Galloping With Guidance

04/17/2025

THIS YEAR SUMMER CAMP DETAILS POSTED BELOW!
https://www.gallopingwithguidance.com/camps

Beginner Day Summer Camp

Our summer camps are open to all beginner riders. We even provide all the equipment and horses! We have been doing summer camps for over 10 years. We start basic horse care, safety, then we ride the horses! Once the horses are cared for we will do fun interactive horse activities/crafts. We cool off in our giant water slide through the camp. Snack and drinks available all day!

Ages 4-14years old . Camp is 9am-2pm . Camp is $100 (no sibling discounts) additional $5 ESA fee for Direct Pay

SIGN UP HERE!

July 7th at 9am

July 8th at 9am FULL

July 10th at 9am FULL

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Beginner Horsemanship Camp

This is our new horse camp geared to the kids who are more interested in horses than crafts and water slides. We will ride and then learn more horsemanship skills throughout the camp. Learn about horse care which includes feeding, cleaning stalls, and more! Horse jeopardy and lots of fun facts to learn. Spend time grooming and just being in the barn.

Ages 8-18 years old . Camp is 9am-2pm . Camp is $100 (no sibling discounts) additional $5 ESA fee for Direct Pay

SIGN UP HERE!

July 9th - FULL

Summer Camp ☀️ Beginner Day Summer Camp ☀️ Our summer camps are open to all beginner riders. We even provide all the equipment and horses! We have been doing summer camps for over 10 years. We start basic horse care, safety, then we ride the horses! Once the horses are cared for we will do f...

01/17/2025

Summer Camp save the dates! You’ll have two Camp options for June 21 and July 26. More details to come, but I wanted you guys to be able to save the dates.

We are also considering doing a summer horsemanship class. All details will be up soon. ☀️

10/08/2024

Winter Camp time!

Winter Camp is full of fun! This year we have chosen to have smaller groups, so there is more personalized & quality time. Most importantly... more time with the horses! We will be riding, making horse cookies, making horse ornaments, and so much more fun all in the barn! It will be a busy 3 hours of jam packed fun.

Ages 5-13 years old
No horse experience required, as this is a beginner camp!
Camp is hosted at VHV Ranch in Dewey, AZ

This would make a great Holiday Gift!

Dates are January 4th and 5th at 10am and 2PM

Camp is $50 . We are an ESA approved Vendor! We ask that you only sign up for one camp time slot at this time to allow more kids to join. Multiple kids are okay!

Sign up with this link https://gallopingwithguidance.as.me/wintercamp

*Camp must be paid in full to retain spot. There are no refunds but you can gift/sell your spot if you can't make it.*

Can't make this camp but still want to get involved? Ask about our riding lessons or our Horsemanship class starting in January!

10/01/2024

13 years giving lessons here.. Tonight was my last night teaching in Waddell ❤️ So many great people I have met here and they have all taught me something.. In this arena I have grown from an every weekend barrel racing high school teen to a married mom of two focusing on being the best horseman I can be.

I’m thankful for you Waddell.

To all my clients that I have taught through the years, just know I am always rooting for you! I see you graduating, competing, starting careers or families ❤️ Stay in touch, I love to see your wins!

I will now be in Dewey full time for lessons and training. This way I can work from home and focus on my family & horses.

09/29/2024

Horses are a lot like 4th graders.

I know this because my wife, Bridget, is a school teacher, and over the years, I’ve gained a pretty good understanding of what it takes to make a great student-teacher relationship... and I’ve come to realize, in many ways, it’s not that much different from the horse-trainer relationship.

Horses, like students, may not always remember exactly what you taught them on a given day, but they remember how you made them feel.

They remember whether or not you encouraged them and made them feel confident about the things they have learned.

They remember if you took time to listen to them and to build a relationship with them.

They recognize our attitudes and behaviors, and they are easily influenced by the energy we put off—both positively and negatively.

Horses, like students, need space to make mistakes.

They don’t need to be micromanaged.

They don’t need to be harshly criticized when they get the wrong answer.

Instead, they need you to guide them in the right direction and be rewarded when they find the right answer.

Horses, like students, need us to take the time to help them develop their skills.

They need us to show patience and kindness.

They need us to have understanding and excellent communication.

They need us to be committed to their growth, no matter how slow or fast it may be.

Horses, like students, need us to understand that progress is not an overnight process, but rather a lifelong journey. And, while it may be a long journey, it sure is a rewarding one.

09/24/2024

I hope you have a daughter like you.

I hope she puts that nasty neon pink braided goat string back into her mouth and the corners of her mouth are caked with dirt.

I hope she wears her first buckle right after she wins it and tucks in her t-shirt so people will ask her about it.

I hope she tries with everything she has to hustle that old barrel horse through the eye. Even though he can’t feel it because her legs don’t go below the saddle pad.

I hope she waits for you to tell her to “just breathe” when she’s on deck and can see her calf standing in line.

I hope she cries in your arms in the tack room after knocking a barrel down to go to nationals.

I hope she looks for you at the end of the arena after winning her first state title with a humble smile you can barely see under the brim of her hat. The kind you can’t just wipe off.

I hope she calls you in college when she tears a ligament in practice freaking out about losing her scholarship.

I hope she calls you in the warm up pen even though you’re right inside the coliseum at the college finals. I hope she calls you, choking back tears, just to tell you how grateful she is for you and how much she loves you as she makes her way to the alley to make the last goat run of her career.

I hope one day you have a daughter like you so you can have another chance at loving you.

Exactly how you deserved to be loved.

Over and over and over again.

(I didn’t write this I don’t know who did just sharing. Enjoy!)

09/22/2024

"Stop whipping your barrel horses..

Barrel racers who whip your horses between the barrels or on the way out, STOP doing it. What you don't understand is that when you whip it, you are actually slowing it down - it will try to tuck its butt to keep from being whipped the same as you would do ( Yes, it's been proven ).
Furthermore, all of your whipping and moving around affects your horse's motion and momentum which slows it down even more. So, learn to ride your horse in a balanced manner and "stay out of its way" so that it can run its best. Think of racehorses: they run the entire track and may only get whipped a few strides the entire race because the jockey stays out of the way and lets the horse run.
So, as for your horse, stop whipping it to make it run faster. If he loves his job, he's probably running as fast as he can already ❤️"

09/07/2024

𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭 ❌

The quickest way to take effort out of your horse is not knowing when to quit.

Think about this scenario:

A football coach tells his players to run up-and-backs down the field as fast as they can. The players respond, put out their best effort, and run the sprints to the best of their ability. Then, the coach says "Great job! As your reward, let's do that again."

Now, apply the same scenario to your horse:

You ask your horse for a specific response. The horse responds correctly and gives you the 'feel' you were looking for. You say, "Great job! As your reward, let's do that again."

In both scenarios, the players and the horses put forth maximum effort thinking that their reward would be to rest once they completed the task at hand. But instead, their reward was more work. That has to be frustrating, right?

I know that when you finally get the 'feel' you are looking for, it is tempting to keep repeating that feel over and over again to make sure that your horse has that skill mastered―but, you have to remember to 𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 their effort first, then 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 the skill later. 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤.

08/20/2024

When someone leaves a comments or a like here, I often click on their name to see their riding images on their page. I do this to keep track of what today's typical riding looks like. I see all kinds of riding. Some images and videos show very good balanced riding. What seems to be a common riding flaw that I see recently is with head position. So many riders post pictures of their riding with their eyes looking down. This might seem a minor issue, but it is not.

When your eyes are down, your horse can feel that your balance is forward, more over the forehand. This will put your horse onto their forehand. When your eyes go down, your head that weighs 15 pounds (7 kg) goes down and forward, and usually your shoulders fall forward as well. The fact that your head is up high at the end of an effective lever that is your upper body, multiplies the forward weight that you place over your horse's shoulders.

The negative effects this has on your horse show up in several ways. It makes both upward and downward transitions more difficult for your horse. This is because Horses need to push off or reach under with their hind, and you have shifted their balance off their hind. Lead changes become more difficult for the same reason.

Worst of all for riders, looking down makes it more difficult to develop "feel". I briefly had an argumentative student who insisted on looking down. She would argue with me when I said "eyes up", saying "I like to see what my horse is doing". I'd explain that with eyes up you can feel what your horse is doing and that makes all the difference.

If you look down when riding, just stop doing that. If you have to look down, move your eyeballs, not your head. If you do this, many improvements will follow. You will sit the canter better because your head and neck position will no longer interfere with your hips swinging to the 1-2-3 beat of the canter. "Eyes up". It's simple and fixes a lot of things.