It presents step by-step training programs and showing advice from recognized experts in hunters, jumpers, equitation, dressage, and eventing, along with money- and time-saving ideas on health care and stable management.
She looks like she likes control and maybe she needs to learn to trust her horse a little more,” Beezie Madden said about one of the talented riders featured in this month’s Jumping Clinic (page 22). After reading that, I almost jumped up yelling, “Me! Me! That is me in just about every aspect of my life.” In fairness, riding is one area that my need for control is a little more even-keeled. Early on, there was a time that I thought I was entirely in charge of how my horse made it to the fences. My ego was such that if I could have jumped the fences for him, I probably would have. Of course, there is a lot we can and need to do to help our horses…
American Horse Publications Equine Media Awards Practical Horseman is proud to announce that it was honored with two awards at the 2022 AHP Equine Media Awards. John French’s “Take Advantage of Trot Jumps” was awarded first place for Instructional Single Article, and Jennifer Finch’s “Breeches That Fit” was awarded third place for Personal Column Single Article. practicalhorsemanmag.com 2022 U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions Dressage Today will be on-site at the 2022 U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions August 22–28, at HITS Chicago at the Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, Illinois. Follow along with our coverage as top dressage athletes go head-to-head in 16 divisions, including the USEF Grand Prix Dressage National Championship, Adequan®/USEF Para Dressage National Championship and the Adequan®/USEF Young Adult Brentina Cup Dressage National Championship. dressagetoday.com. 2022 World Championships…
1 Overall: This rider’s seat is too far back in the saddle, restricting her ability to give the horse freedom to reach forward with his head and neck as well as his forward momentum. Leg: Her foot in the stirrup is too far “toward home,” meaning the iron is too far back on her foot. I’d like it more on the ball of her foot. Her toe is turned out so much that the inside bar of the stirrup is ahead of the outside bar. I want the outside bar ahead of the inside. This position can turn the leg into an unintentional driving leg. The lower leg just behind the girth is OK, and the contact with her leg is dispersed nicely throughout the saddle. Seat/hip angle: I’d like…
I am a lifelong fan of eventing; I’ve been to every major event at the Kentucky Horse Park since the 1978 World Championships … 44 years and counting. The KHP is the best equestrian facility in the world and year after year draws the best competitors. The 2022 Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event lived up to its billing as “the best weekend all year” in no small part due to the throngs of spectators who brought a sense of atmosphere and occasion to an event that sadly lacked it last year when the pandemic prevented attendees. This year’s crowd was treated to as fine a spectacle as I have seen at the KHP in a long time. Expecting the competitors to put on a dazzling display of excellence, I was…
The big gray canters easily in a circle, the cadence of his movement and rhythm of his breath functioning like a metronome for the riders performing elaborate gymnastic maneuvers on his back. Held aloft between two seated riders, a young girl does aerial splits before rolling onto her shoulders, executing a headstand over the horse’s withers. She maintains the position, her body fluidly rocking with the horse’s gait. Her poise and athleticism are captivating. It’s only after she summersaults off the horse’s back that the casual observer might notice the acrobatic young rider is missing an arm. “You’re going to put my child with disabilities on the back of a horse and have them do WHAT?!” Rick Hawthorne—the founder and head coach of Valley View Vaulters, an inclusive vaulting program…
In this scene, the photographer caught an amazing mix of light and shadow, and the dark horse in the middle of the picture (with the tree in the middle of the green paddock) has the light reflecting from his back. The photographer also took this picture exactly at the right moment of the horse lifting the diagonal pair of legs in trot at the highest point. The light underneath the horse’s feet makes it appear even higher, as if they are floating on air. This reminds me of a sentence my instructor told me: “In true collection, the horse moves like it only accidentally touches the ground for a moment.” Tango is just turning onto a circle and following the direction with good alignment through his body. I like the…
