Gotta Love the Kids

Gave a lesson to a ten year old who was feeling overwhelmed with school and wanted to have an easy day, and just play and ride. I was letting her show her grandma how she can jump around the field over some simple fences and she got left behind and popped off.

Me: "Hey, you had a great ride today, minus your stunt riding. Sorry you fell off. Today was supposed to be a fun day with no pressure."

Kid : (Grinning from ear to ear) "Who said falling off isn't fun?"

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A New Year...2018

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You Can't Have Self Carriage Without Self Carriage

I always try to remember that we cannot expect our horses to have "self carriage" if we do not have "self carriage". Many times we, as riders tend to use our horse for support, from the big things of leaning on the neck, or slouching in the saddle to the little things like resting our hands on the withers while we ride. I always tell my students, if the horse can carry you, the least you can do is hold your hands up and carry yourself. In asking for collection in Dressage, we ask our horses for "self carriage" and it is only in holding our frame upwards in our own "self carriage" that the horse can truly rise to our expectations. In jumping, we ask the horse to carry our body over fences and we can help our horse by holding our own "self carriage" on the approach, take off and flight, and landing of the fence. By keeping ourselves in balance with the horse, and not throwing our weight forward, falling on the neck, or pulling on ...

Memoirs of a Riding Instructor

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