By Lindsay Grice - Rider error can cause horses to rush through the obstacles. Just like horses who rush over fences, those who don’t know how to adjust their own stride and don’t trust their riders’ judgement just want to get it over with. Some people confuse this with eagerness, but it’s actually adrenaline raised by fear. With every mistake, their confidence erodes and their flight instinct takes over.

By Lindsay Grice - “Is it me or my horse?” Every rider has asked herself this question when encountering a problem. But to say a horse likes or respects one rider over another is simplistic – let’s look deeper into the concept of nature versus nurture.

By Lindsay Grice - Most horses tend to cut in on one half of a circle and “bulge” out on the other half. If your horse has bulging problems, he most likely gets “magnetized” toward the fence, the in-gate, or toward another horse. Comparing your horse to a train, I’ll give you some tips to improve your control and be able to keep your horse on the track of your choice.

By Lindsay Grice - There’s nothing less satisfying than having to haul your horse to a stop. Like a dinner mint after a meal, a precise stop puts a finishing punctuation on a pattern and leaves the judge with a good taste in his mouth!

By Lindsay Grice - The Western pleasure class, while historically the most popular class in the stock horse breeds, comes with its share of criticism. Knowing that I judge and compete within the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) circuit, the subject of Western pleasure often comes up with the dressage, hunter, and jumper riders in my clinics.

By Lindsay Grice - I thought about the qualities that I have seen in my most successful students over the years. Beyond putting them in the winner’s circle, these traits will help them to be successful in life.

Without a doubt, an awareness of the way horses learn has helped me to train more efficiently, effectively, and safely. Like a detective, I approach issues by asking the question, “Why might this be happening?” I look for clues and go through my mental Rolodex of equine behaviour facts to solve the puzzle.

By Lindsay Grice - As the conformation of every horse’s mouth will vary, it’s helpful, once you’ve determined the family or general type of bit, to try it for a few days to see how your horse responds. Unfortunately, this can become an expensive process and most horse owners have quite a collection of “experiments” at the bottom of their tack boxes.

By Lindsay Grice - Knowing what diagonal and lead you’re on is a matter of feeling the rhythm and footfalls of your horse. Knowing which foot hits the ground when puts a rider in tune with his horse. He is more able to influence his horse’s movement if he times his aids according to the rhythm of the strides.