Rudy Horsemanship

The sketchy Training Pyramid. How good is your foundation? What is foundation anyways??? Some stages you DO want to get through as quickly as possible- like using both reins towards the fence to keep the horse from falling in. If you HAVE to do that, ok, but you want to build an inside leg to outside rein connection and get that inside rein off the horse’s neck as soon as possible. ... Some stages need to be really solid before you add on! Some movements are like the top ladder in this picture- they are precarious no matter what is under them. Flying lead changes, reining spins, jumping at height, passage, cow work, you better have a good solid platform to build these movements on top of! These are things you can expect to fail at, so you need a good enough foundation under you that you don’t go crashing to the very bottom of the training scale- because that is a long hard fall!! See more

How far do you need to tuck your pelvis under while riding??? What’s this neutral pelvis about? Like all answers- it depends. The important part is to be aware of it and have control over it! There are different paradigms and schools of horsemanship that use seat aids differently, and that’s fine, but many riders are not even aware of their pelvic tilt. ... If I am doing a walk to canter transition, I might be on the green only. If I expect a horse might buck, I tuck under enough to get the orange on the saddle!! Most women struggle to tuck under far enough to engage the orange button, and many struggle to even engage the yellow. Men seem to be 50/50- either also struggling to engage the orange the button, or being tucked under so far that they live on the orange button and can’t find a light seat easily. Some good western horseman teach yellow button for neutral, green button to go, and orange button to slow. That plan doesn’t work for dressage, but can be brilliant for western disciplines and can even be modified for jumpers. The reason it doesn’t work for dressage- try opening up and moving your hips enough to sit a warmblood’s extended trot without sinking down into at least an orangey yellow position! Lol. A common problem I see Many students were taught to get their leg back under them, at the expense of their pelvis, and they are lucky if they can even get on their green button. When I get these riders I have them get comfy on orange! I don’t care if it puts their leg out in front of them temporarily- we can fix that later. Regardless of when you use which position, I’m encouraging you to be able to adjust your pelvic angle, and be conscious of when you use which position. If you like our posts, like, follow, and share (Now offering virtual lessons )

We are down to last call for Drill Team. We had so much fun last fall and can't wait to do it again. I have 6 confirmed, but we would love to add more. Here is some footage from one of the teams last fall... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOTTcHh0zIY... This is such a fun way to work on sooo many things. For me it was my cardio and leg yields. Before Drill team last fall I could barely trot for 3 mins without turning red....after drill team I was trotting for 8 mins and smiling!!! We do need to know by end of day Monday 07/03/21 so that Danee has time to create something fabulous (She always does)!! You can text me (Lisé) at 610-390-8554 or email to [email protected] to sign up.

One day my husband and I were teaching groundwork in a group setting. I think we were having people yielding the hindquarters, and I saw a woman whose horse would yield nice, but then back away like he didn’t trust her. So I told her to yield him, then invite him forward and pet on him. She looked exasperated!!! She said, Your husband literally JUST told me the opposite. He wants me to yield, then back him up. Inspite of being married to him, we do communicate occasionally,... so I walked over and asked him if that’s what he really did say, and if so WHY he would have her back up a horse that was clearly using the back up as an evasion. I found out that less then ten minutes ago, the horse would yield his hindquarters, but then be totally in her space, backing HER up. Alrighty then! So I explained to her why our instruction was so contradictory- the situation changed that fast. So I taught her to gauge her horse’s response and then use whichever was relevant at the time. Thankfully it was my husband and he was right there. If you teach and your student keeps saying my old teacher told me... (something that completely contradicts what you just told them), maybe the old trainer isn’t an idiot, maybe the student was doing the opposite of what they are now. Likewise, students, if one minute your teacher says hands up and the next hands down, or to go more forward and later says don’t rush... try to realize what is happening that makes your teacher say one instruction or another. If anything seems contradictory, ASK!!!!! Recognize that what applies to you may not apply to your friend and her horse. I mean, maybe it will, but again, ask. It might feel a little crazy relearning what you swore you just finally mastered, but that’s horses! You will constantly be refining and changing what you do. And that’s great! When you have to learn new aids because the horse that always fell on his inside shoulder suddenly falls on the outside shoulder, that’s progress!! When someone says slow the tempo after years of of hearing needs more energy pat yourself on the back. Those changes are you learning. See more

For those who know Outlaw- our border collie x Australian Shepard. He actually does help. He runs circles around every horse while they are being worked. They find it distracting at first but in no time they completely ignore him. It’s great for getting horses quiet and able to block out distractions. I even did a first ride with him circling. It actually made me more confident, as I knew that if someone suddenly opened the door next to the arena (which is oddly loud) Or a stupid pigeon suddenly dive bombed us, it would just blend in with all of the commotion already happening. Sometimes a more chaotic environment is actually a calmer one. Horses that get used to really quiet environment are the ones that tend to get nervous and reactive!

Hefty rider? People like to say a horse can hold a certain percentage of their body weight, but really, that percentage fluctuates so much based on build. People choosing a mount for a large rider often think a big draft type it best, but drafts are, in general, bred to push, not carry. They don’t necessarily have the best build for holding weight (though some do!) I tell people their first best choice may be a roping horse! Roping horse ARE bred to drag a big steer from the...ir saddle horn. Those types rarely develop kissing spine. But, of course, every horse should be looked at as an individual. Look for a long thoracic region (red) and a short, but WIDE, lumbar area (yellow). The thoracic region ends at the last rib. The lumbar region ends at the SI joint (pointy top part of the haunches). If a horse has this build, go ahead and try them with more weight. Watch the croup area- horses overloaded will have a jerky movement in this area during the trot. They will also look a little short behind. Also the better a horse’s postural muscles are, the more they can safely carry. A of course, age, arthritis, navicular, etc will all decrease a horse’s carrying capability. A horse not used to carrying a heavier rider will need time to acclimate, so stick with short rides. And of course a balanced rider is easier to carry than an unbalanced rider.

Lisé and Julie both playing with some rudimentary half steps.

Ride the ground, not the horse. Where to put your hands? Ok- first of all, this will eventually be refined as you learn consistent inside leg to outside connection. But until then your hand placement has to do with where the horse is at in relation to where you want to be. Imagine you are riding on a track. If the horse stays right on the track of your hands stay an even distance away from the horse's midline, and all is even and nice. But lets get real! Your horse is lik...ely to drift towards the gate/barn/his buddies, which means he falls in on one side, and falls out on the other side. If your horse is drifting out of your circle your hands stay right over your track. If your hands stay over your intended path and your horse drifts out, your inside hand now appears further away from the neck, and your outside hand is now near midline. Assuming a clockwise circle, your hands didn't move to the right of your horse, horse horse moved to the left of your hands!! As you keep going and you reach the other side of the circle, your horse is now falling in. Again, keep your hands over your track. This puts your inside rein against the neck and your outside rein away from the neck, drawing the horse out onto your intended path. This may sound complicated, but all it means is to keep your hands over the piece of ground you had planned on riding across! Now, if your horse gets so far off your path that this is impossible, you need to change tactics- PULL UP! Halt! Stop. Do NOT allow your horse to drag you off your path!!! After you've hit the breaks, get the horse to yield off your aids, back onto the path again, and then proceed like it never happened. This is leadership. A few of those and your horse will just stick to your path. To keep going with this imagery, really green horses get a wide path. Your hands are wider and they can wiggle a lot more and it be fine. But an educated horse gets a much narrower path. Of course, this takes an educated rider as well. Yes there are a few holes in this imagery as you advance, but for the most part you'll continue keeping your horse between your aids in a similar way, where you create a path, and if your horse bumps against the edge of the path, he feels the wall of your aids, and thus knows where to go.