Whether it’s showmanship, horsemanship, trail, western riding or ranch classes, pattern competition helps show a judge the skills you and your horse have mastered through precision and correctness. If your horse acts antsy in the pattern class, dancing in...
Luke Gingerich gives some pointers for anyone interested in starting out in the appealing discipline of liberty work, which both horses and handlers can enjoy.A lone horseman stands in the spotlight. He gives a signal and his equine partner,...
The winter months can be tricky. It’s hard to keep your horse from getting bored with the repetition of ring work, especially in places that rely on small indoor arenas. These two exercises are simple to set up and...
A fast-stopping horse sliding into a cloud of dust is an icon for western riding. Horses in reining classes stop with sliders on their back hooves to accentuate downward transitions. In cow horse classes, the horse’s stop blocks the...
Sometimes horses, like people, need a leg up in life. That’s where Joe Misner comes in. Growing up in Alaska for much of his boyhood, the creator and director of the Wild2Ride Academy is no stranger to wild country....
To compete in reining or working cow horse competitions, your horse will need to turn quickly in response to your cues. In reining, the move is a “turnaround,” or spin—the horse moves forward around a pivot foot and continues...
If you’ve ridden horses for any length of time, you know that falling is part of the process. Some riders have the tendency to land on their feet like a cat and make it look like an effortless, involuntary...
Sometime in the early 2000s, Mike Lyon and Colonel Davis, along with other members of the horse driving community, hatched the idea to create a place where driving enthusiasts could gather just to have fun and exchange information. By...
An excerpt from Arena Tracks by Christian Baier.These classical tracks are ultimately at the foundation of everything we are doing in the arena with the horse. It starts with the beginner rider just off the longe line learning the...
You’ve heard horse owners evaluate rides and their horse's behavior as they hop off, maybe something like: “He was such a goof today.”This judgment may be a saccharine version of what was actually said when a horse is blamed...
