Jul 11 2020
Ride Them UP! The Horse’s Head and Neck in Relation to Balance “The horse’s weight is distributed over its haunches and forehand. Because of the heavy head and neck, the horse carries a greater amount of weight on its forehand. When in motion, the horse uses its head and neck to influence its balance. One …
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Jul 10 2020
“Going Sideway”. The leg yield should be introduced before advancing toward collection and lateral movements. The leg yield is a movement in which the horse is kept almost straight, except for slight flexion of the poll away from the direction in which he moves, and the inside legs pass and cross in front of the …
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Jul 09 2020
Shoulder-Fore is a baby Shoulder-In Shoulder-fore is a lateral movement which encourages your horse to take more weight onto his hind legs and step actively underneath his body. Although it’s not a required movement in any Cowboy Dressage tests it’s a really useful flat work exercise to do with your horse. It’s great for developing …
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Jul 07 2020
Transitions – Transitions – Transitions Transitions are not just about HOW. Transitions are more about WHEN. Right Lead departure from the walk. The horse’s walk is a four-beat gait. 1st beat RH, 2nd beat RF, 3rd beat LH. 4th beat, LF. I cue my horse for the RIGHT LEAD when his inside RIGHT front leg …
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Jul 07 2020
‘V’ – for Victory When my horse’s inside front leg is under my stirrup, I cue the horse’s outside hind leg for gait transition (jog & lope). The horse’s walk is a four-beat gait. The sequence of a correct walk should be: right hind right front left hind left front Each leg should …
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Jun 25 2020
Skeletal Maturation “What we know about the rate of skeletal maturity is that the growth plates in the equine body slowly fuse between one-and-a-half and six years—across the board. There is no truth to the myth that some breeds of horses mature faster than others. All horses reach skeletal maturity at about five-and-a-half to six …
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Jun 25 2020
I just added a new Category named “Silent Rider” to Eitan’s “88” Brand Online Educational Membership Program. “I do not have much patience with a thing of beauty that must be explained to be understood. If it does need additional interpretation by someone other than the creator, then I question whether it has fulfilled its …
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Jun 21 2020
Why Lunging? With the rise in popularity of natural horsemanship methods where the horse is usually worked loose in a round pen, the tradition of lunging a horse as the basis for its training and preparation for ridden work has perhaps lost popularity in recent years. However, lunging a horse properly has certain attributes which …
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Jun 09 2020
Shifting Weight (dancing) Shifting weight is dancer’s movement so that their weight is moved from one supporting foot to another one fully or partially. Loping, for example, involves shifting of the body’s weight from one foot to another, so freeing the first so that it may be lifted and moved forward. This process is a …
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Jun 08 2020
Center of Gravity The most exciting biomechanical idea current in the latter half of the 19th century was the discovery of the “center of gravity” (CG). An invisible, infinitely small point, the CG is nevertheless real: it is the point at which a body fundamentally responds to a gravitational field. The CG is the point …
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