Pony Gang Riding Academy

02/28/2025

We have lessons spots available - Come join us!!

02/14/2025

12/04/2024

🌟 A Milestone Moment! 🌟

Big congratulations to Noelle for achieving her first canter today! 🐴✨ Watching her ride with such confidence and control was truly inspiring. She worked so hard to reach this milestone, and we couldn’t be prouder of her accomplishment!

Join us in celebrating her success by cheering her on in the comments! 👏👏

11/28/2024

🦃 Happy Thanksgiving from Pony Gang + A Special Surprise! 🎁

Dear Pony Gang Family and Friends,

Happy Thanksgiving! 🍂🧡 We’re so grateful for each and every one of you—our incredible students, campers, and supporters who make Pony Gang such a special community.

As we celebrate the season of gratitude, we’re also preparing something exciting just for you. Keep an eye on your inbox tomorrow for our biggest Black Friday offer yet—you won’t want to miss it!

Wishing you a day filled with love, laughter, and maybe even a little horsing around. 😉

Warm wishes,
The Pony Gang Team 🐴

11/26/2024

Yoga Exercise of the Week: “Chair Pose for Leg Strength”
How to do it: Stand with feet together, then bend your knees as if sitting back into a chair. Keep your arms raised and chest lifted.
Benefits: Strengthens thighs, glutes, and core—great for building a balanced seat.
Challenge: Hold for 30-60 seconds, then release.

11/22/2024

🌿 Why Herbs Matter in Your Horse's Winter Diet 🌿
Winter brings challenges for your horse’s health—think reduced pasture time and fewer nutrients. Adding herbs like nettle, mint, and rosehip can boost their digestion, immunity, and overall vitality. 🐴💪 Plus, these natural powerhouses mimic what horses graze on in the wild, helping them thrive even when pastures are bare. 🥕✨

11/21/2024

Meet the Elegant Hackney Horse!
The Hackney is a British breed known for its high-stepping trot, elegance, and lively spirit. Originally bred for carriage driving, the Hackney now excels in competitive disciplines like show jumping and dressage. Discover more about this regal breed!
🔗 Full Story: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JZtQO2967t_36bpIoH65MLS651Ow3-LLrJAPV96bfUI/edit?usp=sharing

Hackney The Hackney is a British horse breed renowned for its elegance, high-stepping gait, and lively temperament. Initially developed for carriage driving, the Hackney has since become a popular choice for showing and other competitive disciplines due to its distinctive movement and regal app...

11/21/2024

🌟 Why Choosing the Right Trainer Matters 🌟

Riding isn't just about sitting in the saddle—it's about mastering techniques that keep you and your horse happy, healthy, and progressing. A good trainer focuses on correct riding techniques that benefit both the rider and the horse. 🐴💙

⚠️ Incorrectly learned seats or aids take significantly more time to correct than learning them correctly from the start.
✨ Examples:

Basic Adjustments: Improving posture, correcting hand position, or refining leg placement.
Complex Changes: Developing an independent seat, adjusting how aids are applied, or improving balance and coordination during transitions.
🕒 Muscle Memory Takes Time:

Daily Practice: 2–4 weeks for basic adjustments, 2–6 months for complex changes.
Weekly Lessons: 6–8 weeks for basic adjustments, 6 months or more for complex changes.
The more consistent your practice, the faster you can replace old habits with new, correct ones.

⚡️ Trainers with experience in proper technique help riders develop skills that:
✅ Keep horses comfortable and healthy.
✅ Build the rider's confidence and precision.
✅ Reduce bad habits that take even longer to unlearn.

✨ Take the time to find a trainer who prioritizes correct technique and offers guidance tailored to you and your horse’s success. Consistency is the key to progress!

🏇 Your horse deserves it, and so do you. 💪

11/20/2024

Something funny for today:

11/20/2024

Why We Need Straight Necks

For many riders, it is a sign of an unresponsive horse: the straight neck. The movement of the horse is only considered correct and beautiful when the neck is (somehow) round.
However, we need straight necks for several reasons, both with young horses and with correction horses. The straight neck is the horse's natural form as a young remount. This state must be restored at any time for good reasons.

The straight neck of the young remount also indicates that the rider is not influencing the horse's posture with the reins, as it should be with the young remount. A straight neck is always, at some point, a long neck. This is because the horse does not tend to yield at any part of the neck, becoming rounder and shorter in the neck. The long neck is needed for balance and also to ensure that the horse keeps its nose in front of the vertical. From this, it begins to seek the rider's hand without avoiding it through an incorrect rounding of the neck.

How important and indeed how challenging this can be is something we see time and again with our “project horse,” Dr. Watson, who was ridden for years behind the vertical. As soon as we pick up the reins, we lose connection because he immediately wants to evade behind the vertical. Riding with a connecting rein while maintaining a long, straight neck is also not possible because—learned is learned—at some point, he rounds his neck, thereby evading the contact.

This also happens if we wait until he moves with a released rein, long neck, and nose in front of the vertical. As soon as he finds the hand there, he yields at some part of the neck. This yielding, meaning the rounding of the neck, prevents the horse from yielding at the poll because it always yields at a softer part of the neck instead. It cannot be ridden into the reins because it has simply learned to evade.

This example also shows how difficult such a correction is, and it makes one wonder once again why this incorrect riding and training have become so socially acceptable.