When you are considering your practice program, break it down into three parts to help you access your progress: YOURSELF — YOUR HORSE — BALL, RACQUET and FIELD SKILLS 1st YOURSELF: Understand basic rules Try Umpiring Try the different positions Make time to be organized Use DVDs (WATCH YOURSELF PLAY) Ask questions if you do [...]
Buy Now Injection molded Square Head Racket that is light weight and tough for years of use without loosing shape Square head for the maximum catching area and pickup surface Thin lip for easier pickups Flexes over the ball during those tough pickups and spring back to straight for a perfect throw Extra long grip [...]
Square Head Professional Racket
Buy Now Injection molded Square Head is light weight and tough for years of use without loosing shape, flexible over the ball during those rough ground pickups but springs back to straight for a perfect throw. The square head gives you the maximum catching area and the wide thin lip puts more racket on the [...]
As the name implies, it is a combination of polo and lacrosse. It is played outside, on a field, on horseback. Each rider uses a cane stick to which is attached a racquet head with a loose net, in which the ball is caught, picked up and carried. The ball is made of sponge rubber and is approximately 4″ across. The objective is to score goals by throwing the ball between your opponent’s goal posts. Continue reading »
Inevitably there comes a time when the best way out is off. It’s the second thing that should be taught to riders, right after learning how to get on. Everyone should be comfortable with the quickest way off a horse and how to land in a safe manner to minimize the possibility of injury. Continue reading »
To understand the {{importance|significance|weight}} of dental maintenance you have to first realize how the horse’s jaw moves while under saddle or masticating his food. Understanding the structural requirement for full and free {{movement|motion}} of the jaw (forward/backward and side to side) is imperative if you are seeking to have a {{comfortable|good feeling}} willing riding companion. Continue reading »
I remember a long time ago in high school seeing a sign behind the desk of my algebra teacher that read:
“The older we get the more we realize how much we don’t know” .
I also remember that at the ripe old age of sixteen that I thought this was a “stupid” statement. I naturally assumed that this was just another example of false humility designed as a politically correct manipulation of young rebellious minds like mine in yet another attempt to coerce us into minding our manners and conforming to the standardized norm of the educational system. That was thirty years ago when I was 16. However, it didn’t take me all these thirty years to realize the profound truth in the statement that I had once assumed in the wisdom of my youth to be so ridiculous. Years later, while coaching in a clinic, I heard myself spontaneously uttering the words “the more I work with the horses, the more I realize how much I don’t know”. That realization suddenly dawned on me when I was about 40. Continue reading »
It’s a bit silly how many people are out there trying to “feel their horses feet”, as if it’s some kind of psychic phenomenon to be able to sense the rhythm of your horse’s footfall. The problem is that you can’t make yourself feel the movement of your horse’s legs in your mind you need to feel it in the seat of your pants. Think of it this way: when we ride we are not sitting on the legs, we are sitting on the barrel. What connects the back legs to the front legs is the barrel, so we feel the legs of the horse through the swinging of the barrel and we interpret the swinging of the barrel as we feel it through the receptivity of our hips. Therefore, the only way to know when and where your horse’s feet are is to be able to feel the rhythm of your own hips. If you can combine the intellectual or theoretical understanding of what’s happening in your horse’s spine with the feel of the physical groove of how it plays out, you can start manipulating the bend and the horse will keep on dancing right with you. Continue reading »
When it comes to the relationship between people and horses the old saying of “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey that counts” couldn’t be more true. Horsemanship is a sport, a science, and an art, all rolled into one very challenging experience. Continue reading »