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Softness in the Face: It Just Isn’t Enough!

For years, I worked and rode my horses feeling very proud of the fact that my horses had the softest feel in the pole and face.  Yet, I never understood that true softness travels through the face, pole, neck, withers, shoulders, fore legs, barrel, flank, hips and all the way down to the hind feet and tail.  Where did this idea of softness start?  Ask many folks and I’m sure we will get a multitude of answers, but I really think it starts in the brain. And with that, we strive for willingness from the horse. Alternatively, I think we

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Whoa! Stopping in Five, Four, Three, Two and One

Unless you have a lazy horse, you probably had to put a good deal of effort into developing a good stop on your equine. If he stops, that is…! What I often see in clinics and lessons are riders that allow their horses to take their time stopping…it might take them a quarter of the arena before they get their horses stopped. Dribbling is for basketball—not riding! With that being said lets take a look at what happens with the horse when we ask for the stop. From the horse's perspective, we too often pick up aggressively when we ask for

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