Last night I decided to start Annie’s straightness training (visit Academic Art of Riding for more info!) The first thing we worked on was lateral bending on the ground. I walked Annie in a circle and tried to get her to bend around the circle. I used the whip to try to push her shoulder [...]

After working with Annie the other day over the barrel I did (and am still doing) a lot of thinking. That day we also worked on some ground work where I walked kind of into her on a diagonal line and asked her to walk sideways/half pass with me. I also tried this with Brady, [...]

The start of our session was a little worry-some for me, as I put him in the cross ties to brush him down and he was rather anxious and fussy. He is still getting used to cross ties, so I try to put him in them (even if only for a few minutes) before and [...]

This past week I had ridden Annie twice, both in the evening after dark, so we were in the indoor arena. She was much more fussy the second time I rode her, but I believe it was because she gets bored/sour in the arena rather quickly. After 2 rides in the indoor, I don’t like [...]

Between the summer heat and various things at the old barn (resulting in my lack of motivation) Annie hasn’t been ridden in at least 2 months… Maybe 3? I don’t remember… but not anymore! I went to the barn last night and rode her. I’ve done a bit of ground work with her at the [...]

At the new barn we’ve walked Brady around a bit, and decided after being at the new barn for about 2 weeks it was time for some work. Our total session didn’t last for more than 30 – 40 minutes (more if you include grooming and tacking up.) Brady was all dressed up for this [...]

When riding a horse, having rhythm can be helpful when learning how to ride, training horses and training riders. Before I even thought about riding with rhythm, my trainer at the time watched me trot a horse around, and told me my hands were “bouncing” – I had never thought about my hands before really. [...]

Annie has always had a habit of pawing at the ground when she’s bored or anxious… I’ve never really thought about a way to “fix” it really… In the past I just say “Hey” in a stern voice or smack her or something along those lines, but these things haven’t resulted in anything beneficial, Annie [...]