Tack Room Tale 26 - The Night The Roof Blew Off
Tack Room Tales – memoires of a riding instructorThe night the roof blew off and we found out about Misty’s peculiar habitMany years ago I started a riding centre in Sydney. Apart from the house there were no buildings. So, my partners and I set out developing the place. Our prop...
Dressage 24 - The Five P's
The Art of Trainingby Bert Hartog Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance (Goal setting and Mental Preparation)These five words (also known as the five P's) just about sum up how we should enter a competition. Words can be so wonderful, a few words can tell the end-result of...
Tack Room Tales 24 - Musical rides can be a great learning tool
Tack room Tales – Memoires of a Riding InstructorMusical rides can be fun and a great learning toolYou might think that the only one who benefits in a group lesson is the lead rider. And sometimes this is true. But there are many ways to engage the other riders in the lesson. It starts...
Tack Room Tales 23 - Meet Jake,....
Tack Room Tales - Memoires of a riding instructor.Meet Jake, he is the friendliest teacher you’ll ever meetJake in fact is a horse. Our best school horse ever! Jake used to look after beginners by wriggling his body so that the riders would stay in the middle. But watch out,.. if you c...
Tack Room Tales 22 - His name is Graham
Tack Room Tales – Memoires of a Riding InstructorHis name is GrahamGraham came to us as an adult RDA rider with a severe Cerebral Palsy condition. We had to sit him on a barrel so he could slowly stretch his abductors before we could mount him on a horse. In the beginning his balance w...
Dressage 23 - The importance of Self Carriage
The importance of self carriage © Bert HartogThis question about our hands in the previous article brings me to the "Importance of Self carriage" in the exercises we perform. We can say that self carriage is very important for the horse because this means that the horse is in bal...
Tack Room Tales 20 - To make music...
Tach Room Tales – Memoirs of a Riding Instructor To make Music You need to know the instrument(s)There are two instruments here, the horse and the rider. But more about the rider later.When you look at the horse superficially it seems such an easy instrument to play. The front end b...
Tack Room Tale 19 - Our best gala Night
Tack room Tales- Memoirs of Riding InstructorOur best Gala NightIt was a nice spring evening and the Gala night was about promoting the Warmblood breed. Nowadays they do not need much promotion anymore.I was riding my black Oldenburger stallion in the first act with three other stallions...
Tack Room Tales 18 - Cow Dressage
Tack room Tales – Memoirs of a Riding InstructorCow DressageSome people don’t like the word Dressage because they think it means top level competition with top hat and tails. That’s not why they wanted to learn to ride. They want to have fun, while learning. Learn how to co...
Tack Room Tales 17 - Group Lessons
Tack Room Tales - Memoires of a Riding InstructorGroup LessonsWhen new students make inquiries for lessons, we always asked about their previous experience. A few would say that they have been riding for six months ON THE LUNGE. Others would say that they have not cantered yet and they have ...
Tack Room Tales 16 - Safe Habits make Safe Horses
Memoirs of a Riding InstructorSafe Habits make Safe HorsesI was at a riding school the other day and noticed one of the staff members leading a horse at the end of the lead rope. She was deep in thought and not paying any attention to the horse or any situation that could have spooked the h...
Tack Room Tales 16 - My best lesson was when I did ...nothing
It is the end of a long day. It’s been busy and it was hot! You have been up since dawn and now you need to give three more lessons in the evening.The last thing you want to do is to give three more lessons. A nice cold drink while watching the sunset would be more enjoyable than standing...
Tack Room Tales 15 - Does a School Horse take his job seriously?
Does a school horse take his job seriously?I often wondered if school horses switch off and do their job automatically or that they feel involved in the teaching process. We had one experience that gave us the answer. Let me tell you the story about Ben.One night I was teaching a class of ad...
Tack Room Tales 14- To make music you need to know the instrument
There are two instruments here, the horse and the rider. But more about the rider later.When you look at the horse superficially it seems such an easy instrument to play. The front end bites, the back end kicks and the middle is jolly uncomfortable. They were the words of Winston Churchill. You ...
Tack Room Tale 13 - Difficult students
Difficult studentsIn the course of time you meet all sorts of people. Some are nice, others not so nice and some are downright difficult. Difficult students can make your life miserable, if you don’t deal with them straight away. It is important that your students listen to you, as often t...
Tack Room Tales 12 - Close the gate after the horse has bolted or...?
Tack room Tales – Memoirs of a Riding InstructorClose the gate after the horse has bolted or...This is a story when I failed six candidate riding instructors on their lungeing all at once a number of years ago. No, no, really I am normally not that nasty!As you may know I am also a...
Tack Room Tales 11 - Holiday Camps
Tack room Tales - Memoires of a Riding Instructor Holiday CampsEvery holiday we ran holiday camps in our centre. Great excitement for everybody to sleep at the centre, get up early, help feed the horses and muck out.One night during a holiday camp I was woken up by noises in the stable at ...
Tack Room Tales 10 - The Deaf and Blind rider in our RDA Program
The Deaf and Blind rider in our RDA (Riding for DisAbled) programThis deaf and blind rider was actually quite large and also mentally affected. You can imagine he was under stimulated, because he could not read, listen or even watch television and had a comprehension problem. I was assigned as a...
Tack Room Tales 09 - A Gift Horse...
Tack room Tales – Memoirs of a Riding InstructorThe Gift HorseYou know the saying “You never look a gift horse in the mouth”. You might find out how old it is.When you start a riding centre you always look for horses that are already trained and are known to be quiet. T...
Tack Room Tales 08 - Group lessons
Tack Room Tales - Memoires of a Riding InstructorGroup LessonsThere is nobody more in favour of group lessons than me. There are several reasons for this.Firstly economically from an operational viewpoint, you need to make a large investment in facilities to run an equestrian centre. To...
Tack Room Tales 07 - The night the roof blew off and we found out about Mistys peculiar habit
Many years ago I started a riding centre in Sydney. Apart from the house there were no buildings. So, my partners and I set out developing the place. Our property consisted of a 5 acre gently sloping hillside. First we cut an arena out of the hill and made a number of yards.The pride of our new...
Tack Room Tales 04 - Gala Nights
Memoirs of a Riding InstructorOnce a year we organised a performance night, where our students were “The Stars of the Night”. We called them our Gala Nights.You can let your imagination run riot with the acts you perform. And we did!We usually started with a musical ride with...
Dressage 03 - The Magic of the Outside Rein
Now we have control of the horse - legs, seat and hands. The time has come to make use of it. We want to do exercises to supple and strengthen the horse. We will leave the horse long while we do these exercises. As the horse gets stronger, he will, in due course, offer the jaw to us, and go 'on th...
Tack Room Tales 05 - How the doctor spent a fortune
Memoires of a Riding InstructorSooner or later students get ready to have a horse of their own. For the ones that could not afford that we offered a timeshare in our school horses. But more about that in another Tack room Tale.Our doctor friend rode with us with his whole family, so it is no...
Dressage 01 - Forward for the Legs Part 1
A horse has to be 'forward for the legs' of the rider. This means that the horse must react actively and quickly to the leg aid of the rider, by going forward. This is a necessity in dressage, because all achievements originate from a combined energy and all this energy is only created by making the...
Coach - Making the Experience Whole
Horse Riding Made Simple © Bert Hartog Making the Experience Whole ..my Phylosophy as a Coach. I am sure you all have had experiences that everything just fell into place, be it the perfect canter strike-off, the perfect corner, a half-pass in which the horse was dancing. Sometimes this fee...
Dressage 25 - The Theory of the Bow and Bowstring or...
The Art of Training© Bert HartogThe Theory of the Bow and Bowstring or… The relation between the quarters, the forehand and brilliant pacesIn this article I would like to discuss the relation between the forehand and the hindquarters which is the "body" of the hors...
Tack Room Tales 25 - The gentleman who would never learn to ride
Tack room Tales – Memoires of a Riding Instructor The gentleman who would never learn to ride, .. or so I thought. When I started teaching, I had very little idea where my students were going to take it. Will they become competitive riders, purchase their own horse or will they ride for plea...
Dressage 23 - Perception or Reality
The Art of Training© Bert HartogPerception or Reality.Learning to ride correctly and effectively is a challenging task as, apart from the horse being a living, thinking being with a mind of its own, there are frequently situations where the rider 'thinks' something is right merely...
Dressage 22 - The Canter part 2
The Canter part 2 © bert hartogWow...., that was heavy stuff last month. I hope that you could understand most of it, but hopefully all of it. I thought that it was important that I discussed all of that in detail, because we can not progress any further without the theoretical knowledge. ...
Tack Room Tales 21 - The squeeking Gate
Tack Room Tales – Memoires of a Riding InstructorThe Squeaking GateYou know, people often enter the horse industry with the wrong impression that they are going to work with horses. Of course this is partly true, but horses don’t pay any bills, they usually cost money. People pay...
Dressage 21 - The Canter part 1
The Art of Training © Bert Hartog The Canter, Part II have left the canter for some time, because I had to think this through thoroughly. There is something different about the canter. I think the difference is that the canter is a fleeing pace, in essence. This means that the canter has...
Dressage 20 - Walk and Walk Pirouette Part 2
The Art of Training© Bert HartogThe Walk and the Walk Pirouette Part 2.Once we have established the long strong strides we can start to experiment with the more collected strides such as medium and collected strides.So far we have ridden the horse on a longish rein to encoura...
Dressage 19 - The Walk and Walk Pirouette Part 1
The Art of Training© Bert HartogThe Walk and the Walk Pirouette 1.It is said that the walk is the most difficult pace to do correctly. Well, it is the most difficult pace to perform correctly.....and the easiest pace! It is easy because the tempo is rather low and you have time to t...
Dressage 18 - The importance of Self Carriage
The Art of Training© Bert HartogThe Importance of Self CarriageThe question about our hands in a previous article brings me to the "Importance of Self carriage" in the exercises we perform. We can say that self carriage is very important for the horse because this means th...
Dressage 17 - The Scale of Education Part 2
The Art of Training© Bert HartogThe Scale of Education.Part 2When we talk about basics in the scale of education it would be the first three points that are the most important. Without these conditions we can not progress to the higher levels. You often see that some of the ride...
Dressage 16 - The Scale of Education Part 1
The Art of TrainingThe Scale of Education. © Bert HartogPart 1Some months ago we dealt with how we learn and grow. Starting at the beginning with a small triangle. Each time we have mastered one more skill, we are ready to learn another one. The point is that we need to take time....
Dressage 15 - The Horse is only Human
"The horse is only human". The famous Reiner Klimke said this. He meant that the horse also has flaws and shortcomings in his character. But many of them are man made. It is said that once we understand the horse we can become true horsemen. Once we tune into the thinking patterns o...
Dressage 14 - Feeding, keeping your horse healthy and trainable
Feeding Keeping Your Horse Trainable and HealthyThere are many books written about feeding. Most of them are so complicated that you almost need a university degree to be able to understand them.Of course, good feeding is a science but you don't need to be a biochemist to be able to do it ...
Tack Room Tales 06 - The Authority of the Instructor
Memoires of a Riding InstructorWhen we are teaching it is clear that we, as instructors, must be on top of the pecking order. Students with little experience often do not tell the horse what to do properly. That is left to the instructor.One of the best ways to keep your authority is to have...
Dressage 02 - Forward for the Legs Part 2
Some horses appear to go freely forward as if they are almost dancing, without effort of the rider. Often one sees quite large horses performing brilliantly for quite small lady riders. It can't be brute strength! There must be another way. The answer is the rider must find harmony with the horse; f...
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