Cleanliness is most important in horse and rider turnout, and it shows that you respect the judge, the sport and yourself. Polish your boots and take off mud, manure and hay. Remove shavings from the horse’s tail. Braiding is...
Watch American dressage star Debbie McDonald and the legendary Hanoverian mare, Brentina, as they compete for their spot on the 2008 Olympic team.Back to the video page.
Denice Klinger and Lido competing in a hunter breeding class. Photo courtesy picsofyou.com.It seems like western breeds get all the breaks when it comes to logging show miles at an early age. Endless halter, showmanship and longe line classes...
Young equine athletes seem full of such promise, offering you a chance to finally own your dream horse. Yet somewhere between Intro to Saddle 101 and Advanced Show-Ring Skills the learning curve of a young performance horse can take...
Think you need an extreme dressage makeover to improve your test scores? While there are no shortcuts to correct training, there are some very simple things any rider, with any horse, can do to ride a test to full...
Develop a correct, classical seat and aids—longe lessons are great for this.
Take a lesson with a judge (even if it’s not your regular instructor) to practice tests and glean some show pointers.
School in a regulation-size dressage...
Perhaps you want to try cross-country jumping or would like to enter an eventing show. Many areas of the country are far from schooling courses, making it difficult to test your horse's jumping skills in the great wide open....
The inaugural Express Eventing competition in Cardiff, England, was designed to attract new fans to the sport of eventing. However, the crowd of 13,000 spectators inside Millennium Stadium on Nov. 30, 2008, was struck silent as British Olympian Mary...
No doubt you’ve seen photos or artwork depicting a troika, which is a traditional Russian sleigh pulled by a trio of horses. The center horse of the troika moves at a fast, extended trot. The two outside horses, called...
Three basic types of cross-country obstacles—ditches, banks and water—must be carefully and systematically introduced to even the boldest cross-country horse. If you give your horse a good start over these jumps, there’s no reason to ever have a problem....
