Cari Swanson

Hidalgo

Last week I had the honor of riding RJ Masterbugs, the star of the recent movie Hidalgo. RJ is a 7 year old paint stallion standing at 15 hands tall. He is one of the most alert horses I have ever ridden. His trainer and owner, Rex Peterson claims it was his uncanny ability to follow him with his eyes all the time that convinced him that he had star potential. RJ was only 2 years old, unbroke and quite a handful when Rex found him for the film.

Sitting on RJ is an experience. He is patient and waits for a command, always alert to his trainer outside the arena. RJ was trained to perform many tricks, such as shaking his head yes or no, dragging a human across the arena, rearing, striking, laying down, bowing and counting, among a few. Each trick can be cued by Rex off camera from quite a distance. RJ analyzes each new rider and only performs when you respect him and ask correctly. I was impressed with how balanced and calm he was to ride.

Reward Your Horse

Horses are very sensitive animals and respond extremely well to a well deserved “thank you”. That could be in the form of relaxing the contact with the bit, or taking the leg off or simply patting your horse on the neck.

Last week I gave a clinic to 14 kids ranging from 6-15 years old. They all practiced several excercises testing their skills at geometry. After several unsuccessful attempts at riding a correct circle, they tried to ride the circle while patting the inside of the horses neck. This solved many problems–first it relaxed the rider, then it relaxed the horse, and finally it improved the gaits of each horse.

Remember that the foundation of the training scale is rhythm and relaxation. A tense rider creates a tense horse and that is a formula for disaster.

Equine Affair November 9-12

Come meet Explorer 007 aka Bond, at the Equine Affair in one month. Bond will be a demonstration horse in the “Ride with the Best” clinic featuring Cindy Sydnor, one of the top dressage trainers in the country. She will discuss and define balance: when, why and how to handle it. Cindy will also discuss comparing confirmation and its effect on an upper level horse’s performance
Bond was chosen because he exemplifies excellent confirmation and balance with a super natural rhythm and cadance.

The Equine Affair is a National Exposition and equestrian gathering held once a year in Springfield, Massachusetts, at the Eastern States Exposition Center and will have something to offer to horse enthusiasts of all ages, all breeds, all levels of expertise in all equine disciplines.

Equine Affair will host the largest trade show of any horse expo in the East featuring hundreds of the nations equine related retailers and manufacturers.