Gerd Heuschmann is a German veterinarian who is also a dressage rider. After years of seeing the damage inflicted on horses as a result if incorrect riding he began to change his own riding methods and starting ‘treating’ horses by first asking owners to...
No, it isn’t going away and that is a good thing. On Sunday, the folks at DressageDisgrace.com hosted a teleseminar with Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling to talk about the history of rollkur and how it has lead to the death of the spirit of the horse. This was a...
Right now, I don’t know if I’m inspired or just plain envious. Lovely horses, ridden beautifully. This was an interesting video because it begins with a rider on a 3 year old horse who had just been ridden a few times. The horse is calm and relaxed and...
In Whole Heart, Whole Horse , through stories about his days as a kid working for the “Old Man” as well as people he’s met through years of doing clinics, Marks brings the process of building trust between the horse and rider to life. As is typical...
I’ve been working with a new horse recently. It has been so interesting because it has given me a chance to really think about what I click for in the beginning, especially when the horse isn’t “with me”. I wanted to write it down while it was...
Check out this really interesting and entertaining interview with Karen Pryor. What is especially unique about this interview is that listeners are encouraged to go to the website for her new book, “Reaching the Animal Mind”, DURING the interview and watch...
When I was first introduced to clicker training some 10 years ago one of the books that was a real mind alterer was “Don’t Shoot the Dog” by Karen Pryor. Although the title would suggest that the book is somehow about dog training, it isn’t. It...
I know I’ve been hot on this topic but it is an important one! A petition which will be presented to the FEI has been started. I urge all who care about horses to SIGN IT. Just found out there are multiple petitions! Here’s another. It’s easy. ...
I was touched by this excellent essay on the topic of Losgelassenheit, which is one of those long German words that needs a paragraph to translate. Well, here are several paragraphs which do a great job of it. Here’s a quote to entice you to read the rest:...
Update: Apparently there was some sort of copyright issue with the video. Too bad, as it was a most excellent visual. Not wanting to be a person who is perceived as someone with some kind of ‘sour-grape’ thing going toward the big-money dressage riders, I...
