Balance & Serenity Horsemanship

06/10/2026

In some equestrian circles, there is a tendency to ride whole school and 20m circles on a single track for years before you begin with lateral movements in the widest sense, because they believe that the horse should be perfectly balanced, straight, and supple before being allowed to do any lateral work. However, this is very difficult to achieve without any sidestepping.

On the contrary, if the horse is never asked to engage a hind leg by sidestepping, the risk is very high that he will become stiffer and stiffer in his rib cage and hind legs. He won’t, therefore, swing through his back as much as he could, either.

On the one hand, it is true that bending and turning on a single track (circle, volte, corner) is a precursor to lateral work, but on the other hand, sidestepping and bending will improve the bend, i.e. the lateral flexibility of the rib cage and hindquarters.

Simple exercises form the stepping stones to the more advanced movements - but very often more advanced movements improve the basic movements, too.

When you start riding lateral movements in the widest sense, you will notice an improvement in the horse’s suppleness, straightness, and back activity.

Sidestepping can be used to improve the horse’s body awareness, his attentiveness to the rider’s leg and rein aids on both sides of the body, as well as to the rider’s pelvic position.

Crossing with one hind leg in front of the other is also a good way to transfer the body weight into the direction of travel, which makes it a very useful tool when you are addressing a lateral imbalance that is caused by crookedness.

Sidestepping is one of the 6 basic movements that should be introduced relatively early in the horse’s training, at least in its most basic forms. It is an important gymnastic tool to develop the horse’s bend, functional straightness, as well as the lateral and vertical flexibility of the hind legs.

06/09/2026

"It’s crucial that we allow ourselves and our horse to make mistakes."
- Thomas Ritter

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06/06/2026

05/31/2026

🤩 Heart Girth Press

Using a heart girth press on a double rein guides the horse into a square, balanced posture.

The double rein provides the handler with greater communication and precision, while the heart girth press activates a natural response in the horse to soften, balance, and square up its stance without force or tension.

For older horses like this senior, this type of work is invaluable — it promotes healthy movement, strengthens the postural muscles, and keeps the mind engaged. Rather than simply retiring a senior horse, incorporating regular groundwork sessions can significantly enhance their overall well-being and quality of life for years to come.

Groundwork has the remarkable ability to rebuild confidence, improve body awareness, and bring a quiet sense of purpose back to horses who may have otherwise been overlooked.

This horse is a beautiful example of what is possible when time and care are invested thoughtfully — proof that every horse, at every stage of life, deserves the chance to feel balanced, understood, and connected to the person beside them.

www.connectedriding.com

05/29/2026

Do You Know that horses do not have collar bones? The ribcage is attached by muscles to the front legs.

When the horse is using the "thoracic sling" the ribcage rises between his front legs lifting his withers (green, orange and blue muscles). This makes him light on the forehand. When he uses his "shrugging" muscles (pink) his ribcage drops down between the front legs, making him heavy on the forehand.

05/28/2026

What does it take to get along with a horse?

I know a lot of horse people who are exceptional riders, or good at getting horses to DO something - even spectacular things that require a lot of talent and education.

But what does it take to get ALONG with a horse?

Our experience with horses is very reflective of our inner being. Many of us seek horses for comfort in a tumultous world, or control where we lack it, maybe developing them to fill a desire to BECOME something. Most of us probably are unaware of just how much we are using them to fill emotional voids and therefore finding (or not noticing) our relationships with them incomplete, devoid of deeper meaning. We can maybe get horses to like us cheaply - they like coming to feed but don't stick with us when the going gets hard. Or we can make them do stuff if there is a level of threat, but not without. We struggle to find that middle ground.

To truly GET ALONG with horses is not to be permissive or dominating. That conversation misses the boat entirely - it's far, far deeper than that.

--It means having the ability to look conflict in the face without wanting to cover it up, run, blame someone else, make a big fuss, comfort ourself, and so on. To get along with horses, there will be times of conflict between us - and if this is uncomfortable, we will struggle to guide the horse or really hear what is needed. We don't need to seek conflict - there is no need to be contentious, but there will be times this comes up, and we need to be able to stay emotionally stable to deal with it.

--It means the ability to hear no without falling apart, one way or another. Some people take no as a personal affront - either becoming angry at the insult, or feeling like they've failed. A reason for self pity. And others take a no as a reason to lose all backbone, to melt into a passive and wishy wet blanket that inevitably becomes an obstacle to the horse and not a support. No wonder horses continue to evade, bite, and say no to this person - this person is, in fact, in the way.

--It means the ability to maintain self discipline and focus without drilling the horse - to push oneself to ride better, focus more, continue honing their skill, without making it the horse's problem. Someone who is hard on themselves without punishing themselves - someone who can separate what is rider error from causing the horse to suffer for it, drilling over and over until they get it right.

To get along with horses requires self reflection - a steely dedication to looking at ourselves honestly without self deprication or blame, without using fluffy and popular language that sounds ethical (but is actually meaningless) to let ourselves off the hook from actually growing.

It is quite difficult, in fact, to get along with horses - it's quite easy to sit next to them, to let them be in our space, to get them to tolerate us or look forward to the perks we bring (but not us), and probably even easier to dominate them. But it is no easy feat to be in the presence of a horse and make them feel better with our presence than without. And if you look around at the struggle we have at getting along with each other, and liking ourselves - it's easy to see why getting along with a being who reflects all this back to us, could be so hard for us to learn to earn PEACE with, not just share space without structure or action.

05/28/2026

Watching my training is probably like watching paint dry for some people.

No big reactions.
No dramatic “wins.”
No explosive before and after moments.

Just a lot of quiet communication, small details, and consistency.

But when training is built around clarity, emotional safety, and staying under threshold, it often LOOKS boring from the outside.

We are so used to tension, conflict, shutdown, flooding, and big emotional reactions being normalized that calm learning can almost look uneventful by comparison.

I’ve often been told that I just get “lucky” and that the horses coming into my training program are simply “easy” horses because they all seem “so calm.”

But what many people are actually seeing is a horse that is finally being given space to process, communicate, and learn without constantly being pushed over threshold.

A regulated horse is often viewed as “easy.”
Subtle communication is often dismissed as “good breeding” or “a lucky disposition.”
A calm session is often viewed as “unimpressive.”

But quiet does not mean nothing is happening.

Sometimes it means the horse finally feels safe enough that they no longer need to scream to be heard.

05/22/2026

I want their head down.

I want their head down, not because I forced it down, and not even because I invited it down if they've done it despite lack of balance and strength.

I want the head to it to come down because all the other conditions in their body are set up properly. That the head wants to come down as a side effect of the back moving properly, and the horse finding balance with the hind legs. This allows the neck to relax because all the pieces are in place and the horse no longer needs to brace his neck for balance.

It's about more than just asking the head down. The whole body has to work in unison that the head comes down on it's own as a desirable side effect of the body in harmony.