Correct Contact In The Stretch

24th February

Today we are going to try to answer a question from one of our friends in Denmark who has written to us saying when she tries to stretch her horse she goes on a loose rein, and in her particular case, the horse stops moving and seems to fall apart. So what we are going to try and answer is the correct contact.

The correct contact in the stretch is contact, the weight of the rein, it is not a loose rein (this is one of the biggest misconceptions about the stretch). The horse should be just as much on the bridle in the stretch as it is when up in the working trot, as we see Karen doing here in the video. She is going to stretch the horse correctly first and we are going to watch the horse stretch …



Art vs Sport

22nd February

HAVE WE LOST OUR WAY??

(This post discusses dressage as a sport but applies to any discipline.  Horses need to have their back’s engaged and carrying the rider!!)

Are we sacrificing the principles of Classical training for sport??  Are our horses paying the price??  Gerd Heuschmann DVM describes in his book “Tug of War” and his DVD “If Horses Could Speak” the damage that is being to horses by this deviation from the Classical principles.

Written in 1959 Udo Burger details in his book “The Way To Perfect Horsemanship” how “Complete harmony is the whole essence of the art of dressage and it is unfortunate that it cannot be better rewarded in dressage competitions”…”Art is pleasurable activity which only involves appreciation of beauty and happiness in selflessly pursuing an ideal. Sport is a test of strength and courage in which ambition and …



The Horse’s Full Range Of Motion

3rd February

This is Karen Loshbaugh on Perhaps, and today we are going to once again do a demonstration, with a horse that has a more advanced level of training.

This horse has shown through I1 successfully, Karen won her silver medal on the horse. It has been trained exclusively by us for some 5 years or so. We are going to demonstrate how we begin at the same place. These foundation exercises, developing the horse through the top line are something that you do at every level of training. You should always come back to it to relieve the tension across the horse’s back, and that is why they are so much more willing to work because we are letting them out of that tension.

So now what we are going to do is Karen is going to bring the horse up and …



Keeping the back engaged in the working gaits

2nd February

Today we are going to give you another example of developing the horse’s top line and finding that point of balance. That is, how high we can bring the horse’s head and neck once we have engaged his back.

This is an 18 year old stallion who was never able to be trained due to some feet infections, so he only started working at the age of 16! So it took quite a while to develop his back, he did a lot of stretch work. We are just now beginning to bring him back up.

My wife Karen, who you see riding in the video, is going to get him in a nice deep stretch. This horse also has a problem because he had been overbitted in the past and always hung his tongue out the side of his mouth. We see …




From the Blog!

Join me as I post weekly blogs covering many topics relating to Classical Foundation Training. I have intentionally left out the word "dressage" because many people have a negative association with the prevalent "crank and spank" approach or that it is a sport for only those who are afraid to jump.

Dressage as it is meant to be is an understanding of how to best optimize a horse's movement and ability to carry a rider, surely a benefit for any horse, any discipline. It is also important in maintaining your horse's safety, soundness and sanity.

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