Hidden Spring Farm

𝗔 𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 (𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀):

Most of the time, it’s not the judge.

When I watch tests back with riders, the issue is rarely the movement itself.

It’s the basics underneath it.

Here are 𝟲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 — 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻’𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝘁 👇

1️⃣ 𝗔 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱

If the horse loses balance, changes rhythm, or drops onto the forehand,

the transition wasn’t good — even if it was on the letter.

2️⃣ 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗮 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁

Straight lines need to be straight.

Circles need to be round.

“Nearly right” geometry is an easy way to lose marks.

3️⃣ 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱

Impulsion is engagement and connection.

If the horse is running or the contact isn’t consistent, the movement won’t score.

4️⃣ 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲

If you’re crooked, the horse will be crooked.

If you’re busy, the horse will be tight.

Good riding is quiet, stable, and clear.

5️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀

The way you enter, halt, and present the horse sets the tone.

It’s not about being fancy — it’s about being organised and confident.

6️⃣ 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲

You either look at the test honestly…

or you start blaming away.

Only one of those leads to better scores next time.

Most riders don’t need harder movements.

They need to make the simple things 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿.

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The Art of Not Making It Worse😆

Sensory gating is the nervous system’s filter. It controls how much information gets through so the brain does not get swamped.

When that filter opens too wide, sensory gating failure occurs. Too much comes through at once. Not because something is wrong, but because the nervous system thinks it needs more information to stay safe.

You already know this. Think about driving in fog or heavy rain. The music goes off. No one is allowed to talk. You lean forward like that helps. Less distraction equals better control.

That is not panic. It is competence.

Now imagine that same filter opening because you are tired, sore, stressed, or overwhelmed. Suddenly noise is unbearable and tiny irritations feel personal.

Same filter. Different reason.

Horses are no different. Away from home, separated from the herd, dealing with novelty, fatigue, or pain, their sensory gate opens. They scan, spook, react, and struggle to focus. Not because they are difficult, but because their nervous system is monitoring for risk.

Here is where humans make it worse.

We add more. More talking. More patting. More correcting. More control. More micromanaging. The system is already flooded and we turn up the volume.

This is why “look up and ride somewhere” is such powerful advice. It reduces noise, stops micromanagement, and gives the horse time to feel safe, secure, and able to focus.

If you always seem to end up with spooky, sensitive horses, it might not be bad luck. You may be unknowingly overwhelming their nervous system.

Calm does not come from more control. It comes when the system no longer needs to monitor everything.

Just like driving in fog, you don’t close the filter. You reduce the noise so you can cope with it.

Collectable Advice 113/365
Ideas worth saving, sharing, and thinking about. Not copying. And definitely not running through AI and reposting with confidence.

Illinois's Governor just put out this call to action as Trump threatens to illegally invade Chicago. Please send it along!

Great weekend in Aiken at Bruce’s Field! First show for both Nicole Kriak and her horse Nic. They had excellent scores in the mid 60s in all four rides! Diane Ritz rode Paramour, owned by Elizabeth Brown, in his first show as well. Paramour won both of his Materiale classes with excellent remarks from both judges and scored 83.5% on his very first test! Both of these young horses handled the horse show environment like seasoned competitors, which is impressive considering they are 7 and 5 years old!!!

This 🙌🏼

*** LENGTH OF SCHOOLING SESSIONS ***

Following my post from this morning, about Johnnie only working for 15 minutes, as he worked so well, I thought I’d give my opinion on how long horses should be worked for. This is my opinion. It is based on both my experience and understanding as a rider and horsewoman, and my knowledge as an equine vet with 12 years’ experience.

My horses are never, ever, schooled for longer than 30 minutes. This is more than enough time to achieve something, and if you haven’t achieved your goal after 30 minutes, it’s unlikely that you will by plugging on for longer. This 30 minutes includes my warm up, and a couple of short walk breaks.

I haven’t really had lessons for many years, but when I trained with Jennie Loriston-Clarke, and then more recently with Olly Barrs, their lesson times are 40 minutes. This includes warming up and warming down. Frequently, they wouldn’t go on past 30 minutes. Horses learn by repetition, not by grilling them for an hour at a time.

Horses also break easily. They damage ligaments and tendons. Yes, this is often unlucky and frequently caused by a sudden twist in the field. But it’s also frequently caused by too much schooling, especially if the surface is deep, or uneven. Proximal suspensory ligaments are not designed to take the weight of a horse in collected work for hours. Once a PSL is damaged, you are often looking at a lengthy rehab, or surgery to cut the nerve that supplies it (neurectomy). That is not to say that every horse with PSD has been overworked, before I offend anyone!

Horses break more easily when they are tired. A tired horse is more likely to trip, possibly resulting in ligament or tendon damage. Muscle needs some degree of fatigue to condition it, but not to the point of exhaustion.

A horse’s brain also breaks easily. Fatigue can also be mental. Granted, some horses’ brains don’t take much to break, but if a horse becomes stressed or can’t work out what you are asking him that day, then take a 24 hour break, and go for a hack, or just lunge the next day. Or give him a day off.

Most horses will be fit enough for their job, without being ridden 6 days a week. The main issue with lower level competition horses, is that many are fat. Exercise is a great way to get horses to lose weight, true, but not without reducing the amount of grass or hard feed they are receiving. Schooling a fat horse for an hour, will cause joint, tendon, and ligament problems in the long term. Find hills to slowly jog them up, or even walk them up, if you are wanting to exercise more to help with fitness and/or weight loss. Don’t school them more. Trotting endlessly around a flat arena isn’t really going to help with fitness.

If you are going to school, then add plenty of variety. Make sure the horse is working from behind, and not dragging himself along on his forehand. If you don’t enjoy schooling, you will be more inclined to switch off and trot endless 20m circles. So go for a hack first, and then just do ten minutes of intense schooling when you get home. That will keep both human and horse brains fresh!

This is an enormous topic, and it would take me days to cover it all, so this is really a brief summary. Keep schooling sessions short and productive, and if the session is going wrong, take a break!

Photo is of my wonderful Harold, on his lap of honour for winning the Advanced Medium Regionals, to qualify for the National Dressage Championships, a good few years ago now!

Feel free to share.

Jean Bemelmans, master trainer, tells us:“In the end the submission is the most important thing. It comes down to the stop and go, and if the stop and go is very good, then horses get supple. Some horses have a better balance, some horses you have to work on it, and with the transitions, you get balance.”
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2021/05/tip-from-the-top-with-jean-bemelmans/

Great results from this months Warhorse HT. While it was very wet, it was also very fun and well run as usual.

Sophie and Baloo did their first starter HT together. An impressive dressage score of 21.7 put them in the lead and despite a few time penalties, they held onto the lead for a blue ribbon!

Gina and Just One More also lead their starter division after dressage. A cautious ride (due to concerns over slipping on XC) gave them a few too many time penalties and sadly took them out of the placings but thrilled with a confident ride in both jump phases and no jump penalties.

Katie Grochmal and Mystic Love Song made it back to competition after more than three years since their last run. They laid down a first place dressage test and finished on their dressage score of 22.4 after two beautiful and clean SJ and XC rounds in their BN division.

Kym Ferguson and Mouse made their Eventing debut at BN. A competitive dressage had them sitting in 3rd and they finished in 2nd with just one rail to add to a solid first time out.

Jessie Hayes and Fatty also made it back to 3 phase competition after a lengthy break. Great dressage and two awesome double clean jump phases put them in 3rd place in a large and competitive division.

Marsha Severt and Tenley Jones were able to join in the fun on Saturday for the schooling day. Tenley and May are showing great potential in all phases and Marsha did a great jon channeling Brody’s obvious excitement to be back out on XC.

❤️❤️❤️

Feel isn’t magic—it’s a skill that forever evolves.
It’s not just what you do. It’s what you notice too.

That slight shift in your horse’s back? That moment of softness in the rein? That’s feel.
It’s timing. It’s instinct. It’s the split-second where everything clicks.

Want to build it?
- Ride with awareness.
- Breathe with your horse.
- Get quiet—then listen.
- Reflect after every ride.
- Ride different horses if possible.
- Trust yourself.

Feel is what separates good from evolving riders.
It's not loud. It's not flashy.
It’s subtle. It’s powerful.
It’s earned.

You don’t need to chase feel.
Just ride for it—every single day.
Its a light bulb moment for you and your horse