The ability to bend and become supple in both directions is one of the key qualities of all lateral work and ultimately helps to straighten the horse and enhance collection. Schooling the horse’s bend in both directions is paramount. Riding a circle helps the horse and rider achieve this goal. When a horse moves in […]
By Anpeytu Neier For several years, Translating Horsemanship, a clinic held in the spring and fall at Sage Creek Equestrian, has offered riders opportunity to create greater understanding of and with their horses. Martin Black and Donnette Hicks teach three days of concepts to build and refine the vital skills of timing, feel, and […]
Achieving the half pass is often begun by introducing a travers (haunches-in) to the horse. In this movement, the horse bends into the direction of the line of travel. This requires a lot of lateral suppleness, and is ridden as a four- track movement at about an thirty five degree angle. The rider’s position is […]
I’ve been sitting on the couch all morning, reading, studying, writing some messages, thinking about some of the horses I have in training. All morning? Who has time for that? Yes, all morning, because I spent time in the barn till late last night. There was a full moon. Even though I work for myself […]
It’s been a while since the last blog, the dog and I have been on the road travelling since mid May and only this week returned to Estonia. Midsummer here on the island, which means that it doesn’t really get dark. I’ve never before experienced this continuous light. For the dog it’s a reason to […]
In my last blog some weeks ago I talked about stillness and silence. It felt as if I was in some sort of flow with my horsemanship, mostly thanks to the social isolation I’d put myself in, willingly – because of the silence, not in spite of it. Of course things are a little different […]
Something I noticed now that I’ve had a number of horses arrive and leave again in my first two months here, is that I’m more than before trying to compare and assess them as they come in. I can be totally right and totally wrong about how they’ll turn out or how quickly they’ll be […]
We’ve said goodbye to January, and it’s been a good three weeks since I wrote my first blog for Eclectic Horseman. There is more daylight every day now, which is a delight in so many ways. Every Estonian I speak to says there might still be a chance for snow this winter. Nevertheless January has […]
This past dark December month it became clear to me once again how horsemanship connects people, not only to horses, but to each other, turning strangers into friends. Early December I headed north for Estonia from the Netherlands. With my sister’s help, who endured many a Dave Stamey song on the days she and I […]
Preface Here’s a rarity! A previously unpublished chapter/essay from the vault. This chapter was written in 2008; at the time I had just wrapped up A Horse’s Thought and had begun working on the book Between the Reins. I’m not entirely sure why it didn’t make it into Between the Reins, or one of the […]