The Bleu Barn

02/03/2025

Two VASTLY different seats.
 The forward seat and the deep seat both absolutely have their places! But what you don’t want to do is smoosh the two together!
There is no in between- you either want to have a shorter stirrup, a very deep heel, and a tight “sandbag leg”, or you want to sit deep and heavy and plug in those seat bones with a long draped leg.
The Forward seat gets its security from the mid-thigh down. I compare it to those inflatable clowns 🤡🥊with the sand in the bottom that kids box- no matter what you do to those suckers they pop right back upright again because all the weight is in the bottom!!! That’s what it feels like in a secure forward seat.
In a good deep seat, your lower leg, just dangles. Heck, you could get cut off at the knees and it not change much, because your security comes from your glutes and core! In the deep seat, it is so important that your hips move with the horse, and that your core stabilizes your spine.

Both of these pictures are me and I’m riding the same horse.

01/29/2025

So far, my book, "Lost Traditions: Horses and Horse Medicine in Pre-Modern Japan is in, or on the way to, The Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Asian Art, in Washington, DC, the National Sporting Library & Museum in Middleburg, VA, the UC Davis Veterinary Medical School Library, the University of Iowa Library, the Library of the Veterinary School in Hannover, Germany, and the Equine Museum of Japan, in Yokohama, Japan. I'm so proud. You can get your copy (and other neat stuff) at shop.doctorramey.com Thanks!

01/28/2025

Join in-person or online! Deadline to register is February 3rd!
Great opportunity for youth planning to compete in the horse judging or hippology contest at Stampede to learn more about judging and get in some practice judging. Also a great opportunity for adults to learn what goes into becoming a 4-H Horse Show Judge as well as the opportunity to recertify as a 4-H judge.

01/27/2025

01/27/2025

Prerequisites for your horse before utilizing “Inside Leg to Outside Rein” connection!

(In no particular order and guys this is just a Facebook post- not a 1000 page
Riding manual. Please adjust expectations accordingly!)

1.) A hindquarter yield. If you can’t get the horse to move the b***y over, there’s absolutely no way you’re going to get inside leg to outside rein connection.
2.) Lateral poll flexion. If you cannot get the horse to bend both directions through the poll joint, consider in hand work.
3.) Responsiveness!  You can’t get your horse to move correctly if you can’t get your horse to move.
4.) A rudimentary leg yield.  This one might be confusing because you need good inside leg to outside rein connection to get a proper leg yield. But you need a rudimentary “move over” before you can get inside leg to outside rein. To get students started I will often have them bend towards the wall and leg yield down the rail nose out, tail in. As they start to get the idea, we do it a few meters away from the wall. 
5.) Two reins!!! Lol. What I mean by this is that you should be able to have a little connection in both hands traveling both directions. It’s very common for horses to completely avoid contact on one side.  You might feel like if you engage your outside rein at all, that you lose all bend to the inside, and/or that your horse completely shrinks their neck all up, affectively training you to not use that rein! 
6.) “Bend” (axial rotation) through the rib cage both directions.  Again, this becomes a chicken or egg conversation!  Many will say that inside leg to outside rein is how you get bend through the body, But if it’s a concept you are already sketchy on, and your horse is totally locked in his torso, you’re going to have to work on this ingredient by itself before you are going to be able to orchestrate multiple things happening together. That said your hind quarter yield and rudimentary leg yield will already be helping with this. But it’s important, so I’m also listing it separately.
I teach students to sit to the inside of the bend to help the horse swing through the rib cage. You should be able to step down into your inside stirrup and get the horse to swing the rib cage to the outside, which appears like bend through the torso.

01/25/2025

Fascia- tissue paper thin tissue that can make your horses body (& ours) as happy or as unhappy as can be.
Head to tail to toes- EVERYTHING CONNECTS. Treat the body as a whole.
"Fascia is a thin casing of connective tissue that surrounds and holds every organ, blood vessel, bone, nerve Tiber and muscle in place. The tissue does more than provide internal structure; fascia has nerves that make it almost as sensitive as skin."
So when you have a trauma related injury, a bad fall, or structural damage, things move. You might bring a chiropractor in to help your athlete out, rightfully so.
Well when they "don't hold their adjustment" it's typically because fascia has already adjusted things internally and re-learned how to be wrong instead of correct. So we have to release the fascia in order for the body to learn how to be correct again. Bring in Acuscope/Myopulse. We can help the body do some fascia release! My chiropractors, osteopaths ect.
Find that when I work on them before or after, things go hand in hand, and results stay put.



" - The left side is balanced and correct.
The right side, somewhere, something (fascia) is holding/ pulling on part of the body and throwing the whole body off. Causing over compensation, soreness, ect.

01/25/2025

01/25/2025

Foaling or Colicing?

Here’s how to tell whether a broodmare is going into labor or experiencing colic-associated pain.

01/24/2025

Are you expecting a foal this year?

Make sure you know the signs of a mare going into foal and have a care plan in place. Get in contact with one of our expert veterinarians today at 859-255-8741.

01/22/2025

Trailering without hesitation is a safety necessity.

As 16-year-old Kalyna Fedorowycz and her father, Markian Fedorowycz, drove through Topanga Canyon, there was one thing on Kalyna’s mind.

01/22/2025

It's back! The 2025 Hippology Academy kicks off on February 9. Topics for this year include first aid and vital signs, pre-purchase exams, viral diseases, behavior, metabolic issues, and forage selection. Content for each topic includes practice tests, slides, and digital learning stations in addition to twice weekly lectures.
There are three enrollment levels to choose from:
1. Bronze: All content listed above, accessible until August 31, 2025.
2. Sliver: Everything included in Bronze, plus can ask teacher questions, participate in discussion board, and have access to course material until November 30, 2025.
3. Gold: Everything included in Silver, plus opportunity to participate in live virtual office hours with instructor and access to course material until December 31, 2025.

Learn more and register here: https://catalog.extension.org/?category=6&keyword=Hippology+academy&cond=advand&search=Search

01/20/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18RM86ZyiN/

01/16/2025

Do you have a senior horse? Join the University of Georgia's Horse Owners Webinar Series on Tuesday evenings in February 2025 for a 5 week series on Senior Horse Management. Sessions will be recorded and supplemental materials made accessible to participants. The registration fee of $10 per person covers all 5 sessions. Participants will have an opportunity to earn raffle prizes by completing evaluations throughout the series. Register here: https://tinyurl.com/HOW2025

01/14/2025

Join us for a winter zoom series hosted by The Ohio State University Equine Team! Speakers from the University of Minnesota, Mars Horsecare, and Penn State University will be discussing forages, equine nutrition, and ticks!

01/14/2025

Concludes Last Day of February! Let Cj know if you need a print off for her to initial and it to count toward a ribbon 💚