Carly Reid- Harmony Horsemanship & Dressage | Coach

Carly Reid- Harmony Horsemanship & Dressage

Phone: +61 421 569 215

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24.01.2022 Interesting points about our state affecting the horse, practicing floating until it's normal and having a plan!

23.01.2022 This looks fun!

21.01.2022 Ugh! We're going backwards... again! Has this happened to you? Have you started making progress with your horse to only find you have regressed and gone backwar...ds in your training? FEAR NOT! This is inevitable and here's why... One of the hardest things about coaching people with your horsemanship is to help them be ok with failure and setbacks. I think we are under this impression that if something isn't a forward progression, that it's failure and we are doing something wrong. If we have to take a step back we begin to doubt ourselves, doubt our horse, doubt the program and really question if it's really possible. You have to go back to get better. One of the things I hear a lot is "I already went to that clinic, I don't need to go to it again." That's probably the single most untrue assumption you can make. If you think you get everything out of it your first time, you leave so much left on the table. Same goes with anything you do with your horse. The other one I hear is "I want to learn groundwork because I want to do it right." Well this is also a misnomer because you will never learn all there is to know about just about everything. Learning goes in stages and levels, much like mountain climbing. When you climb a hill or a mountain and get to the top, you see a plateau but then you also see more hill/mountain to still climb, it's basically never ending if you keep going. This is the same with learning. When it comes to horsemanship, you will never learn to do it perfectly, therefore you embrace the setbacks. It's the setbacks that will teach you what you are missing based on where you are and in return, you'll end up higher on the ladder next time through. Embrace plateaus. This is where things aren't good but they aren't bad. This is the transition point where you either go forwards or backwards. If you go backwards, it means there some holes to fill in, if you go forwards, it means you filled the holes during the plateau. And... for every high moment in your training, be prepared for it to end. lol. Not to be a negative Nancy but things go in cycles. You get good, you get bad, you level out, then rinse and repeat. The worst thing you can do when learning and mastering the horsemanship craft is to quit. You will for sure fail if you choose to not put one foot in front of the other and just keep going. Getting discouraged and quitting may be the thing for you, but if you want to reach your potential, quitting isn't part of that equation.

15.01.2022 FREE ONLINE WORKSHOP / WEBINAR Presence, Power & Partnership: A free online workshop to help increase your capacity to deal with big emotions + big exper...iences with your horse. We will be viewing this through the lens of nervous system understanding and awareness, incorporating both mindset & mindful movement work. WHEN: Monday, June 29, 8:30am NZST We’ll be covering The importance of navigating daily stress cycles & how they affect your riding Why your focus needs to be on increasing your capacity to hold experiences, energy, and emotions rather than managing fear, anxiety & shut down How to maintain your centre in the midst of big emotions and experiences Click the link below to sign up https://confidentrider.online/presence-power-partnership-w/ Session recording will be sent out to all sign-ups if you are unable to make it live. I can’t wait to see you there! Jane PS. Please share with your friends and anyone you think would be interested!

10.01.2022 I've decided everyone now has to have matching dogs

09.01.2022 Horses are not designed for empty tummies

08.01.2022 There are several ways to ride a horse, for example: 1. Against the hand 2. On the bit / behind the bit 3. Towards the hand... Of course, there are more, but in this post, let's stick to these three main tendencies we see when new STudents enter the ST Academy. Now when we ride "against the hand", we'll experience some kind of pulling in two ways: the horse pulls at us and we pull at the horse. So there's pressure on both reins and this creates tension in the horse's body and mind, plus it easily creates an underneck and stiffness in the body. When we make our horse move "on the bit" in a round way, we experience either pressure on both reins at the same time, or our horse is avoiding contact, going "behind the bit". It easily creates muscles on the side of the neck and a whole in the area of the withers. So in Straightness Training (ST), we opt for the third option, riding "towards the hand". In that option, the reins belong to our horse. Now to help us make this idea and ideal reality, we use the following inner pictures and inner feelings: Imagine pushing a "wheelbarrow". Imagine that the reins are two sticks to push the head away. Steer in a "giving" way to give enough space to the neck. While holding the reins, point with the index fingers towards the horse's mouth for a moment to let the energy flow in the right direction. Breathe out through your arms, hands, and fingers towards your horse. All these inner pictures and feelings help us ride "towards the hand" to avoid tension and stiffness. By allowing the head and neck to lower and lengthen, our horse cannot become narrow in the poll and short in the neck, and develop the "wrong" muscles. Instead, it helps us to develop correct topline muscles without any holes in the area of the neck, shoulders, withers, and also not in the back and hindquarters. Riding with "wheelbarrow" reins and hands allows our horse to stretch the topline and move with a forward down tendency, and this is tendency is important as it activates the hind leg to swing further forward and support the center of mass in a better way. If we block the process of lengthening and lowering with our hand - by pressing, limiting, or producing in front - we cannot reach the hind legs, and we are also not able to feel what's happening in behind. Now in ST, we see the head and neck are the barometer of the horse: the weather (body and legs) needs to change to get a different result in the barometer (head and neck) . In other words, we cannot produce the roundness in front mechanically, we need to let arise it organically. And when it's not happening in front, we need to do something in behind. Of course, we should not ride mainly using our reins: our inner picture and inner feeling are way more important as well as our seat and leg aids. But sometimes it's good to focus on something in "isolation" before we "integrate" it with the other things we already know and practice. As always, the "idea" of something and the "experience" of something are two very different things. This means, words and pictures and metaphors are no replacement for the experience, but they help us to create awareness and prepare for the experience. They help us to set our approach up for success. ST gives us the concepts, but we have to fill in the details . ~ Type or if you use wheelbarrow reins www.straightnesstrainingacademy.com/free-training See more

08.01.2022 Grateful to be allowed out and about, although it's a bit drizzly today! #wheresmyindoor

07.01.2022 ST EXERCISES To give a horse the best possible physique to carry a rider we use gymnastic exercises - exercises which develop a hors...e symmetrically in body and limbs, such as: Circle Shoulder-in Haunches-in Renvers Half pass Pirouette The core of the gymnastic exercises consists of the circle, shoulder-in and haunches-in - also called the 'cornerstones'. All the other exercises are derived from these cornerstones. THE CORNERSTONES The CIRCLE is used to develop the Lateral bending in the body, the Forward down tendency of the head and neck and the Stepping under the center of mass of the inside hind leg - aka LFS in Straightness Training (ST). Once the inside hind leg can step under the center of mass (COM), this hind leg can also start to take weight. To do so, we use the SHOULDER-IN and counter shoulder-in. These exercises are designed to school the hind leg in function of the inside hind leg. As a result of taking the weight, the horse will bend the inside hind leg more, resulting in a free outside shoulder. Once the horse can bend the hind leg as an inside hind leg, we can also start to school the hind leg as an outside hind leg. To do so, we use first the HAUNCHES-IN (travers). From there we can start developing the variants: ALL EXERCISES ARE RELATED All exercises relate to one another and differ slightly: The difference between shoulder-in and COUNTER SHOULDER-IN is the position of the wall. The counter shoulder-in is often used if the power of the pushing hind leg has to be reduced. The difference between haunches-in (travers) and the RENVERS is the position of the wall. In the renvers our horse can lean less against the wall with his shoulder - so it's a bit more difficult than the travers - but as a result, our horse really supports himself with his hind legs. The difference between shoulder-in and renvers is the bending in the body: it's the opposite. In these exercises, the same hind leg has the opposite function ('inside' in shoulder-in, 'outside' in renvers). The same applies to counter shoulder-in and the haunches in. The HALF PASS is 'just' a haunches-in across the diagonal, and the PIROUETTE is 'just' a haunches-in on a small circle. Both half-pass and pirouette require the support of both the inside as the outside hind leg. Therefore, in both exercises the shoulders must lead to be able to keep the center of mass in front of the direction of the hind legs - only then both hind legs can support the weight. So both the half pass and pirouette also relate to the shoulder-in. NUMBER OF TRACKS Now all exercises can be done on 3 or 4 tracks, or 2,5 tracks or 3,75 or 3,99 and our horse can have more or less bend in his body. Now there is no 'perfect' number, and the exact degree doesn't matter. What matters in ST, is that we choose the number of tracks and degree of bending where our horse can support his body and center of mass best with both hind legs. And that depends on the conformation of our horse: does he have a long back or a shorter one, long legs, or shorter ones, a long neck or a short one? Choose the degree of bending and number of tracks where your horse can move with optimal balance and most quality. WHERE TO START, WHAT NEXT? First start on the circle, to supple the body. When the horse can bend more evenly to both sides, add the shoulder-in exercise to supple the inside hind leg. The moment your horse can perform the shoulder-in with 66,6% of quality, start teaching the haunches-in. When your horse understands how to perform the haunches-in along the wall, you can take this exercise - on the quarter line - on the center line - on the opposite track - developing the renvers - on the diagonal - developing to half-pass - and on the circle - developing to the pirouette. First, teach each exercise in walk from the ground, without the additional weight of the rider. Only when your horse a. understands the cues and aids and the behavior he has to do b. has a better coordination in body and limbs c. and can carry his own weight on a particilar hind leg ... then start adding the extra weight of the rider. In the teaching phase, you can start in slow-motion to give the horse's brain and nervous system time to digest and to focus on the right technique to create good habits. Once the teaching phase is over, you can start optimizing the quality in balance, suppleness, shape, tempo, and rhythm, firt in walk, then in trot, and finally in canter. HOW TO DEVELOP THE HORSE To develop our horse equally in body and limbs, all exercises need to be done to the right and to the left, which means on the right rein and on the left rein. When doing these exercises, there will always be an 'easy' side and a 'difficult' side. Riders tend to ride more often on the 'easy' side, because it's easier, but this makes the horse even more unequal. Therefore, to develop the horse equally: 1. Do the 'difficult' side a bit more often. 2. Start with the 'difficult' side and end with the 'difficult side'. The moment the horse starts to feel more equal, switch to train the exercises 50-50. WANNA LEARN MORE? If you'd like to learn more about all this, then watch our brand new training - with 2 videos, a checklist and downloadable eBook about the ST Exercises: www.straightnesstrainingacademy.com/free-training Feel free to tag your friends if you think they could benefit from the free training too! ~

07.01.2022 See link below for our website! Current price list, services and other info will be all there. Schedule to be added

06.01.2022 Hi everyone, as most of you know I've taken a break from training outside horses from home for a while so I can work with my girl. She's so fun! A few pics for you News for this year: 1.**I'm going to be offering more offsite training and groundwork for young or green horses instead of an onsite starting package. ... I think this more gradual approach fits in better with how I work anyway, rather than the idea of putting horses into a 6 week starting program where they have to learn everything at once and the owner has little involvement. This stresses me out I want to work with owners and have them be part of this amazing fun time with their own horse, so they can build a relationship and know how to continue on. If this sounds like you, let me know and we can make it happen. 2. **I'll also be visiting horses that need rehab groundwork, stretching and pole work or general fitness work. If you work long hours or can't work your horse as much as you want to, this may be a good add on!! Video and full update on how the session went. 3. ** Rider Position lessons. Focus on improving yourself, gain an independent seat and let's work out what specifically your body is doing on the horse. Trying to train your horse while sitting out of balance makes things really hard! Lets go back to the days when it was normal to be able to walk trot and canter with no stirrups and no hands!! And be able to let go and breathe.. Detailed and specific, we start from the beginning and work on the most important things that aren't working first in the halt and walk and build from there. Sounds like horse training? Let me know if you are interested in any of these options .. That's it from me! Chat soon Carly

04.01.2022 Hi everyone! I haven't posted in a while. Here's a little video I did yesterday with a few groundwork exercises with Fontaine. Moving the hind and front together and backwards circles moving the shoulders ... When they can do this with flow and relaxation it helps them to move better without brace.

02.01.2022 This years Brumby Festival is being held online! There are 2 weeks left to enter, we have some fun classes and wonderful raffle prizes. Head over to the Brumby Festival Facebook page for more information or email [email protected] for entry forms and raffle tickets.