WHEN TO SAY NO?
I recently read a really good article about training young horses. The author was discussing the Importance of not ‘kicking the can down the road’ when you run into difficulties with your horse. The main theme of the article was that avoidance...
Preparing for success – putting the winter to work
Off-season for eventers can seem to last a lifetime but then all of a sudden, the first event is upon us and we find ourselves wondering what we really achieved over the winter months. For me, it’s important that I plan my winter training like I wou...
Bits and bitting in horses… the fundamentals
Over the years bitting methods have changed as we understand more about our equine friends, their needs, their conformation and above all what makes them tick. Here’s my guide to finding your way around the basic and most common bits on the market and h...
Potty about lunging? Insights into how to lunge your horse
Lunging has so many advantages. It can be used as part of the breaking and training process, as an alternate method of exercise, as a rehab tool, as a time saving way to work your horse, as a way to allow a horse to let off steam or relax before you jump ...
Learning from a legend – Camilla trains with Chris Bartle
The Irish have long since been known for their brave, natural cross country riding. In recent years, however, the sport of eventing has changed quite dramatically. The standard of dressage has increased to be on a par with that found in pure dressage. Sho...
Planning a training regime and competition schedule for the young horse versus the experienced horse
Following on from Kate Dwyer’s last blog post on preparing and planning for the season ahead, this week she focuses on the young horse and how the training regime and competition schedule should differ from that of an experienced horse… Get the basics...
Preparing and planning for the competition season ahead
Benjamin Franklin put it nicely…’if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail’. And while we know all too well that horses like to continually throw us curve balls, framing a short, medium and long term plan will pay dividends. not only for your ho...
Developing control and awareness for showjumping success
Here is an exercise used by a lot of coaches to see what level of control and awareness a rider has when it comes to maintaining a rhythm around a course of fences. It’s very simple to set up and works really well for a horse or rider that rushes to...
Training for the jump off – it’s all about trade off’s
Riding a winning jump off round is something that takes skill, practice and nerves of steel. Do you opt for a fast pace and accept that you won’t be quite as fast on the turns, or do you take it a little steadier to allow you to shave off second...
On Target – training the young horse to jump arrow head / skinny type fences
Joseph Murphy is one of Ireland’s most successful event riders and has trained many young horses to the highest level in this demanding sport. With cross country courses becoming ever more technical, ‘arrow heads’ and ‘skinnies’ now feature at a...
