Diary of an Amateur Equestrian
This is where all the training articles will be for riding, groundwork and liberty work.
Hello, and welcome back to the blog. It's been almost half a year since I wrote a post and lots has happened in that time. Things have been very all over the place this year in general, but I am so pleased to be getting life back on track. In today's post, I am sharing …
Hello, and welcome back to the blog! Today I am sharing my Monthly Muster for November- a roundup of how the month went in my training with Bryni. It has been such a quick month though I feel I've been productive with Bryni and found a system that works. Bryni is doing well at the …
Hello, and welcome back to the blog! This week I am sharing my thoughts on building a strong bond with your horse through building a meaningful connection. I have recently bought a new horse and I have found myself questioning the connection I have with her and considering on a core level 'how do I …
Continue reading "How to build a connection with your horse"
Hello, and welcome back to the blog. Today I would like to share about the importance of starting a young horse correctly without asking too much of them. Quite often, we ask too much too soon of a young horse and, as a result, we damage the horse either physically or mentally. Horses need time …
Continue reading "When to start working with a young horse and how much should you do?"
Hello, and welcome back to the blog! Today I would like to share some training tips about how to deal with tension when working with your horse. Unfortunately, many horses are tense when they are being ridden and it is not good for their minds or bodies to be carrying themselves in this way. It …
Continue reading "Talking Tension- Ways to battle tension in your horse"
I am a primary school teacher and therefore I understand the value and importance of a suitable learning environment. This might be something you haven't considered when working with your horse, but if you think about your everyday experiences, it might change the way you set up the learning situations for your horse. For example, …
Continue reading "7 ways to create an effective learning environment for your horse"
Recently I listened to Olivia Towers' podcast episode which featured Miri Hackett. Olivia and Miri are two equestrians who I follow on my Instagram and I feel they have a lot of knowledge to offer. They raise important issues and I certainly feel more people should benefit from their knowledge and experience.I often think the …
My horse, Bo, is a Welsh Section D and over the years I have come to know the breed very well and I would say that it is my favourite of all. So in this post, I am going to explain 5 reasons for why I think Welsh Section D’s are the best horses ever! …
My last couple of posts have been related to the learning process in horses. I have covered the Antecedents and Behaviours and today, we are looking at the final part which is Consequences. You can find the post all about Antecedents here, and you can find the post about behaviours here. Antecedants- these are the …
No matter what discipline you do with your horse, schooling is so important to build the connection between horse and rider. Even if you are just a happy hacker, a little schooling session now and again can really improve the quality of your rides. It’s important that you get the most out of your schooling …
Continue reading "How to make the most out of schooling sessions?"
Before you read this post, it may be useful to read my previous post about antecedents which you can find here. In this post, I introduced the ABC model of learning: Antecedants- these are the things that happen just before your horse does something.Behaviour- This is what your horse actually does.Consequence- This is what happens immediately after …
Trust and understanding are my main goals when working with horses. I believe if you have these, then you are forming solid foundations upon which to build your relationship with your horse. Sometimes, problems arise in relationships which require understanding and communication to solve. I believe this is best achieved through keeping in mind that …
Bo will be 20 this year and because of his age and ability, I have to be careful with what I am doing. Lunging is a touchy subject because some people will say it is useful, others will say it’s damaging. Personally, I think it depends on how you’re lunging. I feel the way that …
Continue reading "Lunging 101- 5 things you should think about when lunging your horse"
To continue on with my liberty challenge, I started with lesson 4 which was grooming at liberty. I had Bo in the yard at Liberty and offered him a groom. On the day, Bo was pretty pre-occupied with eating the snow which was amusing but he did let me give him a little sweep over …
The weather really is horrendous right now so I’m just taking my time with these lessons for my liberty challenge. I have owned Bo for around 8 years now and I know him pretty well so I have decided to sort of do bits and bobs of lessons 1-3 together. I think if I had …
Recently, I haven’t really known what to be doing with myself. I had set the goal at the start of the year to buy another horse to compete on, but being completely open and honest, when my partner and I looked into costs of moving out, I realised that I couldn’t afford another with Bo. …
Bringing a horse back into work is not as simple as just popping a saddle and bridle on and cantering along a forest track. If a horse has been out of work for a while, or is in very inconsistent work, it can be dangerous to assume they are fitter than they are. If a …
As equestrians, we all share the love of horses. Building a solid bond with your horse forms the basics of good training, both in the saddle and on the ground. By creating mutual understanding and trust, things will go much more smoothly as a confused horse can become a dangerous horse. There are some really …
Continue reading "How to Build a Better Bond with Your Horse"
Looking at arthritis Arthritis is the inflammation of a joint which causes stiffness and pain due to the breakdown of cartilage in the joint. As the cartilage breaks down, the synovial fluid which lubricates the joint loses it's ability to facilitate smooth movement in the joint. As a result, this creates pain and stiffness. It …
Groundwork is an essential tool that every equestrian can benefit from using to develop the bond and relationship with their horse. At this present time, in Scotland anyway, the British Horse Society recommend that you don't ride your horse because if you are to have an accident and require medical attention, this would put unnecessary …
BBequines 