Skyhills Stables

02/14/2023

One misunderstanding about riding circles and curves is this idea that the horse has to ‘give’ to the inside bend.

This is when we see so many riders, overbending the horse to the extreme: pulling to achieve the bend, all the while pushing too hard with the inside leg.

This is wrong thinking, even though we see it a lot.

The horse bends in relaxation and lengthening the outside muscles, not by contracting the inside of his body. Until we understand this key concept, our horses will never achieve softness through their turns. Worse, when we are pulling on the inside to get the turn or bend, we will never encourage the horse to step more deeply underneath his body with his inside hind leg.

When we pull on the inside rein to get a bend, we can no longer use our outside rein effectively. We then see the common scenario of a rider pulling on the horse with both reins, all the while trying to drive him forward with ‘more leg’.

This concept of stretching through the outside is the reason why, once the horse has progressed in his schooling, the early ‘soft’ or hollow side will become the one to which his work is less straight, less correct. His habitual bend will mean that it is harder to ride him onto the outside rein without him drifting away from our inside leg. His newfound straightness will mean that he can work into the old ‘stiff’ side with just the right amount of energy into the outside rein.

We can recognize a horse with correct bend when we see a giving with the inside rein. By surrendering this rein, ever so slightly, the horse automatically relies on the outside rein for support. When we can rethink a muddy conundrum—in this case, bend and how to go about it—the answer, so often, comes clear to us.

When it comes to bending, are we allowing, or are we making? There’s a difference.

📷 Cattle Cait.

07/06/2022

"It takes ten years learning how to sit on a horse without getting in his way. It takes another ten years learning how to influence the horse, and then a further ten years learning how to influence him without getting in his way!" ~ Unknown

— No wonder it takes so long to learn to ride. Maybe in another 10 years I'll start getting it figured out ‼️

06/04/2022

Everything comes with a price

A sensitive horse is going to be sensitive to both light aids AND your accidental aids and mistakes

A quiet school horse is going to give you room to fumble with your hands and legs, and they are also likely to ignore them when you mean to use them.

It isn’t fair to want the reward without the price. It isn’t fair to take from a horse without giving- and it all comes down to working on ourselves: our expectations, riding abilities, mindset, and awareness. You can’t have a perfectly performing horse without putting in your own work. A horse is not a computer or a robot- they rise to, or fall to, the level of the horseman.

Photo by Melinda Yelvington

05/04/2022

Use dressage for your horse, not your horse for dressage.

There is no such thing as a too slow, too fast, too stiff moving horse. You just don't know how to balance him (yet).

03/05/2022

"I need a new horse, this one I have isn’t a good fit (barn sour, lazy, aggressive, too high strung, too slow.

Many of us working in good circles of horsemanship know those horsemen and women that can take most any horse (we know there are occasional exceptions), overcome the issues people claimed they had and have them working with them like a charm in just a little while. . .

This isn't horse whisperer (magic) stuff. It is just practical experience and knowledge.

Most of us can remember seeing the horse back in the hands of those with less skill, and the issues coming back. That is a people problem. It isn’t the horse’s problem.

Owner, “I can’t get my horse to do this.” Quality trainer gets on and in 14 minutes, horse does “this” without hesitation. Sometimes they find a source of pain or they sort out the issue on the horse’s level. . .but they look for an answer because a good horse person knows most of the time. . . there is an answer.

If you are really looking for an answer to a problem, you don’t throw away your paper with the question on it, having learned nothing, to look for a whole new sheet, new problem. You solve the first problem.

The horse is literally almost NEVER the brain and body at fault.

You Are. We are. A Person was/is.

We create the issues. We grow the issues. We blame the horse. We pass him down the line to someone else equally green and unwilling to learn. We doom the horse.

Eventually, the horse, treated unfairly and unwilling to believe he will ever get a fair deal, ends up in on a truck headed to Mexico, and the person who started out failing that horse (now doomed) is on their 12th horse, looking for the “One” who will mesh. The person keeps ruining horses. The horses keep meeting bad ends or suffering a lot before someone comes to their aid.

The truth is, outside of competition needs or rider / horse handicaps, most any horse, if you are committed to learning, have a good support base and are working with a knowledgeable trainer for the long haul, can work for you for a long time, and often, that means forever.

We talk about the unwanted horse issue, the overpopulation issue, but rarely do we stop to admit the truth is. . .we actually have more of a rider issue, a horseman issue.

Horses are returned, labeled, sold, traded and dumped over and over, when almost every single time, a person could have recognized their own lack of skill was the issue and opted to learn instead of continually seeking out another, then another, then another. . .

I’ve been to the sale barns for almost 30 years. I’ve known horse traders, dealers, casual owners, breeders, competitors, trainers and everything beyond – before – between.

The issue 30 years ago, the issue now (though it is growing larger). . .is we are churning out horses that don’t receive an education, and even when they do, there is a well intended person out there to undo it, sure they were “born with enough skill” to care for and ride. . .

Let’s be clear: No one is born with enough innate ability to ever stop learning. You’re possibly born with interest, natural softness, patience and balance. . .sure. . .that isn’t enough by a long short. It is a nice start, if you are lucky enough to be one of those folks. You’ve got a million miles more to travel, IF you are willing.

BE WILLING.

Experience and learning from those who have already walked miles beyond where you are is so vital, so needed.

Being willing to learn, admitting you do not know, admitting 3 summer rides on trail ponies at a camp didn’t make you a horse trainer. . .it can make all the difference to a horse. At the very least, it saves their life. At the very best, it means they get a fair deal, that they are someone’s partner.

So when you see someone going from horse to horse, always presenting a reason why that last horse didn’t work for them, try to steer them a better direction.

Suggest a trainer, suggest getting help with that horse, suggest having fortitude and commitment to learning. If they listen, you’ll have done the person and horse a favor that will last a lifetime.

01/20/2022

🤷🏻‍♀️

01/12/2022

Some times making mistakes are the best lessons 🤠

Monday Morning Quote! LOL 😆

01/06/2022

Anyone else? 🙋🏻‍♀️

12/31/2021

To me, the mark of a true horseman or woman isn’t just that they do things the way I would do them. They might do things I agree with, they might not. The mark of their mastery is in the way they pay attention to the subtleties in the smallest details- the way they hold the lead rope, the way they pet a horse, the way they halter and un halter, the way they bridle, the way they walk, the way they talk and the amount they talk, the words they say when and for what reason. A true horseman or woman knows that the art of horsemanship is refining their control over their own self.

Photo is a stock photo