Innehållsförteckning för May 2016 från Practical Horseman

As with every issue, there are many articles this month that give complementary concrete tips to improve your riding. Having a progressive training system so your horse can understand what you’re asking him to do, for example, is discussed by both show jumper Beezie Madden in our article about her day of teaching at the 2016 George H. Morris Horsemastership Training Session (page 40) and eventer Mike Huber in his article about teaching a horse to tackle jumps into and out of water (page 52). Beezie also talks about how the horse must be able to concentrate on jumping fences, which he can do only when he’s so well-schooled that responding to the rider’s aids has become a force of habit. Similarly, in speaking about eventer Lauren Kieffer (page 28),…

An equestrian mental-skills coach and A-circuit competitor, Tonya Johnston has a master’s degree in sport psychology. Her book, Inside Your Ride: Mental Skills for Being Happy and Successful with Your Horse, is available in paperback or e-book editions. For more info on Tonya’s work, go to www.TonyaJohnston.com. In addition to the pride, sense of accomplishment and happy glow you get from the achievement of a goal, there are also powerful benefits inherent to the goal-setting process itself. When you manage your goals strategically they will motivate, excite and inspire you in truly meaningful ways. In fact, the goalsetting process has the power to create a tenacity and drive that will not only propel you toward your goals, but shape how you approach challenges and increase your mental strength overall. Mind…

HAVE A QUESTION? Email it to Practical. Horseman@EquiNetwork.com or mail to 656 Quince Orchard Rd., Suite 600, Gaithersburg, MD 20878. Q I have a 16.2-hand, 12-year-old Thoroughbred-cross gelding who had to be retired early for soundness reasons. His long-term pasture buddy recently passed away of old age and I can’t find another easy-going, lowmaintenance horse or pony to replace him. I have plenty of space and wonderful grass pastures, but my time and finances are limited—and I’m not comfortable handling high-energy horses. I’m thinking of adopting a donkey to keep my horse company, but I don’t know anything about donkeys. Do you have any advice? ERIN GOODRICH, DVM A I’m a huge fan of donkeys! They make great companions for horses and are wonderful creatures for humans to spend time…

NARG Names Top 25 Shows Three Canadian show-jumping events head the list of the top 25 identified by the North American Riders Group. Each year since 2010 the organization, which is dedicated to improving the quality of competitive show jumping, has evaluated and ranked events throughout North America. For 2015 Spruce Meadows in Alberta received the highest score. Thunderbird Show Park in British Columbia was second and the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto— the highest-placing indoor event—was third. They were followed by two U.S. shows: the Longines Masters of Los Angeles and the Global Champions Tour in Miami. Both were new to the list. In its annual evaluation the NARG awards points in eight categories: footing, stabling, courses/jumps, technical aspects, financial, ceremony, marketing/press relations and miscellaneous. Bonus points are given…

Two horses lost their lives on the cross-country course at the spring Red Hills International Horse Trials in Tallahassee, Florida, in 2008. The deaths of both horses, Jonathan Holling’s Direct Merger and Missy Miller’s Leprechaun’s Rowdy Boy, were ultimately attributed to heartrelated problems. Certainly it wasn’t the first time an eventing horse had died on course or from heart trouble. But those two losses were, perhaps, the pair of straws that finally broke the camel’s back and helped spark a research effort by the U.S. Eventing Association that continues to this day, aimed at preventing such tragedies. Raising the Question Not long after Red Hills, the USEA officially launched its Equine Cardiopulmonary Research Group, led by Catherine Kohn, VMD; A. Kent Allen, DVM; Mark Revenaugh, DVM and Eleanor M. Green,…

 ADMIRE top eventers as they conquer cross country during the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials, May 4–8, in Gloucestershire, England. This is the 25th year that Mitsubishi Motors has been the title sponsor of the CCI****; www.badminton-horse.co.uk.  WATCH top-level jumping and dressage competition at International Omaha, May 5–7, in Omaha, NE. The event is a prelude to next year’s Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final and FEI World Cup™ Dressage Final. Attractions include exhibits, entertainment and shopping; www.internationalomaha.com.  SEE collegiate equestrians compete on horses drawn at random at the IHSA National Championships, May 5–8, at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY; ihsainc.com.  DON your fanciest hat for the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby, May 7, at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY. A field of…

George H. Morris is the former chef d’équipe of the U.S. Equestrian Federation Show Jumping Team. He serves on the USEF National Jumper Committee and Planning Committee, is an adviser to the USEF High-Performance Show Jumping Committee and is president of the Show Jumping Hall of Fame. 1 This looks like a small horse with a long-legged rider, so she should raise her stirrups up about two holes to avoid catching her foot on the rail. I had to do this on Sinjon, whom I rode in the 1960 Rome Olympics. There is a danger that the stirrup could be too short and this tall rider could develop a chair seat; if that starts to happen, she could drop the stirrup a hole. Other than that, she has a good…

Jonathan Holling sat aboard his horse, a 1996 Irish Thoroughbred gelding, Direct Merger, in the cross-country start box at the Red Hills International Horse Trials in March 2008. He had every reason to expect the horse to turn in a clean, fast round, just like the year before. But this time, something went wrong. Clearing a vertical and heading on a threestride line to a narrow, the typically brave Direct Merger uncharacteristically ran out. “He got wobbly, reared up and died,” recalls Jonathan, emotion still evident in his voice. “I was lucky that it didn’t happen while he was jumping. I walked away unscathed, physically.” But for Jonathan, it wasn’t enough to feel lucky. He’d seen other riders not walk away. He wondered what if it had been a kid…

*“The clinic was a valuable reminder that the minute but critical details are a huge factor of any top rider’s success.” As we approached the moonlit barn at 5:45 a.m., we could hear our horses, Executive and Hamlet, nickering in anticipation of the morning hay. Like the horses, we were also a little anxious joining 10 other riders to begin the 2016 George H. Morris Horsemastership Training Session in Wellington, Florida. Unlike previous years in which George taught, this year we received instruction from three Olympians: legendary dressage rider Christine Traurig and acclaimed show jumpers Beezie Madden and Laura Kraut. During the clinic, we also learned about stable management from expert Colleen Reed, veterinary care from U.S. team veterinarian Tim Ober and course design from show-jumping icon Conrad Homfeld. Despite…