Knowledge is a school thing: it is life made abstract; it’s experiences made theoretical; and it’s teachers being the knowing ones and students the note-taking ones. Knowledge gained over time, in work, in life situations, in families or elsewhere, is hardly even categorized as knowledge academically. Knowledge accepted by academics is mostly learning formal concepts….
Category: Riding
2017 – Fifty, Fat and Finished…or..
Fifty, Fit and Fantastic? Starting the new year, I realized I am going into my fiftieth year and I had to make some new decisions to be better fit for riding. The first one was to shred some weight that had sneaked on in 2016 and the second was to once again exercise my riding…
I cannot teach you how to ride..
What I can do is to share with you our journey, as happy amateurs on an island with no riding instructors, on untrained horses, how we connected under saddle. I think it is only nice to ride a horse if the horse would like to ride with you. Here are some videos how we started our horses under saddle….
Riding & Other People’s Horses
In this blog I would like to share with you more from our journey to become better riders and bring joy to our riding. Learning to ride again is an interesting process. I have ridden a lot before in my life but when I rescued this herd of wild horses I stopped riding. I was fascinated learning…
Dreams from Silence
Today we rode down the beautiful Richmond beach, with our green lush rainforest on the right, the Caribbean Sea on the left and the active volcano La Soufriere in the back. This ride started in January 2007 when I first meet my wild stallion Jack. It’s been a beautiful ride all along. So for this week…
Beyond The Leader
There is a lot of talk in the horse world about leadership: What leadership is, who is the leader, if there is leadership in a horse herd, how to be a leader, leadership styles and if there should be a leader at all. I find this discussion very interesting and here is my take on…
There is a first time for everything
After several weeks of dry weather, rain started falling last week. This means more grass! As weather patterns are changing we faced a challenge to have enough grass for the horses this time of year. We have kept Darling, Jack, Spirit and Elena in the lime field paddocks close to the school and Magic and Moonlight…
Bits, Pieces and Gratitude
The fact that we have access to electrizity, computer, an internet connection, can watch videos, see photos and read this blog are just small everyday things we tend to forget being grateful for. I would like to thank all of you who have followed, shared and participated in our journey with Jack, Darling, Danny, Rhoda, Honey, Granny,…
Legs on the Line.
Today we worked on transitions from trot to halt. This could seem like a simple exercise, but no…. Gabriel explains about fifty different things to think about when learning to ride from trot to halt. So while I was still focusing on the position of my legs and upper body while giving the rhythm and speed with…
Starting a rider in the saddle
Many riders stop riding because it makes no sense to them to use force to make the horse do something he cannot do, does not want to do or does not like. Being together with your best friend horse should be mutual and give a great sense of joy. Many riders find themselves frustrated due…
Can Liberty work transfer to riding?
Today, I would like to share a small video putting the question whether Liberty Training can translate to riding without other elements. Through Liberty Training I can communicate pretty well with my horses and they are willing, focused, patient and energetic. My horses respond to small signals from my voice, my hands and my body…
From Flip Flops to Riding Boots
After several interesting discussions I finally understood why I cannot learn to ride with flip flops, barefoot or in tennis shoes. I need to use boots. Riding boots. This has taken me quite some time to accept, just the idea of putting the boots on and taking them off in the hot Caribbean made me…
