Category Archives: Training

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...

How often have you gone through the motions of your ride, kind of touching on things you really need to work on, but only settling for a '7 out of...

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...

Most of us hold tension in some part of our bodies—our shoulders, our lower backs, our jaws maybe. It might begin as just a little tweak (say, on Monday) and...

The advantage of a horse’s powerful hindquarters is that one lightning-fast hoof strike can end an argument with a mountain lion. Instantly. The drawback of that fact is that when...

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,...

We all know how many things there are about which we can say, "I wish I'd known then what I know now." For me, one of the most profound, as...

Have you ever dealt with a horse with an unsafe hind end? You know, the type that could wheel around, kick you in the forehead and land you in the...

When I started riding, one of the first bits of information shared by the instructor was the principle of “natural aids.” In subsequent classes at the beginner level, she would...

If you’re like me, you look at your first-pony photos (it’s all about nostalgia these days) and cringe a bit at the position of your leg—no doubt, stuck a little...

When we work horses, especially young ones, we ask them to give us not only their total focus but also a very high degree of physical exertion. As with human...

I never canter randomly. Whether on an event horse or a Morgan, in a jumping saddle or dressage saddle, I constantly work to improve my eye for a distance. I'll...

So, you have been seduced by the misty allure of sporting scenes from Downton Abbey and aspire to follow hounds this fall? Perhaps you’re a literary type, and the romance...

It is so easy to get stuck in a rut when working with horses. We get good at what we know and then so many of us rely on the...

We have all been in a trust exercise at some point in our lives. Your boss gathers your coworkers, or the RA your freshman year of college gathers your fellow undergrads,...

You may have heard the expression “practice makes perfect." You may have also heard this clarified to mean "perfect practice makes perfect." In other words, you have to watch carefully...

Sparkling white lines and broad swathes of color denoting bike lanes and crosswalks—to us, they are provided to ensure our safety, but so often our horses perceive them as terrifying...

There is a lot of recent discussion about the hunter divisions and the many problems surrounding the sport. This is a topic that has been debated since the 1970's when...

As an equine fitness specialist my job is always to ask how we can improve the horse’s body. One of the simplest ways we can do this in daily riding...

In any discipline, reaching a plateau is an inevitable part of the training process. A horse and rider can’t grow in leaps and bounds with every single ride. The plateau...