Karina Brez
Launches
the Cowgirl LUV Collection, a
Tribute to America’s Majestic Mountains
Western charm meets everyday luxury in Karina Brez’s new signature collection, Cowgirl LUV, which echoes the vibrant landscapes of the USA.
Photos By Dre Joseph
A tribute to the untamed spirit of the American West, renowned equestrian jewelry designer Karina Brez unveils her latest signature collection, Cowgirl LUV, an ode to the inspiring mountains and cities that grace the landscape of the USA. The collection pays homage to the rugged beauty of the American West, featuring stackable rings that artfully symbolize various mountain ranges, and a thoughtful double entendre, with each mountain range doubling as a cowgirl name, embodying the spirit of adventure and independence.
Honoring the majestic Sierra Nevada, the towering Denali, and the legendary Mount Whitney, Karina Brez has crafted six distinct stackable ring styles that encapsulate the essence of these monumental peaks. The Sierra Nevada, often referred to as the “Range of Light,” stretches majestically across California and Nevada, offering a panorama of breathtaking peaks and valleys.
“A cowgirl is a strong, resilient and confident woman, and it was important for me to create a collection that embodied the untamed beauty of America through the spirit of the American Cowgirl,” says Karina Brez.
Combining elegance with a nod to the Wild West, Karina Brez’s artistic vision extends beyond the mountains, celebrating beloved American Western cities and states with five captivating hoop earring styles: Montana, Aspen, Dakota, Sedona, and Dallas. Known as “Big Sky Country,”
“At its core, the cowgirl spirit is about a fierce determination to conquer challenges, a love for wide-open spaces, and a commitment to taking care of one’s horses and cattle. It is an attitude of self-reliance and grit, with a deep connection to the land and horses,” says Karina Brez. “It has a nice place alongside my signature collections and gives me the opportunity to incorporate the essence of the equestrian and Western spirit while being more mainstream with contemporary lines.”
Karina Brez’s meticulous attention to detail is evident in every piece of the Cowgirl LUV collection. The jewelry showcases exquisite turquoise, which provides a vibrant, authentic touch to each creation. Complemented by delicate pink sapphires and dazzling diamonds, the jewels exude luxury, allowing every cowgirl to experience opulence in their everyday life.
For more information about the Cowgirl LUV collection and to explore the full range of Karina Brez’s equestrian designs, visit karinabrez.com. On Instagram, follow Karina Brez @karinabrezjewelry and The Jeweled Barn @thejeweledbarn. For sales or retail partnership inquiries, contact Karina Brez at 561-400-4085 or email wholesale@karinabrez.com or info@karinabrez.com. For press inquiries, contact Pietra Communications at 212-913-9761 or email info@pietrapr.com.
Building a Partnership with your Horse
Story and Photos
Provided By Lynn Palm Palm Partnership Training™
Are you passionate about becoming a true partner with your horse?
I know I am, and I’m here to help you achieve that goal.
Training for Western Dressage will help with any western discipline with or without ca�le!
Cross-training with
Western Dressage
Let’s get ready to show & grow!
For this next series on training, you’ll be your own trainer for 80 to 90 percent of the time. You will learn to find those remarkable feelings when both you and your horse come into balance, regardless of discipline. Being in the Dressage Court (arena) will help you attain that balance. We all want those feelings with a horse, regardless of what saddle you’re riding or what breed of horse you swing a leg over. We all dream of moments of being in synchronization with our horses. These moments keep us hungry to learn more and achieve more difficult tasks with our horses. Remember, this Western Dressage discipline will steal your heart and create a passion for riding in harmony with your horse. Remember, too, that dressage is simply the foundation to ride correctly, and for the horse to be confident and willing with whatever performance you choose!
I’m looking forward to the next several months, when I’ll share tips and guidelines for understanding the simplicity of learning (in written format, at least) Western Dressage training from Introductory Level to Level 5. Could be the start of my new book…..!
Western Dressage Level Requirements and Advancing Your Training
Starting Levels
All the levels in Western Dressage are a systematic, progressive training that produce a horse that is physically strong, balanced, supple, and flexible.
This equine athlete also demonstrates a calm, confident, attentive attitude and is willing to do their job — whether performance in the show ring or a safe weekend trail ride.
Tests provide an introduction to the discipline of Western Dressage wherein the horse performs only at the walk and jog. The rider should demonstrate correct basic position, use of basic aids, and understanding of the test figures. The horse should show relaxation, and harmony between horse and rider is essential. The horse accepts the aids and influence of the rider. The jog should be a natural gait within the horse’s scope and should demonstrate a swinging back.
Introductory Levels: Gaits and Definitions
Working Walk — Four-beat, active, energetic walk with resolutely forward reaching steps. This horse has a confident stretch to the bit. His head and neck should swing naturally as a result of a relaxed back and shoulder/front legs alignment to the hip/hind legs. The horse’s hind feet should touch the ground into or beyond the prints of the forefeet
Free Walk — A relaxed walk with unconstrained, forward reaching steps where hind feet touch the ground clearly in front of the footprints of the forefeet. The horse must be relaxed and be allowed
Stock horse with correct balance. Relaxed because he is being ridden from “back to front” with leg aids connecting to the horse’s mouth.
through a loose (no contact) of the mouth, the freedom to lower his head and neck to stretch forward and down and out with the nose. The length of stride, rhythm, the relaxation and swing through the back of the horse is of great importance. The stretch of the horse is very important to allow the body to lengthen and stretch the top line muscles. The stretch also allows reaching of the hind limb joints to develop the strength and flexibility to compact his body for future direction and requirements and for developing collection.
Working Jog — An energetic, regular, two-beat jog. The horse must go forward with even and elastic steps. The hind legs step actively up under the horse with obvious push from the hindquarters as demonstrated from a relaxed top line – thus a swinging back, and reaching for the bit with freedom in the shoulder movement. The horse must be in proper balance and maintain a light contact with the bit. The horse’s nose must be on or slightly in front of the vertical. In Introductory and Basic Tests, the Working Jog may be ridden either posting or sitting.
Halt — At the halt the horse should stand attentive, engaged, motionless, straight and “square.” Square means the horse’s legs are square with the weight evenly distributed over all four legs. The neck should be raised with the poll as the highest point and the head slightly in front of the vertical. The horse should remain “on the bit” by maintaining a light and soft contact with the rider’s hands. The horse may “mouth” the bit during the halt, but should be ready to move off at the slightest indications of the rider. For the halt at the beginning and ending of a test, a horse should be immobile at least 3 seconds. In Introductory l Levels, a halt should be at least 4 seconds.
Court Size
20 meters X 40 meters is most popular 20 meters X 60 meters can also be used Learn sizes of figures by doing the geometry
Learn the “math” of the Dressage Court (arena) by walking it on foot to find the distances that the figures call for in each test.
This is really a fun challenge — riding your figures to an exact size or path! Riding with accuracy will teach whether you are doing something correct, or you need to improve on this task. Riding with precision will always help you recognize how your horse understands your communications (aids). The goal is that no one can see you “talking” to your horse! Light and invisible aids is the aim.
First learn how to ride the rectangle arena. The long side of the arena is 40 or 60 meters in length. Then there are two short sides of 20 meters in either official arena size. Not only can either arena feel small or difficult to ride along the rail (tangent to the rail — 1 meter is 3.3 feet from the rail) you also have four corners to learn to ride! In the corners you must show that your horse is bending correctly in order to be balanced, as well as going straight after and before each corner. Start with learning this.
Training Tips: Make your own arena! It’s simple and inexpensive. Set it up in your arena or pasture, but please make sure you have as level and as good a footing as possible.
I know you will not regret these arena boundaries for learning how much fun it is to ride with accuracy and precision!
Palm Equestrian Academy generalinfo@lynnpalm.com 352-362-7847
Cyril and Lynn offer clinics throughout the country and abroad as well as online coaching. Join them on their teaching tours or their Palm Equestrian Academy European Journeys.
This is a stock bred horse built more uphill but in a self-carriage. Stock horse in self-carriage. Happy and relaxed for this level.
WESTERN Dressage:
Preparing to Show
By Lynn Palm Palm Partnership Training™ Building a Partnership with your Horse
Dressage is for every rider and any horse, no matter what age, level of education, and what your goals may be. It is simply a natural training method for the horse and rider that leads to great success. So if you are a western rider, dressage training will help you bring out the best in your horse and you as a rider.
Western Dressage is a huge step in the right direction to improve the western rider’s education and skills. Be careful if you try to ride a dressage test; you will get hooked because it is so much fun.
Now that you have studied some of my suggestions about getting yourself ready for the show ring, let’s focus now on the horse. Keep the following in mind as you prepare for your first Western Dressage show.
1. Train with patience and understanding about your horse as an individual and not just comparing him to other horses.
2. Understand what is required in each level and test. Know your horse’s confidence level and how he will handle what would be asked for in a test. Aim for willingness and consistency.
3. Evaluate your horse’s fitness. Become educated so you know what is your horse’s best weight and muscle tone.
4. Evaluate your horse’s soundness, both his overall soundness and the soundness of his legs and feet. Know and work closely with your vet and blacksmith so that your horse is healthy and sound. It takes a great deal of knowledge and time to make sure your blacksmith is trimming or shoeing your horse correctly and for your vet to know this too. Aim to keep the limbs of the horse sound without medications if possible.
5. Set time lines for you and your horse to prepare for yearly goals. Set them and if you are not reaching them, reevaluate them without getting upset and taking it out on the horse.
6. Don’t give in to peer pressure. Don’t let others, such as family members, friends, trainer/coach, or other competitors talk you into thinking that you need to do more then you are capable of doing or want to do. Don’t attempt to reach goals your horse isn’t ready to handle. Stay on a realistic path and set achievable goals.
7. Prepare for your show at home. Find out exactly what you need to do in order to sufficiently warm up to practice for the level you plan to show in.
8. Prepare the warm-up you will do before you enter the ring. Practice what to do and what direction to turn down the center line to start your test.
9. Prepare your tack and clothes ahead of time, and know how long it takes you to get ready. You can rehearse at home.
10. Make packing lists for horse feeding and care, tack to show in, and clothes you wear to compete in. This will keep you from worrying that you’ll forget something.
11. Make travel plans and time lines of when you are going and for how long.
12. Prepare your vehicle and trailer for safe travels. Please refer to our traveling DVDS available on the website.
13. Decide with confidence, excitement and what I call “the eye of the tiger,” to go to the show and have a great time and success.
I hope these tips will give you confidence and encouragement to show. Your horse will tell you if he’s not ready by a poor responses if the challenge is too difficult for him. So listen to your horse and go for it. Get out there and tell your friends: Dressage is for everyone in the horse world!
For more information on clinics and training materials, please visit www.lynnpalm.com or call us at 800-503-2824.
ARIZONA ARIZONA
Story By LA Berry
Arizona is ranked one of the top 10 places to visit in America and its Office of Tourism unabashedly credits its magnificent natural beauty with making tourism the state’s number one export industry.
How awesome would it be to see such Old West wonders from atop a horse?
IT’S POSSIBLE. IT’S POSSIBLE.
Curated experien�al trip experts like Ac�ve Riding Trips -- which doesn’t offer a horseback riding tour that president Stacey Adams hasn’t personally tried out first -- knows how popular Arizona is as a des�na�on for families, couples, or solo explorers, reflected in three unique western experiences.
This legendary ranch is truly an Arizona institution. For more than half a century it has been run by the same family, going back three generations, and it’s easy to see why. The authenticity and quality of the rides and service at White Stallion Ranch is legendary within the tourism industry.
“I really do not know where to begin to describe one of the best trips of my riding life,” says Sharon W., who chose a trip to White Stallion Ranch. “The trip was geared to exactly what we were looking for in terms of time, location, experience and interest. Stacey met with us to get to know exactly what we were looking for and couldn’t have picked a more perfect spot. White Stallion is geared toward everyone’s ability. The food, the accommodations and the customer service were top notch. People from all over the world came and we made so many friendships.
“I noticed many ‘frequent fliers’ who come year after year. That says so much about the ranch.” White Stallion Ranch sits on 3,000 acres and is built around the horse. Whether it’s riding, doing cattle work, or exploring the mountains, there are ample choices to keep you busy during your stay. Plus it’s perfect for families that want to get away with members that may not ride “as much.” The ranch sports 43 rooms and has such non-riding activities as certified rock climbing from 5.3 to 5.12 in difficulty, fat tire bike riding in the desert, hiking, archery, shooting, and tennis. Or just relax by the pool or campfire. There is also a weekly ranch rodeo and nightly entertainment.
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Mosey over to the heart of the Wild West at the historic Kay El Bar Ranch. Built in the early 1900s from adobe brick handmade by the Maricopa, and listed on the National Historic Register, the Kay El Bar is a step back in time and a natural gem of a place to relax and ride.
It’s also the perfect place to enjoy the Arizona landscape and incredible biodiversity of the Sonoran Desert while riding a horse. Kay El Bar sits on 100 private acres, and daily rides are never dull, with additional access to over 2,000 acres of BLM land. The ranch’s trusty string is schooled in navigating the landscape and taking visitors on fun lopes through the scrub.
And… if you’re looking for a little more riding action, try your hand at team penning!
“Turns out this is the roping capital of the United States,” said prior visitor, Jeanne C., “and there are lots of arenas that offer competitions every day. Horses are everywhere.”
When not riding, it’s all about relaxing out in the desert. Sit by the pool or in the hot tub, go hiking, visit the charming town of Wickenburg a few miles away, or visit one of the nearby golf courses. No matter what you opt for, with only 28 guests (at most), you’ll come away from this ranch visit having found friends that become family. Kay El Bar has Lodge rooms with King, Queen, Double or Twin beds. Casa Grande is a standalone casita good for families with King or Twin beds and a trundle. Homestead House is a twobedroom standalone casita with King, Queen or Twin beds and sleeps up to seven.
Kay El Bar Ranch is open year round, making it the perfect destination no matter when you can travel and, for a very limited number of riders looking to take their Western riding experience up a notch, Adams says, “Ask us about the cattle drives offered twice a year -- Spring and Fall -- to round up, herd, tag, and brand the cattle.”
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In 2023, the global film tourism market was estimated to be worth $66.9 million.
WHAT IS FILM TOURISM?
Visiting places associated with a favorite movie or TV show.
(96% of Americans have made such a trip at least once and 78% of travelers say they’re likely to take a TV- or movie-themed trip in the future).
With that in mind, meet Arizona’s Tombstone Ride. “This ride is literally like being in the movie,” says Adams. “Really, it’s like walking on to the set, complete with saloon, bordello, hotel and requisite Main Street -- with ample hitching posts! All with the incredible Dragoon Mountains as a backdrop. Every way you turn is stunning.”
The Tombstone Ride is just 90 minutes from Tucson but instantly whisks you back to the 1800’s. The ranch is located just outside of Tombstone proper but don’t worry, you have ample opportunity to walk its classic Main Street during your stay. Days are spent riding as fast or as slow as you prefer, for half- or full-days, and all rides are grouped by ability level (so no need to worry it will be all ‘ho-hum’ walking).
When not riding, this Wild West experience continues with shooting, archery, or hiking for history buffs to see ancient petroglyphs carved into cliffs, or visit the mines that gave this town its first settlers.
“And no week is complete,” Adams says, “without riding into Tombstone, tying up your horse to a hitching post and stepping up to the bar for a drink at Big Nose Kate’s (girlfriend of Doc Holliday).”
STEADY? OR S
How Can We Inspire Horse’s Behavior? POOKY
Story and Photos By Alessandra Deerinck
When riding happens cooperatively with the horse it is definitely enjoyable, but can be a source of fear or upsetting moments, when riders experience situations where they feel they can’t control the equine partner. In these times riders often act in a way that can lead a horse to not trust their behavior, or to not want them on his back.
Common examples of such instances are when the horse spooks or does not want to proceed in the direction we choose. While stopping is a behavioral choice that horses make consciously because they perceived something and became attentive to it, spooking is a reflex, an unconscious response to something moving that surprised the horse. It is actually a behavior that the horse cannot control, and it is different than when a horse purposefully moves abruptly to unseat the rider.
Behavior is the complete expression of any living individual and is highly influenced by genetics, and sensory perception. The genetic traits include instincts and personality, which are subjects that is possible to study and always keep in mind. The sensory perception of a horse or any living being is influenced by the environment, and is also something we can purposefully influence with our behavior. Most importantly, we should always be aware of what the horse that is sharing time with us is perceiving, so we are aware of the same situation and not get surprised if the horse spooks or stops. When a horse stops to observe something, he is becoming attentive to it, and the way we behave can actually inspire him to follow our input if they feel it makes sense, or to unseat us if we push him to it and it does not make sense for him.
There are many ways to influence animal behavior. Individuals who perceive the behavior of another living creature respond with their behavior coupled with the not so evident process called learning, which is the processing and memorizing of information, that can later be expressed in the form of behavior in similar circumstances.
Thinking in terms of cells and molecules, learning produces behavioral changes, through exposure to an instance and the repetition of an action. This process produces in an individual the stimulation of neural cells, which causes the production of new molecules (proteins). These changes at the cellular level determine the new way the individual will behave. This is true for humans and for horses or any other type of living animal.
In order to be cooperative while being with a horse, on the ground or on his back, we have to keep in mind his needs, how deeply our actions reach the horse and how he feels
about our behavior. it is very important that communication and understanding between humans and horses really works both ways.
When people get upset and punish horses for not complying with their requests, they might actually be reinforcing the unwanted behaviors with their reaction. If horses do not respond the way we want to our request, they may not have perceived or understood the request. If we want to be successful in our interaction, we should make sure the horse will be able to perceive with his sensory organs our request, which needs to be correlated to what we are asking and to the situation, in a way that the horse understands immediately without having to be trained.
Instead of punishing the horse using force, or letting the horse get away with his behavior, we should change our request in a way that gives our actions the proper form that horses could immediately perceive, understand and will want to consider.
When we start working with a horse, we do it without limiting his movement, and we use food to establish our ranking. The horse has to learn that he can eat when we let him do so, just like the mare teaches her foal when to eat and when not to eat.
Horse can spook when they are under saddle as well as when they are at liberty, It is a reflex, an unconscious response to a movement that surprised the horse.
The Use Of Food During Training
In the equestrian world, the relationship between food and training is one of the most debated. Most professional trainers are against using food during training for many reasons. The most immediate is that the horse can become more interested in food than in the interaction and relationship with its human partner. I think using food during training is of great benefit. First of all, food is a familiar subject for the horse. Many of the interactions that are important in establishing order in a natural horse herd concern grazing rights and therefore land and food. One of the first lessons a foal learns from the mother is when to eat and when not to eat. This lesson, in nature, is vital for survival.
Using food as a reward for training can create problems when it is used without knowing what it means to the horse. The choice of whether or not to use food as a training tool must also be made on the basis of the individual horse. Some horses, like some people, physically lose the ability to control themselves around food, but always choosing not to use food in training eliminates one of the best tools and communication devices a trainer has access to.
In Human Horse Sensing, the first interactions with a horse happen by acting in terms of territory and proximity, with the horse free to move. As we have already said, one of the first things a horse learns from his mother is when he can eat and when it is not possible. Through their life, horses shape each other’s behavior towards sharing space and food. Most of the social interaction revolves around grazing, and it works between horses, but can also work between humans and horses. Horses express their feelings in subtle ways, according to body language, but they can also bite or kick each other if they disagree. This can’t happen between human and horse, so it’s up to us to pay attention to the horse’s behavior and to modulate the distance with him, and our body language so that we don’t get to the kick or the bite, but we can still interact spontaneously with the horse through movement.
Due to his nature, a horse considers another individual a leader if he takes care of leading the horse to food, water and safety. A very important part of Human Horse Sensing is about learning how to best communicate with horses free to move, a state where we actually can see the real behavior and feelings of our horses. If you monitor a horse’s behavior when you give him food from your hand, he can perceive receiving food in two ways, either as a gift or as if he stole the food just because he took it from your hand. In this case, because of the equine natural concept of “pecking order”, people get to be considered lower ranking. When the horse delicately takes food from our hand, he considers it a gift and will see us as a leader. Using this approach horses become more interested in connecting, and performing with us rather than the food itself.
How to turn a difficult situation around by managing the emotions of a horse
Experiencing personally how the emotional state of the horse we ride influences our relationship is very powerful, and the episode I am about to mention gave me a lot to think about in terms of horsemanship, and what I do every day, between training horses, and teaching people how to communicate with them. I had to personally witness an episode of abuse, and had to scratch from a trail class because of how out of hand and dangerous my horse’s behavior was at that time. I was riding Rosalie, and she got really upset because she was witnessing another horse being abused, while being ridden with chains tied on his pasterns in the ring next to us. Even worse, this kind of abuse is an accepted way to act with horses, and it is even taught as a training method. Rosalie became so dangerous for me and others that I dismounted, and decided to abandon the competition. We headed for her corral, because taking her away from the sight of the abused horse was my best resource to make her comfortable. We were also entered in a fun bareback class, that was to start one hour later. Continued...
When we got to our stall, the owner of the horse in the stall next to Rosalie’s was taking care of her horse, and I stopped to talk to her about what happened. This moment gave me the chance to cool down, and process what was happening. The next class I entered was about to start, but I had no desire to do it anymore, because I felt that my horse was not in the adequate state of mind. While talking with my neighbor, I took off Rosalie’s tack, and decided to work her out of the fearful state. We worked with Human Horse Sensing, through sight, touch, and about space, giving her the choice to participate in the action freely. In less than 5 minutes I was able to change her behavior from being scared, to becoming a willing horse. At this moment I slipped the bridle back on her, got on bareback, and headed for the covered arena, where the other competitor in the Fun Class was already waiting. We were handed a dollar bill, which had to remain between our leg and the horse, while riding bareback, and performing whatever the judges would order us to do. It began with “walk your horse”, then turned in “trot”, then “change hand”, and ended with “canter your horse”. Many people were commenting that it seemed almost unreal that I was riding bareback the same horse that a few moments earlier I had to pull from a class, because she was misbehaving, and how she was listening and willing. The other rider lost her dollar bill cantering, and Rosalie and I were handed the blue ribbon for first place. Most of all, we were successful in a class where I thought we had no hope to even participate. Summing it up, we always need to be aware of the situation and the horse’s behavior and perception in order to manage ourselves and the environment, to help the horse be comfortable and behave in a cooperative way with us.
When your horse stops…
Halting, while riding a horse or working on the ground, should always be the result of a harmonious interaction. If it is the decision of just one, human or horse, it often develops into a conflict. Traditionally, the solution has been to not let the horse “get away” with it. Many of the problems that can develop between a rider and a horse are the result of such actions, where human beings push horses past their limits, often by employing force. As we already mentioned, by forcefully insisting that a horse keeps going to something that concerns him, we establish, and reinforce an unwanted behavioral memory. The unwanted behavior will be often exhibited if the horse gets back in the same place and perceives the same situation. Horses are always ready to learn, and never switch off their memory. When we are interacting with them, they learn from anything, and
everything we do. If we look at the reason why they resist our request to go forward, we will find out that, at that time, they are not recognizing us as leaders, and therefore they are taking the position of leading the action. Every attempt to force the horse will convince him, more and more, that we are not to be seen as a leader, because we are asking them to do something against their will. If we employ force, we obtain that the horse fears us, which is different than when he respects us. In any relationship, respect implies listening, being sensitive, and caring for one another. If we employ force, we will have successfully acted as predators, not leaders. This is why, in training and working with Human Horse Sensing, we always aim to develop in the horse an interest for what we are going to do together. If we can establish a harmonious relationship to support our time with a horse, it could even be possible to become a real team with the horse. So, what can we do, when the horse comes to an unharmonious stop? This situation can happen when we are working on the ground or in the saddle and we need to approach it in different ways, to meet the different needs of human and horse, and their real-life situation. All of the actions we recommend are aimed at reestablishing our leadership status by asking the horse to perform something he understands, so he will respond to our request. This will put us back in the position of leadership, without having to resort to force. If we can work on the ground and the horse has freedom of movement, we need to be taking care of having the interest of the horse in the action. We have developed a way to correctly employ food to have the horse interested in the action, by marking with food the territory we are “talking about”.
If we are riding, we should acknowledge what is making our horse stop, and evaluate whether we can help his sensory perception and have the horse understand that the object is not dangerous, or slightly change the direction of our movement, so the horse is momentarily not proceeding towards the concern. When we are past the object of concern we can get back to our track, since the horse will not be perceiving the problem object.
Summing it up, we manage our behavior through making purposeful requests, modulating our communication through the senses of the horse, and presenting the horse with a problem that he would like to solve because he has a real interest in solving it, not because otherwise he would
When a horse stops, is probably observing something moving.
While a horse is looking at something he can also be listening to a sound that is not related to what’s in his field of vision and move the ears towards the source of the sound.
Listening to the feedback from a horse will allow the leader to purposefully change the request, and reach the goal.
suffer unpleasant consequences. This kind of interaction makes us look like what we ask of the horse is something he has an interest for, and convinces him more and more about the fact that we are leaders worth following. After all, a leader is, simply, someone who makes a request. The response from the recipient of the request is based on the meaning of the communication, how it is carried out and understood. A leader makes requests that get responded to in a way he had planned ahead before making the request, but a true leader is always ready to listen to the response even if it is not what he was seeking. This does not lead to a punishment for the failed execution of the request, which is the modality that many horse trainers use traditionally. In Human Horse Sensing, listening to the feedback from a horse will allow the leader to purposefully change the request, and reach the goal.
These horses are arguing about territory that has hay on it.
RIDER Biomechanics
Story & Photos By Stephany Fish Crossman
Accredited RWYM coach, Stephany Fish Crossman reviews a rider to help the team improve their ride!
For this issue I veered off the traditional Dressage rider analysis and went with some pictures of a young lady I worked with while on Maui. There are approximately 500 horses on the island of Maui, so many of them have an extremely varied resume, from being cow ponies to dressage horses to barrel racers and more! This young lady had the good fortune to ride this lovely mare, who is one of her trainer’s personal mounts. She is learning to do ranch horse stuff and some barrel racing, and her trainer thought it would be a great idea to make sure she was balanced from the start!
One important thing to know when working with riders in Western saddles is the differences in the basic make up of the saddles. As there is either more speed or more slack in a western rider’s discipline (from cow work to pleasure riding, for example), there is more of a tendency to build saddles that encourage riders to sit in the back of the saddle. A major part of this is the positioning of the stirrup bars; they tend to be more forward on a Western saddle than on an English saddle, so creating a balanced line up can be challenging. The square shape of the seat, combined with no real place to put the thigh/knee into can also lead riders to fall into the back of their body, cushioned comfortably in the back of the seat but not in a great place to help balance the horse’s body. One more thing to consider when working with Western riders – you need to know what their basic discipline is. The balance that we put a Dressage rider or a Hunter/Jumper rider is going to be too far forward for the quick stops and starts on a working cow horse, for example. However, no rider is always doing the same thing, so we gave this young lady a good balanced place to sit for when she is working on the flat or on a trail.
In our first picture, you can see that she is a long-legged teenager, with a really lovely length of thigh, a shorter torso and a good length of arm – perfect rider body! When I start with the basic idea of “if I magically pulled the horse out from underneath her, would she land on her face, her feet or her fanny?” it is easy to see that she would land on her fanny, and that her body is going backwards as she asks the horse to go forwards. Note the different length of her torso front to back – if you used 2 equal pieces of string from the base of her throat to her pubic bone in front and from the knobble where her neck meets her back down to her tailbone, it is easy to see that her back line is significantly longer and more in use than her front line. To compensate for the torso being long behind and shorter in front, her legs are the opposite – with her toe down in the stirrup, you can see that the front line of her leg is longer than the back line of her leg. This compensation pattern will, when the horse moves off, put her farther back into the saddle, which will cause her to brace in the stirrups and the reins in order to stay on the horse – a not good scenario. It is interesting to note that her hands are open and her fingers “soft”; this is the result of having been told not to pull, but having no real understanding of how to set herself up so that she doesn’t need to pull.
BEFORE
So, let’s get started!
Because I believe the position of the leg is in part compensation for the upper body and in part stirrup bar position, we go to the top half to start our fix. To get the torso in the best possible alignment, we want to position the collarbone over the sternum, then the sternum over the belly button, then the belly button over the pubic bone; this will get her front line and her back line matching. Looking at our rider, you can see that she will need to bring her collarbone and her sternum pretty significantly forward to get over the belly button, but then we will also need to bring the belly button back and the pubic bone up. These last two corrections can be achieved by thinking of your pelvis like a bowl. When the belly button is out, the bowl is tipping forward, down onto the pubic bone. When we think about drawing the belly button back toward the spine, it automatically brings the pubic bone up and the pelvis into a more neutral balance. To get the collarbone over the sternum and the sternum over the belly button, think about pushing into a force, like the wind, which is pushing you back. If you look down the front of you and you can see your belly button or your belt buckle, you haven’t gotten your collarbone and sternum in line enough yet! Maintaining this position is going to take a lot of focus, as it probably does not feel right (maybe more like falling off the front of the horse!) I had her note the feeling (good or bad) that the correct alignment created in her – our rider said that she felt hunched over when she was in the proper position! It is always interesting to see how proprioception can be faulty.
Once we lined up the front and back of her torso, it was time to address the legs. Remember that the thighs are part of the seat, and therefore need to have the ability to bend at both the knee and the hip to remain mobile yet stabilizing. To accomplish this, we shortened her stirrup up TWO holes – it felt crazy short to her at first, but she adjusted quickly and realized how much more accessible her legs and the stirrups were! The shorter stirrup gave her a better bend at the back of her knee, which allowed
her to bend and flex her hip, knee and ankle joints more effectively. The ability to bend and flex your lower joints creates a suspension effect in your body, much like the suspensions system in your car or truck. Without the ability to flex and band the lower joints, the upper body has no chance of maintaining its balance without bracing. I adjusted her leg to hang slightly further back than she had been positioned, so that her shoulder-point of hip-ankle line is on point.
There are two more things to observe in the before and after pictures of our rider this month, one good and one a work in progress. The work in progress is her foot. While her leg position is better, you may notice that her toe is still somewhat pointed down. This is something that is going to take more time – if I asked her to put her heel down now, she would brace the foot in the stirrup and open the knee angle too much, pushing herself back into the saddle. When making biomechanics changes in a rider, we search for Causes and Symptoms, with causes being our main focus to change. As she learns to draw her foot back underneath her to improve her balance, her ankles do not have the habit of flexing without bracing, and her hamstrings are working hard to keep her leg back more and her knee flexed. As the hamstrings become more familiar with this movement, our rider will be able to let her ankles flex without the loss of engagement in her hamstrings. The second thing to notice is her hands…remember when I said that her hands were open in the first picture? Note how her hands are more closed in the second picture! Hands are generally a symptom, not a cause. Think of the extremities of the body like the ripples of a pebble going into a pond – the hands and feet are usually the farthest out ripple, therefore not the creating factor. After moving our rider into a better alignment, her body no longer feels the need to let go of the reins, as she is riding more toward the bit instead of away from the bit – magic!
I hope you enjoyed our rider biomechanics review for this issue, and that you picked up some helpful hints from it! If you would like to be one of our reviewed riders, drop me a line at stephany@serendipitydressage.net. Happy riding!
Trailer Driving 101 Gooseneck vs. Bumper Pull
Story and Photos
By Tom Scheve
A gooseneck trailer owner will most likely swear that a gooseneck drives better, while a bumperpull trailer owner will likely swear it doesn’t.
If you’re racking your brain trying to choose between a gooseneck and a bumper pull, let me say right from the get-go, if hauling more than two horses is in your plans, I strongly suggest a gooseneck because of the additional horse(s) weight. Simply put, a gooseneck can handle more trailer and tongue weight, which is conducive to better tracking and eliminating sway. For more details about the safety issues of towing three (or more) horses in a bumper pull, please review the 2022 January/Feb article in Elite Equestrian magazine.
But suppose it’s a two-horse trailer you’re considering. In that case, you are not compromising safety when choosing one over the other as long as they are both hitched correctly. And it’s not that one drives better than the other; they just drive differently. By differently, I mean how each trailer tracks behind the tow vehicle.
The learning curve is understanding how each trailer reacts when turning. Simply put, a bumper pull will follow the track of the tow vehicle more closely on turns, whereas a gooseneck will severely cut corners.
A bumper-pull follows the path of the tow vehicle reasonably close, but it still cuts corners somewhat when turning. If you’re not paying attention, you might scrape a curb rather than roll over it as you would in a gooseneck. To clear the curb when turning right, you must drive the bumper pull straight forward into the street before turning. When the trailer is a quarter to halfway past the curb, you will escape bouncing over the curb. Turning left is not a problem because there is no curb on the driver’s side. The same principles apply when driving through a farm gate or out of a barn or overhang. ILLUSTRATION 1: Bumper Pull Turning
A gooseneck sets on a ball over the axles in the truck bed instead of behind the tow vehicle, making a huge difference in how the trailer reacts when turning. A bumper pull stays closer to the path the tow vehicle takes, but a gooseneck does not. The truck pulls a gooseneck trailer sideways when turning, severely cutting corners.
To negotiate a right turn without bouncing your horses over a curb, approach the intersection while staying as close to the painted centerline (or driver’s side lane line) as possible before turning. Keep an eye on your side view mirror and head straight out into the intersection, making sure the rear axles are either even with the curb or past it before starting to turn. You may have to swing over the centerline as you turn into the intersection so always check for oncoming traffic before pulling out.
When driving through an open fence gate, the gooseneck trailer axles must move past the gate posts before turning, or you will be looking at purchasing a new fender.
ILLUSTRATION 2: Gooseneck turning
A common misconception about goosenecks is that the truck and trailer can turn 90 degrees (which is true) and thus make sharper turns. However, there is a point when turning that the wheels are no longer rolling forward and start dragging sideways. This places tremendous pressure on the tire and wheel and you’re apt to pop the outer portion of the wheel off the inner rim or at the very least, damage the tire. Never turn so sharply that the gooseneck wheels stop rolling forward.
ILLUSTRATION 3: Sharp Gooseneck Turn
When backing a bumper-pull or a gooseneck, it can be confusing which way the trailer will go when you turn the steering wheel. An easy way to solve this is to place your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel. When you move your hand to the right, the trailer will back to the right; move your hand to the left, and it will back to the left.
ILLUSTRATION 4: Steering Wheel
Besides how they drive, there are other benefits to owning one or the other. A bumper-pull is shorter if space is a problem, it’s less money, a bit easier to jack up and down, and it can hook up to an SUV or a truck, giving you more tow vehicle options.
A gooseneck has additional space in the gooseneck area for extra gear or for sleeping. It weighs more, which provides a better ride for your horses if your truck is extra heavy-duty.
Tom Scheve, with wife Neva have been advocating horse trailer safety since 1984. Both have given safety clinics at many hose expos around the country and have written numerous articles for articles for national magazines, bout horse trailer safety. Their nationally acclaimed textbook, The Complete Guide to Buying, Maintaining and Servicing a Horse Trailer and Equine Emergencies on the Road (with Jim Hamilton DVM have been adopted by most National Horse organizations. Tom is also owner of EquiSpirit Trailer Company with corporate offices in Southern Pines, NC. For more information on horse trailer safety, visit their website equispirit.com or email Tom at tom@equispirit.com. Toll Free number is 1-877-575-1771.
Elite Equestrian does not endorse or confirm content suggestions in any articles. See credit page for disclaimer.
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