Cari Swanson

Riding with Focus

When training yourself and your horse it is important to ride with concentration and focus. Learn to discipline yourself to ride correct transitions and geometry. Always prepare your horse before you ask him to perform anything and be quick to soften the pressure once he complies with your request.

The balance and rhythm of your horse will improve dramatically if you remain focused and ride correctly. Take the time to learn correct circles, the 20 meter as well as the 10 meter circles will continue to help balance and supple your horse.

A great excercise to ride for suppling your horse and learning to ride accurately is to carve out 10 meter circles along the long side. Ride from cirlce to circle maintaining the same balance and rhythm. This is a wonderful test of rider as well as horse.

Congratulations to Kayla and Joa!

Two of my accomplished students–Kayla and Joa–have recently qualified to enter Lendon Gray’s Dressage 4 Kids Show in Saugerties at HITS in August. This is a great accomplishment for both students who have recently taken to riding dressage. They have worked hard to master the basics of dressage training and their dilligent focused work has paid off. Now they have to study the written materials and continue training so that they can achieve personal best scores at the event. Good Luck to both of you!

For more information on qualifying scores visit www.dressage4kids.com

The Horse Report

Every week you can listen to the Horse Report on virtualhudsonvalley.com. In this weekly report, I discuss many aspects of the horse world and how it relates to the equestrian activities in the Hudson Valley. If you know of any upcoming events or clinics and would like to share this information, please contact me so that I can report on them.

You will also hear from Leslie Land, the garden expert, Alex Tuller, the cooking expert, Ilana with The List, and Dean Temple, our host who will have you laughing every week.

Check out virtualhudsonvalley.com and send us your feedback on the entire program. We are always looking for ways to improve the content for our listeners, so we need to hear from you!

Horses with Charisma

Horses with Charisma, what qualities make a rock star personality in a horse?

Many clients want a horse who oozes attitude,but with that attitude comes a strong character that must be managed and controlled. Some horses actually puff up and love to show off in the competition arena and it is this extra star quality that makes him a champion. The judges call this the “wow” factor and often reward each movement with a higher score simply because of the “je ne sais quoi” quality of the movements. It is much like celebrities who shine in the public eye–they possess star quality.

These horses need extra attention and require an entourage of people to look after their every need. They can be quite demanding. The pay off is that they are true champions–revelling in the spotlight. You can see this quality in many of the world champion horses in the world of dressage, jumping, racing, or any of the other equestrian sports.

Much can be attributed to the relationship the horse has with his rider too, some people bring out the best in their horses–it is a team effort. You often hear about horses that give it all to one person, yet perform poorly for others. That is precisely why the chemistry of horse and rider is so important, as with any great dance partnership.

Not everyone can handle this type of personality and must take that into account when looking for a partner. Some people are better off with a workmanlike personality, a horse who does his job willingly and happily but does not need all the attention.

Understanding the Age of Your Horse

It is important to understand a horse’s life-stage characteristics in order to fully comprehend what he is communicating. Knowing how a horse matures physically and mentally will help you design appropriate management and training programs.

Consider that one horse year is equivalent to 8 human years until he is two years old, after that, each horse year equals two and a half human years. Thus, the horse to human equivalent is as follows; a weanling is four years old, a yearling is eight years old, a two year old is sixteen years old, a five year old is twenty three and a half years old, a 12 year old is 40 years old, a twenty year old is sixty one and a thirty year old is 85.

The adult prime of a horse is the five to twelve year old. This is when his mental and physical ability is equivalent to a human in their twenties or thirties. They are at their peak for athletic performance and hopefully have many life experiences that have made him more sensible. His nutritional requirements are basic. He can remain physically fit with moderate exercise, and his immune system is at its peak.

The middle aged horse is 12-20 years old and will lose some stamina and muscle tone, however, depending on the breed and quality of training and conditioning can remain healthy and competitive into their twenties.

The Senior horse, at age twenty to thirty, is like his over-sixty human counterpart and will suffer from dental changes that may include lost, worn or broken teeth that may lead to difficulties in chewing and maintaining weight. It is important to switch to a senior feed to maintain the quality of digestion and nutrients. Vision and hearing may deteriorate and should be considered if behaviour changes occur.

The geriatric horse of over thirty years might be physically impaired, however, under the proper management and care, he may be useful and happy for many years. My favorite horse, Fella, lived well into his thirties, his spirit remaining strong until the end. In his last years he enjoyed free range of the farm and spent many afternoons napping on the freshly cut lawn.

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill Perform at Madison Square Garden

Last Saturday night, I attended the concert of Faith Hill and Tim McGraw at Madison Square Garden in New York City. I have never been to a country western concert and had no idea what to expect. There were more cowboy hats in one room than I had ever seen, including at Quarter Horse Congress. Many generations of families came out to experience this unique concert of a superstar couple performing their many hits.

Although I knew some of the one hit wonders like Breathe, Live Like You Are Dying, and Firefly, the other songs were new to me. I was amazed at how the audience sang every word of each song with incredible devotion t0 their favorite group. Looking around the arena at over 35,000 people loving this music was a very powerful experience. We were seated in the fifth row on the floor between 2 sections of the stage so that we could see the performers from 10 feet away. Both performers are charismatic and beautiful people, extremely gracious to the fans. The almost 3 hour concert had no break, with the couple performing a song and then Faith performing for one hour followed by another duet and finally Tim taking over until the end. They paced themselves throughout the performance, moving in and out of the audience to make contact with the fans. They did not seem to care that the fans wanted to touch them and shake their hands.

In the end Tim tossed out his guitar pick into the audience where it sailed though the air– landing under my chair. As I picked it up and noticed his signature on the pick, I felt some good luck wash over me. If you ever have a chance to go to their concert, I would highly recommend it.

Fighting Flies in the Heat of the Summer

Fly season is upon us. It is time to protect your horse from the onslaught of the black menaces. Did you know that there are over 16,000 fly species are found in North America, and of those, 300 are horesfly and deerly species. Fortunately, only a small number of these are likely to menace you and your horse. The species you are most apt to encounter depends on the region of the country, in our area, the worst toublemakers on the trail include the horsefly, deerfly, blackfly and on occasion, the horn fly. The most annoying of these are the biting deer flies which suddenly disappear in September.

There are many fly sprays out on the market, so take care that you test them on your horse as some can cause an allergic reaction to your horses skin. In some cases, sensitive horses will develop many bumps which can be cleared up easily by treating him with various drugs you can aquire from your vet. If your horse tolerates garlic, feed him a supplement with each meal. You can also mix lavender, lemon, skin so soft and rub on your horses ears and face to repell the nasty menaces.

A correctly fitting fly mask is a must for horses turned out in open fields.You can also use a light fly sheet to protect the body of your horse.

Flies are day time biters, most active on sunny still days. So if possible ride at the end of the day or first thing in the morning…happy trails!

Half Halt Demystified

The half halt is simply a re-balancing technique to engage your horse. It is simple if you feel your way and do not force the movement. A half halt when correctly ridden, does not block the forward motion, rather it simply transfers weight to the hind legs. First you must use your driving aids to maintain a forward feeling, then sit deeper for a second. Hold the energy by keeping the contact with both reins, a bit more with the outside rein so that you can maintain flexion. Keep your legs on the horse to shorten the stride, yet maintain the same rhythm. Now soften your arm muscles, allowing your horses back to come up and his neck will “grow” out of the withers. You should be able to do many half halts in the time it takes to say “half-halt”.

Remember, you are simply shifting the energy to the hindquarters, lightening the front end. Your horse will feel lighter and more engaged, movements will be easier to perform. Practice the feel and have fun!

The Eye of the Horse

Theories and controversies about how a horse percieves its world have existed forever. The main questions are:

Does a horse bring a visual image into focus using the eye’s lens, as we do, or by moving his head?

Does a horse see color?

Do horses suffer from visual defects such as nearsightedness or farsightedness that may affect performance?

Whatever the real answers, it is clear that normal vision is very important to a horse’s daily life. As a mere matter of beauty, a sound, full, clear, intelligent eye is something to be highly valued in our equine friend and is often the sign of a champion.

At a glance

–the equine eye is the largest globe of all land mammals
–it is possible that horses see objects 50% larger than humans do, but no one knows for sure…
–the horse has an amazing 350 degrees of total visual field
–it is thought that horses may raise or lower their heads to focus on objects

Notice the horses ears and you will see which direction he is focusing on. An aware rider will always be alert to the horses ears and the direction the horse is focused.

Horses are thought to be color blind, however, in some tests it appears as if they respond best to yellow, followed by green and blue. Red is difficult to see. Interestingly, the color of the most frequently knocked down rails is yellow.

It is important to be aware of your horses eyes, and treat them as soon as you see any abnormality such as squinting, tearing, greater sensitivity to light, or cloudiness. Most important, never treat your horses eye with an old eye cream in your medicine chest unless you are absolutely certain of the condition. The wrong cream can create ulcers and lead to blindness.

Understanding Submission

At the bottom of each dressage test are collective scores called Gaits, Submission, Impulsion and Rider. All of these scores are doubled and are very important to the outcome of the riders overall score. Each of these aspects is evaluated in every movement of the test.

Submission is defined in the USDF Glossary as “Copliance and throughness. The yielding of the horse’s will to that of the rider, as revealed by a constant attention, williness and confidence in the attitude of the horse, as well as by the harmony and ease displayed in the correct exeution of the movements, including the correct bend, acceptance of and obedience to the rider’s influences, and a balance appropriate to the level and task at hand.”

In other words, everything from the shoulder up shows if a horse is being submissive. Thus, if there is tension in the bridle with the horse grinding his teeth, or resisting the connection, the scores will be very low. You want to have a soft neck and elastic connection to the bridle for the horse to be submissive and to achieve high scores. Obviously a submissive horse will receive higher scores across the board as it is considered in each individual score.