First Do No Harm

This week we are chatting with Georgie from Master saddle fitters international. We talk about how the way the rider sits and the position of the rider maintains and the places their weight is distributed through the saddle affects the horses way of going.  When it comes to saddle fitting you have 3 elements that all have to work in relation to one another and you have the saddle that is an inanimate object that has to be the buffering interface between the symmetry or asymmetry of the horses and the symmetry or asymmetry of the rider and the compensation patterns. So many of us don't take enough consideration of the effects we have on our horses when riding them

Everyone has a trick to getting their horse to "accept" contact and "work in a frame" but not all tricks were made equal. Some ways that we can be asking a horse into a frame can be just as detrimental as riding hollow if not more so. In this podcast we discuss submission to contact vs acceptance of and working in to contact and our tricks for getting our horses to accept and work into contact. 

Check out our video training on how we work with green horses on accepting and working in to contact on our youtube channel

Ready to join the movement? Check us out at https://www.equestrianmovement.com/thearenagrande

This episode has been published and can be heard everywhere your podcast is available. Join us in todays episode where we discuss trying the hoof for long term limb soundness and management of conformational deformities with Lisa Agius-Gilibert from the glorious hoof. Lisa has also kindly put together a bonus video training on postural alignment starting with hoof balance.   

To get your bonus training go to:  www.equestrianmovement.com/theglorioushoof 

To check out Lisa's work and see more about how Lisa improves the overall alignment and conformation of the horses she works with, check her out on: 

Facebook at The Glorious Hoof  

Instagram at Theglorioushoofau  

Or on her website www.theglorioushoof.com.au

Join us in todays episode where we discuss trying the hoof for long term limb soundness and management of conformational deformities with Lisa Agius-Gilibert from the glorious hoof. Lisa has also kindly put together a bonus video training on postural alignment starting with hoof balance. 

To get your bonus training go to:

www.equestrianmovement.com/theglorioushoof

To check out Lisa's work and see more about how Lisa improves the overall alignment and conformation of the horses she works with, check her out on:

Instagram at Theglorioushoofau

Or on her website www.theglorioushoof.com.au

In todays episode we talk about how to achieve relaxation and swing in the saddle. We discuss how to get physical relaxation we first need mental relaxation. 

If we want to work with a horse that isn't shut down, is emotionally engaged in what we are asking, is learning from our cues and connecting with us so we can ask more challenging ask of them, we need them to have confidence in their job, what they've got to do, their aids, us, their environment and their experience. 

For mental relaxation our horses need to be:

- Pain free

When we work our horses for 100% submission we miss cues from our horses saying:

Ready to join the movement? Check us out at https://www.equestrianmovement.com/thearenagrande

In todays chat with equine consultant Frances Dixon we chat about equine psychology and her 4 main pillars of horsemanship: Nutrition, behaviour, management and training. If you want to learn more about Frances and how she works with horses you can check her out on:

Website: https://francesdixon93.wixsite.com/website

Instagram: fdequineconsultant

Facebook: Frances Dixon IEC

And her free facebook group: FDIEC Associates Group

Get your bonus training video here https://www.equestrianmovement.com/blog/musculoskeletal-canterleads

If you've ever struggled with getting the correct canter lead with your horse you will know how frustrating it is and how nerve wracking it can be when you're at a competition! Over the last 20 years of riding hundreds of different horses and training hundreds of different students, I've learnt a thing or 2 about perfecting it and here are my best tips:

Your seat aid and riding the canter strike off from your seat isn't everything.

When it comes to refining the canter lead strike off we certainly focus a lot on how we use our seat so that we can keep balance, engagement and impulsion into the strike off but if we have a problem with our canter leads this is not where we focus for 3 reasons:

- If you haven't established a light, soft seat you can be hollowing and disengaging your horses back away from you making it harder for them to get the correct canter lead and use their back

- The flick of your hip into the canter for the strike off doesn't clearly communicate to your horse what lead you want when you're teaching them. They have to figure it out for themselves.

- It is hard to use your seat exactly the same every time. Nailing that flick of the hip exactly the same way every single time you ride is nearly impossible and so also fudges your communication with your horse.

Bonus tips

- If someone else rides your horse you can GUARANTEE they won't use their seat the same way your horse will so your horse will be confused about canter leads all over again.

If you are a cuing genius and you still aren't getting the canter lead, in particular there is a lead your horse prefers there's a good chance your horse is working with crookedness. If your horse favours loading one shoulder over another or engaging one hind over another you will have a horse that is developing crooked and will favour one canter lead over another.

This is part of our responsibility for our horse. Essentially we are our horses PT and we need to ensure our horses muscle building happens evenly. The problem I see with a lot of riders is they also practice the lead that is easy because they don't want to do the work either!! Or the want the rewarding feeling of getting the correct strike off which leads to the horses muscle development becoming more and more uneven.

Aside from this creating issues in accuracy and quality in the way our horse works, it also has long term impacts on our horses soundness. Working crooked results in behavioural problems and back problems like pain that leads to bucking, rearing and bolting. If you think your horse is developing crooked but would like to know exactly how check out our gait analysis and we can coach you on how your horse is cheating the effort required to develop their body correctly plus you get 2 lesson plans which are your next best steps in developing your horse for straightness and soundness. 

Check out the gait analysis here

Ready to join the movement? Check us out at https://www.equestrianmovement.com/thearenagrande

If you find this episode helpful and you think you and your horse would benefit from this kind of training, visit https://www.equestrianmovement.com/trainability to learn more about what our training trainability program can do for your relationship with your horse.

We have so many great questions come through when we host our free stronger bond workshop in our facebook group, you can join us here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/5dayimprovehorserelationship

Join us in this podcast as I answer a few of them.

10 min 20: I don't feel like I'm the right person for my horse. I don't know how to teach them properly. I really just want to learn patience and how to relax so I can be a partner my horse can trust. 

16 min 30: My horse is aggressive, how do I manage its behaviour.

Ready to join the movement? Check us out at https://www.equestrianmovement.com/trainability

In this episode I share with you how to watch different trainers styles and techniques for training their horses and decide what you want to implement and if it aligns with your values. Specifically we talk about the natural horsemanship technique of getting our horse to "hook on" or "join up" and how I've used this in the past with my training but now prefer to use connection training. 

Check out this article on scientists who got horses to "join up" with a remote control car, effectively debunking the theory that it builds an emotional connection and relationship. https://phys.org/news/2012-07-urge-rethink-monty-roberts-horse.html 

The way that we work with the horse is effectively to just ask! However, there is a bit that goes into this depending on the horses previous experiences. Listen in for more on that! 

Want to watch it in action? Check out our Youtube channel 

Ready to join the movement? Check us out at https://www.equestrianmovement.com/trainability