Category Archives: 5 Minute Clinic

Much has been written recently on the importance of riding without stirrups, and of sitting the trot. In order to achieve a perfectly balanced seat from which to use the...

Many say SmartPhones have no place in a riding lesson. This exercise relies on one. The "Hey Siri" drill, from The EquiVault, is a group lesson that is challenging, educational,...

The Super S Line looks harder than it rides. This EquiVault exercise is designed to teach the horse and rider to look for the fence, emphasizing balance through the turns...

Establishing control of the horse after a fence is one of the biggest challenges in show jumping. The TnT (Turnbacks 'n Transitions) exercise from The Equivault works on rideability after...

Sometimes finding the distance to a jump or seeing your spot on course is just downright frustrating. The ability flickers in and out like lights in a thunderstorm, occasionally leaving...

Round 1 of the 20202 ASPCA Maclay Final tested control. “You had some questions that kept being repeated—long to short, long to short—really showing that the kids had focus and...

My horse has been rehabbing from an injury for almost six months. For the first three of those months, all I did was walk with him. Now I am up...

Show jumping is a sport of precision, intensity, dedication, and teamwork. To have sustained success, riders and trainers need to be able to manage competition schedules, choose training exercises, oversee...

What a difference a few weeks makes. At the beginning of April, people were going to the grocery store without masks, horse show managers were cautiously optimistic about getting May...

They say the walk is the easiest gait to ruin, but that doesn’t mean we should avoid schooling it altogether! It can’t only be used for rest breaks for the...

Gymnastic exercises are used extensively at Millar Brooke Farm to prepare horses for the competition ring—from young prospects up to Olympic caliber horses. In this article, Jonathon Millar shares some...

British dressage instructor Sally Amsterdamer specializes in flat training show jumpers. Judging by her client roster she’s rather good at her job. Irish team members Andrew Bournes and Richie Moloney,...

“When you have elastic arms and an independent seat—you support your upper body from your security in the tack and balance in the stirrups, not the neck—you can do anything...

Over the course of his impressive career, Bernie Traurig is perhaps most renown for having achieved in four equestrian sports what most riders hope to realize in one. He’s been short-listed...

We’ve all done it. You’re five strides away from the jump and don’t see a good distance, panic sets in and you CIRCLE! Do it too often and this frustrating...

The vertical-to-vertical combination—it sounds like a simple exercise. But, as a training tool, it is actually quite complicated, says US team veteran and EquestrianCoach.com founder, Bernie Traurig. “It’s the study of...

Automatic flying changes. It sounds like a desirable skill in a horse. But is it in practice? USET veteran and EquestrianCoach.com founder Bernie Traurig says a horse on autopilot is...

“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...

Last week, T.J. O'Mara captured his second major equitation title in as many weeks weeks. (He's the 2016 Platinum Performance/USEF Show Jumping Talent Search Finals—East and 2016 Pessoa/US Hunter Seat Medal Final champion). Consider him your equitation...

It’s equitation finals season! Time to drop the stirrups and pick up a few position tips from the pros—so we can all learn to ride with the precision of Victoria Colvin,...