Eclipse was born here, on our farm, on April 17, 2001. She was a tiny little thing, and when she was born she terrified me! I swear, I thought she wasn’t breathing. But, as she is now, Eclipse was stubborn and took her first breath and was up in less than half an hour. Since then, I’ve played and worked with her though not as much as I have recently.

In the first year of her life, I was more of a pasture buddy to Eclipse than anything. There were not very firm boundaries that I set, so she literally started to walk all over me, push me, nip me, and run from me. It continued this way through the years, and it was never a realization for me until I went off to college full time in 2008. The thing is that I never worked with Eclipse on solid ground manners, and that goes a long way in every type of training you do with your horse. I’m a firm believer in making the horse behave on the ground, which makes it easier to deal with them in the saddle.

Eclipse has transformed wonderfully since I started working with Jennifer Dipple, a great trainer and instructor over at Full Circle Farm. It was close to impossible to get Eclipse to listen to me over two weeks ago, and now she is not only listening but trying to do it before I even ask her to! Something that I have discovered since I’ve started working with her consistently, and something I have been semi-aware of the entirety of her life, is that Eclipse can read my body language before I even ask with the aids.

It’s frustrating a lot of the time, because I am still learning myself and am not completely solid with my aids. So when Eclipse tries to take these “shortcuts” it doesn’t really help me to understand fully. Nonetheless, she is an incredibly smart horse with an appytude which makes a frustrating combination.

As you can see in the video posted previously, she transformed from the beginning of the lesson into the end. It is an 8 minute long video, and you can hear my instructor, Jennie, in the background but it shows the change she went through in only that hour long lesson. Incredible how quickly she learns. The video was on Friday, and on the Monday before I could not get Eclipse to listen or even pay attention! She was throwing a fit around the entire arena, trying her hardest to find anything else to look at, or just ignoring me altogether!

Consistent work with her in just a week has done wonders. It takes quite a bit of patience, which is something I am still in the process of learning. I have no patience, and I frequently get angry with Eclipse. The trick is finding a way to channel that anger and frustration instead of taking it out on your horse. Your horse doesn’t know why your angry at them. Why should they? Think of your horse as a toddler, they have the same attention span and the same way of learning. I know for a fact that Eclipse is intelligent and learns quickly, but she constantly finds way to test me. As if to ask,”Okay, are you letting me get away with this today? Are you sure you remember?” As soon as I have finished reminding her of what we worked on previously, and as soon as she has done testing me, it is an almost smooth ride. I say almost, because she is still not one hundred percent with the aids or reactions and it will be a while before she is.

I have found that working with her on Bending and Suppling has really helped her and myself. I’ve learned to work with my horse, instead of against her or trying to force her to do what I want. Before, I never really understood what I was asking or why I was asking these things. I did not understand, really understand, how to ask the horse something. Since working with Eclipse, my relationship with he has also grown. We are a lot closer than we were before and I understand her better. I’ve found that both Patience and Consistence are very important to working with a horse, and although I have always known this it is different knowing it and understanding it.

I have to give credit to her instructor here in Statesville, NC.  She is wonderful!  My daughter has learned so much in such a short time.  The trainer is Jennifer Dipple at Full Circle Farm.  You should definitely check this place out.  You will be impressed, I promise you.  I, too, take lessons there.  Any good trainer and instructor will always be furthering their skills and knowledge through lessons and I am glad I found this facility.

My daughter has an appaloosa that she raised and trained from birth.  She has always wanted this horse to show and through the years have been working towards that goal.  Now she has the opportunity to realize her dreams.  She has come a long way in teaching Eclispe to become a wonderfully well trained horse.  Here she is working with Jennie at Full Circle Farm teaching Eclipse to bend and supple. They are learning to find their rhythm and work together as one.  They have come a long way in the past week.

At the beginning of the week, Eclispe didn’t even want to be ridden.  She ignored commands and did everything she could to the opposite of what she was being asked.  But after a week of consistent work and encouragement, the trainer and my daughter were able to get Eclipse to bend and supple enough to have a very good lesson.  I am sure she will be showing her in competition this summer.

One: Since you already know your horse knows how to bend when it wants to, what are you, as the rider going to do to teach those ques while enjoying the ride without making it seem like a boring lesson?  (Personally, I like boring lessons, it gives me a chance to let go and think about nothing except what I am doing and not feel pushed to do a million things at once.)  On the trail, ask for your horse to move his nose slightly to the inside of the circle as you are going around a tree.  At the same time, use your outside rein to rate his speed and keep him from bending his nose too far to the inside.  Also, use your inside leg on the girth and your outside leg behind the girth.  Your inside leg gives him a point of reference to bend around and keeps him bent.  Your outside legs keeps him from moving his haunches to far to the outside.  It is that simple. That is all you really have to do.  However, don’t force and if he does not do it the first time, fine.  Keep giving him the same aids and cues every time you go around an obstacle and you will be surprised at how fast he picks this up.  Be aware that most mares will pick this up quicker than geldings.  Especially if the geldings have been cut early in life.  So take your time.

Secondly, set up a line of barrels or posts any obstacle that you can wind your horse in and out of in the ring or pasture.  You can also use a series of trees to wind through.  It is the same as making serpentines in the ring, but it gives your horse a visible obstacle to bend around.  Use the same cues but be sure to switch your leg and body position with each turn.  Take your time and do this at a slow walk so you can be sure to train yourself to pick up the cues also.  We can teach our horse the wrong thing by using the wrong cues, of course.  So be sure you have your aids and body language down pat.  Don’t expect your horse know what you want.  He is totally dependent on you to tell him what, when, how and how fast.

I recently taught a 5 year old green broke mare how to do this just by walking around barrels in the ring every day.  Now, every time I ride her all I have to do is ask and she bends perfectly.  I use these aids on every turn regardless of how short, small, or long is the circle.  Once your horse gets used to this and does it on cue it will be much easier to teach him/her to move off your legs.

Happy Trails

Was I in for a huge lesson.  I was so green and so dumb that I told the farmer who owned the land that his mare pony had an infection and needed to call a vet because she had all this discharge under her tail!!  Imagine the laugh he had after I left!  Well I kept my horse for a few years, but sold him after I had my daughter.  I had owned him a few months when I found out I was pregnant for the third time and decided he was too much to care for with an infant and two  boys that needed me more.   I wish I had someone who took the time to tell me how much there was to caring for a horse when I bought him and had outlined it for me.  I wouldn’t have changed my mind, but I would have had something in which to refer.  And I probably would have picked out a better horse.  There were so many books out there I could have thumbed through hundreds before I found the right one to go by. 

Here’s what I wish I had known.

1.  How to judge the temperament of a horse.  I loved all horses and if I could catch them I thought they would be fine. I didn’t know to look for signs of sourness, distress, submissiveness or what-have-you.  I didn’t know that ears flat back meant, beware, or that flared nostrils could mean the horse is ready to bolt, a swishing tail could mean, anger, not just swatting flys.  There is a lot of body language I know now, that I had no idea even existed then. 

2.  I would have given anything to have known a horse has a one track mind and if you keep it busy doing something it knows well your chances are greater at having a safe ride.  Especially if you horse hates to leave its buddy or the barn. 

3.  Knowing what type of grain, hay and wormer to give and when would have helped.  My poor horse had to survive on what grass he could find.  There was plenty of it, but he would probably have been healthier if he had been limited to his intake of rich pasture grass and wormed more often. 

4.  Realizing (not just knowing) horses are herd animals and feel safer in groups would have helped me understand my horses reluctance to be separated from his pasture buddy.  Looking back I am thankful he had a pasture buddy.

5.  Knowing the signs of colic and how to take a pulse, respiration and what is a normal temp would have been helpful.  All these things should be kept on record for future reference.

6.  Signs of lameness and what the common causes are, like laminitis and abscesses. 

7.  My most recent challenge was to have a horse choke.  Never had that happen before and didn’t know what had happened at first.  It’s nice to know that they can choke and still breath, but do need to see a vet immediately when this happens. 

I could go on and on, but I would end up writing a book and there are already enough books on the market about horses.  My best advice is, that if you love horses, but aren’t that familiar with them, then don’t be afraid to ask for help.  There is no need to go out and hire a trainer, but you can learn a lot through riding lessons, videos and there is always RFD TV.  There is lots and lots of practical advice on that program. 

But if you have a question and need a fairly quick answer just email me.  I’ll do what Ican to answer your questions and give my best advice.  You can find me on Facebook under Baymount Farm or Twitter.

I have several trail horses of my own.  Some of them are field trial horses, some are pleasure horses.  Most of them are familiar with the gates being opened while I am on their backs, but a few aren’t familiar with side passing over logs, turning on the forehand with their feet in a square, etc.  So, I set up a trail course in my ring.  It has most of the obstacles they need to practice on.  It always amazes me how quickly the horses pick up these new “tricks”.  Horses are so smart and willing, especially if you are having fun and letting them adjust at their pace to anything new you want them to learn.

Here is a tip:  when introducing a new obstacle, calmly walk your horse up to it first, if they seem apprehensive about it, let them stand and face it, smell it, paw at it (as long as they don’t tear it up – pawing allows them to see that it isn’t something that will jump up and attack them), then walk them around it until they are comfortable with it.  Look for signs of submission like, sighing, licking and chewing, dropping their head, looks of boredom and just standing there.  Once they are comfortable ask them to perform the task at hand, one step at a time.  Please don’t force your horse or you will find that training will quickly become frustrating for YOU and the horse will likely balk and become defensive every time you ask it to do something.  Remember your goal is to get your horse relaxed and willing.  You are the leader and must set the attitude from the beginning.   If you are relaxed they are likely to relax much more quickly.  Take your time, there is no rule that says your horse has to learn a new trick in one minute, one hour, one day or even one week.  If you feel you are going backwards or not making any progress, then stop, re-evaluate what you are asking and break it up into little steps.

For instance,  if you are asking your horse to turn on the forehand and he has no idea what you want, try these steps.

1.  Teach him to stand still first.

2.  Teach him to move one foot over at a time by tapping him on the side just behind the girth.  Ask for one movement, let him rest, ask for another movement, let him rest, repeat, repeat, repeat and soon he will be moving over until you ask him to stop.

3.  Next apply this to the bit.  I use a full check snaffle bit with a bit keeper to keep the bit from moving around so much in his mouth.  Pick up the rein and just take the slack out, when he moves over, let the rein pressure off immediately and pet him for being right.  Do this until he is moving over everytime you ask.

4.  Apply the two aids together.  Stand at his side, pick up the rein and tap him behind the girth as he moves his hindquarters over.  If he moves forward, stop, ask him to stand still, then apply the aids again.  Soon he will be moving his hindquarters over and then;

5.  Mount up, pick up your reins and ask him to stand, apply the reins by picking up one rein and taking the slack out, apply the leg aid behind the girth (you may have to use an active leg at first) and he should move his haunches over.  The idea is for him not to move forward.  He may get slightly confused at first and this is ok.  He will be thinking he is supposed to move forward since that is what he is usually asked to do.  Just gently stop him and apply the aids again.  Soon enough he will pick it up.

I have never come upon a horse that did not pick this up quickly and sufficiently when I took my time and made sure the horse understood what I was asking.  Rewarding for getting the right answer and practicing until he is 100% always works.

You can apply the same theory to whatever you are teaching and have fun doing it.  Make learning simple, rewarding and relaxing for you an your horse.  You will be amazed at how quickly you will be teaching new things and enjoying your ride much more.

Riding lessons are a wonderful way to shed a few extra pounds.  You will have fun, learn better balance, feel great, build muscle all while you are loosing weight and you won’t even realize it.  I lost 15 pounds this summer riding horses.  I sat for years on my, well you know, and gained more pounds than I cared to.  I picked up running and ran a few half-marathons for a few years and lost weight just to have it come right back.  I bought an elliptical machine and still have yet to use it religiously in order to keep my weight down.  Then I picked up riding.  I loved it, loved the horses, loved being outside, loved the activity and lost pounds….and I am talking serious pounds.  Pounds off my stomach, thighs, hips, back.  All where it counts for a female!  Guys, you will lose weight too.  Feel better and treat yourself right.  There is nothing like learning a new skill to make you feel exhilarated and confident.

What style of riding do you pick up?  Depends on what your interests are.  Trail riding is relaxing and fun and can be ridden in any discipline; western or english.   The basic skills are the same.   Most people just starting out are more comfortable in a western saddle or endurance saddle.  But don’t stop there, learn hunt seat and increase your skills.  Equitation is another step up, as in dressage, saddle seat.  You decide what makes you the most comfortable and where you are having the most fun.  Exercise should be fun, otherwise, we just won’t keep up with it.

Need a lesson barn?  A great place to look is NewHorse.com where you can search by state and zip code to find your nearest stables.    Have fun, go out and shed those holiday pounds!

Why use the round pen to teach these things?  Have you ever watched a herd of horses communicate with each other?  They use their ears, eyes, nostrils, facial expressions, tail switching, legs for kicking or threatening a kick, nose out for pushing, etc.  Obviously, we as humans can’t mimic some of these things, so what does this tell us?   Horses use lots and lots of body language to communicate and are very specific with some of their commands towards each other.  The ones we can mimic are our legs (arms for pointing), eyes ( for pushing), chest (moving towards a specific body part for pushing), voice and of course, the dreaded crop (as an extension of our arm only).  A word here about the crop.  Please, please don’t use it for punishment or in anger towards your horse.  Use it as an extension of your arm to reach specific body parts of your horse while your body is out of the way, or to tap specific body parts to teach a cue.  The only time I would ever crop a horse to hurt it is if I were being attacked and needed to protect myself.  Horses in a herd have the freedom to move away from each other to show submission and acceptance.  However, since we want our horses to stay with the lesson and not have to chase them around, the round pen allows your horse that freedom of movement to move away from us without going too far.   When they submit and accept, they will lick, chew, drop their head, move their ears forward to listen to us, start to look at us with both eyes and want to come into us and follow us around.  Some call this joining up.   That is what we are after when I talk about getting our horses to look at us for direction.    And we don’t have to kick them, bite them, beat them or chase them around until they are about to drop to get this attention.

The first thing I want to do to establish myself as the lead mare in my two “horse” herd in the round pen is to push the horse away.  Watch how horses push a new horse away from the herd when first introduced for days until they gradually let that horse into the herd.  I am doing a shortened version of that.  I push the horse away asking it to move whatever direction it wants to say, I am in control here.  Then I start telling the horse to change directions, inside turn or outside turn, it doesn’t matter, just as long as it turns when I say.  They choose the speed in which they go around the pen.  That is their freedom.  After telling the horse to turn then I get more specific about which way to turn.  Again, just stand in the middle of the ring quietly to let the horse know that it is doing it’s job and you are in control.  When asking it to move or turn, walk towards it’s rear or shoulder pointing the direction you want it to turn.  It will quickly pick up on your hand signals, because you are also pushing with your chest to move it away from you in a certain direction.  Horses don’t like to be pushed and are more than willing to do what you ask rather than be forced to perform.  Play with this, take your time and practice, practice, practice.  The more you repeat the lesson, the more firm it becomes in the horses mind and the better you get at training.

Watch for more on round penning in the future when I will go into more detail about specific requests such as; standing still (round tieing), walk, trot, canter on voice command, going over poles, etc.

does your saddle fit?

I have done a lot of searching on saddles and saddle fitting.  I have been trying to purchase the right saddle for my new horse, mainly because I decided to take up hunt seat to improve my riding abilities.   There is a lot of information to go thru and can be confusing.  But I am one to keep going, taking things a step at a time.    I will try to make this easier for those of you who are interested in learning saddle fitting.  Look at the saddle above.  See how the deepest part the seat (the area where your seat bones will sit squarely on the saddle) is at its lowest point.  Start there in evaluating whether or not your saddle fits your horse. This will show you that the saddle is sitting level on your horse.   Next, drop your stirrup leathers and measure the distance from the stirrup bar and the center of the seat.  There should be 6 to 7 inches in distance.   Make sure your horse is standing square when you do this.  An improper fitting saddle can bridge causing soreness in your horses back or causing you to tilt throwing you off balance.   Bridging is when the panel is not contoured to fit the shape of the horses back.

Make sure your saddle is level

Now, run your hand along the gusset of the saddle feeling for gaps or pressure points.  You want your saddle to be level and sitting smoothly on your horses back.    This is one way to also check for bridging in case you can’t see it right away.   You can always have flocking added to your saddle.  Wool flocking is best to use and lasts longer, whereas foam flocking has a tendency to wear out quicker.

Saddle is far enough back.

It may be difficult to see here, but look for and feel for the large muscle at the withers over the scapula.    Your saddle bars need to be directly behind this muscle to allow for freedom of movement.    Putting the saddle on this muscle can cause your horse to be sore and restrict his performance.   Check for the movement range in this muscle by marking where the muscle ends when your horse is standing square and where it ends when you stretch your horse’s leg out in front of him.  This will give you the best indication of how far back to put the saddle.

Next look at how the gullet fits at the withers.  You should be able to get three fingers in between the gullet and your horses withers.  If you can’t chances are the saddle is too wide for the horse.  However, if the gullet is too high, as in four or more fingers the saddle could be too narrow.  Most english saddles for women should have a narrow twist, for men a wide twist.  However, if, like my horse who has very high withers,  I will need a half pad or theraputic pad to raise the gullet off the withers.  The saddle is a good fit everywhere  else, she just has exceptionally high withers.   As you can see with an added pad I get the correct distance in the gullet for this particular horse.  By the way,  we can’t all buy a saddle for each horse we own and many times have to use the same saddle on different horses.  So adding a half pad can help tremendously in this situation.   Another detail to look for when checking out saddles is to make sure that the tree has not been twisted.  Put the saddle on your knee looking at it from the front and see if you can detect a twist.  If the nails on the outside are parallel then it probably isn’t twisted.

Although it may be difficult to see from this pic, you want to look at your saddle from the back and be able to see light all the way through.  This is a good way to check for the gullet width and thickness.  You want the gullet to be wide enough to NOT sit on the horses spine or to be touching it at all.  You should be able to get at least three fingers between the narrowest part of the gullet.  Turn your saddle over and look at it from beneath.   Some saddle gullets will be wider at the pommel and narrow slightly through the middle then get wider again at the cantle.  Some won’t, depending on the brand.   Pressure on your horses spine and ligament that runs down his back next to the spine can cause soreness.

One you are sure your saddle fits your horse, go out and take a ride to see how the saddle fits you.  You should be able to stand up in the saddle and balance without  feeling you are tilting forward or back.  This means your saddle is balanced.    There is a little more to it than this and you can always hire a saddle fitter to be sure you have the right saddle for you and your horse.  But these are the basics and I think will help you a great deal if you are unsure.

Why is it so important to have a properly fitting saddle?  Comfort, soundness and performance.  You want to get the best out of your horse and not be riding wondering why your horses ears are back, why he/she doesn’t move forward, etc.  Sore back horses are never much fun to ride.  Remember, just because a saddle fits one horse doesn’t mean it fits all horses.  Be sure to check the saddle bars also so they aren’t pinching his back.  Have a pleasant ride and watch for more blogs on fitting western and gaited horses.

In my learning experience with my daughter finding the perfect english saddle she talked about a narrow twist, medium tree, etc.  But even she couldn’t tell me exactly what to look for.  I went online and found a wonderful site that explains how the saddle should fit to YOU and your HORSE.  It is all about balance, comfort and performance.  Here is what I learned for me.  I need an english saddle sized 17 or 17.5.  Saddles sized 16 and under are generally for youth, size 18 is for larger adults.    I need a saddle that lets me balance on my seat bone, not my pubic crest.  The saddle should also have a 6″ – 7″ in distance between the stirrup bars and the deepest part of the seat.  The saddle should have a narrow twist, a wide twist is generally made for a man in that men’s and women’s femurs slope differently from their pelvic bones.   With the breed I ride, a saddle with a traditional panel will work well with my horses.   A gusset panel will fit a warmblood better in that their backs generally do not slope quite so much from the withers.   Now I don’t have enough room here to explain all this, so I  am suggesting a good site for this explanation.    http://www.showhorsepromotions.com/saddlefitting.htm

If this sparks your interest then here is a youtube video I found very, very informative in saddle fitting.  This video done by Dr. Robson fully explains how and where a saddle should fit on your horse and why.  She discuss briefly the pain associated with improper saddle fitting and how to recognize this and find the muscles and nerves under the saddle.    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40WzB00NhF8

Take the time to ensure you and your horse have a safer and more comfortable ride.  This also will significantly improve your horses performance.   Happy Trails!

One of the best times I have had all summer is while I am riding a young horse and watching it become a more experienced and confident mount for its owner. Small techniques such as moving off ones leg can make the horse so much more confident and fun to ride. Stopping when it feels the rider sit deep in the saddle rather than having the rider haul on its mouth for a whoa is calming for horse and rider.  Anything I can teach the horse builds confidence in it and then to be able to teach the owner what those cues are just cements the bond between the two.

I am always open to suggestions and continue taking lessons myself and educating myself with classes and research on how to be a better trainer.  There are lots and lots of trainers, information and advice and it is important to find the techniques that work best for oneself.  Incorporate what you learn from others into your own style and you will be the best equine owner you know.

Should you have questions or need help, please search out my website at www.baymountfarm.com and email me.

Please have a great experience with your equine friend and have a safe ride.   Sherry