Equine Academy

Ha, that's cute.

There's really no way around it. Horseback riding is an expensive sport (or hobby, or passion, or whatever you want to call it).

Buying the horse is often the least expensive part. It's the recurring costs afterward. Board, farrier, vet, equipment, competitions, and so on.
For those that own horses or those that just take riding lessons, lessons are a crucial factor in your abilities, progress, and knowledge. But those come with a decent price tag as well.

While the Equine Academy is not a complete substitute for in-person lessons, it is an incredible resource to supercharge your own knowledge at the tiniest fraction of the cost of in-person lessons. An entire YEAR's worth of Equine Academy membership costs LESS than what you might spend on just a SINGLE MONTH worth of in-person lessons.

How's that for a deal?

Have you noticed that the 3 Equestrian Olympic disciplines often set the bar for the oldest competitors at the Olympics? That is because while riding is still a physical sport, oftentimes the best performances derive from knowledge and experience, rather than pure youthful athleticism.
Join the Equine Academy to accelerate your own knowledge.

Overjumping jumps

This is going to be disappointing to some people, but it needs to be said.

Your horse freakishly overjumping something doesn't really mean a whole lot. At least not a whole lot of positive things that I unfortunately frequently see commented about it.

(I picked a random photo from a google search and I've covered faces and identifying marks because I'm not trying to call anyone out, I just don't really have any of my own photos to use as an example)

By all means, your horse overjumping something is always kinda fun and funny. It's just not really indicative of them "really enjoying their job" or "wanting the jumps bigger", these can be very dangerous implications that you shouldn't be making in this situation. Nor is it indicative of some destiny for top-level performance.

The real reason you see this happen in young horses is because they are still learning and figuring out their own body, their own power, their own bodily awareness, and sometimes some mental fright of the jump.
A young horse might overjump like this because they are still scared of a fence, and so while they are being obedient and doing as you ask instead of running out, they are putting distance between themselves and the fence by going higher.

Or maybe they just don't know exactly where their legs and feet are, and they dont want to touch it (or they don't want "it" touching them), and so they play it safe and guarantee they have enough clearance.

It takes time, years and years, for horses to gain more self/bodily awareness. (This is also why young horses more frequently come up with random scrapes on their head as they wing it into something, whereas older horses have more awareness of where their body is in space).

It is not the end of the world for your horse to overjump like this. But it should be an instantaneous flag to you that you need to take it easy and train/take the time to increase your horse's bodily awareness so that they jump more realistically.

The worst thing you can do is to assume this means they want to jump bigger. Then you start overfacing the horse and eventually they get either so scared (if the overjump is a result of being scared of a fence) or it becomes so much effort (if the overjump is a result of bodily awareness) that they will begin having issues with stopping or not enjoying their job.

So again, by all means, keep posting the pictures, enjoy the hilarity of their reaction, I'm not being a curmudgeon and saying you shouldn't. It is actually quite normal for young/green horses to overjump. (I'd almost be concerned if they didn't have some period of overjumping like this, as it might mean they don't care enough!)

My only point is to be careful because overjumping most certainly does not mean you should make the fences larger. It is a result of anxiety, lack of bodily awareness, lack of experience, or a mix of some or all of that. Which means it's a training and waiting game to resolve the issue, not a justification to jump larger fences.

So here's my issue with the ERQI ratings and why I'm happy that they are still (so far) only aesthetic and don't actually have an effect on being able to compete at a certain level.
You'll see my current two boys, Fernhill Cayenne and Extra Point (Charlie) here, as well as Fernhill Fugitive (Jack).

Now, just a brief history on each of them for those who might not know my horses that well.
Cayenne has been my partner for the past 9.5 years, taking me from Novice through AI/3*, with most of the past 7+ seasons being at Intermediate+. He can be a heartbreaker with water issues and coffin issues that sometimes pop up at competitions and other times not. It never happens schooling, which is frustrating. But I've come to accept that. I'd say overall his record typically has a few stops every season, and I've had a handful of falls off of him the past few years. Never a frangible pin broken, and never a horse fall. But depending on how he feels about the water that day, and if there isn't a coffin in a deep ravine, I wouldn't have any qualms about taking him around an Advanced course right now.

Extra Point (Charlie) is my brand new 6 year old who has 0 record here in the U.S. aside from the 4 Novices I've now done with him (the first of which had 1 stop). He's still learning the ropes and I've been taking it slow to make sure I build him properly and don't leave any holes that come back to bite us later.

Fernhill Fugitive (Jack) is an ex-5* horse (with Phillip Dutton) who ran around Kentucky several times and Burghley once. But unfortunately our competition partnership was short lived, with only 2 seasons worth (2019 and 2022) due to Covid and an injury in between those two seasons. I ran him around mostly Prelim/2* in 2019 and mostly Intermediate/3* in 2022, He (or should I say: I) had 1 stop at Prelim in 2019, and 1 stop at my first Advanced in 2022 and a rider fall at a 3* in 2022. He hasn't run since a Prelim in March of 2023 (over a year ago).

Here's my beef with the ERQI ratings: nobody would realistically rank these horses where they are ranked in terms of safety with the history.
1) Fernhill Fugitive is ranked Green through 3*S and yellow all the way through 4*S. The horse that hasn't competed for almost a year and a half, hasn't completed an Intermediate or above since September of 2022 (almost 2 years ago).
2) Extra Point is ranked green through Prelim. The horse that only has 4 Novices on his record, only 3 of which are clear. The horse that hasn't even gone Training, let alone Modified. And the horse that if you see in person, you would go, yeah, he's really nice, but he still needs to get a little more solid before trying the technicality of the skinnies and height and narrowness of Prelim.
3) Cayenne, the only horse who is realistically capable and currently ready to compete up the levels is ranked Orange at Prelim and Red above that. Yes, I absolutely agree that our stops and my rider falls are not great. But anyone who would see how those actually happen would see that they are just about the safest way those situations could happen. (Case in point, my stop the other weekend at Virginia, he literally came to the nicest, calmest halt in front of the fence in the water. Not clambering on it and flipping over). It just is who he is. But the reason I've felt safe to continue competing at the levels is because he is absolutely safe about it. He stops because he doesn't think he is reading it right. He doesn't charge ahead hoping to figure it out and then getting in trouble.
I've said something really similar in the past when I raised a concern about a fence on a course that was set in a way at the end of the course that I had some concerns about a tired horse sitting down on it and flipping. I said honestly, I'm not concerned about my own horse. If he's too tired or questions it, he is just going to stop without even jumping. I just expressed concern for other riders (nothing ended up happening, by the way).

But anyway, if I only went by the data and ERQI rating to determine what level I am competing each horse at, It would have me galloping Charlie, the 6 year old Novice horse around a Prelim, dropping the only current and capable upper level horse (Cayenne) all the way down to Training, below Charlie, and bringing the semi-retired horse (Jack) who hasn't seen an Intermediate/3*+ course in almost 2 years out to run around another.

It's just not realistic.

I know that applying an algorithm to something as subjective as riding and competing is never going to be perfect. But this is so far off of what is even reasonable, that there is just no justification to ever even consider utilizing it, whether voluntarily as a helpful tool or as a requirement. It is definitely nowhere NEAR safe to take Charlie to a Prelim. That would be an absolute trainwreck. Why EquiRatings' algorithm would think a Novice horse is green to go Prelim without any additional experience, I have no clue. I would think the algorithm would automatically red-light that situation. I know everyone else in the real world does. I think I may have as accurate of a system by just asking a magic 8-ball whether I should enter a certain level or not.

Don't get me wrong, I love EquiRatings' data and think their posts and analyzation of the 5* competitions is fascinating. I just have an issue with the ERQI index and think it is quite flawed and want to make sure others don't view it as the "end all be all" of deciding what level they should be competing. Use your own judgment, your own comfort level, and the advice of your instructor. Those are going to be far and away better resources. If you feel you need another source, buy a magic 8-ball, because that might be just as reasonable as the ERQI.

It's official, the Equine Academy will be launching our very own mobile app for you to access content on your cell phone or tablet!

No longer will you have to be tied to a desktop/laptop, or have to use a clunky web browser on a smartphone to access the great content you've enjoyed. Very soon, all Equine Academy members will be able to access all of the courses from the convenience of the app!

The apps are still getting built and I do not have an anticipated timeline, but I believe it should be in the next month or so! There will be an app on both the Google Play Store as well as the Apple Store!

Stay tuned for another announcement once they are officially up and running!

In the meantime, if you are not already a member of the Equine Academy masterclass, be sure to join and get access to all of the great educational content that has been created and will continue to be made! Over 25 hours of content and counting, with subjects ranging from coursewalking, to wrapping, to studs, to hand position, to groundpole exercises, to nutrition and much more!

Maximizing your progress in a lesson

Lessons are an expensive but necessary expense that most people pay to learn the best techniques and progress quicker than just "going at it alone".
But one of my biggest complaints as an instructor is when a student tip-toes with implementing what I am instructing.

I *very rarely* say "Oh no, that was too much".

99 times out of 100, a rider will implement the instruction far too lightly. As instructors, we want to see a difference.

If I tell you to ride a medium trot, it needs to be different than your working trot.
If I tell you to really increase the bend and move sideways out on your circle, I want to see that happen.

I completely agree that there is a point for subtlety and harmony. And there is a limit to how sharp we want to change something (versus throwing the horse off balance or whatnot). But like I said, I'd guess 99% of the time I give a certain instruction, it's implemented 20% as fully as I'd like to see.

Want to make your instructor happy, maybe catch them off guard and throw them for a loop, all while potentially speeding up your progress? Overexaggerate every instruction they tell you in your next lesson (as long as it's not harmful to your horse). While they may ask you to "tune it down" for a couple things, I guarantee that they'd actually be pleasantly surprised and maybe even giddy at the difference you are showing.

Picture: A XC lesson I had on Jack with eventing legend William Fox-Pitt

Being Flexible

You will *never* know everything. If you think you do, that is the death knell of your riding career.

I honestly don't like using stall guards at competitions. I've seen way too many horses get out of their stall one way or another and sometimes injure themselves. My boys have always just used the standard stall door/gate that is provided.

However, Charlie made me have to compromise on that conviction at Virginia the other weekend.
Normally, he can see right over the stall walls because he's a giraffe.

The Virginia Horse Center is an AMAZING venue, don't get me wrong. But their stalls have 10' tall concrete walls that made Charlie extremely nervous being unable to see any other horses (especially Cay). I thought/hoped he would calm down, and at points he did, but much of the first 24 hours was frantic stall pacing, substantial rearing and even putting a hoof against the wall for a split second to try to hold himself up to see Cay for longer. After seeming to calm down for the night, I came back the next morning to find that Charlie had worked himself into a sweat with more frantic stall walking and had at some point pulled a shoe from his antics.

I wasn't sure what to do. But then I noticed that when I was cleaning his stall, he stuck his head out over the wheelbarrow and was completely at peace since he could now directly look into Cay's stall.

So with the help of some friends, I gathered up several stall guard sausages and experimented to see if he would respect them and if they would help him relax.

Obviously they did.

Now, I didn't leave him with this unsupervised. But I did make every effort to spend as much time there as possible so he could have his head out and see his "brother".

I'll be carrying some stall guards in the trailer from now on, just in case. But he should be better at other competitions since the walls aren't usually tall and/or solid and unable to be seen through.

As much as I would love them to get turned out together, I don't want Charlie to get EVEN MORE attached to Cay, so that's also another consideration in this whole scheme.

But summary of the post: even if you've done something a certain way for years and years, sometimes that won't be how you need to approach it in a certain situation with a different horse. So be open to changing your approach.
I'm sure as he gets older and more confident in himself, he won't be as worried about his buddy. But for now, it is a consideration that I need to keep in mind in my management of him.

After losing a top-level eventer and a top-level dressage rider to tragic accidents the other weekend, it didn't feel right to just continue posting as if nothing had happened.

We will be back to our regular content shortly.

Make sure you hug your horses. At the end of the day, there is no other way around it: this is a dangerous sport. So much progress has been made to make the sport safer, but it will never be without risk. We need to be grateful and enjoy the moments we have with these amazing animals.

Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and slow down.
Society and technology have enabled us and pushed us to have instant gratification and instant results.

But that doesn't work with horses.

I've had people questioning when I'm moving him up since he's so scopey. But just because he *can* doesn't mean he *should*. I think it might be in the near future, but it's definitely been more Novices than I had originally planned.

This has been the majority of Charlie's life the past 4 weeks.
Aside from 1 XC school, 3 clinic lessons, and 2 days of competition, the last 18 or so other rides this past month have been walking on trail.
Not trotting (although we did just a few minutes of that today), not cantering. Walking.
(Plus popping up/down the bank in the water on our return home - no water issues allowed!)

Yes, even leading up to the competition last weekend, he hadn't done anything more than walking for the 5 days before that.
And leading up to next weekend's competition? Aside from a dressage lesson tomorrow, it'll be more walking.

Why?
Because I'm in no rush. He needs to develop properly.

Part of that development is rectifying a right hip drop that the walking and hills have helped a lot with.

Part of that development is working on his mind to take a minute and relax with no agenda.

Part of that development is building some strength and fitness through the long walks on terrain.

Part of that development is getting him lightly reactive laterally as we move side to side on trail - avoiding rocks, but also building strength and flexibility in bending.

Part of that development is getting him in a more balanced way of going and increasing consistent contact with the bit.

He doesn't need to go jump increasing size jumps (yet). He has the scope. He (mostly) has the bravery.

I'm taking the long view. Slowing down and working on the foundation. Once I have a strong, balanced, flexible, reactive horse, it'll be nothing for him to move up fairly easily.

Getting an ill-suited horse for your current abilities (mental and physical) and near/mid-term goals is probably the #1 reason Adult Amateurs struggle with their riding.
1) They don't make the progress that they would like to see (and that they would be capable of with the right horse).
2) Not only do they not gain confidence, but frequently they lose confidence because of issues with the horse
3) Depending how and what kind of ill-suited characteristics, they may even get hurt.
4) Sometimes because of all of the above, they may even leave this hobby/sport/passion because of the above issues if they get mentally defeated, physically hurt, or even just scared to ride.

I've gotten close to this point personally, so I know the feeling and the situation. I just did not have the right horse. And after struggling for almost a year with him, I realized that I was dreading going to the barn and dreading riding.
This sport is too time-intensive, too dangerous, and too expensive to not have fun and enjoy it.

It's not a failure to admit that the horse is not right for you. It is probably one of the bravest and most reasonable things you can do. Move on and find a horse that *IS* right for you.

Breeds Part 2:
Building on the discussion from the other day regarding thoroughbreds versus warmbloods (or other breeds), today let's talk about the positives and negatives of those two very broad categories in terms of riding.

Now, these are *very* generic stereotypes that most definitely cannot apply to every horse. Just to head that off before anyone feels the need to give an example of a horse that doesn't follow these broad generalities.

But in general in terms of how a rider needs to adjust their riding, both general categories have their benefits and drawbacks, and both categories require skill to ride, albeit the skill can be a vastly different approach.

Generally, thoroughbreds require a lighter, softer ride. They have their own engine and are typically quite sensitive, so they require the rider to be very delicate and poised to not inadvertently affect them by being too strong with an aid or perhaps throw them off balance by the rider not being in the right position. Thoroughbreds tend to be a little hotter and more tense, requiring a ride that emphasizes relaxation to get the most out of them. Typically the rider can just "think" what they want to happen and the tiny changes that result in their body are enough to signal to a thoroughbred on what to do. In most cases, the rider is just guiding the energy and forming it, but not "creating" anything. Many times their spooks are forecast in advance and while they may scoot, they typically may not be as "committed" as a warmblood to a strong buck/leap/turn/etc. (I'd say, in my opinion, they're typically a little easier to stay with).

Generally, warmbloods require a stronger, decisive ride. They frequently are a little more on the lazy side, so they require a rider to be more committed, decisive, and an attitude to make things happen. They tend to be quiet most of the time, requiring a more active rider to dictate how things are going to go. In most cases, the rider is creating the energy first, then having to form it properly. Many times their spooks and naughtiness can be out of nowhere and extremely strong, and so in my opinion, many times it's a little harder to ride out the spook without getting thrown or at least out of position.

Again, these are just *EXTREMELY* broad strokes that I am painting the two categories of horses in. There are plenty of thoroughbreds who act like the warmblood I described, and vice versa. So again the most important thing is to look for the horse that suits you, regardless of breed.

But just be aware of the fairly different riding styles that a "typical" thoroughbred requires versus a "typical" warmblood. A rider used to one type may struggle with the other type at first until they learn the "other language" and how to ride the difference. Each ride is challenging though in it's own way, so don't let anyone tell you one is easier than the other. The "thoroughbred" type ride is challenging in that it requires a rider who is very precise and quiet in their body and aids and is always focused on relaxation. The "warmblood" type ride is challenging because you have to at first be a bit stronger and more "involved" to develop the energy but then also develop the ability and response of the horse to give it to you with light aids over the long term. A "typical" thoroughbred rider doesn't need the strength and energy creation, whereas a "typical" warmblood rider doesn't necessarily need the precision with their aids to avoid overstimulation. At least at the lower/mid levels of riding.

Pictured: Charlie's pedigree. Half Holsteiner, half sorta Irish Sport Horse. He technically has 46.5% blood, although that is not super accurate as genetics is more complicated than just the breed name in each box.

Unpopular opinion that needs to get put out there.
During the Kentucky Three-Day Event last weekend, I saw a LOT of people posting about how 1/3rd of the top X number of horses after XC were thoroughbreds. And that you should get a thoroughbred because they clearly are amazing.

And look, let me start out by saying that I have nothing against thoroughbreds. I've had one in the past, and I even vetted one last year that was supposed to be my next horse until it didn't pass the vetting.

And yes, there are some great thoroughbreds who compete at that level. But let me bring you back to reality. Reality is that 2/3rds of the top ranked horses *weren't* thoroughbreds.
The even harsher reality is that even IF 100% of the top horses yesterday were thoroughbreds, that still doesn't mean that you *should* get one.
(Note, this doesn't mean you *shouldn't* either.)

Why am I saying this? Am I in the pocket of "big warmblood"? Am I biased?
No, it's because no offense, but 99.9999999% of you out there are not going to the 5* level. Or if you are the 0.00000001% that will, it almost guaranteed will not be on this very next horse you are looking for.

The vast majority of people reading this are either not eventers, or if you are, you're lower level, or maybe you don't have the ambition to go that high up, or a multitude of other reasons that you will never run around a 5*.

Just because the top horses at a 5* *can* be thoroughbreds doesn't mean it is the right horse for you.
It could be.
But it might not be.
If you're looking for a horse, go for the personality, the experience, and the suitability for where you are now and where you want to go in the somewhat near future.

Not the breed. Period.

100% of the fastest cars at Formula 1 races are Formula 1 cars. But that doesn't mean you should get a Formula 1 car for your daily commute to work. Same thing for horses. A potential 5* horse (of any breed) is most likely *not* going to be the horse for you going around Novice. I could not have ridden Jack (ex-5* eventer) without having gained the experience/abilities/skills that I did riding Cayenne. I could not ride and produce Charlie as well as I am in the process of doing if I didn't have the experience/abilities/skills that I gained from all of my other horses. Riding experience and abilities are a slow learning process, and not every horse is going to be a fit for every ride at every moment in time.

Again, I have nothing against thoroughbreds and there are plenty of thoroughbreds that are suitable for many riders. But we need to stop using 5* success as a barometer for success at our own lower levels. It is just not the same. Period. Not even close.

There can be fancy moving thoroughbreds and warmbloods, and poor moving thoroughbreds and warmbloods.
There can be thoroughbreds and warmbloods full of heart, and there can be thoroughbreds and warmbloods that don't have the "heart" for the sport.
There can be exquisite, clean jumping thoroughbreds and warmbloods, and there can be poor jumping thoroughbreds and warmbloods.

So pick your next horse regardless of the breed. The same thoroughbred trainers/sellers who say you shouldn't discount thoroughbreds because of the breed should be careful to also not push thoroughbreds as the *only* right answer. They're just doing the same thing they are complaining about others doing for warmbloods. Get the horse that is right for you, regardless of breed. Period.

We have just a couple quick questions about potentially offering a dedicated Equine Academy app for you to access all of the Equine Academy courses right on your phone!

The app would be free and would allow Equine Academy masterclass members to access all of the video course content straight through the app on their phone rather than going through an online browser and website.

As a thank you, one person will be chosen to receive a free month of Equine Academy membership!

Take the 15-second survey here: https://forms.gle/pZto2gkzPfDePqNGA

Reward your horse, Part 2

I talked yesterday about rewarding your horse. But then you may ask, "How should I?"

Well there are a lot of ways, depending on what you are doing and what the reward is for.

In terms of training, if you are riding, the basic reward is the release of pressure when they respond (I.e. stop squeezing when they pick up the gait you were asking for).

You can also give them a brief walk break to reward their mind and body for executing whatever you were asking for.

I also frequently give them a little scratch on the withers as I am riding, without necessarily even altering/breaking the contact with the bit, just to tell them I saw and appreciated their effort. Just a quick little drop of the hand by a couple inches, a little scratch, and then back to work, without changing the amount of contact.

You can also verbally tell them that they were good, repeatedly (over a long span of many rides and months and years) use the same word and a comforting tone to reward them.

You can also give them scratches. I prefer scratching them over the loud, aggressive "pats" (smacks), as horses naturally do not view the smacking as a reward, even if your adrenaline is up and you're pumped from a great test or a clear round.

After all, they NEED to know when they did well, in order to know what to do in the future.

And aside from that, it's just the right thing to do.