Pre-Ride Prep

Connecting tools to our skills and limiting our indulgence with gadgets can help us orient ourselves on where to devote our energies. Honing our skills is investing in our abilities to become better for our horses. Horsemanship.

If you show, things are not always going to go according to plan A. Often things out of our control will cause our horses to struggle. A big topic and Mikal and Noel chat through some of their thoughts.

Life with horses and their learning process do not follow a linear path. Part of horsemanship is listening to the horse and supporting them accordingly. Having expectations on our horses can be an important element of growth however if we are too rigid in our expectations it can be detrimental for all involved.

Horses, having their own minds, often have some of their own ideas of what they feel they should be doing, whether it be a spook or loss of alignment. The sport world gives us fairly clear ideas of what is “correct” but how we deal with the deviations on our way to creating correctness is an important piece of horsemanship.

While all horses may be a bit quirky at some point in their lives, some horses tend to be that way all the time. While that quirkiness may be frustrating occasionally, with the right approach these horses often offer us the most. Another intriguing conversation between good friends and fellow horsemen Mikal Robinson and Noel Clark.

Often thought of as nature vs nurture, maybe horses help us see that both are important and are deeply interconnected. Another interesting conversation with good friends Mikal Robinson and Noel Clark.

A life with horses comes with its ups and downs. Mikal and Noel discuss the value of taking ownership and how horses can be our best teachers, if we’re willing.

Don’t move the mounting block; while it has value in the literal sense, it also has great value as a mindset. After a little time away another thought provoking conversation about becoming a better horse person.

Whether we are consciously communicating to our horses before our ride or not, the horse is receiving input. This can play a valuable role in the outcome of our ride. Regardless of what our pre-ride entails, the why might be the most important.

Having a great deal of information on horses, it can be easy to get stuck looking for perfection. Remembering progress with horses takes time can help us work through bit size pieces each day and move on. Building in those little bite sized progression add up to big change over time.