09/02/2026
Self carriage. Suppleness. Balance. Power from the hind end. These are all things we talk about a lot when riding and training horses. You might see them as comments in your dressage tests or hear them in discussion; but how do we create them?
Here I talk through some of my warmup on a client’s new horse, Olaf. This horse is new to my farm and it was my first ride on him. So, I’m working on getting to know him and letting him get comfortable with me, while also asking him to trust me and move outward into contact while maintaining self carriage.
I have a whole series planned around this ride from start to finish, so if you’d like to see how I start a ride on a horse that is brand new to me, or, want to learn how I approach these equestrian ‘buzzwords’ watch for more of these clips. Olaf has a fantastic foundation and some really good training to work with, so he demonstrates them very well!
Does anyone know why I specifically pat and praise with my INSIDE hand here?
Huge thanks to Andrea King for connecting my client with this horse - he is really spectacular to work with and I’m so excited to have him in my program! We can’t thank you enough for the perfect match for my client and friend Keyanna Farken