There seems to be a common misconception when it comes to riding forward versus fast. Understanding the difference is one thing, but actually taking the time to break down and understand what riding forward means is another.  What Forward Riding is Not Rather than focusing on speed first, focus on power and quality. These two components are necessary to practice and understand before speed is added. This will greatly improve the quality of the canter.  An indication of a rider going fast but not forward; there is little to no control, adjustability is difficult, or the horse’s head is out in front of them. Remember: riding forward is not relying on strength, but rather feel.  What Riding Forward Is Now that we've gone over what riding forward is not, let's break down exactly what riding forward is. Riding forward means to prioritize:  Quality Balance  Engagement  Adjustability Impulsion from the Hind End A common misconception is that speed is needed in order to make it around a jump course, although in reality, power is needed. This is where quality, balance, engagement, and impulsion come in. When the quality of canter improves, the horse is able to use their body more efficiently, resulting in a more engaged hind end. From there, your horse is able to create more impulsion, making it easier for them to collect, extend, and make it around a course of fences.  Learning how to ride forward can take time and it's 100% okay to feel uncomfortable when you first begin to create a more powerful, forward canter. This is normal and part of the learning process. Want to learn more on how to create a forward canter? Check out our new course, Forward Not Fast with EM instructor, Karl Cook.

What's the first adjective that comes to mind when you think of a "barn sour" horse?  Inconsistent? Unmanageable? Risky? Annoying?  When it comes to a barn sour horse, the first thing to come to terms with that “barn sour” is just a behavior or attachment; it’s not all your horse is, and your relationship with your horse doesn’t have to be defined by it. The good thing about behaviors is that they are absolutely manageable and can be improved through patience, understanding, and practice. A lot of practice.  Let’s start by breaking down what a “barn sour” horse is. A “barn sour” horse is a horse who has a tendency to think about or try to return to the barn, even when you’re trying to get him to engage in other activities or focus on other things. A horse can also be “buddy sour”, “ring sour”, or “herd bound”. Here’s a breakdown of the different attachment behaviors according to our latest Equestrian Masterclass instructor, Chelsea Canedy:  The Four Attachment Behaviors Barn Sour: when your horse is focused on returning to the barn Buddy Sour: when your horse is focused on returning to their one special friend or pasture mate  Ring Sour: when your horse is hesitant, afraid or straight up rejects entering the arena  Herd Bound: when your horse is is focused on getting back to his group of friends  Learn more about your horse's tendencies and attachment behavior with our diagnostic quiz. Understanding Horse Psychology Okay, now that you’ve determined which attachment behavior your horse most closely relates to, it’s time to understand how to manage these behaviors. Horses are biologically wired to seek the company of other horses as a matter of safety, since they are herd animals. While this may be inconvenient for riding, the more you accept and learn to understand your horse, the more you will be able to build a better partnership with them.  Once you come to the realization that these types of behaviors are a safety mechanism built into your horse's DNA, you’ll be able to work in a way that feels safe and comfortable to them when they are away from their home or “herd”. Before starting your training, ALWAYS rule out any physical discomfort such as ulcers, saddle fit, lameness, etc. with a veterinarian.  Next, start your training with as few variables as possible. This means training in a place that your horse is already familiar with or with some friends your horse is used to riding with. Once you begin to introduce new variables, being patient and process-oriented in your approach is the name of the game. Remember: slow and steady wins the race! Ready for the next steps to solving this behavior? Check out Chelsea’s Barn Sour Masterclass course, with step-by-step video guided lessons, here.

NOËLLE FLOYD is seeking a digital marketing manager to oversee the growth and community management of our various products and channels. In this position you’ll be responsible for planning, implementing and monitoring our digital marketing efforts.  The ideal candidate will have rich experience in social media management, copywriting, video and graphic design. In addition to being an outstanding communicator, you will also demonstrate dynamic creative capacity, excellent interpersonal and analytical skills. A background as an equestrian is highly desired and will be considered a significant asset. Digital Marketing Manager Responsibilities: Planning and executing our social media strategy and driving growth on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Brainstorming, sourcing and editing content to engage our community on all channels  Writing copy for social media, website and email marketing Strategizing campaigns and offers that will excite our community  Preparing monthly reports Hosting community events online and in person Collaborating with media experts to drive measurable growth  Digital Marketing Manager Requirements: Minimum 3 years experience in digital marketing or social media management  In-depth knowledge of current and past trends on social media (and digital marketing)  Ability to write high quality content for various platforms  Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills Proven resourcefulness and high output abilities  About NOELLE FLOYD: What started as a personal blog in 2012 has since grown into a global community of equestrians - mainly in the hunter/jumper/eventing community. We share stories that inspire and shine a light on topics that most platforms shy away from. Our blog, app, podcast and YouTube channel attract millions of readers/listeners and our core product is equestrianmasterclass.com - our effort to democratize high level training & education in the horse world. Salary: $60,000 - $80,000  To Apply: Send your materials to hiring@noellefloyd.com and be sure to include a resume, cover letter, any relevant materials, social media accounts, along with anything that you think would be useful to get to know you. Note: if you link to your social media account, make sure it's a public account. 

Finances are tough to navigate to begin with. It’s a skillset that many of us aren’t taught in school (hi, I have never used pythagorean theorem in real life, but a high school course on taxes would have been nice?). Now, add horses into the mix and suddenly you find yourself completely bewildered about how you ended up living off ramen noodles for a month just so that you can pay off that 2-day horse show.  Whether you're an amateur or professional, whether you compete or ride for pleasure, and no matter what discipline you ride – the equestrian world is expensive. While being money-savvy isn’t going to change that fact, I’ve wondered if there’s a way to make money work for me rather than against me.  But, is that really the hardest part about managing your finances while pursuing a life with horses? I think even beyond the practical side, the emotional side of finances takes way more of a mental toll on us than we may realize. It's the thing nobody likes to talk about, but so many of us feel: the financial pressure, stress, anxiety, and overwhelm that comes with having horses in our lives. You're not alone. This was a lightbulb moment for me recently while I watched a video interview that Erin Lane, CEO of On Course Equestrian, did with finance expert, licensed CPA, and globally recognized speaker, Selina Gray. Selina said, “What if you could be at peace with your relationship to money?” I think if you polled a room of equestrians to describe their relationship to money in one word, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who responded, “peaceful.”  In effort to better equip the equestrian community with practical and emotional tools around money, and make money discussions less taboo and more mainstream, NOËLLE FLOYD and On Course Equestrian are hosting a 30-day intensive, kicking off with a two-day live virtual event, Horses and Money: The Workshop. The live event runs this weekend, October 22-23. Here are the details on this first-of-its-kind workshop:  Two deep, honest round table panel discussions with top experts and pillars in the horse world, including Olympian Margie-Goldstein Engle, motivational speaker Courtenay DeHoff, and mental skills coach Tonya Johnston. Two one hour long interactive keynote seminars with globally recognized finance and money mindset expert, Selina Gray. 30 day access to the video replays from the live workshop to watch again and again Downloadable audio recordings from the live workshop that you can listen to from the barn, the car, or the horse show 30 day access to the in-depth, ultra practical and results-driven self-paced course, Equestrian Finance 101 taught by licensed bookkeeper Christa Myers Lifetime access to the 30 Day Roadmap to Money Management for Equestrians with daily action steps to get your finances organized and optimized 30 day access to the exclusive community group where you'll have accountability and peer-to-peer support during your journey “How we choose to spend is a direct reflection of how we choose to love ourselves. There's nothing wrong with loving what you love. It’s about giving yourself permission to do it differently and building strategies around it that’s unique to you.” - Selina Gray  In a preview for her keynotes on Saturday and Sunday, Selina shares just how crucial healing your emotional relationship with money is in order to move forward and create actionable steps to achieving your goals. Not only will participants leave with the tangible, actionable tools and techniques you need to reprogram your beliefs around money for good, manage your equestrian finances like a pro, and make your money work for you.  Here's the schedule for the kickoff event… DAY 1 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22ND 8a PT / 11a ET - Welcome from Caroline Culbertson, host of the Equestrian Voices podcast 8:15a PT / 11:15a ET - Round table discussion on Guilt, Shame, and Stress: The Equestrian Money Problem, hosted by Erin Lane and Alle Justyn of On Course Equestrian. Featuring expert panelists: Margie Goldstein-Engle, Courtenay de Hoff, Megan Cameron Muscarella, Tonya Johnston, and Paige Jardine. 9:30a PT / 12:30p ET - Break for coffee, matcha, mimosas (no judgment), or horse snuggles 10a PT / 1p ET - Keynote: Healing the Equestrian Money Wound & Breaking Past the Bulls**t with Selina Gray DAY 2 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23RD 8a PT / 11a ET - Welcome from Caroline Culbertson, host of the Equestrian Voices podcast 8:15a PT / 11:15a ET - Round table discussion on Making it Work: Defining Your Own Identity as an Equestrian, hosted by Erin Lane and Alle Justyn of On Course Equestrian. Featuring expert panelists: Brianna Noble, Christa Myers, Bethany Unwin, Emily Urban, and Marie Wold. 9:30a PT / 12:30p ET - Break for coffee, matcha, mimosas (no judgment), or horse snuggles 10a PT / 1p ET - Keynote: Intentional Spending, Aligning Financial Priorities, and Taking Back Your Power with Selina Gray Participants should leave feeling seen, connected, empowered, relieved, and like you have a clear roadmap of how to take control of your finances and focus on what really matters (your horses, of course). They’ll have a daily action plan, an in-depth self-paced guide to budgeting, quickbooks, accounting, and goal setting, a completely reprogrammed money mindset, and a community you can lean on for direct support and accountability so you can get real, major, actual results you can feel and measure. Change how you feel about, and handle, your money. Horses and Money: The Workshop goes live on Saturday (and if you can’t make it live - yes, there will be a replay!)  “This (equestrian) life isn’t without struggle, but that doesn't need to be a badge of honor. I want equestrians to have the strategies and tools to follow their passion without burning out. I promise, it IS possible.” - Christa Myers

If you haven't heard the good news already, NOËLLE FLOYD is teaming up with On Course Equestrian to hold a 30-day life changing intensive, kicking off with a two-day live virtual workshop from October 23-24th to say goodbye to the stress, overwhelm, and anxiety around your finances. We’re calling it: Horses and Money: The Workshop. It’s no secret that discussing finances in the equestrian industry is taboo and ironically so, given how expensive the sport is. Feelings of discomfort, guilt, and shame around money are all too common and it’s about time we dial down and make tangible financial resources available in the horse world. Not to mention, the skills and strategies needed when dealing with the emotions and stress that comes with financial realities. Lucky for you, Equestrian Business Expert, CEO, and Show Jumper, Erin Lane sat down with Horses and Money keynote speaker, Selina Gray to discuss exactly what is to come during the two-day live event.  Pssst. If you’re an Equestrian Masterclass member you get the workshop $200 off! As a leading Financial Empowerment Coach, licensed CPA, and globally recognized financial speaker, Selina is no newbie to breaking down complicated relationships with money. “Emotions and money are living under the surface for some people,” shares Selina as she explains just how critical acknowledging our emotions when it comes to money is. Money is not something that most people feel comfortable sharing with others based on societal pressures. Gaining a better understanding of how our subconscious minds play a role in our ability to push down our emotions rather than process them can play a big part in creating new neural pathways to heal our relationship with money.  “Emotions hold the potency of how we heal our relationship with money.” The main objective for this workshop is to provide a safe space for horse people to talk about money. To talk about what scares us. To talk about what keeps us from truly enjoying where we’re at in life. To talk about the shame, guilt, or disappointment we’ve felt as equestrians when it comes to money. A lot of us hold the belief that money is truly a numbers game…and that’s where most of us are wrong. The real work lives beyond the numbers and we must choose curiosity around money if we want to build a better relationship with it. “Ask yourself, how can I live my life in the richest form?" In this workshop, Selina shares how she will teach you how to turn down the volume of pressure around money and instead, fill your life with more gratitude and living in the present moment. “I believe there's an equilibrium for all of us in our relationship with money,” tells Selina alongside her announcement that the Horses and Money workshop will most definitely not be your typical financial presentation.  After this workshop you should expect to be immersed in the realm of money from a totally new perspective. Not only will Selina encourage you to get clear and curious throughout the two-day event, but she will bring tangible case studies to reflect on along with practical ways you can challenge your old ways of thinking and bring major shifts into your life revolving around money.  “How we choose to spend is a direct reflection of how we choose to love ourselves. There's nothing wrong with loving what you love. It’s giving yourself permission to do it differently and building strategies around it that’s unique to you.”  Want to learn more about Horses and Money: The Workshop? Head over to this link here to learn more. 

Dr. Paul McClellan, DVM of San Dieguito Equine Group has dedicated his career to performance horse medicine. In his Equestrian Masterclass, Dr. Paul outlines his buyer’s guide to the pre-purchase exam. In this 2-part Q&A, he shares his insights developing the program that keeps your horse happy and healthy. Read part 1 here.  NF.com: Do you think in general, riders do enough recovery care for our horses? PM: I used to say you can almost never do too much for your horse, but then I’ve seen people in competition venues never giving their horse a chance to rest because they’re always doing stuff. So, I’ve tempered that to say, you can never stop trying to find the right and the best solution to your horse’s management.  I think you should always be on a quest to understand what works for your horse, but more is not necessarily better. So it’s important to do those things that you can evaluate. Usually, that’s either the rider, groom, or trainer, most of the time the veterinarian is not involved in the day-to-day analyses and decision-making, but an engaged rider who is engaged with their horse’s care after they get off the saddle is definitely the best perspective to have. The care of the horse shouldn’t end when you get out of the saddle.  I did a pre-purchase exam the other day. The horse was wild and the gal said, “Oh I haven’t ridden him for five days.” These kinds of neglectful things probably lead to as many issues as anything. Make sure your horse has consistency in his training.  "I think you should always be on a quest to understand what works for your horse, but more is not necessarily better." What horses need is consistency, patience, and an openness to re-evaluation. If you can accomplish those three things, then the details of whether you’re using a magnetic blanket or a therapeutic ultrasound have less importance. Because you are already looking for those things with your constant reassessment as to what’s bothering him, you’re already seeking advice, you’re already asking the vet, and you’re already doing things and re-evaluating whether that’s helpful.  I’ve had people say, “I’ve used this magnetic blanket and it didn’t seem to do anything.” Well, then stop doing it. Or they stood them on the shaker vibrating floor and they said, “It really seems like he warms up faster when I do that” or “I put him on the walker beforehand instead of afterwards.” If you can ascertain there’s a benefit, I would stay with that.  There’s a key to happiness for every horse and it usually lies somewhere in the realm of management. Try to find those little management things; those may be things before your ride or after your ride, and frequently, they’re both. It’s the way the horse gets taken care of in the morning before the saddle goes on, it’s the way he gets managed in the afternoon when the saddle’s been taken off, it’s the way he gets managed on the days when he’s not being ridden.  NF.com: A lot of us, when thinking about lameness, think about the legs. But the horse’s topline and overall muscle tone affects their performance, too. Why is it important for horses to be equally strong on both sides?  PM: It’s an interesting thing about equestrian activities that we want to do two gallop sets to the left, two gallop sets to the right, and we expect equality and perfect symmetry. Dressage is all about that, right? Everything is done in both directions for this beautiful symmetry.  If you take somebody who’s doing archery, they don’t need to shoot archery with one hand and then turn around and shoot archery with their right hand. Same with a golfer. So there are a lot of sports where asymmetry is perfectly fine. But in the horse world, we expect symmetry. And so, we have to condition for symmetry.  Learn how to take care of your horse like an Olympian with Equestrian Masterclass. Start your 7-day free trial. And there’s also a growing body of evidence to support the fact that what we see very often that tendonitis, sore feet, ringbone, arthritic issues in the lower joints, et cetera, have really been accentuated or accelerated by muscle weakness. One of the jobs of the muscles is shock absorption, so developing muscles and developing them in as much symmetry as we can is a very important and sought-after goal. Asymmetries in the rider do translate to the horse, too. I was chatting with a bodyworker and his assessment is that 90 percent of riders he worked on have a right-hip bias, so clearly that’s going to affect the horse. Rider symmetry has to go along with horse symmetry. You see a lot of riders at the upper levels that are always going to the gym and maintaining their own strength and their own balance and being very cognizant of being too heavy in one rein or the other or too weak with one leg or the other.  NF.com: How can we try to identify whether a horse’s asymmetries are just how the horse moves naturally, or a sign of lameness?   PM: It’s very common for people in my world to say, “You know, he’s just always a little bit stiff." It’s very common when I see a pre-purchase exam, “Yeah the horse goes a little freer one way than the other." The question is, is that lameness or is that just the horse?  The most common way that horse people have dealt with any observed deficiency in horses is to place them in a role where that is not a hindrance. So, not every horse really truly has the ability to jump 1.50. But a lot of them can jump 1.0m. Most of them can jump a meter, whether they’re left-sided, right-sided, short-footed, whatever. They can almost all jump a meter satisfactorily.  This is the most common way that people have dealt with it for decades and decades. We find a role for the horse with whatever gait deficiencies or his natural temperament or abilities -- and they’re all tied together, realistically. Finding a position for a horse where he’s not taxed a hundred percent everyday also allows for enjoyable rides that are not difficult for the horse and going to create problems.  "What horses need is consistency, patience, and an openness to re-evaluation. If you can accomplish those three things, then the details of whether you’re using a magnetic blanket or a therapeutic ultrasound have less importance." But it’s not easily defined where that line is drawn between the horse’s natural tendencies and a sub-clinical, orthopedic issue that is defining that asymmetry. It’s a very difficult thing to determine. We do bone scans, ultrasounds, radiographs, joint blocks, we look at under saddle evaluations, we do different exercises, we have chiropractors look at them. We have a veterinary chiropractor in our practice, too. It’s not always easy to determine that that is simply the way the horse goes, and you are wasting your time trying to change that from a medical point of view. In other words, if you look at a horse going a little stiff, are you really going to change that by injecting his neck or injecting his back? That’s not an easy question to answer, and it takes us back to the third thing that I was talking about earlier. It’s the openness to assessing things. If you decide you’re going to change something about his training and see if that helps or you’re going to try some medical treatment and see if that helps, that’s often the only way you get to answer that question. But does that ultimately create problems for a horse when it’s asked to do a lifestyle of competition where symmetry is part of the issue? Yes, probably so, if he can’t do things as well going to the left. Sooner or later that’s going to catch up to him, especially if he’s being used at a level that’s challenging for him. If he doesn’t have to, then he can get through that deficiency pretty well.  NF.com: What else should NF readers know?  PM: As we look at the evolution of what our understanding is about horses, and our understanding about horse and rider, the emphasis is becoming more fine-tuned because we’ve reached, in certain aspects of medicine, this sort of apex of understanding what these injuries are all about. I have worked in an era before you had ultrasound, before you had MRI, when you had to palpate everything and make a determination. I lived in an era where every horse had his feet and hocks done and nothing else injected. I was in an era before they ever understood gastric ulcers. We’ve made tremendous advances, medically, in understanding a lot of the common ailments. Where do we go from here? I think I would try to impress upon your readers that they gain from more engagement. The medical evidence is starting to mount to prove that horse and rider harmony improves not only the satisfaction for both rider and horse, but also the longevity for both.  Feature photo by Dani Maczynski Read this next: Sometimes, I Don't Like Riding 

In the past year or two, my eyes have been opened to positive reinforcement training and all of the ways that we can use the horse’s “happy hormones” in training instead of leveraging his fight or flight instinct alone. While I think every person who trains horses should know that this exists, there’s a big caveat to r+ training. You CAN mess it up. In fact, I think this is why r+ gets a bad rap sometimes - because we’ve all probably met a horse who was morphed into a total walk-all-over-you, crazed cookie monster after his owner started using “positive reinforcement” (or thought that’s what they were using, at least!). Let’s talk about 2 important ground rules before we proceed: First, you must create significance to the clicker. Yes, food is a big part of the process too, but the clicker is the most precise tool in terms of timing. The clicker allows you to pinpoint the exact moment that the horse is behaving how you want, in a way that you simply cannot while fumbling around your pocket for treats. Next, your first foray into r+ is setting polite boundaries. Your horse should learn to walk with space between you and him, next you, not in front of you, and to not reach into your space for treats. How do you achieve this? You reward him when he’s doing that precise combination of things all at the same time, and never when he’s pushing into your “invisible box”. You have to be very present and observant to catch that moment. Now, let’s get to the real heart of this blog. How do I practically use this type of training in my competitive event horse? I think it’s important to hear about the practical applications of r+ training to understand how it can fit into your daily life with horses. #1: Eliminating the Cross Tie Dance My horse Albert can get a little edgy in the cross-ties when we’re somewhere new. He doesn’t do anything dramatic, but he does a lot more stepping forward, fidgeting, and learning ahead into the cross-ties than he does at home, simply because he’s not as relaxed. So, I want to not only teach him to stand still for my own sanity, but also that the cross-ties are a place to relax. That’s the beauty of r+ training. In the past, when he moved, I’d stop his movement and put him back where I wanted him to stand, over and over, to get him to plant his feet. That’s great, but it doesn’t necessarily cue his body to relax, and it could be quite monotonous and laborious. So, I tried it with r+. It took, kid you not, about 5 minutes, maybe less, before he was standing quite still, lowering his head, and looking soft and relaxed in his eye and jaw. How’d I do it? Whenever he would take a step back from his leaning forward position in the cross ties, I’d click and give him a treat (note that he was already very familiar with the clicker and what it meant from some liberty leading sessions in a round pen). When he stood relaxed for one second, click and treat. Another couple of seconds, click and treat. And so on, until I could see him thinking of stepping forward, and then watch him choose to rock gently back and settle instead. #2: Establishing a Relaxed Way of Going in the Any Gate Our connection with the horse’s mouth can still be a major part of our ridden work with them, but we can reinforce what we want with r+ training. This is where I love Shawna’s approach to r+: it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Yes, you can still put your leg on. Yes, you can still take a feel of the reins. It doesn’t work against you because you’re still able to reward the horse with the clicker in the moments that feel just right in the ridden work. With my horse Albert, as we progress in flatwork, I’ll use the example of reinforcing a nice, relaxed frame in the trot. Forward, soft in the mouth, up in the withers, pushing from behind - a nice working trot that would be appropriate for a dressage test. I can certainly get him there with my usual leg, hand, and seat aids, and then when he feels like a rockstar, I can click and treat. This makes him want to find that way of going. It simply changes the tone of training - it feels more like a happy game than a serious, consequence-laden session. This gets the feel-good hormones going and I am combatting much less of his natural anxiety in his training – anxiety that would surely catch up to us at some point in his progress. If you’d like to learn more about this method of training, Shawna Karrasch has lots of blogs and podcasts on the topic. Find her work here. She also appeared on the Equestrian Voices podcast (which I’ve also been a guest on!) to break down this approach. Photo by Sally Spickard.

The hot topic of whether or not one's horse should go with or without shoes is up for constant debate in today’s equestrian community. It's discussed by pleasure riders to the top ranking competitors around the world. When it comes to the hoof, horseshoes, and the science behind farrier work over the last 50 years, we turned to one of the most prolific farriers in the biz, Stephen Teichman, for the answers.  Stephen started his career in 1973 shoeing Standardbred horses in central Delaware. In 1980, he worked as an intern for the University of Pennsylvania farriers’ shop at the New Bolton Center. With a BA in Biology and a MA in Equine Locomotion Research at the Royal Veterinary College in England, he has even shod horses for Kings and Queens. Stephen has worked at six Olympic Games, six Pan American games, and the European Open for the United States Equestrian Team.  NF.com: In your opinion, do you have a preference as to whether horses should be barefoot or not? ST: “I am a middle of the road kind of guy. I would like to see (in my career) great horses go barefoot as long as possible before shoes. It takes that foot about 5 years to get to full size and fully develop. I have seen many do it sooner, but I am always for what is of the best interest of the horse.” In what circumstance is it important for your horse to have shoes? ST: “When working with top athletes, especially when traveling from location to location, I would say shoes mitigate many problems. The hoof capsule is very sensitive to the environment, and it is difficult to keep a horse barefoot who is competing in multiple locations. For example, if I have a client who is doing really well barefoot in CA and is accustomed to the footing, who then travels to England with a higher moisture content that is more often wet, you are in trouble within no more than 10 days. The horse hoof is equivalent to one’s fingernails getting soft in water, or curly hair in the shower. It is an alpha-keratin, so when it gets wet, the hydrogen sulfite bonds slide past each other and move/change shape. Depending upon the environment and climate, a horse's hoof capsules will react accordingly. Horseshoes are designed for this reason in order to not only keep a horse sound, but the hoof intact and from further damage.” What is the major benefit of shoeing a horse? ST: “There is definitely a reason for shoes. In my experience with the upper level competitors, there has to be a level of adaptability. With such a variety of climate zones these athletes face during their season, very often horses feet will fail. The horseshoe can help prevent foot soreness, foot expansion, and support, and because of this, many professional upper level horses remain shod.” In your opinion, what are the benefits to maintaining a barefoot horse (if the lifestyle allows)? ST: “The benefits are a healthy, comfortable, sound horse. Additionally, it is substantially more cost effective.” Are there any other shoeing alternatives in your experience? ST: “I love glue-on shoes. They are a great option up to a certain level and last for a very long time. They have come a long way. I think glue-ons are a wonderful option for trail riders and pleasure riders, I do think they can get slippery once the riding gets to a more advanced level but for most bare-footers who need another option, this is a good go-to.” What advice do you have for someone seeking answers for what to do when making the decision between barefoot and shoeing? ST: “In my experience, it’s not so much about the argument of barefoot or shoeing -- both are wonderful options -- but what decision is best for your horse to make them comfortable. This decision will be based on the structure and development of not only their hoof but the environment they are living in. Lifestyle and athletic demands are a major component in determining the health and outcome of your horse's hoof.” Looks like another myth busted! Whether you are a pleasure rider who does not travel and has the option to stay in one climate, or a competitive show jumper who frequents multiple locations in various temperatures and footing, it will always depend on the situation in order to decide what option is the best for your horse's health. Read this next: Ask Us: When and How Should I Intervene With the Vet/Farrier?

Your horse’s health and soundness is one of the most valuable assets you’ll have as a team. Most of us are familiar with the various pre- and post-ride measures we can take to promote soundness, from ice boots to magnetic pulse therapy, but how do a rider’s actions in the saddle directly influence the horse’s body and, ultimately, the horse’s soundness? How can we promote soundness in the saddle, and what should we avoid? Equestrian Masterclass Instructor and Grand Prix show jumper, Karl Cook, shares how to gain a deeper understanding of distances, balance, and footing in the context of promoting your horse’s soundness. NoelleFloyd.com: How do different types of distances affect the horse’s body? For example, how does a horse's body have to adjust to or leave a step out, or take off long?  Karl Cook: I think the easiest way to think about it is to draw the flight path on a line of the center of gravity of the horse. For a long distance, the take-off angle from flat is more shallow. It’s more acute or obtuse depending on which of the two angles you’re looking at. It’s a shallower takeoff, there’s less of a change of direction when you have a long distance.  NF: How about when the horse has to adjust to accommodate a deeper distance, or a chip? KC: The closer you get, it’s the opposite: the faster your change of direction has to be to avoid the fence. We’re assuming you avoid the fence and even if you have a rail, the horse is still trying. The speed of change of direction understandably applies a much more immediate load through the horse and that immediate load causes more stress. You’ve got to change, depending on the size of your horse and the size of the rider, between around 1300 and 1600 pounds of moving mass very quickly. And what’s doing that are tendons and ligaments and muscles and cartilage. The faster you change direction, the more load you’re putting on the whole biomechanical structure. And, you know, the more load you put on it, the easier it is to create an injury.  NF: What could it mean for the horse’s long-term soundness to be consistently chipping or consistently taking off long?  KC: I don’t want to instill fear in people that they’re injuring their horse when they have a bad distance. I think you would have to be one epic chipper to really have an injury where you would say yes, this injury is caused by my propensity to chip every single distance.   NF: What mistakes do you see riders making in the saddle that could impact their horse’s biomechanics and ultimately their soundness? KC: What I would say is that most riders—and I mean, 90% percent of riders—require their horse to balance them. You can see it if you tell someone to drop the reins and to relax their legs. Do they stay in the saddle? Do they look comfortable? If the answer is yes, then they’re not requiring the horse to balance them. They are perfectly fine balancing on their own.  But over 90% of the riders like to feel weight in their hands—the reason being it makes them feel more stable. Their body has to do less of the work because the weight the horse is taking is keeping them secure.  But that’s requiring the horse to do work it’s not designed to do, and that puts more load through the horse’s topline. I feel it makes 10 minutes of canter more strenuous on the horse than if the horse was light and using its own body and was not needing to balance you, the rider. NF: How can riders become more aware of their own balance, or lack thereof? KC: I think the biggest thing is, do they have weight in their hands? We can all feel when we have weight in our hands. If our arms are getting tired, if when we jump we need the horse to carry us over the fence, I think that’s the easiest way to feel it.  Obviously a horse helps balance you in more than just your hands, but your hands are the shocking majority of the way people like to balance. It’s way easier to ride a horse when all you have to do is pull more, or pull less. You don’t have to move your seat, you don’t have to use your legs. There’s fewer buttons to press. But that simplification has its effects.   NF: You’re very passionate about the science involved in equestrian sport, from the physics of jumping to the ins and outs of footing. Can you describe exactly what makes footing bad or good?  KC: The first and most common way for footing to be unsafe is that it is highly variable. Now, of course, this depends on what you’re doing in it. If you’re just walking and trotting, more variable footing is not that harmful. But it’s a problem if you’re jumping and the footing is variable, meaning you’re going from hard to soft and hard to soft again, or you have humpbacks in your footing.  A horse doesn’t anticipate that sort of variability. If you are running to the beach, you’re running on asphalt, and then before your foot lands in the sand, you’ve already adjusted your run to compensate for the change in footing. A horse doesn’t do that. So they will get surprised in a change of footing and that causes hyperflexion-induced injuries and others, but mainly hyperflexion.  The second and third ways footing can be unsafe is if it’s way too deep (think dry beach sand) or way too hard. It’s very rare that you see someone’s regular riding surface is super deep, loose sand. I think it’s more common for people to hit way too hard nowadays than way too deep. Especially in California, coupled with the dry climate, bone bruises, foot bruises, stone bruises, stress fractures if it goes too far, straight-up fractures if it goes really, really far.  Related: No Product Is Your Magic Cure So those three would be the unsafe parameters. The rest are basically all performance-related or, even beyond performance, academia-related. They really don’t matter, even for me, if I’m jumping below 1.45, I don’t even look at the other stuff because it just doesn’t matter.  NF: Out of curiosity, what are those additional parameters? KC: First there’s uniformity. Then there’s cushioning, or the lower layers of the footing matter the harder you hit the footing, and the harder you hit the footing, and the way you hit the footing is a bit like an explosion. Think of a shock wave of an explosion. The bigger the explosion, the bigger and farther your shock wave goes. So after the impact there’s a load.  If I’m jumping 1.60 versus 1.30, it’s an exponential increase in how hard I hit the footing because the acceleration of gravity is exponential force, so it goes up with the square of the distance, so twice as high is four times as much power. And that doesn’t include friction forces, which are negligible.  Then there’s grip, which is pretty self-explanatory. Then responsiveness is your pushback, or how much the footing holds you once the load is applied. Because a horse doesn’t just hit the footing and come off, they hit and they load it. Responsiveness is how the footing deals with that second phase of the load phase. So after the impact there’s a load.   Impact firmness is next. Just as cushioning is the deep layers, impact firmness is the top, say, one inch. From personal experience as a human, what you feel is the impact firmness. You cannot feel cushioning. The sound that you hear, people say I can hear if a footing is hard or soft, you can’t. In an objective way. I’ve had footings that sound like asphalt, yet the cushioning was awesome. I’ve had footings that were super quiet, yet the cushioning was crazy hard. It’s a good idea, but it’s just not as linear as people would like to think. And then all your own foot tests, hitting it with your own foot, it’s only the first inch. I’ve done it a bunch of times and I’ve been wrong. It really taught me that I can’t feel what the footing is.  NF: Where did your interest in science as it pertains to horse sport come from, and how did it get to be such a big part of your program?  KC: To me it makes perfect sense and it’s simple. I want my horses to last as long as they can, jump as high as they can, with as little wear as possible. And so the more I can understand the variables, the more I can manipulate the variables, and the more I can deal with the strain of variables I can’t manipulate, the healthier, better, faster, higher my horses will be.  [Listen] A Real Life Horse Nerd - Karl Cook

Muthoni Kimani began riding when she was just three years old. Her friend’s mother owned a riding school, and Muthoni adored it right from the start. She had a natural aptitude for the sport and caught on quickly, so she began competing when she was seven years old, first dressage and then eventing. When she turned fourteen, she started showjumping. Like many riders with similar stories, who have fallen in love with the sport at a young age and spent their teenage years at the barn, Muthoni hopes to represent her country at the major 5* shows around the world and go to the Olympics someday. What sets Muthoni apart? She’s a rider from Kenya, where the riding scene is limited and opportunities are incredibly hard to find. “Here, the riding community is very small. Fences only go up to a 1.20, and there’s only one horse that can jump that high. It’s very difficult to find a good horse or a trainer who can train me to that level.”  It’s a dream Muthoni has dedicated her life to, even making the decision to stop school at sixteen to concentrate on the sport. Fortunately, she has her parents’ blessing to 100% pursue riding. “My parents were incredibly supportive, even though in African culture, riding isn’t considered as a good career one should want for your child. I know people have talked behind our backs, asking how they could let me choose horses over going to university or questioning if horses will ever earn an income.” Despite the negativity, Muthoni’s parents agreed to help her get a ride on one of the best showjumping ponies in Kenya, which meant the world to her.    Their commitment to her riding was tested early on, when they made the decision to allow Muthoni to continue riding even after her first major accident. “I was seven years old and hacking out with my trainer, and a car came and rammed into my horse from behind. I was rushed to the hospital, and my horse had to undergo major surgery. My parents were terrified.” Muthoni was young and recovered quickly, so she was eager to get back in the saddle again, and her parents supported her choice despite the scary incident. They could already see how much their daughter loved horses. Related read: How to Mentally Recover After a Bad Fall with Zoe Conter Three years ago, Muthoni had another serious fall. “My horse, a chestnut mare, was really fresh that day. She’s always had issues, so she was handed over to me to train. I was with my dressage trainer, and my horses ended up doing this huge buck. I went flying. I was knocked unconscious for a few minutes.” Even though her fall as a child was arguably more traumatic for both Muthoni and her horse, at seven years old she was ready to hop back on as soon as she was physically able to do so. Now, as a teenager, it was different. “Of course after a fall like that, I needed a new helmet, and my head was a bit sore for a few days. But really, this time I had to recover mentally rather than physically.” Muthoni continues, “The fall really knocked my confidence.” Again, her parents had her back. “They were very supportive of me returning as they know that these things happen with horses. But it’s the sport and it’s my passion, so they know I can’t give it up.” With options limited in Kenya, Muthoni’s mother suggested checking out Equestrian Masterclass, which she had come across on Facebook a few months prior. She began using the techniques Annette Paterakis describes in the Masterclass geared toward helping riders grow confidence from the inside out. “It was helpful because it really got me thinking of riding as more of a mental sport rather than just physical. The mental block after the fall was nothing like anything that had ever happened to me before.”  Muthoni says she consistently used Annette’s techniques before and after riding, as well as every morning. “I’ve been doing them consecutively now for almost three years, and I’ve just continued to improve. I’ve become a confident rider now. I feel like nothing really has the power to freak me out, whether it's higher fences or a buck or anything.” Just because a rider loves horses and the sport doesn’t mean the mental aspect isn’t going to present a challenge, especially after experiencing something that shakes your self-confidence to the core. When it comes to physical injuries, we tend to view the game plan to recovery as more straightforward. We need to do X, Y, Z to get better, and when this or that part of my body is healed, I’m ready to go again. But when we are struggling to overcome the mental effects of an injury or accident, the path isn’t always so clear. As Muthoni notes, just wanting to “get over it” isn’t enough. We need a plan and tools we can utilize to recover and even come back stronger mentally, just as we do physically. “I do believe everything happens for a reason. With horses, you have to be ready for unexpected things. When they happen, you learn from them and move forward.”  Annette’s techniques are what have allowed her to do that, and Muthoni says she’s truly grateful. Now at eighteen, Muthoni is mentally in a better place than she was before the accident, and horses continue to be her whole world. To make her dreams of pursuing a career as a rider a reality, Muthoni is searching for international opportunities to find a job as a working student, and she hopes her unique background will help her stand out so that someone will give her a chance. Although she has big plans to go far in the sport, she credits the foundation her parents have given her as the anchor that makes anything possible. “Their support means everything to me. They’ve put their all in this for me. Because they’ve never doubted me, I don’t doubt that I can do what I love. Their support has taught me that no dream is ever too big to achieve if you believe.” Read this next: Less Pain, More Gain