Sprinkled, like confetti. This is how I think the half halt should be applied to your ride. Little ones that are really everywhere. None of them too big. Or ‘stand out’. Yet all of them working together to give the desired effect or result.

For many riders, the half halt, rather than being like confetti, becomes more like broadsheet newspapers scattered randomly around the arena. Not too many, some altogether. And not really having any use other than to make things look messy and unorganized.

How do you get your broadsheet size half halts to resemble a piece of confetti? You refine. And refine… The energy that you are putting into that one ‘big’ half halt (your standard broadsheet), divided up and divided amongst a whole lot of smaller, more refined half halt (your ‘confetti').

Yes, I realize I am really oversimplifying something that so many riders struggle with, the trusty half halt. And yet, it really is that simple. It is riders ‘wanting’ to make it harder than it really is... That is the real struggle with the half halt. And they want to make it harder because, although it is simple, it is usually not that easy to grasp when actually riding.

I have spoken about the half halt a lot… It really and truly is a sticking point for so many riders. I won’t get into too much of the what and why (you can read about that HERE and HERE and HERE if you’re interested). Instead, I want to give you some practical tips you can use while riding to help you work on turning your half halt from a broadsheet to a tiny piece of confetti.

Light, lovely, and a feel-good sign for all who experience it.

Read More...

• • • FREE Half Halt Training Audio
    • 3 Ways to Use the Half Halt in Your Riding
    • Harnessing the Power of the Half Halt
    • Improving Your Ride with the Half Halt
    • Understanding and Refining Your Half Halt
    • Your Half Halt on the Ground with Your Horse
    • Connection in Your Riding; Your Seat and Legs
    • Connection; My Online Membership for Equestrians
    • Online community for equestrians working on their mindset & fitness
    • Online Community for equestrians focusing on re-schooling horses (and ex-racehorses

Can you put into words what the half halt is? Let’s say you are speaking with your friend, who is not a horsey person, and you’re telling her all about the half halt. What would you say? This week I had two eye-opening conversations. One with a rider and one with my sister… I drew a similar conclusion from both conversations.

My conclusion? There are a whole lot of riders out there who don’t really know what the half halt is, or why everyone goes on and on about it…

So, back to you and your version of the half halt… It might be easier to start with what it is not. A half of a halt! But, you knew that, didn’t you. And yet, there are many riders who are surprised at that. “It’s kind of slowing down, but not actually letting the horse stop…, I think…” No, that’s not quite it.

The half halt is a few things in riding. However, we can simplify things by dividing the purpose of the half halt into three simple categories

1. An effective ‘intercom’ system between you and your horse 2. A little ‘fixer-upper' 3. An effective way to help you and your horse maintain balance, focus, and forwardness

I am a firm believer that most riders can take the number of current half halts they ride every time they're in the saddle and double or triple that number. And that is just to get started with! We are simply not doing enough half halts. And the irony is, that when you are getting started with it, the more you do, the less you will have to do it later.

The half halt is really one of those things that you can do a lot of the work up front and reap the benefits later.

• • • FREE Half Halt Training Audio
    • The Aids to Ride the Half Halt
    • Harnessing the Power of the Half Halt
    • Improving Your Ride with the Half Halt
    • Understanding and Refining Your Half Halt
    • Your Half Halt on the Ground with Your Horse
    • Connection in Your Riding; Your Seat and Legs
    • Connection; My Online Membership for Equestrians
    • Online community for equestrians working on their mindset & fitness
    • Online Community for equestrians focusing on re-schooling horses (and ex-racehorses

What would happen to you and your riding if you began embracing your unique style as a rider? If instead of trying to ride like someone else, you began to really understand and know what it is to ride like you?

I think that many riders are trying to ride like or act like someone else in their riding. Maybe it’s the rider at the barn who has been at this a few years longer than you. Or the rider who is 10, 20, or 30 years younger than you. It could be the rider who has never had their own horse, meaning they have ridden any horse they had the opportunity to ride for the past 10 years. Or the rider who is quiet, reserved, and calm under pressure…

As equestrians, we all have riders we admire. Riders we would like to become 'more like’ in our own riding. But they are not you.

The key is to really begin to understand your own unique style as a rider, and from that place, begin blending complementary techniques and styles into your mix.

• • • Riding & Acting; The Connection
    • What Does an Equestrian Look Like? Diversity in Our Sport
    • What's Your Riding Number?
    • Connection; My Online Membership for Equestrians
    • Online community for equestrians working on their mindset & fitness
    • Online Community for equestrians focusing on re-schooling horses (and ex-racehorses

What will you be doing with your horse this week? Seem’s like an innocent enough question… ‘Ah, a bit of this and a dash of that’...

And there is the problem. If you committed to actually planning out the answer to this question for the coming 4 weeks in your riding, you can, potentially, change everything.

So many riders are doing the same thing, day in and day out, and then feeling frustrated by the lack of results.

They go out there, day after day. Clock in their respective rides. For some, it might be 4 a week. Others might be happy with 2 a week. There is a feeling of accomplishment having ‘gotten in’ the two or four rides for that week. But what has really changed? What was intentional? Focused?

And are your results merely reflecting your lack of doing anything different?

Is it possible that you are, in fact, seeing results? You are failing to see them because they are simply the same ones you’ve been seeing for quite a while now… Doing the same thing over and over will achieve one result. The same one! Expecting anything different is wishful thinking!

Read More...

• • • Join Connection today (cancel anytime)
    • Out of Planning and Into Action
    • Planning for Progress in Your Riding
    • What's Your Riding Number
    • Lunging for Riding 
    • Groundwork for Riding
    • My free online community 

How many times have you been working with your horse on the lunge, only to have your line end up a tangled mess? Or perhaps your horse did something unexpected. Maybe he turned in or went from 0 to 60 in .5 of a second, and you couldn’t respond quickly enough because of a loopy, knotted, or twisted lunge line?

Your lunge line is an important artificial aid that you can use to actively encourage contact and connection with your horse.  However, that is pretty much impossible if it is a tangled up mess!  The good news is that with a little practice, you can begin making your lunge line work for you and your horse, rather than against you in your lunging.

Not all lunge lines are made equal. Before we even begin here, I want you to consider the quality of your current lunge line. Ideally, you want one that has a little weight to it, rather than a flimsy, flappy about one.

That being said, you also don’t want one that is so heavy, gravity is having a greater influence than you in the conversation! There is a happy medium, play with what you like and what works best.

Read More...

• • • Developing Contact on the Lunge using Your Lunge Line
    • Improving Your Riding Coordination & Aids While Lunging
    • Join Connection today and transform your riding journey
    • Lunging for Riding – 4-week step by step program to transform your lunging experience
    • Online community for equestrians working on their mindset & fitness
    • Online Community for equestrians focusing on re-schooling horses (and ex-racehorses)

Have you ever considered that, if something is not ‘working’ in your riding, the reason might just be a lack of forward? We spend a lot of our focus on making sure we have established relaxation and rhythm. Yet, working forward is actually essential for either of those two to be present and working for you in your riding.

Here are 4 simple actions you can take every time you ride to help you begin to both establish and maintain forward in your riding.

Forward is when you and your horse are going somewhere with a sense of purpose. It is the opposite of going nowhere slowly! It is the energy, the intention, and the momentum that must be present in order for anything else to work.

You must think forward. You must feel confident moving forward and you must then take action on the forward. It is mental, emotional, and physical.

I believe that forward must be present and established before relaxation and rhythm. And yet, forward is not rushing and racing. It is not frantic or chaotic. Nor is it excessive tension. It is mental, emotional, and physical.

Read More...

• Join Connection today
• Learning to Stop Blocking with Your Seat - Part 1
• Learning to Stop Blocking with Your Seat - Part 2
• Online coaching and audio horse riding lessons for equestrians
• Groundwork for Riding
• Online community for equestrians working on their mindset & fitness
• Online Community for equestrians focusing on re-schooling horses (and ex-racehorses)

Your lunge line is not there to keep your horse on the circle while lunging. I would love for you to take a moment just to consider this statement. Is it at all possible that you have been using your lunge line, in some shape way or form to do this for you?  If lunging is not enjoyable, a tug of war, or just too darn difficult, this could be why.

Have you been using your lunge line to keep your horse on the circle, rather than to develop contact and connection with your horse?

Here is my step by step system to turn that around for you in your lunging...

Your lunge line is an artificial aid. And artificial aids are fantastic if used correctly. The keyword is "correctly". Many riders have allowed themselves to be led down a path where the use of artificial aids, such as lunge lines, lunge whips, or lunging arenas, is frowned upon.

Artificial aids are there to back up or support your natural aids.

And, you can always refine your natural aids, over time, to the point where artificial aids are no longer needed or used all the time. In fact, this is one of your responsibilities as a rider. Doing the work to refine your aids.

Read More...

Additional Resources for Equestrians:-

• • • Improving Your Riding Coordination & Aids While Lunging
    • Join Connection today and transform your riding journey
    • Lunging for Riding - 4-week step by step program to transform your lunging experience
    • Online community for equestrians working on their mindset & fitness
    • Online Community for equestrians focusing on re-schooling horses (and ex-racehorses)

Are you guilty of saying one thing to your horse, when you actually mean another?  You're not alone!  This is the second part of a 2 part series all about blocking with your seat, and how to stop doing it! Part 1 is HERE

Before we dive into the actual riding exercises you can do to discover if you have been blocking.  And then, using those same exercises to actually begin allowing.  Let's get clear on what we mean when we say 'blocking'.

Blocking is when you mean to say ‘carry on’, but instead you say ‘whoa’. It is applying the resisting force of your seat when you actually want to simply allow your horse to really move your seat.

A lot can be learned about your influence on your horse in the walk. Slight changes and tweaks to what you are doing can have a big and, very important, noticeable impact on your horse's way of going. Use this to your advantage and test yourself…

In halt, take both feet out of your stirrups. From here, ask your horse to walk forward. Your goal is to simply follow your horse with your seat. Like dancing. Your horse is the lead partner. You are literally a split second ‘behind’ your horse's movement and yet moving with him - not being dragged!

As your horse walks, pay close attention to the rhythm of the walk and how much ground he is covering with each stride.

Read More...

Additional Resources on This Topic

• • • Learning to Stop Blocking with Your Seat - Part 1
    • Learn to Stop Driving with Your Seat
    • Connection in Your Riding; Seat and Legs
    • Your Independent Seat is a Result of Your Independent Aids
    • Your Independent Seat is Everything in Your Riding
    • Improving Your Feel in the Saddle
    • DEVELOP YOUR AIDS THROUGH LUNGING – UPCOMING FREE ONLINE LIVE TRAINING
    • Online coaching and audio horse riding lessons for equestrians
    • Groundwork for Riding
    • Online community for equestrians working on their mindset & fitness
    • Online Community for equestrians focusing on re-schooling horses (and ex-racehorses)

So you say go. But immediately follow it up with whoa. And all because you’re blocking with your seat. It’s like trying to drive a car with the handbrake on! And you continue to blame the car for not going forward…

For many riders, the even more frustrating part of it is that it can be hard to notice. If you are blocking with your seat, you probably don’t even realize you’re doing it.  I have 2 exercises for you to ride that will help you feel if you are indeed blocking with your seat or not…

But before you begin riding, I first want to make sure we are on the same page with regards to your seat...

There are basically 3 basic ways your seat can be used to influence your horse. Go, whoa, and neutral. Driving, resisting, and allowing. It is the ‘allowing’ part that so many riders struggle with. Go or driving is when you use your seat to ask for forward or more. Resistance is how you ask your horse to steady, slow down or stop using your seat

Allowing is the equivalent of telling your horse to 'carry on’. It means that the energy can move underneath you, through your horse's body, on its path from the backend to the frontend.

Read More...

Additional Resources:-

• Learn to Stop Driving with Your Seat
• Connection in Your Riding; Seat and Legs
• Your Independent Seat is a Result of Your Independent Aids
• Online coaching and audio horse riding lessons for equestrians
• Groundwork for Riding
• Online community for equestrians working on their mindset & fitness
• Online Community for equestrians focusing on re-schooling horses (and ex-racehorses)

Have you ever considered that, when riding, you have been thinking about things all wrong? You have been trying to move your horse; rather than asking your horse to move. One of the areas I see riders trying to move their horse is when working laterally. Leg yielding is a great example. Riders will try to push and shove their horse across the arena.

You don’t move the horse. You ask your horse to move. If you began to actually implement this in your riding, it has the power to change everything.

Efforting does not equal results. Especially where lateral work is concerned. The key is to have built responsiveness to a point that you can ask a question of your horse, and your horse will simply respond.

Read more...

• Solving Leg Yielding Problems
• Lateral Movement - Leg Yielding
• Using Lateral Work to Improve Your Walk
• FREE Weeks Riding Plan
• Online community for equestrians working on their mindset & fitness
• Online Community for equestrians focusing on re-schooling horses (and ex-racehorses)