Table of contents for Practical Horseman Extra Volume 21 in Practical Horseman

Growing up, Amanda Steege was never far from a horse with both of her parents working as trainers and instructors in the hunter/jumper industry. The family owned Red Acre Farm, in Stow, Massachusetts. As a Junior, Amanda campaigned her Small Junior Hunter, One In A Million (aka Spanky), to great success. Coached by her father and Bill Cooney (and still riding Spanky), Amanda won the 1991 Massachusetts Medal Finals and competed in the USEF National Hunter Seat Medal Finals and the ASPCA Maclay National Championships the following two years. She graduated magna cum laude from Boston College and started her own business, Ashmeadow Farm, in 2001. Amanda has been the World Champion Hunter Rider for the northeast region for several years. She and her clients have won numerous championships at…

Whether you compete or just ride for fun, you can raise your horsemanship to a higher level by learning more about your horse, your sport and yourself. Successful riding is all about creating the best possible partnership with your horse, both at home and at shows. In this article, I describe my methods for gathering and tracking all the pertinent information that might affect your horse’s health, happiness and performance. Then in an article on PracticalHorsemanMag.com, I describe my strategy for preparing both your horse and yourself for competition. In a second online article, I also share some helpful tips for focusing your mind and arriving at the ring ready to ride your best every time. There’s No “I” in Team The better you know your horse, the better you…

Trying too hard at the trot is a common mistake in hack classes. Sometimes you will see a rider ask the horse to lengthen the trot by using a heavy driving seat with an open hip angle. But the driving seat is counterproductive, as it can make the horse lift his head and drop his back, which creates a quick, choppy step rather than the desired long, loose step. And if the rider lands too heavily in the post, it can make the horse crabby or pin his ears. To address this, do lots of work at home in the two-point position. This will give you the leg strength necessary to keep the right position even with a horse who is reluctant to go forward. Then, when you return to…

I’m always looking for new ways to serve my horses better. One software program I helped develop and love using is Stable Secretary. It’s a barn-management app that tracks all of the important records I describe in this article plus billing records for your service providers. Another wonderful high-tech solution is StallWatch. It’s a portable video-surveillance system that allows 24/7 remote viewing and archives 30 days of stored video. This adds one more level of monitoring to your horse-care routine, providing peace of mind.…