Ready to Ride

I've been busy starting young horses over the winter and gotten a little behind in my blogging! But, with that on my mind I thought I would do a short excerpt on how to know if your young horse is ready to ride. It's easy to get too excited and just hop on but that can end in disaster and create a negative experience for both of you. In my opinion, ita always better to overdo the groundwork then underdo the groundwork.

Here is a checklist for knowing when your horse is ready for the first ride:

-Your horse respects you on the ground. If your horse doesn't respect you on the ground they won't undersaddle. You can tell your horse respects you if they give you 2 eyes and you can move their feet forwards, backwards, left, and right with minimal pressure. They are responsive to your verbal cues and body language.

-Your horse will flex and move off of stirrup pressure. Being able to flex the neck off of minimal halter pressure is key. This is your 1 rein emergency break. The horse needs to be soft here. They also need to be soft and sensitive to stirrup pressure. This simulates your leg. If they are resistant or grumpy towards the stirrup they won't accept your leg.

-You have tried to get "bucked off" on the ground and failed. This takes desensitization. Get the horse used to you sacking it out with random objects, making noises, jumping up and down, rubbing it all over. And putting obnoxious pressure on or around the saddle (ie: slapping the saddle, jumping up and down in the stirrup.) Your horse should stand quietly and relaxed for all of this. Try to find the oh no spots before you go to get on.

Hope this is informative and helpful! It's always fun working with young horses because in the beginning they progress in leaps and bounds. Now that spring is just around the corner its time to prep for the show season which is very exciting as well!

The Importance of Staying Unstuck

Riding horses is a physically demanding sport: hey require a lot of time and care and work. It is also a very mentally demanding sport. It has been only recently that industry professionals are really starting to acknowledge this and dive into the sport psychology of riding horses.

I'm not a sports psychology expert but I do know this: feeling stuck is one of the biggest motivational killers for this sport. It can lead to fristration and anxiety and leave you with doubt.

Here are a couple tips, from my experiance, to keep from feeling stuck. First, continuously look for opportunities wheather that is following a social media account that provides new exercises to try, taking regular lessons, or working through training videos, do something to keep sparking your interests and coming up with new ideas. Second, if you feel like you are getting hung up on something reach out for help. Even if you dont have access to a trainer where you are at there are tons of reputable virtual lesson options out there, (one positive result coming out of Covid lol.) With a little research you can find a trainer or program virtually that works for you. Finally, dont forge to have fun! Dont get caught up in the grind. Take one day a week to do some light hacking in the field, (get on bareback if you can!) go on a trail ride, or work on some ground work. Changing things up and taking an easy day will helpnyou and your horse stay interested and sharp!

Tips for Balance and Flexibility

As an equestrian it is not just important to stay fit and strong, it is also important to stay balanced and flexible. I think riding is kinda like a dance. The better you learn to move with and seemingly direct your partner, your horse, the better you will be. To work on this I use breathing exercises and yoga stretches. 

For breathing, I practice sitting quietly and breathing in for 10 seconds and out for 10 seconds. Controlling breathing is directly related to heart rate. There are phone apps that can measure pulse as you follow breathing instructions so you can see how directly correlated these are. Practicing breathing can help with nerves. Before walking into a competition, working on breathing exercises can slow the heart rate, decrease nerves, and allow for better focus. 

Yoga stretches help keep the body loose and therefore relaxed in the saddle. Some of my favorite stretches are puppy pose: for back and shoulders. Pigeon pose: for hips and glutes. Butterfly: for inner-thigh and back. Forward fold: for hamstrings and back. 

The key to all of these is to stay relaxed, don't push it. Work on them a little bit each day, consistency brings results.

About Partnership and Respect

With horses, partnership is all about respect. As heard animals, horses will respect their leader, trust their leader and look to their leader for guidance. As a rider you must become a leader for your horse. To do this, you must earn their respect. 

You don't earn a horse's respect by making them like you or by giving them treats. You earn their respect by 1) moving their feet, and 2) building their confidence. 

From the horse's perspective, the one who can make them move their feet is the boss. That's why if your horse is pushy it’s a huge form of disrespect: they are making you move your feet. The best way to establish respect in this way is through ground work. If you can get your horse to move their feet forwards backwards left and right on the ground just off of your body language signals you can be pretty confident your horse respects you. (Check out my coming video series on groundwork for some great exercises to accomplish this.)

To build a horse's confidence you have to put them in a slightly uncomfortable situation and help them get through it in a positive way. Whether that's teaching them to load on a trailer, introducing them to a new place, or introducing a new jump, make sure you are not putting your horse in a panic mode situation. Choose something that is achievable and build on that experience. Also, make sure you are equipped, comfortable, and confident in whatever situation you choose. Remember, you are the leader, you have to be confident in order to make your horse confident. 

Taking time to gain your horse's respect will never disappoint. You will create a better partnership and a stronger trust bond!

Fit for the Season

If you are like me during the holiday season, you are tempted by too many sweets and plagued by too little time to be active. For me, the show season has ended the show horses are enjoying a little bit of a break, and it’s been just enough time since the last show that I am starting to dream about what I want to accomplish in the ring next year. It’s starting to hit me that I am getting bored with being “lazy.” The New Year is in sight so now is the time to start thinking about goals for next year and how to achieve them.

I have personally experienced the impact that fitness has on my riding. Being fit as an equestrian gives you more stamina during the course, which helps you think clearer, and gives you more body control, which allows you to be a partner not a burden to your horse. If you are looking for a way to step up your game for the next competition year take this rest period for your horse to work on yourself!

I will be posting some targeted workouts that I have found to help me with my core stability and overall strength and balance on the horse. For now, if you are looking for somewhere to start, try this 15min full body workout to start getting yourself into the practice of working out.

            Warm up:

30sec jumping jacks

15sec downward dog walk hands to 15sec plank (repeat 3x)

30sec side to side lunges

            Workout:

                        30sec bicycle crunches

                        30sec leg flutters

                        30sec squats

                        30sec step back alternating lunges

                        30sec plank shoulder taps

                        10pushups (modify with knees on ground if needed)

                        (repeat all 3x)

Cooldown:

                        20sec forward fold with arms crossed and hanging

                        10sec puppy pose with L arm crossed under chest

                        10sec puppy pose with R arm crossed under chest

                        20sec pigeon pose

                        20sec butterfly

                        20sec child’s pose

Show Season Close

Today I'm sitting at the show with nothing going on. The competition was canceled due to the remnants of hurricane Nicole blowing through NC. I'm grateful that all the horses are safe, and to be honest I can probably use a bit of a rest day. My heart and prayer go out to everyone who has been affected by this storm in way worse ways that we have here!

This will be the last show for the year and it's exciting to look back at everything that has happened this year. We moved to a new farm. I had a handful of awesome new students join the team. I've seen so much growth in horses and riders. My working student moved up to the children's hunters and won reserve champ at her first show! Talulah and Gwen both moved up to the 1.10m and I had the privilege of continuing to work with Chris Kappler and improve myself as a rider. And now, as the show season comes to a close, getting some more young horses ready to begin their careers undersaddle!

It's been a crazy year and I can't believe it's drawing to a close! Can't wait to see what next year brings!

Clipping Tips!

Unfortunately, horses don’t change their winter coat based on temperature, (its Nov 4th and 70 degrees out,) they change coats as the light changes. This means I have a lot of fluffy horses getting way too sweaty after riding, which means, yep, it’s clipping time. I generally clip 2 or 3 times a year: right around Halloween, end of February before my show season starts back up, and I’ll do summer clips as needed. To round out fall clipping week, here are some clipping tips!

When to Clip:

-If your horse is in moderate to heavy work clip so that their winter coat doesn’t interfere with their ability to cool after a workout.

Preparing to Clip:

-Have a couple clipper blades available so you can swap out when they get hot

-Make sure blades are oiled

-Make sure you have clean horse! Dirty horses dull clipper blades

While Clipping:

-Let the blades do the work, don’t press too hard

-Pull loose skin tight to get a cleaner clip without pinching the horse

-Follow the fur

-Keep clippers clean

-Lay clippers flat against the horse if blade goes into the skin it can pinch

After Clipping:

-Make sure you have adequate covering for the horse after they are clipped! Taking away the fur takes away their ability to keep warm and stay protected from flies.

Show Recap

I've been gone the past two weeks but I'm back again with a recap from the show! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to show Gwen. The cut on her leg I mentioned in my last blog ended up being a little bigger and took a little longer to heal than I originally anticipated. On the upside, this unfortunate event gave me the opportunity to show Alex for the first time in a while! 

I bought Alex 8 years ago as a green 6yr old. He took me from the 1.0m jumpers to the 1.30m jumpers and taught me so much along the way. Now he is actually a lesson horse and competes in the children's hunters. Not many horses can go from being a 1.30m jumper to a competitive children's hunter. He is a VERY special horse!

I got the opportunity to show Alex in the hunter derby. It had been a while since I have shown in a hunter class and been awhile since he competed over 3ft. He handled the high options beautifully and that was the most fun I've had in a while! 

Unfortunately, we ended up just out of the money. I got a hideously long spot to the third jump where I thought we were going to add one and Alex decided to just leave the ground. Besides that mishap the rest of the round was smooth and rhythmic. All in all it was a lot of fun getting to show Alex again, makes me remember just how special this horse is! 

Never Stop Learning

This week was ROUGH. Next week I am supposed to go to a show and the mare I am supposed to take managed to get a nasty cut just below her hock and I don’t know if I will actually get to show her next week! It’s a bummer of a week and its really easy to get discouraged with it but it also has me reflecting back on horse care.

One thing I am reminded of is no matter how hard I try to keep my horses happy and healthy things will happen. I want to get down on myself because this happened but the reality is all I can do is deal with where I’m at now. (I do wish we could bubble wrap horses at times but don’t we all.) Getting down on myself because my horse is hurt isn’t going to make her better, proper time and care will. And here we are again: the importance of horse care!

Last week I dove into what it means to KNOW your horse and this week I’ll take a little time to talk about what it means to CARE for your horse. Caring for your horse is about knowledge. You don’t know what you don’t know. Now that shouldn’t be discouraging! That should be motivating. Go do some research! If you don’t know where to start look into the USHJA Horsemanship Guide it is free and a huge wealth of knowledge. I think the two most important areas to gain knowledge in are injury prevention, and first aid.

Injury prevention is huge. Figure out everything you can do to keep your horse as sound as possible. Ice is a big one. I ice after every jump session. You can buy ice boots from Dover. I use the Ice vibe replacement packs, JUST the replacement packs not the whole boots, they are like 25 bucks. Leave them on for 15-20min after a hard workout. Use liniment! Horses have huge muscle mass and horses get sore too. When muscles are tight or sore they risk being strained. The last thing I will harp on today is feet. Take care of your horse’s feet, no hoof no horse. Make sure you work with your farrier, use hoof paints specific to your horse’s needs, and make sure your horse gets its feet done before they NEED to.

First aid is tricky but the reality is you are your horses first responder. You need to know how to wash out a wound, know when to call the vet for an emergency, and know how to wrap. Make sure you have a fist aid kit. It should include Betadine, gauze, antibacterial cream, various wrap materials, Vetwrap, bandage scissors, clear eyes wash, Epsom salt, tweezers, shoe pullers and probably some other stuff that isn’t coming to mind. Have all this on hand and know how and when to use it. Have a relationship with your vet! Ask your vet questions whenever they are around and be comfortable contacting them for advice. No matter how much you research you won’t beat your vets experience! Finally, learn how to wrap!

I hope this was helpful, this is all coming out of where I am at right now in this moment. I am so passionate about this concept: don’t be afraid to never stop learning!

Knowing Your Horse

My simplified goal as an equestrian athlete is to progress. I want to progress up the competition levels, progress as a rider, and progress as a coach. None of that progress is possible though without good horsemanship. Horsemanship is a learned skill set that allows a rider to get to know their horse, understand their horse, and care for their horse. I can talk about this kinda stuff for DAYS but for now I'll just go into what it means to know your horse. (I'll get to the rest in time!) 

It is so important to know your horse! You should know their normal temperature, normal respiration rate, how they feel normally under saddle, and what your horse normally looks like. Take the time to look over your horse while you groom. Despite best efforts to keep our horses perfectly safe and sound, they still inevitably come in with bumps and scrapes from time to time. Grooming is the perfect opportunity to find those little cuts and scrapes and treat them so they heal without blemish. When I attended the Emerging Athletes Program I was also given this tip: palpate your horse's legs while you groom. Palpating a leg means you add some light pressure by pinching your fingers down the back of the horse's leg to inspect for a pain response. All horses are going to give some response here but the idea is to gauge what a normal response is regularly for each individual horse so that you'll be able to tell when you get a painful response and hopefully catch a strain before it becomes severe. You can also use this concept while using a curry comb too. All horses are different, some like being groomed more than others and they all can take certain pressure in certain areas. Notice if your horse is extra sensitive in an abnormal area and don't ignore that! Unfortunately horses can't speak so we have to KNOW our horses to "listen" to our horses.  

This week has been full of farrier visits, routine teeth floats, and a tropical storm blowing through to finish off the week (praying everyone stays safe in its path.) All that has really pointed me towards thinking about horse care and that's what I chose to focus on this week! Horse care is SO important and it's something I am SO passionate about. SO… this won't be the last time it comes up, stay tuned!

A Balancing Act

I have worked in the equine industry since I graduated high school. I’ve been a working student, I’ve been a warm up rider, I’ve been a horse trainer, I’ve been a groom, I’ve taught lessons, and I have even worked in a barn management position so I am very familiar with what this industry entails. Starting a business is a whole other beast though! This life is not for everyone, (I don’t think my husband knew what he was getting into when he signed up for this.) It’s not just my horses and students that take my time, its marketing, and budgeting, and ordering supplies, and managing the actual property. If I am not careful this job can easily get discouraging.  

I can defiantly get carried away with my work. There is always so much to do on a horse farm so it is easy to get lost in an endless list of chores. That’s the tough part for me. I’m the kind of person that tends to make myself feel guilty for having downtime. I never like to leave things half done and I always strive to offer my best. Getting caught up in this can make life a bit overwhelming but that’s where my other half comes in.

My husband does a great job of making life interesting and making sure I don’t give all my time to work. Relationships are so important. It has been such a positive change for me to actually slow down just a little and just have fun with the people I care about!

There is always stuff to do on a horse farm. There will always be stuff to do on a horse farm and I believe it is important to work diligently at it! I guess all this is just to say balance is key. This is something I have started to learn this year being married and starting this business. I still have so much to learn both in actually running a business of my own and in learning how to balance work and fun but I am hopeful of future growth and still so excited to see where this journey takes me!

Finding My Why

I remember sitting down with the riding instructor I had in my junior year of high school and telling her that I was thinking about going pro as an equestrian athlete. I remember she discouraged me from it. She told me it was hard work, that people can be hard to deal with, and there is not enough money in it to make it worth it. 

I put the dream aside for a while. I applied to college and decided to pursue a job that would afford me the opportunity to continue in the sport. Then I changed course again. Didn't go to college when I planned, took a gap year, and became a working student. That experience changed me. I realized my passion. I loved getting to ride all the different horses. I loved problem solving with the difficult ones, in fact, I had a talent for it. I found out I could work really well with young horses because I worked WITH them, and most of all I discovered a passion for coaching. 

I realized how lucky I was to have a trainer finally INVEST in me, even if it meant my working 12 hour days. I grew so much as a rider during that year. That was the year in my life that I credit to realizing my “why” in this profession. 

I want to INVEST in my students' success because when someone finally took the time to do that with me it changed me. I want to be more than just a riding instructor. I want to be a trainer and a coach, a motivator, and a problem solver. I want to be an inspiration and an encouragement. That is why I love my job. It's not just about the horses, even though I do love the horses and the sport of show jumping. It's about giving opportunities to others who share my love of the sport. 

I am so grateful for the experiences that got me here and so grateful for the opportunity I have to do what I love. This year my husband and I were blessed with the opportunity to get a horse farm and open up a business in Fountain Inn, SC called BuckWild ShowJumpers. We have had the place for less than a year and already faced challenges in the industry but I am so excited for the journey to come! This blog is a little space for me to share my journey as well as some tips and tricks for equine management and training. I look forward to seeing what the future has in store!