CRS Training Center

04/24/2025

We are still finding Easter Eggs around the farm....
The Easter Bunny sure was feeling gracious,
especially in this economy! 🐰🐥🥚💜

04/12/2025

The 2025 show season is underway! Barbie Schafer and HRA Tsirius kicked off the year with a fantastic first class of the show season!

03/30/2025

⭐ This is the revised Prize List as of 4/18/25 ⭐

🏆The 2025 Buckeye Prize List is Here! 🏆
Join us for another exciting year with the industry's finest at the Buckeye in Wilmington, Ohio, May 15-16 🌹𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐞!🌹
There have been many changes to the show this year, you can find all that info and more in the prize list,
be sure to check it out in the link below!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dZsnVAkxnoUf3k2eBQ0ABOoyvAbEwjmP/view?usp=drivesdk

03/25/2025

Looking ahead at the weekend forecast like ....
🌞⛱️😎🌷

02/27/2025

Great Read. 🙌 This is so important.

Why is there a picture of a child pulling a little red wagon? Because that is how most people ride a horse. They treat the reins as if it is a steering wheel. They turn the horse's head with the reins to steer their horse. What they don't realize is turning a horse in this way makes the horse's hind end into something equivalent to the red wagon because the horse's shoulders are pulling their hind around like the wagon.

When a horse pulls itself forward with its front legs and shoulders, the horse is very off balance toward the front. We call this "heavy on the forehand". It is dangerous to ride like this. If a heavy on the forehand horse stumbles, they can fall quite easily. If they are going down a hill and catch a toe on a root, look out they can go head over heels. If you get in some tricky footing, a heavy on the forehand horse's hind can break loose and bad stuff can happen.

We need to balance our horse when we ride in order to be safe. The only way to do that is to have even balance back to front, not all the balance up on the front. The way to do this is to bend your horse from the center as shown in the upper left image.

Bending your horse and holding the bend begins when you apply inside leg pressure at the horse's center where the red arrow in the top image is pointing. Additionally, for support you keep tension in the outside rein to "hold the horse between the aids" in an inside leg to outside rein manner. This is fully explained in my Between-the-Aids post. The link is below.

The inside leg at the point of the red arrow acts like the point of the compass to draw the arc of the bend. The rider holds their horse between the inside leg and the outside rein to continue to hold the bend through the turn. If you ride consistently in balance by holding your horse in a balanced bend, you are safer because the horse is more stable and feels secure. When you ride as if you are pulling a little red wagon, you and your horse are unsafe and your horse knows it. A horse that feels unsafe can be difficult to ride.

*link to post about "Between the Aids" -

www.facebook.com/BobWoodHorsesForLife/posts/pfbid0u6pLW2PBEUDMWmjLSBjWMSasb6eoGLeefELqWR4WkodxfeW2VbNevcm3soBkbbbtl

02/14/2025

Spending an afternoon leveling and reworking the footing when it's cold out means only one thing... Show season is just around the corner!
We all are definitely ready for some warmer days!
🚜🥶

02/04/2025

CRS Training Center Tentative 2025 Show Schedule.

01/23/2025

It's cold inside, there is no doubt about that... 🥶
But we sure are grateful to have a barn that keeps us MUCH warmer than the outside temperatures.
Hope everyone is staying warm and safe through this cold snap.

01/20/2025

Some winter tips during this arctic deep freeze! 🥶

The biggest concern for horses in winter is maintaining their body temperature. To stay warm during the cold season, a horse burns extra calories and this can negatively impact their health and body condition — particularly if the horse went into winter in only moderate condition, or if he is elderly or ill.

The graphic shows five things you can do to make sure your horse stays healthy through the cold months. Be sure to consult your veterinarian about any diet or lifestyle changes that may be necessary for your horse to maintain his condition this winter, and don’t forget to monitor your animal's water intake to minimize the risk of impaction colic.

Read more and find additional useful winter care information on our educational partner Equus’s website athttps://images.saymedia-content.com/.image/cs_srgb/MTc3MjU5MjQyNjYxNjE4ODQ5/equus-extra-37-.pdf

01/13/2025

Happy Monday!
Making the best of these frigid days in January. 🥶❄️

01/11/2025

CRS Training Center, Shut Up N Dance+/ and
CS Toskcan Rose would like to nominate
AnKat Training in the Snow Angel Challenge.......

01/11/2025

Lessons are not where the magic happens.

I am very fortunate that I get to teach many different people and horses and at this stage pretty much everyone wants what I have to share. I no longer have to persuade students - they come with a deep desire to learn more about this specific school of horse training .

And in reverse, I have a teacher I greatly admire and who never fails to provide me with insights and information; for which I am very grateful. I only get to see her a couple of times a year, but each opportunity is a gold mine.

However, what I tell students, and what I know to be true for myself, is that the real diamonds are discovered when it is just you and your horse. The information and ideas which get shared in a lesson become something personally yours when it is just the two of you. That is where you turn someone else's information into your embodied knowledge.

My friend Jane Pike tells me that when you are being watched you can assume your body is to some extent functioning in the sympathetic. I find this hugely reassuring - when I am being taught (and therefore being watched) my body is to a greater or lesser extent defending itself. I know that I will not be riding as my most adaptable, functional version of myself. You can give yourself this break too - thank you your body for its help, and know that's what's happening. When you're being watched this is a given.

When I am going to be at my most capable, intuitive, adaptable, flow based best is when it is just me and my horse. I had one of those sessions last week, before the snow fell and the flu kicked in. I was riding Des and he was on the grandest of form. He is not an easy horse to ride, and we have had many years in the wilderness, so I never take these sessions for granted. And he can be utterly brilliant. It was just one of those days when I had my sparkle on and so did he and we had a time together where everything else in life falls away. I don't want to be too gushing as he hates that kind of thing, but you get the idea. It was a golden ride.

And what was important and imperative is that there was no other human there. There were plenty of birds and other wildlife various and most likely a cat (disapproving) but there were no humans. It is this personal practice - taking the years of lessons and seeing yet again how I can do better, understand more, feel how things are between me and the horse - where the beauty lies.

So each time you have a lesson don't expect that to be the point where you have everything come together. This is just your chance to get more information, gather new ideas, take on board feedback. Where it becomes your own knowledge, where you and your horse develop and create your own art together - well that is just personal and private to you two. No one else gets to be a part of that.

01/07/2025

Happy Tuesday!
Caption This:

01/06/2025

Happy Monday!
Caption This:

12/25/2024

So what did they see as they rode out this night?
A sleigh with reindeer all in flight!
Once not believers, but now what the hay?
Did they really see Santa, reindeer and sleigh?
There is a magic at Christmas that makes things appear,
like love, peace and joy and, yes, flying reindeer!
-Stephanie Laird

🎁 Merry Christmas from our farm to yours. 🎁