hunterjumper

You hear it all the time: “Young riders today don’t know about horsemanship.” “Kids today just want to get on and ride.” “There are no more barn rats.” These complaints point to a larger potential issue of losing generational knowledge. Is it something we, as horsepeople, should be concerned about? 

To help us answer this question, we turned to Archie Cox, owner and head trainer at Brookway Stables. Along the way, our broad conversation covered a lot of ground that should hopefully make us all feel a little better about the future, and a little more empowered about how we can all become better horsemen. 

Archie has been immersed in the horse world his entire life, and has operated Brookway Stables for 23 years. During that time, he’s coached numerous horses and riders to national titles and wins at the biggest shows in the country, and remarkably through it all, he’s kept the same manager, farrier, and vet. His daily routine revolves around starting early (as in 3am!), staying consistent, and keeping things simple - all of which he says contributes to his amazing success in the industry. 

In the conversation, host Caroline Culbertson and Archie discuss:

 

• Whether riders in 2023 know as much about horse management as riders in 1983

• The role of “tradition” and its connection to safety and function

• How passion acts as the driving force for those who seek out knowledge

• Social media, and why it’s such an important tool in horse education

• Archie’s two C’s: Consistency and Curiosity

• How to find your “flavor” of riding, and why the industry needs all types of riders

• The responsibility of trainers in teaching horse management as well as riding

If you ride horses and have been on the internet in the past two months, chances are good you’ve heard about “that” helmet study -- specifically, the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab’s Equestrian STAR Helmet Rating Project. 

On the plus side, we learned that a fancy helmet wasn’t necessarily any safer than a basic, no frills (and much less expensive) helmet when it comes to protecting against brain injury and concussion. On the not so plus side, many of us suddenly found ourselves with lower scoring helmets and no clue what to do next.

We had questions that we hadn’t seen answered yet - not just about the study and its findings, but about helmets in general. Host Caroline Culbertson sat down with Dr. Barry Miller and Sydney Moriarity to tackle things like:

What should the average rider take away from this study? How do riding helmets compare to helmets in other sports? What does Sydney, a rider herself, make of these findings and how could it inform our helmet shopping approach? What about helmets for different disciplines and levels? (Yes, there are differences!) 
 
Dr. Miller joined the VA Tech Helmet lab in 2018 as their Director of Outreach and Business, and was a part of the study from start to finish. Sydney Moriarty received her BS degree in Neuroscience from VA Tech and brought her first hand, practical experience to the table as an accomplished rider in the Hunter/Jumper discipline. 

In this discussion, we also dive into:

• The study’s methodology, and what the STAR rating means
• What was so surprising about some of the outcomes
• High Energy Impact vs Low Energy Impact falls, and why each type plays a huge role in helmet construction and safety
• How hair length and style plays into helmet fit and safety (spoiler alert, long hair is ok!)
• Why you probably shouldn’t put your helmet in the dishwasher…
• How helmet companies are responding to the study, and what next steps for the sport might be

If you would like to see the full study, including the methodology, please head to the official Equestrian STAR Helmet Rating Project results and documentation page. 

Here’s a summary of how the final Equestrian STAR Ratings was determined by Dr. Stefan Duma.

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.

In this episode, I chat with Celeste-Leilani Lazaris from The Travelling Horse Witch. Celeste heals both horses and humans using bodywork, breathwork and mindset - for more on this check out episode 11 of the podcast.

In our last podcast episode, Celeste touched on the importance of the thoracic sling and how releasing any nerve pain from this area and slowly teaching horses to carry themselves correctly is having a huge impact on the horses she is working on.

She has also shared many before and after posts and informational posts on her social media accounts which outlined how important this work is but it led me to ask her...ok this is great but how can we help our horses build up their front end?

Which brings me to this episode of the podcast! Together we have a conversation about traditional horse training and how the focus is predominately on the topline and the hindquarter which often fails to build up the chest and abdominals which is responsible for our horses being able to really carry themselves correctly.

Celeste talks about what the thoracic sling is, the findings she is seeing in the many horses she is working on, how we can start to really build our horses front end up and what our horses should feel like. 

+ so much more

Connect with Celeste here: https://www.wildmagicllc.com/

https://www.facebook.com/wildmagicllc/

https://www.instagram.com/travelinghorsewitch/

Connect with me via: www.confidentequestrianprogram.com

Instagram - @felicitydavies_

 

In this episode, I have a great conversation with The Equestrian Dietitian aka Natalie Gavi. Natalie is a Los Angeles based Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and a nationally recognized nutrition expert who is passionate about the power that food plays in health, disease prevention & management, and athletic performance.

I wanted to have Natalie on the podcast as I like to take a holistic approach to horse training and to have an awesome relationship with our horses we also need to take care of ourselves as much as we take care of them.

In this episode we dive into:

-Nutrition basics for health and performance so that we can be the best partners for our horse

-Dieting 101: pros/cons of traditional dieting and the best way/s we can make positive changes to our bodies

-My own experience dieting and the struggles I had surrounding that

-Her approach to help a client with binge eating and self-soothing with food

-How we can shield ourselves from feeling shame around our bodies in an industry that has a very aesthetic image

-Societal conditioning and body image

-Shifting the focus from appearance to appreciation and having compassion for your body

-Approach nutrition from a lens of self-care vs self-control

and so much more

To find out more about Natalie check out the links below:

https://www.gavinutrition.com/

https://www.instagram.com/the.equestrian.dietitian/

and to connect further with me click the links below :) 

 

 

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.

Celeste-Leilani Lazaris is also known as 'the travelling horse witch' as she heals both horses and humans using bodywork, breathwork and mindset. 

In this conversation, we dive deep into:

• Her background with horses and classical dressage foundation
• Her smooth transition to western riding just for fun
• How she ran her own horse training business with people in all different disciplines
• Feeling like here horses weren’t 100% ok even though they were sound
• How she was introduced to equine massage and bodywork
• Her experiences with mirror neurons and horses mirroring
• Her horse riding checklist (the first thing to check is her own breath)
• Trusting your intuition and seeking alternate advice if you feel like your horse isn't 100%
• Spooky horse example and how the use of mirroring helped him relax
• Balance through movement exercises
• Empowering owners to help their horses on their own
• The thoracic sling and how it can impact horses if it is compromised

And so much more!

Connect with Celeste here: https://www.wildmagicllc.com/

https://www.facebook.com/wildmagicllc/

https://www.instagram.com/travelinghorsewitch/

Mirroring post - https://www.facebook.com/cherokee87/posts/10218463947402986

Connect with me via: www.confidentequestrianprogram.com

Instagram - @felicitydavies_

Time with horses is not just a physical endeavour, it is also cerebral. Sharpening our mental game is an important element for improvement. Quiet confidence may be a valuable thought point to help boost our mental game.

When we apply an aid, are we trying to tell the horse “no” or are we offering a redirection. While subtle, these two options tend to lead to lead to different results.

Adele Shaw owns and operates The Willing Equine where their goal is "to help people create positive relationships with their horses though science and a deep consideration for the physical, mental, and emotional well being of the horse." (quoted directly from https://www.thewillingequine.com/)

Inside this episode, Adele outlines her journey with horses so far and key lessons learnt along the way which ultimately led her to dive into positive reinforcement and clicker training.

We cover:

• When she started riding
• Her goal to excel in the hunter jumper arena
• Transitioning to dressage and being met with a very difficult horse
• Deciding to move away from the competition scene and get some trail riding horses
• Realising that her easy trail riding horse was not so easy
• Her shift into positive reinforcement training to try and help her mare
• Importance of learning theory and setting a solid foundation
• How important it is for people to learn behaviours away from their horse
• Handling identity shifts when your goals change
• Easy ways to incorporate R+ with any horse
• Trick training for horses who are lame
• Helping horses feel more comfortable if they’re left out of R+ training sessions
• How to dive into R+ training with no local trainers
• Her thoughts on combining R+ and R-
• Geldings dropping during training
• Trusting yourself

​And so much more!

You can find more about Adele at her website here and you can find all of her social media links at the bottom of the home page https://www.thewillingequine.com/

To connect with me check out https://www.confidentequestrianprogram.com/

Or find me on Instagram at @felicitydavies_

Horses, like humans, are individuals. Therefore, when educating, we must have a broad approach with a willingness to be flexible. Flexibility of mind helps to allow one to see the opportunities in every situation. It also gives the horse respect and empathizes with their struggles. This gives us the ability to recognize opportunities of growth.

Mikal and Noel try something different in the first “Bridging the Gap Great Debate” with each of them debating both sides of ripping the bandaid off. Should you just rip or should you take time pealing it off. An interesting conversation to force one to look at both sides of a concept.

Being proactive can play a big part in creating a more harmonious relationship with our horses. That leads to the horses offering us more of their athleticism through increased trust. Mikal and Noel discuss and try to better understand what being proactive looks like when it comes to leadership with horses.

In every situation that arises there are multiple directions it could go. If we only look at one side of a situation, we may be ill prepared for many possibilities. In one of their more free flowing discussions, Mikal and Noel start with the simple concept of the two sides of the coin and follow where the discussion leads.