It's been an interesting year. First I found out that Asia would not be sound enough to compete in Western dressage, at least not this season. I had planned to go to all the rated shows I could find culminating at the WDAA World Show and the Morgan Grand National in OK. Not to be, [...]
For me training a young horse involves weeks and months of gradually building the right muscles, developing a language between the horse and trainer that both understand, spending time learning about all the details that a lifetime partnership with humans entails. Grooming, cross ties, farrier, indoor arenas, outdoor arenas, trails, varied terrain, leaving friends, saddles, [...]
Asia and I did indeed ride down the Centerline at the rated shows this summer. We competed at CT Morgan, New England Morgan, Oakrise Farm and The Northeastern Western Dressage Championships. As I said in my last re-rider blog we competed at Intro because Asia simply isn’t ready for canter yet. Her back needs to [...]
Adrenaline Adrenaline plays a huge role in the behavior of horses. Because they are prey animals their adrenaline switch is very easy to turn on and quite hard to turn off. In the wild their survival depends on first noticing danger as quickly as possible and then reacting to it by running away very fast. [...]
Oh boy! Wonderful, exciting and terrifying all at the same time. For those horse owners lucky, or unlucky, enough to live in a part of the world that experiences winter, spring fever is a real and all too recognizable phenomenon. During the months of freezing cold, with ice, hard ruts and rotten snow covering the [...]
By Natalie DeFee Mendick Published in Equine Journal “The work you do in the arena is as important as the work you do on the trail, and vice versa. Horses need both; horses need balance.” –Cathy Drumm Who says all schooling has to take place in an arena? Time on the trail offers a change [...]
