Horses, like people, are “handed.” They often bend easily in one direction, but can struggle to bend in the other. This can make showing your horse to its best advantage a challenge, since you’ll be fighting with their crookedness the entire time. What are some of the symptoms you’ll notice in a one sided horse?… Continue reading Fixing the One-Sided Horse
Category: Training
Running Martingales, Draw Reins and German Martingales – A Physics Lesson
These types of devices are quite commonly used throughout many disciplines, and I believe it’s very important to understand how they work and why you would want to choose one over the other (or maybe none at all). Running Martingales A running martingale is very popular as a training tool and can be used with… Continue reading Running Martingales, Draw Reins and German Martingales – A Physics Lesson
What to Do in the Off Season
The end of show season is coming up fast; it’s hard to believe my last show is only two weeks away! The beautiful fall weather is calling to me more and more, and I find myself looking forward to getting a break from the routine of “show” training. My horse will get his shoes pulled… Continue reading What to Do in the Off Season
Why Do We Ear Up Horses?
I had my last practice ride before our show last night, and enlisted the help of my non-horsie husband to come ear Loki up. He’s never done it before (and spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to crack the whip while I was grooming him). So after we were done and in… Continue reading Why Do We Ear Up Horses?
Improving the Hind End
A strong hind end is necessary for a good performing horse in any discipline, but especially so in Saddle Seat. We like to see a horse with “good hocks,” which refers to the horse’s ability to use his hind end to its fullest range of motion height-wise. The ideal hind end will have high, snapping… Continue reading Improving the Hind End