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The Art of Riding
Horsemanship Through Feel and Release

NEW: DESIGN YOUR OWN Clinic or Workshop!

See below for Karen's most popular Focus Sessions (FS). Contact Karen about the sessions that interest you the most and plan a coaching session, workshop or clinic in your area, to best suit needs and budget. You can also just sign up for a clinic or coaching.

Many other topics available!
If you do not see a topic you hoped to cover, request it :)
(Click on arrows for more detailed descriptions)

FS0: Riding Through Feel: what is "feel and release"?

FS1: Riding Through Feel: get with your horse!

FS2: Riding Through Feel: left, right, STRAIGHT -
        direction through feel, not micromanagement!

Focus: Teach your horse to tune into how it feels when you ride the actual maneuver in mind (e.g. straight!), without corrections borrowed from another (e.g. left & right). Clarity is everything!

Micromanagement Be Gone! Eliminate the perpetual need for correcting your horse. Have you ever used your right or left rein/leg to correct your horse, when riding in a straight line (who hasn't!)? When left means "go left", but sometimes "don't go right", often swiftly followed by a right aid that now means "don't go left", then a "release" when he is straight teaches him that the aid really meant "go straight".... There is plenty of room for confusion! 
Where is "straight"? Most horses do not know when a rider means "straight", because "straight" is not distinct from left and right in his foundation. Learn how to leave or restore "straight" in your groundwork.
Clarity is everything to the horse Teach your horse to feel for the maneuver you have in mind under saddle. Blend with his feel to teach him your feel. Learn to release your horse, without pressure from rein or leg.

“I found that the more accurate feel I had to offer the horse, the less “trouble” he offered me, and it wasn’t because he did something different” Bill Dorrance, in "True Horsemanship Through Feel", page 45.

“Things started to work out for me and my horses when I could move those feet where I needed them to go, but I had to get with them on the start” Bill Dorrance, in "True Horsemanship Through Feel", page 45.

FS3: Riding Through Feel: accessing all four quarters of
        your horse through feel. Now we're talking!

FS4: Riding Through Feel: the best kept secret of a
        fabulous ride...freeing up your horse's shoulders.

FS5: Riding Through Feel: build in a great stop and
        backup on a float

FS6: Riding Through Feel: trouble-shooting

 

Details of session content are customized to the particular rider/horse combinations in any given coaching session.

Many other topics available!
If you do not see a topic you hoped to cover, request it :)
 

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