficient, I need to know more about his personality. Several factors influence how teachable a horse might be.

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Without access to multiple riding surfaces, many horses plateau in their fitness or get stuck in a state of physical discomfort. In fact, different footings can play such a big role in any horse’s conditioning that there is an industry adage for it: there are no poor surfaces; only poor use of surfaces.

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Define your goals to develop a training plan - While hill training is widely accepted as important for building strength, its actual benefits rely on answering the question: What is the goal for this individual horse?

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Visiting a Western art museum recently, I was captivated by the Russell and Remington paintings of horses and riders. The harsh realities of cowboy life were portrayed by hard riding and bronco busting. Horses in action — vehicles of transportation and battle — seemed a sharp contrast to horses in our modern Western cultures as companions or partners in sport. Though enchanted by the artistry, I was unsettled by the common denominator in every painting — every rider hauling on the reins; every horse a picture of mouth-gaping tension.

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What to consider when sending your horse out for training - Along with many people, I've sent my horse away for training with varying results as to its impact. It is common practice, especially at certain stages of training such as starting under saddle, to invest in several months of intensive training at a trainer’s facility. Given that our horse is going to be in someone else’s care for a substantial amount of time, in a new environment, with countless changes, a great level of care must be given to our decision.

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