Dave Murphy and Zoe: Update 2

20th September

Good afternoon this is Will Faerber from Art2Ride and today I am here with Dave Murphy and his horse Zoey. You have all seen Zoey on previous videos, and today she is about 5 or so months into training with Art2Ride. I come about once a week to help Dave out.

One of the things that we are talking about with this horse that I want you to see and understand is until you ride a horse much, the horse has to be accepting contact with the bridle. If you were to read the old Spanish riding school manual for instance, they would lunge a horse for a year before they rode it. As you can see in the video Zoey’s mouth now has a nice foam forming around the edge of her lips, which tells you that the horse is …



Recognizing Back Development Part 2

19th September

Will Faerber from Art 2 Ride continues his discussion on how to recognize back development with Dr Adrianna Moore DVM from an equine chiropractor’s point of view.



Recognizing Back Development

19th September

Good morning, this is Will Faerber from Art2Ride and I am here with Jodi Anderson and her horse Casanova. We had a question come in a couple days ago from someone who is working their horse and developing and they wanted to know how to recognize if the horse is developing it’s topline.

It is quite simple because you will see the topline change. By topline I mean the point in the middle of the horse’s ears all the way back to it’s tail. If you look at the horse in the video, you can see how the top of his neck muscles are lit up and the bottom of his neck muscles look very soft, but he’s reaching out from the shoulder. Look how evenly his diagonal pairs are moving (the outside hind leg with the inside foreleg), that is …



Dr. Robson – Back Stretches

3rd September

We are going to use Montana and Montana’s owners to demonstrate how to do a hip tuck, which is a really good exercise for two reasons.

One is to assess if the patient has a sore back: we are going to trigger a reflex point on her topline and if she resists, swings away, moves into us or acts like it’s uncomfortable that helps us determine that maybe she still has a sore back or croup. What we are actually looking for is a contraction of the abdominal muscles or her core muscles. If she is able to do the tuck, that tells me as she lifts up that she is engaging her core and is able to lift and round and come beneath with her hind end which we can do statically from the ground. This is also of course the …



HIPPOHorses

3rd September

This is Dr. Joanna Robson demonstrating correct saddle fit on a western saddle. Montana will be our model for a brief discussion on evaluating the angle of the saddle tree.

Montana’s owners had some concerns about her saddle fit and when we placed the saddle on top of her back, setting it back behind her shoulder, what we noticed (which you can see in the video) the little pressure over the horn (the top part of the saddle up here) and the front part of the tree pinches down on top of her shoulder blades. If I bring my hand in at the top, I can’t even get it between the top of the tree and the side of her shoulder blade. This has a potential to do a number of things: It can shorten her stride by literally blocking her …




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.

Art2Ride Associate Trainer Program: Marnie: 2021 Yearly Submission

Art2Ride Associate Trainer Marnie gives her yearly update for 2021.

Art2Ride Associate Trainer Program: Ryanne: 2021 Yearly Submission

Art2Ride Associate Trainer Ryanne gives her yearly update for 2021.

Art2Ride Associate Trainer Program: Marie: 2021 Yearly Submission

Art2Ride Associate Trainer Marie gives her yearly update for 2021.