Devine Gaits Farm

03/10/2025

03/02/2025

02/26/2025

02/12/2025

Does your horse suddenly exhibit irrational behavior without any apparent reason and ‘lose their minds’ ? It is essential to investigate the underlying cause, as horses do not act out simply to be obstinate.

*Changes in environment or overstimulation: As sensory-driven animals, horses are prone to heightened alertness when their environment changes, leading to potential neural fatigue and an inability to regulate their nervous system.

*Pain: Ensure that your horse's saddle fits correctly and is comfortable for them, and exercise caution when selecting a bit. Bits are intended for communication, not control, and incorrect use can cause pain, potentially resulting in neural fatigue. Additionally, ulcers can be a hidden cause of explosive behavior, so it is crucial to have a thorough veterinary examination.

*Lack of communication: Provide your horse with sufficient positive information to maintain focus and pliability, ensuring you are actively influencing their thoughts rather than merely being a passenger.

*Rider error: Avoid riding reactively with a tight grip, as this can trap the horse and cause them to feel perpetually off-balance. Instead, adopt a proactive approach with soft, communicative hands and a balanced seat.

Contact us for more info on a clinic near you!
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02/01/2025

The Lipizzaners of South Africa
South Africa has the only group of Lipizzaner stallions recognized by the Spanish Riding School outside of Vienna. This is a big deal. The man who originally brought them to South Africa is not actually South African, but originally from Croatia. The story of how the stallions came to be in South Africa is quite epic, including staining them in order to disguise them to hide them from the N***s and move them around Europe. The Lipizzaners spent some time in England until they came to their home on a South African farm.

The stables where the Lipizzaners perform are between Johannesburg and Pretoria. The grounds are gorgeous; we saw at least four outdoor arenas and the large indoor arena. Just a beautiful facility. We watched the stallions perform the traditional Lipizzaner stunts. They reared, jumped, kicked, etc. Lipizzaners were originally war horses, and these stunts were originally to help on the battlefield. For example the capriole, where the horse rears onto his hind legs then jumps with all four feet off of the ground, at the peak of which he kicks out, was used to decapitate foot soldiers. The work-in-hand training is very impressive.

The show a portion where a new c**t was allowed to romp free in the arena, in order to get used to the crowd and performance area. He had a blast with himself, running around and bucking. He was a ham and a half. We also saw a horse in lunge line training, with a rider in training as well. They had dressage components, and ended with the ballet of the white stallions (in which four lipizzaners performed a drill together). All in all, quite impressive training.

01/28/2025

Action shot at the Spanish riding school in Vienna, Austria. Shows a Lipizzaner stallion performing a capriole from the hand
The airs above the ground or school jumps are a series of higher-level, Haute ecole, classical dressage movements in which the horse leaves the ground. They include the capriole, the courbette, the mezair, the croupade and the levade.
None are typically seen in modern competitive dressage. They are performed by horses of various riding academies such as the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and the Cadre Noir in Saumur, and may be seen in other dressage performances. The levade and courbette are a particular feature of the Doma Menorquina, the riding tradition of the island of Menorca.
Horses such as the Andalusian, Lusitano, Lipizzan and Menorquín are the breeds most often trained to perform the airs today, in part due to their powerfully conformed hindquarters, which allow them the strength to perform these difficult movements. There were originally seven airs, many of which were used to build into the movements performed today.

01/28/2025

“Today, the School’s Riders and First Riding Masters, who have served a long apprenticeship in their profession, are such guardians of tradition. They started as pupils in the stables wearing a simple gray uniform. They then learned their trade, and a good seat in particular, on the so-called “Professors”, the old, tried stallions of the School, because learning to sit comes before learning to ride, and only from a secure, pliant, well-balanced seat comes a feeling for the correct aids. Those fine, invisible signs by which the rider communicates with a horse were in fact learned from well-ridden horses who would not dream of acting upon a false aid.

The seat – the rider’s weight which must at all times be fully balanced with the horse that bears it - is of fundamental importance because an incorrect seat will cause the rider’s weight to distort every movement of the horse.
The last word on this, the true basis of all riding, comes from the Director of the Spanish Riding School, Kurt Albrecht, in his book Dogmas of the Art of Riding (1981).
It sounds almost too simple: “The rider must seek to distribute his own center of gravity over the horse and maintain it there throughout every movement, whatever the gait he may require of the animal…”

However, it is no easy thing when the horse canters, gallops, turns, bends, and rising on its hind legs, or even makes a frightened sideways jump. In all circumstances, however, Albrecht says, “…security of the seat is not a matter of keeping a grip with the legs or holding the reins, but entirely of maintaining balance in the saddle.”
Quote courtesy of the book THE SPANISH RIDING SCHOOL: Four Centuries of Classic Horsemanship by Hans Handler

Photo of Oberbereiter Klaus Krzisch and Siglavy Mantua I courtesy of the book The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dressage (Martin Diggle)

01/16/2025

How tie a rope

01/14/2025