Jane Savoie's Blog – March 2009 Archive (4)

Destroy Fear with an Attitude of Gratitude

Hi Guys,

It’s completely reasonable that occasionally you’ll be afraid when you ride. After all, you’re dealing with a reactive (reactive means bolt, spin, buck, shy, or rear!) animal that outweighs you by a lot! But you can destroy those fears by adopting an attitude of gratitude.

The first thing you need to remember is that ninety-nine percent of the things you fear never come to pass. So why waste all that energy worrying about things that will probably never happen.… Continue

Added by Jane Savoie on March 27, 2009 at 5:00pm — 7 Comments

Ideas for Eliminating Leg Yielding Resistance

Hi Guys,

People often tell me that their horses leg yield very well as far as going sideways is concerned, but they tend to toss their heads and show resistance to the reins. In desperation, some riders even use a tie down to put pressure on the nose to discourage their horses from yanking at the reins.

If your horse finds it fairly easy to cross his legs and move sideways with his body, yet he's tossing his head during leg yields, it sounds like he's objecting to your… Continue

Added by Jane Savoie on March 20, 2009 at 9:00am — 3 Comments

Here's How You Can Have a Great Ride Every Day

Hi Guys,

Attitude is a choice. You don't have to have a bad day. Here are 3 simple ways to insure that every ride you have with your horse is a great one!

1. Learn to see things in shades of grey.

Want to know how to have a great ride everyday? Stop expecting perfection. Don't look at training and competing in black or white terms. Instead, learn to see things in "shades of gray". The key to seeing shades of gray is to recognize when things are "a little bit… Continue

Added by Jane Savoie on March 13, 2009 at 10:00am — 11 Comments

Customize Your Horse's Training Program - Should I Use a Light Leg or a Strong Leg?

Hi Guys,

It's important to have a training system so that you school your horse in a clear and consistent way. The down side of having only one system is that one approach doesn't work for all horses. If a particular system isn't right for your horse, and you try to force him to conform to that method, he can fall by the wayside.

Because I want every horse to develop to his potential, I've come up with my system, which I call "Benign Antagonism". Simply put, if your horse… Continue

Added by Jane Savoie on March 6, 2009 at 9:00am — 5 Comments