Alex Tyson

05/05/2026

I never have time to take pictures during clinics but I had a blast at Serene Tyme Morgans thus past weekend! Lots of diffrent rider levles which made it fun! Plus all the horses here sidepass o so well thanks to Beth Meyer 's fantastic training.

Hope to see you guys at an upcoming show!

04/20/2026

WE folks!

Interested in Working Equitation, but need some supplies to get started?

I will have these items avaliable at the clinics i am teaching this year, and I can bring them along to shows too if people are intrested/ want to pre-order or local pick up in Hartland. I could ship the rings for cost of shipping

Set of five 6 inch regulation rings: $10
8ft red tipped garrocha pole, lightweight: $25
Pole and ring combo:$30
Port-a-bull ring stand: $100
WE starter Pack: port-a-bull, set of rings and pole $125

03/18/2026

Ok... how much are we really working out?
The body adapts to do exactly what you tell it to do,never more. So if you want to be strong and have ease of movements you have to train MORE than you really need.
With riding we overuse some muscles and underuse others. Training for riders needs to prioritize things we dont use to create a more holistic athlete as well as train things we do use MORE than riding might but in the same way so riding is EASIER.
Cardio, core, strength training and dynamic movements like side planks are GREAT.

What are you doing yo supplement riding?

03/16/2026

WOW! Huge congrats to Robin Bond and Kiger Zapata KCA!!

I was blessed to be able to ride this horse at the Crossnations Cup in Montana in 2022 where we won the open Intermediate A division. I have been fangirling over this horse ever since.

Robin deserves all the success she has earned this pair won the Masters WAWE qualifier this past weekend in Oregon. This is the highest levle of working equitation and this show is a qualifier to be on the forthcoming us team that will go to Spain later this year.

I am hoping and praying they get the spot. A formally wild American Mustang doing the highest levle of WE and excelling.

This is a very Americana team, they represent everything wonderful about the sport here in the U.S.

So so so happy for them!!

03/16/2026

03/07/2026

So this is a cool experience to do on the lunge, and typically I have a student grab their ankle with their hand and balance one at a time. Occasionally, on a quite horse I will have them sit the trot and hold one leg up a at a time and neck rein around.

It is a great hip exercise to make sure you are really sitting deeply with a neutral spine and helps people to learn how to tuck their pelvis.

So of coarse I wanted to see if I could donit posting, both legs at the same time, and direct the horse with my seat cues. It was fun to do and left me a little sore, which was surprising. I think I might actually so this as a warm up occasionally.

I dont necessarily recommend doing this at home in the way I did it, as you could cue your horse accidently up into a canter or possibly introduce a bucking fit, but it was a cool conformation of leg and seat control.

03/06/2026

Come say hi at the Michigan Horse Expo Horse Expo !! We have USAWE rated shows, camps, events and clinics on the East and West side if Michigan to get you started in Working Equitation!!

02/27/2026

I read around 50 a books a year, and I lot of what i read are academic, classical dressage books.

A lot of the books are written in the 18th and 19th centuries, and not in English. Lots of things are missed in translation and some of them are not the greatest writers. While what they say has a lot of merit, how they say it is often tedious at best, downright illegible at worst.

However, this one has been my absolute favorite so far. A client gave it to me cleaning out her closet knowing that I would actually read it and put it to use.

This author ( and by extension translator as it was originally in french) really breaks down the teaching of Bacher, Steinbeck, the Spanish riding school and others in a really clear, concise, and comparative way. He is clearly more from the French tradition but has a deep understanding of the Germanic tradition.

For those that have not read Dressage books the order goes something like this:

- general comments on the purpose of dressage
- attributes of dressage and philosophical ideas surrounding training
- comments on tack, rider positioning
- describing figures, exercises, and ideas about how the horse should move
- descriptions of dressage movements, their criteria, and what would considered unacceptable. Usually starting with circles and ending with the piaffe or passage, sometimes descriptions of thr airs above the ground.

This book however, while it does do these things, talks about an actual relative timeline and breaks the training into sections and what would be expected of the horse at year 4, 5,6,7 and on not in a prescribed way but in a relative way that builds on the previous knowledge of the horse. He breaks it down into
- a time to understand
- a time to learn
- a time to do
- a time to prefect

I was surprised at some of his timeline, both how quickly the horse was introduced to piaffe in hand and also how long it took for other things in his opinion.
The only thing close to this is the German cavalry manual the Hdv12, although obviously in a different format and for a different purpose.

While I understand the hesitancy to ascribe to timelines, the absence of them leaves people quite confused and stuck in minutea without clear goals.
For example, a horse would be introduced to a shoulder in I his second year riding. That dosnt mean he has to, or he necessarily should as an individual, but that it is possible after criteria x...x...x... is achieved.

As someone coming from not a dressage background I find this very helpful and ties in other things I have learned.

Would you like this style of book?

I have considered writing something like this some day but for riders, as I feel I have a lot to say about the development of the versatile and effective rider. If I ever did do it I would endeavor to do it much in this style.

12/08/2025

Ranch Riding and Working Equitation~ What's the Difference?

I heard people say all the time that Working Equitation and Ranch Riding are essentially the same thing, or that a horse successful in one will be automatically successful in the other. There is some truth to this, but it doesn't grasp the full essence of the sports. In reality, they are more like cousins than siblings. I'm a Bronze Medalist in USAWE and I have gotten two top 5 placings in Ranch Work at the RRP Thoroughbred Makeover, which used AQHA rules and patterns showcased here, so I might be of some help explaining the difference.

Here is a recent video at the the Senior Ranch Riding Champion at the AQHA World show in Ranch Riding.

Similarities Working Equitation has to to Ranch Riding:
- The horse has a more forward way of going, especially when compared to western pleasure
- The lead change is smooth and clean
- The upward transitions are prompt, no resistance, and forward and smooth
-The gate obstacle into the cow pen is of a similar ex*****on to the working equitation gate. This set up is actually harder than the WE gate because there are not live cows like this at a WE show except in the cattle trial, but the spirit of the judging of WE is here in the gate ( open and shuts smoothly so the cows don't get out) and also the pen ( go into a right area and be able to walk around the cows). The WE Pen can technically have a live animal in the middle, but I have not had that in a competition in the US.
- The Spirit of the sport celebrates a working animal, shown in traditional attire, in a forward fashion with a heavy emphasis on adjustability and handiness. This underlining theme is really what ties Ranch Riding and Working Equitation with a similar thread.

Ok, Here are the differences, and they are pretty big

- First the Frame:
Working Equitation is a dressage based sport, so the horses need to be ridden on light contact (no drapey reins like showcased here) The Horses need to also progressively work on an uphill balance. That is not the goal in Ranch Riding. Horses are shown in a level balance, or even an even downhill balance and there is no goal to change that. The Poll is almost always below the withers on this horse. We want the poll to be level working up to being the highest point.

Impulsion:
The working gait of this Ranch riding horse does not track up at the trot ( hind leg in front leg footprint) We would like our working trot to like more like the "extended jog" shown before the end. The horse is clearly tracking up, reaching his legs forward and has a little more bounce in his step.
- Transitions:
Downward transitions are prompt, but they are abrupt. We would want the horse to lean back more and carry the weight on the hindquarters into a prompt downward. This horse either slams on the breaks and lowers the head, or he leans back but doesn't carry the weight on the hindquarters or shorten the frame ( i.e. right before the weave logs)
Pivots:
We don't want the horse to plant a leg in any kind of turn on the haunches or canter pirouette. While this may happen and be fast in the speed or cattle round, it is penalized in the Dressage and Ease of Handling Rounds.

Coarse Ex*****on:
While both sports have a pattern that must be executed in order, the ex*****on here is fundamentally different. Ranch riding you have to memorize the order, approach, and gait changes in the pattern. Ex: Trot from bridge to gate, Canter around the tree, weave the poles starting on the left side.
Working Equitation has numbers for every obstacle and you always have to approach from the numbered side and pass that number with your right shoulder. Also, depending on your level, the pace in between obstacles is already predetermined and the gait that you have to do the obstacles at is predetermined. ( ex: Novice levels trot most obstacles and canter in between).

This rider is obviously handy and the horse well trained and they did a World title performance for their sport and the purpose of their sport. However, it is not what we would be looking for in Working Equitation.
If your horse travels like this now, don't let that stop you from doing WE! Just train with this things in mind and to work your horse progressively more into a dressage frame with correct exercises and strengthening. I got a downhill Quarter Horse to preform quite well at level 4, so totally possible, just takes a little more work!

Did anything surprise you?

Whizenboonsmal, shown by Bud Lyon for Madison Rafacz, is the world champion in senior ranch riding.

11/13/2025

Thanks for the like guys!

I figured a lot of what I am going for in the future is more focused as me as an individual, instead of me " Alex Tyson Horsemanship" as an entity, though i think I will still keep that page for a while.

I plan to write some thoughts on horse training, beta test new ideas, preview potential books ideas/ excerpts, online learn models, and just all the things that I don't necessarily want to spam my personal page with. So if you are interested in those things, welcome aboard!

What are your goals for this winter?
What is your plan to achieve them?

Preacher and I are going to continue to work on the flying changes and get them stronger, at more different configurations anywhere in the ring, and start on some series changes. We have done a 5 tempi twice, but it took a minute to get and it was obvious we need to be a little quicker!

I am thankful to work with my great trainer Dorothy Mueller whenever I can, and I utilize videos a ton to measure progress. Either by people filming me or by the Pivo tracker app, which I am going to consider upgrading to the Pivio. Anyone have experience with that?

11/12/2025

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