This article originally appeared in issue No.30 A post on an Internet discussion group for dressage riders: <<Help! One of my students has a green three-year-old colt that she has just started riding. We’re working in the indoor arena. The colt goes fine for about 30-40 minutes, but then he just plants his feet and […]
Written by Sylvana Smith We dressage riders pride ourselves on riding with precision, executing transitions and figures with accuracy and accountability. The sport of dressage calls for riding very precise tests with specific attributes. We must therefore have a particularly good connection and harmony with our horses, right? However, riding a known pattern is one thing. […]
Written by Sylvana Smith This article originally appeared in Eclectic Horseman Issue No.28 Spring is finally here, and that homebred colt that was born in your pasture is now two years old and ready to do something. He might be a little immature looking, and he still has some growing to do, but you’d […]
Written by Sylvana Smith This article originally appeared in Eclectic Horseman Issue No.14 If you’ve been around “natural horsemanship” circles for any length of time, no doubt you’ve come across The Critics. They’ve never been to a clinic, never read an issue of Eclectic Horseman, but nonetheless they’re sure this horsemanship is a bunch of […]
Written by Sylvana Smith This article originally appeared in Eclectic Horseman Issue No.7 A new tack catalog arrived in the mail today. More than 100 pages, filled with bridles, bits and reins… halters, lead shanks, cross-ties and trailer ties… martingales, sidereins, and cavessons… a smorgasbord of devices designed to hold, tie, push, pull, restrain, shape, […]
Written by Sylvana Smith For her 12th birthday a few years ago, a young friend received the gift of which most little girls dream: a dainty, pretty 15-hand filly. Her non-horsey mother had chosen the green-broke 3-year-old as the perfect gift because the filly “had the prettiest little face.” I might deem other qualities more […]
Written by Sylvana Smith This article originally appeared in Eclectic Horseman Issue No.5 “What did you work on today?” asked a friend, who knew I’d volunteered to work a four-year-old Thoroughbred mare that has been head-shy, bucking, bolting, pulling, rooting, spooking, balking, and traveling hollow with her young rider. “Sounds like you had a lot […]
by Sylvana Smith This article originally appeared in Eclectic Horseman Issue No.4 My first car after college was a sultry ‘72 Bonneville that stood on more real estate than my first apartment and had a 455 V8 under the hood—“the kind the police drive,” as the song goes. No one ever beat me off the […]
Written by Sylvana Smith This article originally appeared in Eclectic Horseman Issue No.2 Those quick feeding-time or social visits can build—or undermine—your relationship with your horse. I would love to spend my days immersed in horsemanship, but that’s not what I do. I commute two hours to a corporate cube, work all day to pay […]
Written by Sylvana Smith This article originally appeared in Eclectic Horseman Issue No.1 It was a Wednesday schooling show in January, halfway between Aberdeen and nowhere a perfect opportunity to field-test progress with a project horse who had a reputation for completely losing her cool at horse shows. I expected that our good work at […]