Joca is a 24 year old Saddlebred horse that I acquired about 5 years ago from a boarder who felt she could no longer care for her. Although this wild, alpha mare seemed to be more crazy than sane, I saw potential in her as I began training her in preparation for being a lesson horse for my farm. We did have some exciting moments in the first year with my intermediate Hunter students but as time passed, and Joca learned to trust more and more, and she blossomed into a sweet, warm and affectionate

If you like hard work which never seems to end, frozen fingers and toes in winter, sweaty stink in summer, manure mountains, costs of everything soaring every year and people who take advantage of you whenever they can, all for very little to no profit, then a boarding business is for you!

I own several Thorowgood saddles (we have a bunch of lesson horses) and I like them. They are widely used in England. They are not as popular here (Wintec seems to have cornered the synthetic market in the US) so the prices are not so bad. You have to check your girth after you mount because they have a way of squishing down once the weight of the rider is on. So, you must do a thorough riding session to make sure that the saddle is not too wide for your horse. Also, the fabric will spoil you forever

Everyone talks about "core" muscles and mostly everyone thinks that means crunches, crunches and more crunches. It was explained to me at a clinic "The Riders Seat" with Tom Nagel (www.zenandthehorse.com), that "core" muscles actually means your "psoas" muscles. If you think of an apple core, it's the very inside, right? Our psoas muscles are inside us, at the spine, not the outside abs. If you can strengthen your psoas and use them correctly, you'll

Question: does a steroid injection fix the problem or just fix the pain? I've never had one so I'm curious????

I'm feeling your pain! Saddles give me big headaches. I have a lesson barn and I need to fit 10 horses with saddles as well as boarders who need help fitting saddles to their own horses! There are so many saddles out there and so many variations of horse backs. It's so hard to advise anyone on what saddle to buy. My best saddle is an old Stubben Siegfried that I bought at a garage sale for $35 about 10 years ago! That darned saddle fits so many horses! It has a rather wide tree and just the

It sounds to me like your hips (or hip) may be kind of "locked up". I have a couple of students who have the same problem and it's clear to me that they have a stiffness problem through the pelvis. Supple hips and pelvis are very important (and often overlooked) to good riding. I'm not a doctor or chiropractor, so the best I can do is suggest that they make an appointment with someone qualified to help them limber up. I have been seeing a chiropractor for a couple of months now

Yes, if you have a very fit horse, a good rider who can support his/her own weight (not a beginner) and you just walk or jog on reasonably flat ground, the 900 pound horse will probably be okay. Although, I don't know how "pleasurable" the horse will think it was!!! I have 6 lesson horses that are used to w/t/c lessons at least 5 days per week, all year long....they are quite fit for the job that they do. I can clearly see the differences between how the horses are feeling about their

In my experience with Arabs (we own two) they are very strong but very sensitive. Their skeletal structure is different from other horses...less vertabrae making for a shorter back. If everything fits well (saddle, bridle, saddle pad) and you ask, rather than tell him what to do, they can do amazing things! Think of the place where Arabs came from...the desert....their riders were always full grown men and they race for miles and miles. If you are absolutely sure that the equipment fits this horse

I have been told by my equine chiropractor and also my vet that the maximum number should not exceed 20% of the horse's weight. That's quite a big difference from 30%! Personally, I don't let my lesson horses work with people who are 15% of the horse's weight. We use lightweight synthetic saddles which weigh very little. I also have a student who is only 5'2" whom I told should buy a horse around 15 hands, maybe up to 15.2...she insisted on buying a retired racehorse who