DefinitelyDressage.com

leheath8

I have had mares exclusively for 30 years and have never had one need hormones. So it never even occurred to me to consider hormone issues when my current young horse started displaying some serious misbehavior under saddle (e.g. rearing, spinning, running backwards and sideways, flinging herself at...

leheath8

I was rather skeptical about them, and am not a fan of the look, but the Micklem bridle made my horse very obviously go from difficult to bridle to easy to bridle. Within 2 rides of switching back to a regular bridle, she becomes difficult to bridle again. She is a super skin sensitive horse (all ov...

leheath8

Seems to be rare in my area now too. I offered to pay travel time to multiple trainers who were anywhere from 5-30 minutes from my boarding barn, and none would do it no matter how much money I offered. Most trainers now seem to teach out of one or two barns (certain days or times at each) so I move...

leheath8

I'm interested too...what size?

leheath8

Well I was hesitant to join this one because we haven't had a good start so far. Having just sorted out the foot wear imbalance causing her previous perceived lameness, she developed another weird not-quite-right-ness! This time it was soon accompanied by a fairly significant allergic reaction to so...

leheath8

Dressage at Devon?

leheath8

Congratulations! What an exciting development and how exhilarating it must have been to feel all your hard work paid off!

leheath8

If the horse is at least somewhat reactive, Spanish Walk isn't too difficult to teach. It is especially easy if you have a horse that generally uses its front feet (i.e. paws), but those types can/will also "use it against you"! Basically, in halt, in hand, you tap the leg until they lift ...

leheath8

I definitely believe in barefoot as much as possible, but am not fanatical and will shoe if truly necessary. Further conversations with my farrier (as well as what the horse was also telling me!) have indicated that the uneven steps are from the balance of the foot more than actual discomfort (which...

leheath8

Apparently, Luna did not appreciate an extra day off this week. She has been ever so slightly (as in I couldn't be sure I wasn't imagining it) off and her body worker thought it was her feet. I had my trimmer in on Wednesday (normal riding day after Monday and Tuesday off) and she had worn her feet ...

leheath8

Good luck Moutaineer and I'll hope for a cooling breeze for you! Hah!... A violent microburst storm boiled up as we went into the arena. Laddie does not do wind. The trees were horizontal and you couldn't see where you were going for blowing sand. Two horses in a turnout right next to the judges bo...

leheath8

Good luck Moutaineer and I'll hope for a cooling breeze for you!

leheath8

What galopp describes is how I work my young horse. She has a somewhat shorter neck and is naturally high headed (lots of Shagya-Arabian blood). She is also super unpredictable at shows (some days it feels like I'm riding a dump truck, other days a Ferrari, with no hint ahead of time of which I'll ...

leheath8

What galopp describes is how I work my young horse. She has a somewhat shorter neck and is naturally high headed (lots of Shagya-Arabian blood). She is also super unpredictable at shows (some days it feels like I'm riding a dump truck, other days a Ferrari, with no hint ahead of time of which I'll h...

leheath8

Dresseur - I like that point of view regarding the neck muscles. It seems logical to me that, at rest, it is natural for the horse to have some under neck muscling depending on their conformation, lifestyle, and natural bearing, but that it should be soft when in motion while being ridden.

leheath8

Ryeissa - happy to hear it is nothing too serious with your pony. Mine appears to have a minor stone or heel bruise. It seems to be improving each day and doesn't get worse with work, so I think it will be OK with some lighter work, and no jumping, for a few more days. Dresseur - I hope your husband...

leheath8

Wow Bats79, what a beautiful development shown in your stallion! What breed is he? Bats79, your thoughts/comments on the neck muscling are interesting and something I was wondering about. As you say, the horse spends much more time using its neck naturally than it does working (correctly or otherwis...

leheath8

Ryeissa, I hope your horse comes right soon. My horse also just came up a bit sore. Bodyworker came today and was really happy with improvement in topline, hindquarters, and belly thanks to a ton of hill work this past month. Nothing specific or obvious causing the slightly not quite right movement ...

leheath8

Nice photos Flight! There are always things we could improve in our positions and our riding in general, but that is just part of riding...perfection is never achieved! ;) LOL Hope your lame horse recovers quickly and the weather improves. Regarding your position, you look like you are sucking back ...

leheath8

My reward for when we make it to the double bridle stage will be the Tota comfort noseband! I think you should continue your search - I thought my last bit was "ok" but tried my current bit on a whim and both my coach and I noticed an immediate difference. It wasn't a huge, enormous change...

leheath8

I had a Duett approx. 7 years ago and really liked it. They were good to work with (I sent photos of my horse) and the saddle fit me and the horse very well. I eventually ended up selling it to go with a treeless dressage saddle because my horse changed shape too darn often as she was growing and I ...

leheath8

I use a balding girth for both dressage and jumping. It eliminated girth sores/rubs and allows excellent shoulder freedom. I got mine from Hastilow USA but maybe you could find a maker in Australia? http://www.hastilowusa.com/girths/balding-girth.html

leheath8

Bummer on the Myler Mountaineer. My horse with similar mouth conformation really likes her basic egg butt Myler (not sure if its the barrel kind though - I think it is the standard one where the middle bit isn't so wide). She definitely prefers thinner vs thicker bits (she can barely close her mouth...

leheath8

I definitely try to monitor the muscular development of my horse to check that we are going in the right direction. I have noticed a significant increase in the triangular muscle at the base of her neck, so I think we are on the right track. This is Luna 12 months ago just after I bought her as a ju...

leheath8

Yay for you!

And beautiful photograph.

leheath8

Congrats Mountaineer on the successful show and an awesome 9!

leheath8

I understand what you're saying but I also have to consider that Emma is a keen horse, so again, I don't want to be "too careful" with her. I suspect she would figure out quickly that I was spotting potential spooky stuff and that would have it's own bad consequences. My very smart young ...

leheath8

Thanks for sharing your journey so far - I enjoyed reading it! I hope the cataracts are manageable. I know how you feel when work is so draining that you don't have the energy for anything else. My young horse basically got 3 months off being ridden at the beginning of this year because there was to...

leheath8

Leheath, another grey mare! I have a weakness for mares, and the greys are my favorites. If you told us about her somewhere I missed it. What breed is she? I don't think I introduced my grey mare! She is a 5yo Hungarian Felver (also part Shagya Arabian) so a rare breed and I bought her last year af...

leheath8

Rosie B - beautiful long lining photos! Ryeissa - I am eventer returning to eventing after many years in just dressage and I have really forgotten how much more cantering is needed for the jumping compared to my dressage work. I also find it easy to stop when the work was good, but try to find ways ...

leheath8

That is great Tuddy. My instructor has completed Karl's school and is working on the advanced phases of certification. I only get to ride with her a few times a year, but my horses and I have made such great progress since switching to this methodology several years ago and I think that it is thanks...

leheath8

1. My ideal is a feeling of the horse moving out to the hand - not leaning, not posing, but just coming lightly into the hand so there is constant, dynamic communication between horse and rider through the reins. To me, connection is a concept that speaks to the quality of the communication via cont...

leheath8

Thanks khall. I'm sorry for your loss of your instructor and hope you can find a new instructor to who can help you continue your journey. I know how happy I was when I found my current instructor a few years ago and how difficult I would find it to replace her while staying true to the training phi...

leheath8

We attended our third show this year (fourth show ever) this past weekend as well as 2 clinic rides and all went very well. I have been working on setting limits on Luna's teenager rebellion behavior and things suddenly came together and we started progressing again! :mrgreen: 2 solid tests (second ...

leheath8

Just found this forum via FB and happy to see how active it is! Love these threads so am a bit late, but happy to join in! Luna, my green 5yo Hungarian mare, has been, like many youngsters, taking several steps forward followed by a few steps back. Thankfully, we seem to be moving forward again the ...

Search found 35 matches

Re: Deneb:

Re: Micklem bridles solve what problem(s)?

Re: Trainers who come to you

Re: Back on Track bell boots

Re: Goals and progress... August and September!

Re: DaD!!!

Re: At long last ... !!!

Re: Strategies for developing medium and extended trot

Re: Goals and progress:. June and July.

Re: Goals and progress:. June and July.

Re: Goals and progress:. June and July.

Re: Goals and progress:. June and July.

Re: Lengthening the neck

Re: Lengthening the neck

Re: The "tells" of correct/incorrect work

Re: Goals and progress:. June and July.

Re: The "tells" of correct/incorrect work

Re: Goals and progress:. June and July.

Re: Goals and progress:. June and July.

Re: Goals and progress:. June and July.

Re: Experience with Duette saddles

Re: Girths for sensitive skin TB

Re: Goals and progress:. June and July.

Re: The "tells" of correct/incorrect work

Re: The Warhorse - the Tale of Tuddy

Re: Goals and progress:. June and July.

Re: Goals and progress:. June and July.

Re: The Warhorse - the Tale of Tuddy

Re: Goals and progress:. June and July.

Re: Goals and progress:. June and July.

Re: The Feeling of Connection and Contact

Re: The Feeling of Connection and Contact

Re: Goals and progress:. June and July.

Re: Goals and progress:. June and July.

Re: Goals and progress:. June and July.