Editor’s Note: Laurie Grann is a dear friend and a most excellent horse woman. She recently participated in a week long clinic with Mark Rashid. She wrote up her thoughts about how she is working his ideas into her every day riding. The result is what follows. Perhaps if we are all very nice to her she will contribute again!
Today, my sister and I went on a 14 mile ride–2 loops of about 7 miles...
Much of my appreciation for classical dressage training comes from my lessons with Karl Mikolka. One of the (many) things I remember him saying (probably while my horse was having a fit) was, “the horse is allowed to say NO!” I’m not saying that fits are desirable! Of course, what we’d prefer is a resounding YES. But if you want to be more than ‘just’ a rider you need to be...
In my Secret Weapon post I talked about how important it is to remain focused on what we want and rewarding that and only that.
Read it here if you want to be reminded about it or missed it the first time.
In her article in Psychology Today titled, Trainers with Jackhammers Need Not Apply, Susan Friedman, Ph.D. talks about this very issue from a slightly different point of view. And, hearing the same thing said...
Lots of rain and mud means I’ve only managed to say hello to my girls at feeding time. On nicer days I’ll visit, groom and massage. Actual riding is a distant memory. Ha! So posts have been thin at best as I await the inspiration of spring and more riding exploits! Something interesting did come up recently in conversation, though, that I thought I would share.
The topic was what I call my...
Those who have hung around me for some time will know that I’m very fond of saying, “If the horse knew what I wanted and believed he was able to do it, he’d BE doing it.” I used to say “…and was able to do it…” but people would just say that they knew a horse who knew very well thank you very much what they wanted and simply didn’t WANT to comply. So, I...