This beautiful Arabian gelding is 7 years old, 15 hands, with a relaxed walk, floating trot, rocking horse canter. He loves to jump and is easy to handle with excellent ground manners. He has been professionally trained in a program where he works in basic dressage, rides cross country and jumps small courses. This is an intelligent, talented, athletic horse with a wonderful personality who is looking for a new partner.
Are you looking for a new horse to ride on the trails and enjoy without any worries? This horse is perfect on the trails, bomb proof to cars, dogs, bikes and other obstacles you may encounter riding cross country. Azay is a 16 hand, 10 year old black TB cross who worked on the film “Ruffian” as her double in several scenes with the trainer, Sam Sheppard. He is used to being around a lot of activity and hanging out on the set. He takes care of his rider and he has a wonderful personality. Charming and a gentleman always. The perfect family horse.
Rider position is crucial to maximizing your horses performance. The fundamental goal of the rider is to be relaxed and effective with the aids. Without the relaxation you will not be able to ask your horse to do anything productive and problems may arise from the tension.
The shoulders and arms hold the most tension for the rider. Some simple excercises are to constantly relax the shoulders and arm muscles, offering your hands toward the bit and discover how your horse reacts. Most likely, he will soften his neck muscles, round his back and be more comfortable.
Most importantly, breathe. When you hold your breath, you created tension in your body and thus in the horses. Remember, your horse is a reflexion of your energy. So relax, breathe, enjoy the ride.
Summer is a wonderful time to get out of the ring and ride on the trails. Riding your horse or pony through corn fields is an excellent way to create a bomb proof horse. The corn is growing so fast that in a few weeks it will be impossible to see the Pony and Mini in the corn. Riding cross country gives the rider confidence outside of the ring and improves balance.
It is never too early to start riding. Here is a young rider starting out on Mini Hop, preparing to take her first steps in the saddle. Mini is patient and gentle, the perfect horse to begin a riding career on.
“I Try Harder” or “Sam” is a lovely beginner novice event horse who has won many events. He is kind and easy for the timid rider, a fun horse to learn on and compete. He is a beautiful TB bay, 15 hand gelding looking for a new partner. contact cari@cariswanson to schedule an appointment to ride him.
When the rider is holding the inside rein with too much pressure, the horse is unhappy, uncomfortable and will not move with complete freedom in any gait. A simple effective excercise for the rider is to continually release the inside rein by softening the arm muscles and relaxing the shoulders. The result is impressive with a horse in balance. Note the difference the rider makes in these two images. Try focusing on a creating a soft neck in your horse simply by relaxing in the saddle without throwing away the connection.
The all new, great big, Ona Kiser video of RJ the wonder horse. He is such a stud!
You can visit Ona’s videography website here.
Tony Mason and Cari Swanson have created a unique training series of dvd’s for students who want to continue their education in the saddle. Each session allows the viewer to watch the progress of horse and rider improve the quality of the gaits through a series of excercises that are easy to practice at home.
You will witness mistakes and how they are corrected so that you can learn how to work through problems at home with your horse. Subscriptions for one lesson a month are available on the web site www.cariswanson.com or you can sample a training session individually if you prefer.
We encourage you to send in your questions and training problems which will be addressed in future sessions.
This rider clearly demonstrates how not to ride a circle. The horse is falling in on the circle, is out of balance and is not bending through his body. Do you ever have difficulty riding a round circle? This is a common problem and can be easily fixed with several simple excercises.
Simplify everything. Go back to walk and find the bend in your horses body. Check to make sure you are not holding your horse by softening the inside rein to confirm he is carrying himself. Make several transitions to trot and back to walk confirming that you are balanced and can maintain the bend. If you can, proceed to trot/canter transitions always softening the inside rein to check your balance.
Leg yielding into the transition will help put the horse in the correct position and help you maintain the bend. Now try to ride your circle with bend in the body of your horse. If you are falling in then go back to the simple excercise at walk. Only proceed if you are able to maintain the bend. This will take some focus and practice but once achieved you will be able to ride beautiful circles in balance while maintaining your rhythm.