Memoirs of a Riding Instructor

I don't know about a spoonful of sugar, but I do know that Peppermints are great for getting the medicine to go down. Have you ever tried to get a horse to eat any medications in their feed, or medicine into an apple, carrot, molasses, applesauce, peanut butter, and any other palatable food stuff your horse would normally love to eat, but find your horse now spitting out this expensive medicine and deciding he doesn't like your treat today. Well I may have a solution for you. Most horses like the taste of peppermint. Probably more than like the taste of apples..hard to believe I know. I give my horses peppermint candies sometimes as a treat. I have given them everything from the red and white Starlight mints, to old fashioned peppermint sticks, to dinner mints, and even candy canes. Yes, I am aware they have a lot of sugar in them, but I think the benefit outweighs the risk. Here is why: Most medicines have a bitter taste to them so putting them in sweet foods like c...

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 ...

I have to laugh.... Every vacation I go on with my Mother, we end up going on a trail ride. I haven't quite figured out why she is so insistent that we go on these trail rides because she doesn't really ride when we are home, but every trip she insists that we rent horses and go on a trail ride. Now don't get me wrong, those trail rides are great and you get to see a lot of great scenery that you might not get to see any other way, but I ride almost everyday. So to me a vacation usually does not include riding. My mom and I were on a vacation in Arizona, having a great time and she wanted to go on a trail ride. So off we go to the trail ride stables. At this point I'm thinking about how I am usually riding with the reins over the horn, with both hands on the camera, turning backwards to get lots of pictures of my mom on her trail ride. Those trail horses know there job very well and steering is really not always necessary. I am also trying to remind myself how m...

I have been asked what my New Year's Resolution would be for 2015 and I have decided that I want something bigger than a New Year's Resolution. Something that is not going to be lost, broken or forgotten easily and dismissed as another broken resolution. I want a statement of  transformation that inspires me and those around me. So I have decided that I would like to create the possibility of being "Brilliant!" I would like to be "brilliant" by shining inside and out with joy, happiness, courage, confidence, love and inspire others to "be brilliant". This takes commitment. Everyday I must ask myself what would brilliant look like? What would a person who is being brilliant do in this situation. How can I inspire the people I am going to interact with today? How can I make them feel enlightened and inspired? I not only want to inspire my students to be brilliant, but inspire them to inspire their horses. I want them to ride with the vision o...

I   heard somewhere that during your lifetime you may effect as many as 800,000 people. That means that you, intentionally or unintentionally, impact the 800,000 people you come in contact with throughout your life. Those people will then go on and effect 800,000 people, and they will effect 800,000 people, and so on, and so on. Kind of scary thinking, huh? So that got me thinking... "How have I been making my impact?"   and more importantly  "How would  I like to effect those 800,000 people?' I have no idea how many people I have already touched, for better or for worse. I have images of childhood friendships, family, business relationships, students, and I'm sure there are quite of few that I didn't even know, or that I was effecting them at all.  Perhaps simply a spectator at a horse show that was touched by something I did or didn't do.  I think back to my earlier post regarding Dara Torres. I have never met her. I never even knew she exist...

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?"

I must give a shout out to Adeptus Nutrition and Dr. Colleen Wilson. I am proud to have them as a sponsor for Tribal King but Adeptus is such a fabulous product line, you all should be using it! Dr. Colleen has a PhD in Equine Nutrition. She has been an advocate for true horse nutrition for many years and started her own company, Adeptus Nutrition , after feeling that most companies use sub standard products and do not truly understand the true needs of horses. Her products are made from human grade ingredients in a top quality facility. She refuses to cut corners when it comes to quality. I met Dr. Colleen when we had Iron Horse Saddlery. I was so impressed with her knowledge and ability to educate us in the value of her products and the myths and misunderstandings of many supplements that are on the market. We carried her products in our store and I was our first customer. Since then I have been blown away by the results that I have seen. Having a store, we would get sample...