The Horses, Breeding, and Evolution of Show Jumping with Helena Stormanns

Muscle tension and underdevelopment are a precursor to injury, making topline development crucial to keeping horses healthy and sound. Elasticity through the back allows horses to move freely, support riders, and meet our performance expectations. So why do so many performance horses have underdeveloped muscles and signs of discomfort?

Unfortunately, a lack of knowledge, overlooking pain symptoms, and the absence of species-appropriate care keeps many horses in constant tension–but we can change that.

In this conversation, Caroline is joined by licensed equine bodyworker and educator Ansley Bevan, who shares her knowledge of equine biomechanics and identifying pain to sustain a healthy topline. They cover a wide range of topics and solutions, including: 

• Assessing your horse’s topline by observing them in motion and palpating their muscles.

• Signs of pain you may have missed.

• Why poor saddle fit can cause atrophy and compensatory movement.

• Whether nutrition has a role in topline management.

• What is species-specific care, and why it’s critical for supporting the horse's natural movement and digestive system.

• How to rehabilitate the topline with saddle fit, groundwork, and movement.

If you love this podcast and want more visual demonstration, Ansley’s course on assessing and rehabilitating the topline will be available on EquestrianMasterclass.com on March 4, 2024.

“More impulsion!” Most of us have heard our coaches cry – usually accompanied by a hearty clap or imitation of riding forward. But what does ‘impulsion’ actually mean to you, your trainer, or the judge scoring you?

By listener request, we’re breaking down riding terms that have mystified riders for years. Caroline is joined by Rob Van Jacobs, a USEF “R” Rated judge for hunters and equitation. As a judge, trainer and rider, Rob interprets the differences between rhythm, tempo, pace, and speed not as semantics but as part of a show ring strategy. 

Understanding these terms can improve your communication as a rider or trainer, and influence your decisions moving forward. For instance, knowing ‘tempo’ can help you select which show rings your horse can thrive in and offer important considerations for buying horses. We’ll also cover:

• Why pace is more helpful than speed in the jumper ring

• The difference between natural vs. created impulsion

• What “hacking” actually means and how it relates to recovery and fitness

• How to make a good first and last impression on a judge (yes, judges do notice if you forget to pet your horse!)

Caroline and Rob also dive into some hot topics like whether or not judges need to have equivalent riding experience to the classes they are judging and where we may need to draw the line on draw-reins.

Amelia White was just 18 years old when she was the victim of a traumatic car accident that changed her entire life. A university student and active eventer, Amelia suddenly found herself out of school, out of the saddle, and in ongoing surgeries. Despite doctors’ best efforts, Amelia was left with a permanent disability that required her to change her goals and aspirations. 

In this inspiring episode, Amelia sits down with Caroline and reflects on her journey that took her from lying in a hospital bed, to achieving her Master’s, to trotting down the centerline at the Paralympic Games. 

Amelia’s ambition, sense of humor, and dedication are nothing short of extraordinary, and you won’t want to miss her insights on:

• How focusing on what you can control can help you through traumatic or difficult times.

• Why mental health detriments may come years after an accident.

• Her initial resistance to becoming a para-rider.

• Why Olympic success does not guarantee an easier path.

• How to balance a career with your equestrian ambitions.

• What personal sacrifices it takes to make it to the top.

Support our show by supporting our sponsors: 

Nikovian - Luxury apparel for equestrians (use code noellefloyd15 at checkout!)

Connaway and Associates - Equine Insurance Services

Equestrian Masterclass - go to equestrianmasterclass.com/voices for $50 off an annual membership!

There’s no taking the spook out of a horse. As prey animals, horses will always want to run away first. Combine this fact with modern breeding programs that produce lighter, more responsive horses and many of us may find ourselves riding with a pounding heart and sweaty palms, fearing that inevitable spook.

But a spooky horse isn’t a problem; it’s the symptom of a problem that starts with your relationship.

Josh Nichol has helped countless of riders develop healthy partnerships with their horses through his method of Relational Horsemanship™. He joins Caroline for a thought-provoking conversation about how meeting your horse's needs can forge deeper connections, encourage softness, and reduce spooking. They also cover practical and key techniques like:

• Meeting your horses’ self-preservation needs with mind, space and pressure. 

• Encouraging a horse to think with pressure and softness.

• Using mindfulness to manage your reactions to your horse.

• Recognizing where a horse stores tension in their body.

• Understanding the difference between masculine and feminine energy in horse training.

• Why doing own own internal work can strengthen our partnerships

Support our shoy by supporting our sponsors: 
Nikovian - Luxury apparel for equestrians (use code noellefloyd15 at checkout!) 
Connaway and Associates - Equine Insurance Services
Equestrian Masterclass - go to equestrianmasterclass.com/voices for $50 off an annual membership! 

Thinking about all the ways our sport needs to evolve can be overwhelming. When there are so many organizations, individuals, and stakeholders we want to inspire change in. However, evolving the sport doesn’t need to start at the top. It can start with you right now; with your mindset as a rider or trainer.

Annette Paterakis is a mindset coach for equestrians and the author of “Winning Habits – How Elite Equestrians Master the Mental Game.” Annette helps all levels of riders, including Olympians, build confident, consistent, and powerful mindsets and behaviors. 

In this episode, Annette and host Caroline speak about the student-trainer relationship and how introspection and vulnerability can move us closer to our goals. They also dive into:

• The mental difference between top riders and everyday equestrians (spoiler alert: it’s not as much as you might think!)

• What is the student’s responsibility, and what is the trainer’s

• Practical tips for getting the most out of the student/trainer relationship (whether you’re the student or the trainer). 

• How the relationship should shift from ‘parent/child’ model, to ‘adult/adult’ and become more reciprocal

• Our most important responsibility as riders

Support our show by supporting our sponsors: 

Nikovian - Luxury Equestrian Apparel 
Equestrian Masterclass - Empowering Equestrians Everywhere

It was a record-breaking year for Equestrian Voices, as we won two more awards (W3 Awards) and topped the Goodpods chart. We couldn’t have done it without you, our listeners! From the entire EV team - THANK YOU. 

To celebrate this remarkable year, host Caroline Culbertson is rewinding 5 favorite moments of the pod in 2023 with colleague and longtime media friend, Sally Spickard. 

Many of you will already know Sally Spickard–you’ve definitely read her content before. Sally has written over 4000 equestrian articles, currently produces Equestrian Masterclasses for NOELLE FLOYD, and is the co-publisher of Eventing Nation. 

Sally and Caroline are breaking down our most memorable moments in 2023, including:

• How more equestrians can embody athletic identities to match the fitness expectations we have for our horses

• How we can merge honoring our horses’ best selves with our own ambitions

• What it means to be confident in the saddle, and how self-awareness and self-dialogue can get you there

• How we can begin to repair our relationships with our horses and with ourselves

Listening to this recap will ensure you don’t miss some of the most powerful, transformative moments of the year. Not only can these clips uplevel your riding, but they can enhance the way you relate to your horse, yourself and the sport.

Michael Pollard had what most of us could only dream of - a meteoric rise in the discipline of Eventing (including winning a Pan Am Games team Gold Medal in 2011), a string of talented horses, a strong non-horse business that supported his riding career, and a supportive group of sponsors, friends and family. 

But then, to the surprise of many, Michael retired from the sport in 2016, selling all of his horses. He went from spending most of his time training and riding, to not sitting on a horse for several years. 

In a strikingly candid conversation, host Caroline Culbertson sits down with Michael to get the story behind this difficult decision; the events that led up to it, the immediate aftermath, and how he’s come back to the sport now as not only a different rider, but also a different person. 

This special, not-to-be-missed discussion also touches on many taboo, yet common, aspects of horse sport, including: 

• A frank dialogue about addiction, and how it nearly derailed his entire early riding career

• Financial strain of competing, especially at the top level

• Addressing the holes in your training

• Dealing with the loss of a horse (and in Michael’s case, multiple horses at once in a devastating trailer accident)

• Balancing riding with family, and the tough calls that are made along the way

• How to allow yourself to be OK with changing paths while deciding what truly matters in your life

• Why taking a break from horses doesn’t have to be a thing you avoid doing at all costs

• 3 little things to do if you’re getting back into riding after a break

As the days get shorter and the weather gets colder, the time comes once more for the biggest decision of the winter: Do you blanket your horse, or not? And, which one? (Heavy, medium, medium-light, neck or no neck?!) 

Some riders put a sheet on at the slightest sign of a chill, while others keep their horses bare regardless of outside conditions. And of course, there are the temperature charts that pop up each year, which are meant to apply hard and fast rules to blanketing, but never actually seem to. 

In this episode of Equestrian Voices, host Caroline Culbertson sits down with Dr. Michelle DeBoer of the University of Wisconsin, who has a PhD in Animal Science and whose research delves into this singular question of horse ownership. 

In their extremely informative discussion, they discuss all things blanketing, and some of the ancillary topics blanketing invariably brings up, including:

• Thermoregulation, and how horses use it to keep themselves warm (and how clipping alters that process)

• Why thinking that if you’re cold, then your horse is also cold, is incorrect

• How breeds, body size, and age should affect your blanketing choices

• Why a hot bran mash doesn’t actually help keep our horses warm (though it does warm our hearts!)

• Whether or not blanketing early in the season means you have to continue to blanket all season

• What outside factors to take into consideration when thinking about blanketing besides just the weather

To learn more about Dr. DeBoer's work, check out her Equine PhD page. You can read a summary of the Norway study referenced in this episode here.

Horses are well known for their power to heal. The positive feelings we have after spending time with our horses are, after all, one of the main reasons why we ride, and equine therapy is used to treat a wide range of physical and mental health challenges. 

How often, though, do we think about the flip side of the coin - how do our actions help, or hinder, our horses’ mental and emotional well being? How can we as horse lovers be more in tune with the spiritual needs of our partners, and show up for them in a state that disrupts their natural way of being as little as possible? How can modalities like bodywrok help our horses heal when they need it? 

This week, host Caroline Culberston sits down with Gabriel Gandzjuk, better known as Good Shepherd Gabriel, to discuss his work healing horses with both mental and physical injuries in their lives mainly through shiatsu massage and acupressure. Their deep conversation also delves into:

• What “healing for horses” means, both physically and mentally

• How horses process touch, and how it figures into his work

• The ways in which horses process grief, and how we can support our horses when they experience it

• Pain and stress behaviors in horses from the perspective of a practitioner who grew up outside of the horse world and didn’t come to them until adulthood

• How you can support your horse spiritually, physically, and emotionally

You’ve just left the barn after another frustrating lesson, and you don’t know what to do. You know that your horse is more than capable of achieving the goals you’ve set for your riding, but in your heart, you also don’t feel like your horse is having fun in the process. How do you go about deciding when it’s time for a new direction for both you and your horse? What are the feelings that come up during the process, and once the decision is made, how do you move forward with a new partnership?  

In our latest Equestrian Voices episode, host Caroline Culbertson sits down with Equestrian Masterclass instructor Chelsea Canedy to talk about all of this and more, as Chelsea shares her first hand experience of selling her long time partner, Albert, and transitioning to a new (and very different) mare, Lila. They also discuss: 

• Evaluating your goals as a rider

• Deciding whether or not those goals line up what your horse enjoys doing

• Getting a handle on your ego as it relates to your partnership with a horse (new or otherwise)

• Finding your own, unique joy as a rider

• Integrating a new horse into your life

• The emotions wrapped up in purchasing a new horse, and selling an old one

If this episode resonates with you, Chelsea Canedy has a new Equestrian Masterclass training program available now that walks you through the first 30 days with a new horse, or gives you tools for a "relationship reset". Go to www.equestrianmasterclass.com/newhorse to purchase the bundle for $27.