What is the most important aspect to successfully load horses into trailers ..read more

Interesting comparison of two not so similar movements ..read more

A few thoughts about common challenges with teaching flying changes ..read more

Riding with two hands often creates a lot of problems for riders. Let's compare holding reins with one and two hands ..read more

Romulus now is almost 3 years old. He is just over 170 cm towering over me with his big withers and long neck. He has been absolute delight to work with and now is time to mount him and initiate riding. I started preparing him for that pretty much since he came to me two and a half years ago as a weanling. All my work was tailored to the fact that I am raising a future riding horse. - He lunges really well - walk, trot, canter, without side-reins and with them. Also, I drive him to the field and lunge him there. - His work in hand progressed to leg-yields, shoulder-in, turns on the forehand ..read more

History In June of 2022 Santo started showing signs of shortness of stride in left hind. The vet's investigation showed positive response in upper joints flexion but with some swelling and heat present it was pointing to the left stifle. After x-rays and ultrasound the vet decided to inject the joint with a standard cocktail of steroids + HA. She said after 3 days of rest continue training as usual. We showed in July and August riding Intermediare II, with a highlight score of 60% at EC Gold Level. I did feel that collected work was hard for him but thought it is very high level and it is expe ..read more

Nobody argues that human children and adults don't know everything, must learn and it is important to teach effectively. Surprisingly, same ideas are not necessarily applied to horse training which leads to false concepts, instant "trainer celebrities", confusion and unhappy horses. Studying the LHTL course by Barbara Oakley and Terrence Sejnowski (Coursera) I was amazed how the simple and effective techniques are relevant to not only humans but horses too. People often afraid to train their horses because they think that you must posses some magical qualities and often watching demonstration ..read more

It has been almost 2 years since Romulus became a part of my family. He has grown into a tall and handsome youngster, 165 cm to be exact! :) With his long neck I am very happy I taught him to drop the head down, otherwise, he can be out of reach. So far his life has been simple. Gradually he has been habituated to coming into barn, standing tied, being groomed, feet picked and trimmed, leading, saddled, trailering, lunging, poles, bridling, double-lunging, driving and work in hand. And the introduction followed the list described. All of this has been taught to him over those almost two years ..read more

In the first part we discussed necessary qualities of a rider to handle spooks/disobediences. In this part we will talk about a few things it is important to teach to your horse in order to make it easier to handle spooks, bolts, etc. A few common sense rules are: - The better your horse is trained the easier it is to handle spooks and unruly behavior. The better and more reliable your horse listens to your aids the better chance he will do it in a difficult moment. - The more you gradually expose your horse to unusual, frightening things the better he will be and will spook less. So, do not t ..read more

Statistical analysis says that riding a horse is 20 times more dangerous then riding a motorcycle! I was shocked to hear that first time. I am sure many riders would agree. However, if you think about it, it makes sense - a motorcycle does not have a mind and will of it's own. And a horse has. Plus, the horse is a pray animal with strong survival instincts, fast reactions and powerful movements. It is easy to ride a horse in walk when he is slow, calm and steady. It gets harder in trot and even harder in canter even though the horse can still be rather slow, calm and steady. However, when the ..read more