Sitting trot is the most difficult gait for most horseback riders. Sitting trot takes time, practice, a forgiving horse, and, perhaps most importantly, an ability to relax. Here are a few tips to help you perform the sitting trot: Don’t force your heels down in sitting trot, but make your ankles as loose and…
Although a horse’s bones and joints aren’t mature enough to carry a rider until 2 to 3 years old, there are many important skills that can be taught to a horse before 2 years old. If you are raising a young horse to be your next trail, hobby, or show partner, it can be a…
When people use the word saddle sores they might mean two different things: either sores that develop on riders due to sensitive skin being irritated during riding or sores that develop on a horses body underneath the saddle. This article will deal with this issue when it comes to riders, for information on dealing with…
The diagram below provides an important tip for equitation classes that many beginners learn the hard way – by performing the pattern incorrectly in the show ring. As this diagram shows, to correctly execute a figure 8 in an equitation class at a horse show, it is important to not ride the pattern in…
Generally, horses shed their winter coats around the same time that temperatures start to warm and early spring plants begin growing. But horses might not always shed on time. In this article, we’ll talk about a few reasons that a horses coat might not be shedding on time or as quickly as other horses.…
Sometimes the technical terms and jargon used by horse owners and horseback riders can be confusing to beginners and those outside of the “horse world”. Recently, we’ve been exploring some of these concepts through a blog, and today we are going to talk about what it means to say a horse is “heavy on the…
What is Neck Reining? There are many ways to cue your horse when riding. One of the most popular ways, unique to the Western style of riding developed in the United States, is called neck reining. Neck reining is in some ways the “opposite” of what is called direct rein riding. In direct-rein riding,…
After competing in dressage for years, one statement I’ve heard occasionally- especially in the midwest- is that dressage is unnatural for horses. Proponents of this view feel that the way in which horses are “forced” to move during a dressage competition are not natural, and that such movements would never be performed by a…
The equestrian world has a countless amount of its own specific language, one of the most common confusing statements is “tacking up” and “untacking”. This phrase, common jargon of horse people and used across essentially all disciplines of riding, can be especially confusing. People who work around horses often have a bad habit of using…
Although you can easily spend thousands of dollars on authentic renaissance costume tack for you and your horse, it’s easy to make your own horse costume by upcycling tack you already have and making a few extra costume pieces using easy to find materials and basic sewing supplies. In this article, I’ll be walking…
