Hello!  I want to share an exercise that is good for young horses Work in the hands perfectly prepares a young horse for riding and contact, without putting stress on the back. I use a cavesson for this, but a regular bridle will also work.1. Throw the outside rein over the neck, keep the inside rein closer to the bit. Hold your hand gently. 2. Take a slow walk along the wall of the arena , make sure the horse stays on the bit. 3. If the horse does not lose contact, go to the circle 4. After circle ask for the shoulder-in 5. And in the end, ask your horse to come to a complete stop. 6.Repeat If possible, do this exercise at a trot and even a canter 🙂Do this exercice on both left and right side 

A the beginning of the training session, during the walk, turn to the centre line and start doing 1/2 turns around the shoulders to the left and walk 3-4 strides and do the same to the right. Then walk on the track and then turn towards the centre line and 1/2 pirouette to the left, the walk a few strides and then 1/2 pirouette to the right. Repeat the exercice 5 times on both left and right side.

What do you think about this horse stretching 🫣? I was very surprised what’s happened , but I think that he was very happy at this moment 🙈

There's a riding exercises you can do at home with your dog! This is something my trainer had me start doing, and it works! Practice contact, half halts, and direction cues while walking your dog! I have two dogs, so I practice two hands independent at once ooorrr Ill use a longer leash with one dog and hold the leash with the extra just like I would reins. Since doing so, I can keep contact easier, know how to presignal and garner attention from my pups with a half halt, and give them very subtle directional cues to say left or right. It's done phenomenal for keeping light contact and learning to move with my horse. "Close your fingers" is much easier to do without thinking with the extra practice and youre practicing without a bit! Give it a try!

Last night in my lesson, we did a little pole work to continue our straightness & outside rein journey! Using this T pattern, we were able to focus on making sure we stayed straight when trotting or walking across the poles, as well as not having messy leg yields where the haunch trails or shoulder bulges. The visual guide of the poles (and also the hoof track left after doing it a few times!) is super helpful and really helps nitpick. This is not exclusive to centerlines but is great for straightness training for everybody!

20cm circle with ground poles that can be raised into cavalry to heigh poles! I’ve been doing this a lot with the young horses to let them practice getting out the bend and exerting energy over a pole and then slow back down around the turn and repeat, it’s a great way to practice polework and speed control, both riding and on the ground

One of my favorite ground pole set-ups! So many different ways to ride it!

Try out!