I thought about putting this announcement in a regular ol’ Facebook post but I wanted to have space to elaborate so here we are. Busting out the blog for the first time in a long time.
I have been giving barrel racing lessons off and on for years. More regularly over the past 5 or so. I’ve worked with adults; I’ve worked with 6 year olds. I’ve had the opportunity to watch my clients grow and mature in both their horsemanship and as individuals. Its been an honor. I’m blessed to have some fantastic clients. To those that have stuck with me, I sure appreciate you. To those that have come and gone, I appreciate you just as much. I promise this is not a farewell post, at least not for some. That being said, I’ve changed a lot as a horsewoman over the past several months and therefore my approach to what I will be teaching has changed as well.
I have always emphasized proper horsemanship over speed. I might have lost some folks over the years because of that but I’ll always stand by that part of my approach. Very seldomly do we make runs on patterns during lessons. More often, you’ll find us working drills and teaching our horses how to carry themselves. That part of my lessons won’t change. How we accomplish that will. Over the past several months I have developed a more keen eye for discomfort and dysfunction. I can’t avoid seeing it and, unfortunately, its a lot more prevalent than folks think. My knowledge of equine anatomy has grown through my training in massage and other continuing education classes. I am by no means an expert but I am learning how the equine body functions as a whole and that has changed my perspective.
Going forward, I will be using my lessons as an opportunity to share that perspective; to teach my students how to alleviate the discomfort and to help them undo the dysfunction that is way too common in today’s barrel horse. It will require my students to do some homework outside of lessons and it won’t all be under saddle. Each person will be advancing at the pace of their horse, sometimes that will mean only walking while others are loping. We will still be working drills, but students will be developing a better understanding of muscles and biomechanics during those drills. Instead of forcing horses to do things, we’ll be developing connections with our horses and teaching them to do things correctly, without dysfunction. We’ll be doing things even slower than before so our horses can relearn how to do those things correctly.
If that sounds like something you’d like to be a part of, please join us on Monday nights from 6:30pm-8:30pm in Newberg, OR. I am very much looking forward to developing a program that develops balanced, pain free barrel horses, free from dysfunction and discomfort.
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