Sobolewski Horsemanship at Divergent Stables, LLC

25/04/2025

Here are some dates with some interesting clinics available in Cream Ridge.

Stella and I will be teaching on May 3rd!

16/04/2025

14/04/2025

Spring is here! 🌸
Lots of rain at times, but warmer weather staying more consistent 😁 Book your lessons and clinics, and let’s enjoy this beautiful weather together with our horses!

11/04/2025

🌸🐴Divergent Stables🐴🌸
A Diverse Stable with Ample Experiences

Join the TEAM !!
🌻 quality + affordable English & Western lessons
🥀 safe and reliable horses
🌻 variety of disciplines offered
🥀 On-site & Off-site lessons / training
🌻 Trailer-ins welcome *coggins required*
🥀 weather permitting availability
🌻 training board, space for 2 horses monthly
🥀 a mustang APPROVED pen !!
🌻 phenomenal care, owners live on property
🥀 multiple BLM mustang experiences + 2 EMMs
🌻 Liberty clinics, demos, performances offered
🥀 145x90 outdoor arena w/ lights & heated viewing
🌻 50' round pen
🥀 occasional sales projects

✨The FUN doesn’t STOP there✨
!! send us a message !!
>>located in Jackson, NJ

04/04/2025

Today and tomorrow🤩 Don’t miss out on some riding attire goodies!!!

28/03/2025

Booking now for 2025✨
I offer liberty work based clinics, demos, & performances. Liberty is a great way to go back to groundwork fundamentals and work on any cracks in the training. Or if you’re looking to strengthen the relationship between yourself and your horse. If interested, please reach out via messenger or call/text. 😁

19/03/2025

Come out and check us out, as well as, learn from the best French man there is Jean-claude Barry

16/03/2025

No shame in putting your horse first 👏🏼

Why is Sebastian in a halter? 🤷‍♂️

This performance was Sebastians first solo performance at an event of this size and scale.

He rehearsed beautifully and coped with the performances of the first day like an old pro.

However on the second day the crowd was sold out and much louder and enthusiastic ( which is not a bad thing at all! ) this meant not only more noise but a completely different atmosphere.

Sebastian’s job is harder because he performs alone so doesn’t have the “safety in numbers” feeling that the team uses to such great effect.

He wasn’t naughty or unpleasant in any way at all! Simply over loaded with information and unsure if he was exited or wanted to run.

How did I handle this?

Well step one is remember ego is the enemy. On my own at home or in front of 9000 people it doesn’t matter. We go back to basics.

I slipped a halter on to him then walked around the arena to settle him. I asked him for a rear so he could utilise that bubbling energy reserve.

This got the conversation going between us again and now communication was happening we could begin to work.

We had another walk and lots of praise then laid him down in the spot in the arena he seemed most relaxed. Again lavishing him with praise I asked him up and he left the arena.

Was this the plan? No

Was it a bad performance? No I don’t believe so

Sebastian could have left that arena without any positive outcome when he became over loaded but we moved the goal posts to a level of achievement he was ready for.

Remember you don’t have to win in the way you thought you would. It’s your job to find the victories not the horses job to create them

❤️

20/02/2025

We are one week away from heading to the Harrisburg Horse World Expo. Stella and I have been preparing as best as we can with the weather/ground conditions we’ve been being dealt with the past few weeks.

I am not setting up any expectations, nor will put pressure on our performances. Last year this time, I wasn’t even sure if Stella would ever fully rehab from an injury, let alone perform again. I am bless to have her back doing what she loves. And this time around is a little extra special, as I get to bring my son along.

03/02/2025

A recipe for liberty 🤔

- 3 cups of patience ⏳
- 2 cups of observation 👀
- 1 cup of action ❤️

Do less, watch more, mainly wait.

The biggest mistake iv made as a horseman is always assuming I needed to know another way to ask a question.

Training horses is all about communication. As is any conversation between two people.

It doesn’t matter how brilliant your question is if you ask it at the wrong time. Very few people will stay engaged with a conversation where the other person is just waiting for their turn to speak without truly listening. And everybody hates being interrupted or having their train of thought disrupted while processing what’s been said in order to answer correctly.

We know these things like we know the sky is blue. We navigate the subtle nuance of communication everyday.

It’s no different with horses.

Very often the reason our training doesn’t deliver the results we desire is not that we are asking for a movement incorrectly or poorly applying a methodology of horsemanship during the active asking portion of interaction.

We rush. We concentrate on ourselves and on how we felt. We fail to hear the other side of the conversation.

Let’s break it down 💪

3 Cups of Patience ⏳

Journey before destination. Fall in love with the process and treat the achievements that appear along the way with surprised wonderment.

I’m sure you like me don’t instantly master new skills. I like to take a pause once given information to process before acting. In my experience horses are the same.

Wait after giving signals to allow time for delayed or unsure responses from your horse.

Pause and praise between attempts even when we see minimal or no progress.

Your horse doesn’t know nor care that it was your 2025 goal to achieve liberty circles in canter by the 1st of March. They will progress in their own time, it’s your job to make the most of that time.

And above all to make sure your horse feels they are being given the time to flourish

Give it ten minutes and it will take an hour.

Give it an hour and it will take ten minutes.

2 Cups of Observation 👀

You most likely are asking for spanish walk correctly but are you moving slowly enough with your signals to genuinely see the effects they have on your horses mind and body?

Do you watch your horse intently when asking them for a movement or is your focus internal on your body and how you feel?

The more we watch, the more we learn.

In this instance take things slowly genuinely means move your arms, legs and aids (whip, rope, flag) SLOWLY. This gives you more time and a better chance to notice the flick of the ear, that slight tilt in the rib cage or the change in their breathing.

Every interaction with our horse is a chance to observe and gather information. Things don’t have to go the way we planned for us to learn valuable lessons about our horse and how they interact with and respond to the world around them.

Rush and you’ll miss it. Miss it and miss out on connection.

1 Cup of Action ❤️

Of course you need to know where to point at, when to step and how to best utilise your aids.

No one is pretending you can teach a flying change or a bow without knowing the process or the method ( www.benatkinsonmethod.com I would recommend 😉) but let’s link this back to the idea of communication and conversation.

The method we learn to train our horse is the equivalent of a child learning to speak. First it’s sounds, then words and finally sentences.

But the conversations that leave us feeling connected with others are so much more. They’re bolstered by empathy and emotion.

A person we can spend all night talking to knows when to back off or avoid a topic we aren’t ready for. Equally they know when to push to help us grow or discover aspects of ourselves we never knew existed.

By harmonising our method (action) with a hunger to listen (observe) and a default setting to take things slowly (patience) we can achieve anything 🙏

Photography credit to JShpicture

28/11/2024

Happy Turkey Day 🦃🍂

25/11/2024

🌻 A Good Mare 🌻

“There’s something different about the way a good mare connects with her rider. It’s special. Like an unspoken agreement. Once a mare chooses you as her person, it’s like she has an instinct to protect you, to fight for you. It’s almost as if she takes ownership of you.

I believe the good mares have a deep sense of intuition. They can read your mind. They know what you’re thinking even before you do. The good mares I know breathe fire in the face of challenge and then somehow, miraculously, know to quiet themselves when a timid child is plopped on their back for a pony ride.

They are clever, cunning and calculated, which can be your greatest enemy or your saving grace. The good mares I know do not tolerate egotistical riding. They do not tolerate force. They demand tact, finesse and emotional control. But once you have won a mare’s heart, you have won all of her. In exchange for your best—and nothing less—she will give you everything.”

Written by: Lindsay Paulsen