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Quote of the Day:

"A Hibernian sage once wrote that there are three things a man never forgets: The girl of his early youth, a devoted teacher, and a great horse."
~ C.J.J. Mullen

Training Tips:

Don't let your horse get bored. Too many horses get bored by repetitious work, lessons that are the same thing over and over again. It's important to vary your horse's routine on a regular basis - signs of boredom include the horse's ears being tipped out and back, or a tight mouth and pinned ears may indicate discomfort and irritation. The horse may weave his head, grunt or groan, stamp or kick out with his feet, become difficult to turn or get to start or stop. Some horses ignore signals from their riders, start cribbing or pacing, etc. There have been many cases of lesson horses going sour from being overworked with too little rest in-between lessons, not enough variation in the patterns and things done in the lessons. This is mainly pertaining to lesson horses, but the same could be applied to anyone and their horse.

Today in History

1947: Early Edition, Hunter's Sun and Brown Jewel, all offspring of the sire Hunter's Moon IV, finished 1-2-3, respectively, in a race at Hollywood Park

1985: A bay colt, Seattle Dancer, son of Nijinsky II and the mare My Charmer, sold to Robert Sangster for $13.1 million--the record price for a Thoroughbred. Seattle Dancer, a half brother to 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, raced five times as a three-year-old to earn less than $150,000 from two wins, one second and one third before he was retired. The previous record for a horse sold at auction was $10.2 million, paid by Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum in 1983 for Snaafi Dancer, who never raced.

Article Spotlight

Round Pen Training

Most round pens are fifty to sixty feet to allow the horse to bend and achieve proper bend and balance at the walk, trot, and canter. The round pen can be used for simply exercising the horse, as a temporary paddock, a place to confine your horse while you work with it without having it tied up, and many other ideas. You should concentrate on driving the horse around the round pen at all the gaits. While you're driving your horse, you should start to notice him consider looking toward you - when this happens you should move, while backing - increasing the distance between you and the horse. This is called drawing. If he doesn't pick up on this, move back behind him and make him travel onward. Think of pulling him off the fence with an invisible rope, and to pull you must back up...try approaching and petting him. If he won't stand still, just start over and pull him in again.  (continue reading)