07/26/2025
RIDING BRIDLELESS IN A AN ARENA WITH OTHER HORSES ON THE 6TH RIDE.
This photo is from a clinic in Holland or Belgium about 8 or 9 years ago.
It's of an amazing lady named Jo, and her horse Asphodel. I believe he is an Arab x Connemara. By the time Jo came to the clinic Asphodel had 4 or 5 rides, in a round pen.
Jo is British, but lived in Germany at the time, and she had spent a lot of time STTDP (Stick To The Damn Plan). Sticking to the plan involves making sure each step in the horses education is good before moving on to the next step.
One of the steps that Asphodel took a while to get good at before the clinic was the transition from the ground to the saddle (actually the mounting block to the saddle). Jo would pick her foot up to put it in the stirrup and her horses head would raise slightly, so she'd work on that till it was good (meaning it no longer concerned her horse, even slightly).
Then the next day that was good, but when she placed her foot in the stirrup, her horse would tense slightly. She worked on that until it was good.
Then next say she could pick her foot up, and place it in the stirrup, and her horse was good, but when she went to bounce slightly on the foot that was on the mounting block, her horse was slightly concerned. By the end of that session, that bit was good.
The next session she could pick her foot up, place it in the stirrup, and bounce slightly on the mounting block, and her horse was good, but when she bounced with enough energy to mount, her horse became a little concerned. She worked on that until it was good.
This was all at the place she kept her horse (so before she came to the clinic). All of the other riders at that particular barn would walk by and say things like "aren't you ever going to ride that horse", or "just get on and ride", or "you're wasting time, it will take forever at this rate", etc etc.
The final step was to be able to lift her foot, place it in the stirrup, bounce slightly, bounce more, then mount, and her horse was just as relaxed as he was before she even stepped on the mounting block. So the process, from the mounting block, to actually sitting on her horse, took 5 days. So of course everyone at her barn (livery, whatever you choose to call it) now thinks she's taking things way too slow.
Fast forward to the clinic, the first day she went to mount, she had to go back through that step by step process, but instead of taking 5 days, it takes over an hour, because he's in a different environment.. But then when she's on, her horse is completely relaxed, and we take that relaxation into the riding.
Which brings me to this photo.
By day 2, her horse can walk, trot and canter, without any steering (Jo was just riding in a rope halter) and he under his own control. Jo isn't controlling him, he is controlling himself. To show everyone there how important it was that Jo spent those 5 days working on the little things, we pulled the halter off and had her ride at a walk, trot and canter in an arena full horses (I had the others all stand still for this) without a problem. Jo told me that when she went home from the clinic and showed pictures to the people at her barn, they all changed their tune from "you are taking too long" to "oh you are so lucky you have a quiet horse, mine would never do that", but the truth is if they had taken the time with their horse that Jo had, they could be that lucky as well (I like the saying "you make your own luck").
Some people might think that 5 days is a long time for that one step, but if you are planning to ride this horse for the next 15 years, 5 days is actually 0.0913242009% of the time.
Before people start saying how brave Jo is, I want to direct your attention to a big sign on the wall in the photo, that you can't quite see all of. In full it says "I'm not brave, I'm thorough". Brave is knowing something dangerous is going to happen and doing it anyway. When you are thorough, and know you have your horse properly prepared, you don't need to be brave.
if you are interested in learning about all the steps involved in having a horse be able to control themselves like this under saddle, just go to our video library at videos.warwickschiller.com