Back to the Basics Training Program

ISO a small horse or large pony, to lease for 6-7 months. Gelding preferred, quiet for little kids to do pony rides on. Mainly going to be a companion to the other horse until the permanent resident arrives. If this is a tall ask, then open to buying same type of horse, older ok. Show me what you have

Stepped out of my comfort zone and took my first ranch riding lesson yesterday with Angie LoCascio. I have never ridden one handed, and I suck at it! Goals are to get to the June show for ETI Corral 37. Thanks Ang for your patience. You truly are the best western trainer!

I'm organizing a workshop on horse stretching and light bodywork. Is anyone interested in learning how to keep their horse comfortable and performing at its best?

Our next gymkhana is May 16th. Come support our team! If you’d like to join the fun, let’s bring your horse and test your skills. Contact myself or Angie for fees and details. Excited to grow our team and watch our current team get faster and faster!

First gymkhana under their belt! Our little SLR team represented well. Horses were rock stars and so were the girls. I love teaming up with and . Looking forward to a great season. Want to give a shout out to . The ground is so much improved! Now we can bring on the speed!

We have a gymkhana team forming, who wants to try their hand at ranch horse???

I don't usually keep up with the popular/unpopular opinions when it comes to training horses, from Pre-K all the way to finished performance horses.

There are so many different routes you can take, many are good and many are bad. You can tell if a bad route was taken because you will find holes on holes on holes in a horse's foundation. If done correctly, you will find a good foundation that gives you a competent and confident horse to go on with.

It really doesn't take long to get a horse trained when it's done the right way - usually 10 to 30 minutes a session depending on where the horse is in its training. But, I guess it doesn't take long (at first) if it's done in a crappy way too. You'll just have to make up for the crappy training later down the road, and that's when it's time consuming and difficult.

As trainers, or even just owners, we owe it to our horses to give them best chance at future success, even at the lowest levels. Cutting corners, strong arming, waiting to start them until they're too big to really manage...none of these are a part of the recipe for success. It's more like a recipe for disaster for you, the horse, and the person who will end up with them once you decide you're done dealing with the monster you essentially created.

Start them young.
Start them slow.
Build their foundation correctly.
Continue building (correctly) until you've got your finished product.

I don't know who needs to hear this, and maybe it won't be well received by some - but having a horse going along on long, slack, or soft reins is NOT THE SAME as having a horse in self-carriage... and, SPOILER ALERT - holding the horse in a frame with shortened reins isn't self-carriage, either.

In fact, if you don't work on the physical side of self-carriage AND the emotional side, you won't be getting TRUE self-carriage.

Why?

It's a 2 part system to be TRUE self-carriage. Not one or the other. Too often, though, we see riders with loose reins calling it self-carriage on one side of the fence... and on the other side of the fence, we see riders pulling the reins and pushing the body and calling it self-carriage (or even collection) because they are holding everything together.

The true self-carriage rides that fence line between.... it takes both the physical side and the emotional side in order to be "complete." True self-carriage benefits the MIND and the BODY of the horse for long term emotional and physical soundness.

#1) PHYSICAL SELF-CARRIAGE is the when the horse engages the hind leg to lift the forehand, maintaining their own posture and natural state of balance, in spite of the added weight of the rider or complexities of geometry... without relying on the rider's hands for support.

#2) EMOTIONAL SELF-CARRIAGE is when the horse engages their thinking brain to regulate their flight instinct, maintaining their own mental calm without relying on the rider to micromanage their emotions.

If you don't have #2, you will never truly have #1.

And if you don't have #1, you won't be able to keep #2 because the horse won't be able to maintain the clear thinking that comes from a state of dynamic physical balance.

Dynamic physical balance requires an "athletically relaxed/focused" body that is developing in strength and endurance. A relaxed/focused body requires a relaxed and focused mind.

Start with the mind and then the body can follow.

But the body has to be encouraged to follow. It won't "just happen"... not any more than you being relaxed will "just happen" you into great physical shape and balance.

You are your horse's life coach and fitness coach. It's your responsibility to help them develop emotionally and physically.

As Charles de Kunffy would tell us over and over... "There is no neutrality in riding. You are either building them up, or you are breaking them down."

It might be easier said than done, but most things worth pursuing are. And I think your horse is worth it.