The word “softness” in equestrian jargon evokes different ideas for different people. What is it and what does it look like? Softness creates a feeling of harmony between horse and handler. There seems to be a common goal and an ease about the way in which the partnership interact. Softness seems ethereally invisible, and yet…
Isn’t it a universal need to be able to travel through life with ease? We work hard at our studies, careers and personal lives to achieve some sort of goal. Motivational speakers will say that being able to engage in your passion as a job means that you will never work a day in your…
This is a topic which frustrates me immensely and I hope that this discussion will shed some light on the confusion currently created by the modern NH movement. 90% of the work on “desensitisation” you find on youtube and in NH media is not desensitisation at all, but flooding. People do not generally like the…
If you have at any stage in your equestrian journey, experienced an existential crisis of Hempfling-like proportions, then you have the horse’s best interest at heart. The equestrian industry has fanatics on every conceivable end of the spectrum of crazy, inevitably induced by a love for all things equine. If you still have some manner…
Humans are riddled with emotions. We are designed to be swayed by our feelings, which are connected not only to our sense of self, but also to our intuition, our perception and our outlook on the world. Often when we are working with horses, coworkers, family or friends, we bring these emotions to the proverbial…
The other aids are often spoken about, but the importance of the lower back in ground work, as well as riding has been lost. The lower back, along with the hip sockets, is one of the most integral parts of our bodies in terms of allowing or blocking the flow of energy. In many ways,…
It is a common scene. You arrive at the stables, 10 minutes late for your lesson. You rush over to the paddock to grab your horse, but he runs circles around you. After struggling a further 5 minutes, you eventually catch your horse and lead him up to your car where you hunt to find grooming…
We have already extensively discussed B. F. Skinner’s theory of Operant Conditioning. The four quadrants of conditioning, namely Positive Reinforcement, Positive Punishment, Negative Reinforcement and Negative Punishment, are frequently utilized by parents in order to shape their children’s behaviour. In the case of equines, some riders still believe that they can use positive and negative…
In the early 1940’s, a young man decided to oppose the brutality of equine “breaking”. He traveled extensively, even as a teen, facing insurmountable odds, in order to discover more about the inner workings of Mustang herds. His work was rejected and he spent his entire life trying to prove to the World, as well…
When jumping, as with the true meaning of dressage, it is important to know the aim of each jump. Jumps all have different functions and they can be used to improve a horse’s confidence and way of going. A cross pole is a jump shaped like an X, commonly used to introduce jumping to horses…