Sky High Farm

10/21/2021

“There’s something different about the way a good mare connects with her rider. It’s special. Like an unspoken agreement. Once a mare chooses you as her person, it’s like she has an instinct to protect you, to fight for you. It’s almost as if she takes ownership of you.

I believe the good mares have a deep sense of intuition. They can read your mind. They know what you’re thinking even before you do. The good mares I know breathe fire in the face of challenge and then somehow, miraculously, know to quiet themselves when a timid child is plopped on their back for a pony ride.

They are clever, cunning and calculated, which can be your greatest enemy or your saving grace. The good mares I know do not tolerate egotistical riding. They do not tolerate force. They demand tact, finesse and emotional control. But once you have won a mare’s heart, you have won all of her. In exchange for your best—and nothing less—she will give you everything.”

Written by: Lindsay Paulsen

09/03/2021

Hey horse riding friends interested in learning more about the Dressage training join by sharing this link

https://www.ameliasdressageacademy.com/trainingscalewebinar/

02/21/2021

Still another reason for a slow, calm walking warm up,

Klaus Balkenol said a MINIMUM of ten minutes of walking, and to use a watch if you are the impatient type, as ten will feel like 20-----

15 minutes is better still.

Don't have time for this PLUS work? Do this instead of work---

Hard to accept? Top trainers are not top trainers because they fail to understand how horses operate----

01/17/2021

🐴♥️

BY CHLOE HARDGRAVE I know from experience that not enough equestrians slow down and remember why we joined this sport in the first place. With the hustle and bustle of school, lessons, shows, and the occasional drama that the barn brings, equestrians can find themselves riding with no motive nor pas...

12/19/2020

♥️🙏🏻🐴

Somewhere in the world, the 2028 Olympic champion is a foal out in a field. He’s ewe-necked, sickle-hocked, downhill and shaggy, with a club foot and a chunk of mane missing, because his buddy chewed it off.

Somewhere in the world, there’s a young horse that everyone says is too short to make it big. In three years, he’ll be jumping the standards, but right now he’s fat and short and no one is paying him any mind.

Somewhere in the world there’s a 7-year-old who can’t turn right, and a 10-year-old who has not shown the ability to put more than two one-tempis together without losing it, and a 14-year-old who hasn’t yet reached his peak, and all of them will be at the next Olympic Games.

Somewhere else in the world, there’s a rider who is thinking of packing it in. Maybe the bills are getting out of control, or she’s killing herself to get enough help in her own riding development because she’s having to spend all her time riding and teaching to make ends meet and change needs to happen, and she’s wondering if it’s worth it. She’s thinking it’s time to just give up and be a local trainer, to shelve her dreams of international competition. And then she’s going to shake off the doubt, double down, and make a team in the next 15 years.

Somewhere in the world, one of the next great team riders is 9 years old and couldn’t tell if she was on the right posting diagonal if her life depended on it.

Somewhere in the world there’s a future team rider who just got told that she’ll never make it because she’s too chubby, because she’s too short, because she’s too late.

There are horses who will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars that will never amount to anything, and there are horses who will be touted as the Next Big Thing only to be never seen or heard from again, and there are horses who will fly under the radar until suddenly they’re setting the world on fire.

There are riders who will win Junior and Young Rider competitions only to quit riding completely, riders who will be touted as the Next Big Thing only to get stuck in their comfort zones and never come to fruition, and there are riders who will make their first Olympic team at 50, at 55, at even older than that.

And yes, there are the horses that will be brilliant from day one, and there are the riders for whom success both comes early and stays late. But more often than not, history has shown that the unlikely story, the horse who was passed over in favor of his more expensive stablemate, the rider who no one saw coming, is the more likely path to greatness.

Credit and written by Lauren Sprieser at Chronicle Of The Horse

11/23/2020

This is a game changer, especially if you ride a lot of young horses and/or mares.

Reward the try. Reward the half try. Reward the horse when it feels like he is about to try. It doesn’t matter if the horse gives the wrong answer-if he’s trying, you need to be rewarding.

Everything else can be negotiated, but encouraging and protecting a willing heart is so important. A happy, confident horse with self esteem and a sense of himself is a wonderful thing indeed ❤️

07/23/2020

“Courage was more important than confidence. When you are operating out of courage, you are saying that no matter how you feel about yourself or your opportunities or the outcome, you are going to take a risk and take a step toward what you want. You are not waiting for the confidence to mysteriously arrive. I now believe that confidence is achieved through repeated success at any endeavor.” ✨ Tim Ferriss

Be courageous in chasing your goals, the fear and adrenaline will be there, but the braver you become the more confidence will appear. The key, however, is stepping outside your comfort zone and earning that confidence through courage. 💪

01/19/2020

👇🏻😂

12/30/2019

♥️🙌🏻🙏🏻

❤️🐴

12/29/2019

12/16/2019

The terms “leg mover” and “back mover” have begun to be thrown about over the past decade, but what exactly do these terms mean, how can you tell the difference and does is really matter? Leg Mover Above: Picture of a leg mover. See how the angle of the off side foreleg is completely differe...

12/03/2019

This is everything! Sad to say I have been guilty of most of what this post talks about, but not anymore.

We've all seen it, the post that says something like, "You don't need a $25,000 horse. You need a $5,000 horse and $20,000 of riding lessons. Or whatever----

I don't agree with either. The most important thing, I think, in terms of riding better, is to make the conscious decision that you truly do want to get better, because I know so many riders with good horses, and so many riders who take lesson after lesson, and they still can't ride very well.

Until you decide that you mean business about getting better, you can manage to flub-dub along for years, decades, even, and still stay pretty much the same.

It is the difference between talking about improving and doing the hard things that you have to do to make it happen.

Like---

Getting to be a fit athlete---

Developing an independent seat, so you don't bounce---

Getting hold of the right horse for the job---

Practicing religiously---

Studying your craft---

Most riders who say that they want to get better, I find, only sort of mean it. They mean it until it gets hard, or inconvenient, or interferes with other priorities, or whatever.

I don't say this to be negative, because, hey, it doesn't impact me one iota if you or someone you know gets good or not---

But I say it to maybe help you decide whether you mean it, or are pulling a con job on yourself.

11/08/2019

♥️

Horse talk...

11/06/2019

The good ones take time ♥️

The good ones take time.

Watch quietly from the sidelines as those who try to shortcut with bridles, bits and gadgets become unstuck at the first sign of a challenge.

Get used to sitting with your head in your hands having to take deep breaths or halting in the middle of the arena to stare at the ceiling for fear that frustration will take the reins and undo everything you’ve worked on.

Allow him to question, allow him to protest. You have to be in this together, it has to be a partnership not a dictatorship so he has to know that he has a say and that you are listening. Mutual understanding and respect should be the foundations on which you build.

Be prepared to taste your arena surface.

Don’t allow others to convince you a “more experienced” jumper would suit you better or “he might never come right”. Trust your gut. You saw something in him, so work you ass off to prove it.

Do not be swayed by trainers encouraging you to just “try” the draw reins or the bigger bit. Don’t succumb to the pressure to “teach him whose boss”. When the clock is ticking, and the stride just isn’t there you have to trust each other, that isn’t going to come from force.

Give this horse your heart, I’m not saying he won’t break it because he will, but when the day comes that he accepts you into his, he really will go to the ends of the earth for you. But until then, have tissues and a playlist of sad songs at the ready.

And just when you think you can’t take one more ride, when you feel like you’ve given every part of yourself to this and you can’t physically, mentally or emotionally manage anymore. Keep going. Nobody said this was going to be easy...but it might just be worth it, because the most valuable thing you can give a horse is time...
..and the good ones take time.