Faraway Farm LLC

05/30/2025

05/26/2025

We all have those days, even those of us teaching it!

“This makes me feel like I don’t know how to ride!”

I hear that all the time when I’m teaching and I always have to chuckle. There is nothing I can relate to more deeply!

There is a huge difference between mashing a horse’s body around, and actually riding them.

When my teachers taught me to truly ride generating energy from behind and steering the shoulders, not the mouth, it became very apparent I was relying entirely on the head for control. It was extremely humbling, and very frustrating. I had many lessons that felt like purgatory - not advancing until I could learn to direct with my seat onto a track of travel, learning not to let my Tourette’s hands get involved and to actually funnel the energy through.

I went from overactive, micromanaging riding to being floppy and ineffective, afraid to be at the helm. I’ve been at this a while, and I always remind my students of this : I did not pop out of the womb understanding this- and if you are naturally gifted at it, I’m happy for you - but don’t be alarmed if it is hard.

If it were easy, everyone would be doing it!

If you’re feeling frustrated, inept, stuck in purgatory, and so on, try to remember this is not easy. It’s very simple - but it is the most difficult task you could undertake: mastering your body and mind to ride in a harmonious way with a horse. There are no shortcuts, no easy get out of jail free cards for learning how to direct fluidly without interference. Buddhist monks study a lifetime at a monestary to get control of their minds - so you have to direct that kind of energy and dedication into it, within the walls of your own arena.

It’s hard, and you will struggle and make mistakes, but you will be just fine, and so will your horse. It will come together in glimmers, in tastes- you’ll get motivated by a little feeling here and there, and you can remember that feeling to get you through the next plunge back into purgatory.

05/09/2025

Dressage is not a sport of spectators.
It’s a discipline of solitude.

You can be surrounded by trainers, riders, judges, and still, you're alone.
Alone with your thoughts.
Alone with your horse.
Alone with every choice you've ever made in the saddle.

Most people quit dressage because they expect progress to feel like applause.
But here, progress feels like stillness.
Like tension giving way.
Like a breath you didn’t realize you were holding… finally let go.

The horse doesn’t care who’s watching.
And eventually, neither do you.

05/07/2025

𝗧𝗿𝗼𝘁 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀

To negotiate trot poles sucessfully requires increased momentum, flexion of all the limb joints, power and spring.

Trot poles encourage your horse to push equally from behind, and are an excellent exercise for developing an equal stride length and for improving symmetry, straightness and coordination.

𝗦𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝟭.𝟮 - 𝟭.𝟳𝗺 𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁

05/01/2025

04/20/2025

Some rides are fantastic. Some are a touchstone on what needs to be worked on more. If we wanted consistent and easy, we'd ride bicycles!

Dressage is tough. It’s technical, mental, and sometimes frustrating as hell. You’re constantly working to improve not just your horse, but yourself. And that means you’re going to hit walls, have bad rides, and feel the pressure to get everything right.

But perfection isn’t the goal progress is. Mistakes aren’t failures, they’re feedback. Even the top riders screw up; the difference is they keep showing up, learning, adjusting, and moving on.

Your horse doesn’t need a perfect rider they need a consistent, fair one. The real work happens in the struggle, in the repetition, and in those small breakthroughs that no one else sees.

So when it’s hard, when the pressure is on, just keep showing up. Ride the horse you have that day. Put in the work. Trust the process.

You’ve got this.

04/17/2025

The best way to have good habits of balanced position, is not having to un-learn bad habits of rushed basics!

Most riding students today start their lessons at a discipline centered barn. Few of these barns begin with the fundamentals of general riding such as balance. Instead, these discipline focused programs teach the forms and positions of their specific discipline. This leaves voids in their training that they discover many years later when they try to switch to some other discipline or type of riding.

The best way to teach riding begins with teaching the fundamentals of horsemanship. In addition to riding, driving or other activities, authentic horsemanship includes teaching basic elements of horse care and horse training. For example, the first thing I teach new students about horse training is that we are always training or untraining a horse when we ride. Regarding horsemanship horse care, I teach basics like getting a horse out of a pasture, how to safely approach a horse, hoof cleaning, careful saddling and bridling, as well as how to do a simple assessment of a horse's condition and state of mind that they are about to ride.

Effective riding instruction begins with having the student add new skills or tools to the student's equestrian toolbox. Balance comes first. Much later, when a student develops an effective balanced seat, we stop adding tools and refine their use of their acquired tools so as to help them achieve unity of balance and movement with their horse.

Once they achieve a degree of unity, we stop adding new tools unless new tools are required for specific discipline. Much later, when the student learns to ride consistently in unity, we optimize the use of their acquired tools to allow them to do more with less. Optimization of their acquired tools eventually expands the range of some tools' applications such that the applications overlap with other of their tools' uses. This is when we begin to remove tools from their toolbox because they can do more with fewer tools.

I believe that the elevated fear and the many injuries riders experience today are the result of having never learned the fundamentals of balance and shared movement with a horse. Instead, they learned to be a Hunter Jumper, or a Reiner, or some other specialty without ever establishing a solid, effective, balanced seat. They are rightfully fearful and get hurt because balance is essential, and it should be established before learning specialized methods.

basic related post on safely approaching a horse -

www.facebook.com/BobWoodHorsesForLife/posts/pfbid02sP2HpSPwofCPTcoa6J9ziob4Y1dhbvUWpfBiA9bJUZmADwQBqRKn6VjMUjqxtpcYl

related post beginning riders stirrups length -

www.facebook.com/BobWoodHorsesForLife/posts/pfbid02973AXNj7tcRCTrr6s9WQASUtLA3rJSGmSnXc6gwyFasQTtMyQWdivRsd63htxJidl

related post for advanced riders -

www.facebook.com/BobWoodHorsesForLife/posts/pfbid02tfc9K6eQSzFgRzigsGUnvypafbnsFhf4PBNqjrEnFR9eo2daoaMnkbFY1Af9zQBdl

04/14/2025

Ready for spring to keep on springing!

04/14/2025

Open stalls for training board in Waterford, WI. Stall board only.

$600/month board rate includes weekly lessons or exercising with on-site trainer, openings in either insulated cold barn or heated barn. All stalls attached to indoor and with access to heated wash stall, bathroom, and tack/trunk storage.

Training focus spans a variety of low-key disciplines with emphasis on balanced seat and branching towards rider’s interest, covering: dressage, hunter/jumper, poles/obstacle navigation, western. Overall goal is to provide understanding of horse and rider biomechanics and psychology to gain optimal results in a wide spectrum of riding styles. Competitions may be a goal, but never a requirement.

10 minutes from Mukwonago, East Troy, Burlington, Wind Lake/Muskego

• Stalls are mat on limestone with pellet bedding and cleaned daily.

• Afternoon stall picking/water and hay refresh when horses come in early/stay in due to weather.

• Two to three grain feedings per day. Supplements/medications included as provided by owner.

• Unlimited grass hay provided, feeding from 7am (morning feed) to 9pm (Night Check). Stalls have hanging net holders filled 2 to 3 times daily depending on turnout.

• Most hay grown on-property free of broadleaf and thistles or purchased from local fields for comparable nutrition.

• Water buckets scrubbed weekly, water maintained/dumped/refreshed daily as needed.

• Individual grass turnouts, fly masks, boots, and sheets put on and removed during fly season.

• Agricultural-grade fans provided per stall for warm weather.

• Blanket changes during cold season.

• 60x120 indoor arena with insulated roof and footing treated to limit dust.

• 100x200 outdoor arena. Arenas dragged weekly/as needed.

• On-Site Trainer/Manager with Bachelor’s degrees in Equine Science available to provide guidance on horse care and maintenance.

Farm tours by appointment only. We are a small, family run operation and prefer to maintain a quiet, low-key environment.

04/09/2025