Current Issue

Banner


Click on the cover for the Current Digital Issue!!

Advertising

How Popular are We?

We have 1 guest online
 
Handling Stallions with Richard Winters

CONNECTING DOWN TO THE FEET

 

“She’ll just stop going forward, rear, whirl away, and run off with me. It’s like she tunes out and I can’t control her.” This is the description of the beautiful 17.1 warmblood mare that was brought to me recently for training. The owners were right! After a couple days of riding in the arena, I rode the mare out behind our stable area and she acted exactly as described. These were the symptoms — The problem was that I didn’t have a connection to her feet.

We put a halter on our horse’s head and a bit in its mouth but ultimately what we need is control of their feet. When I lift on a single rein there must be a response in my horse’s feet to follow that direction. Here are a few practical things I’ve been implementing to help this mare “think down to her feet.”

Quit pulling on both reins at the same time: Dressage is meant to be performed with contact. (i.e. Horse is on the bit.) However, if I’m pulling on both reins simultaneously, for control, I’ll create a  horse that will simply run through the pressure.

Read more...
Sun Damage...Are your Protected? PDF Print E-mail

We ride or show our horses for hours every day under the sun. Exposing our skin to the harmful UV rays. Sometimes putting on our sunscreen and sometimes forgetting or in too much of a hurry to bother. We put sunscreen on our faces and often times neglect our hands and arms. With spring & summer fast approaching, it’s time to start thinking about how the sun has and will continue to affect our skin and how we can start reversing the damage we have done and how to protect ourselves as we move into the hot months ahead.

 

An Overview Of Sun Damage

Sun damage of the skin, also known as photo damage can be either acute, as in a sunburn or more commonly, chronic, seen as gradual changes in the skin caused by an accumulation of sun exposure throughout one's life. Chronic photo damage results in either a cosmetic change in the skin's appearance called photo aging, or changes that are of medical and health concerns such as pre-cancerous lesions and skin cancers. The evidence is very strong that ultra-violet light is the cause of most of the changes that we consider to be associated with aging of the skin.

Read more...
 
AQHA News... PDF Print E-mail

n Passing of a Vice President

We am deeply saddened to inform you of the passing on December 26th of our friend Dick Monahan, AQHA’s second vice president.  Dick had been diagnosed recently with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia and pancreatic cancer.

Dick was a great friend of AQHA and a tireless promoter of American Quarter Horses. After serving 20 years as an AQHA director from Washington, he became an AQHA Director at Large. Dick generously gave of his time and talents to AQHA and has served as chair of the racing committee and racing council, a member of the Hall of Fame committee, and as chairman of the nominations and credentials committee. Dick and his wife, Brenda, raised and raced American Quarter Horses for more than 30 years.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Brenda and the rest of his family. Condolences may be sent to the Monahan family at 1015 Bryant, Walla Walla, WA 99362.

 

CCQHA Needs Your Help!

Read more...
 
The Ward River Ranch PDF Print E-mail

The Ward River Ranch, located in Kingsburg, California, held their Annual Open House and Stallion preview this year on Sunday, January 17th, 2010, from 11 A.M until 4 P.M, and the turnout for the event was, once again, amazing.  The Ward Ranch Open House is held each year in January and offers mare owners a chance to preview some of the finest stallions in the country.  It offers them a chance to see the stallions up close, to stroke their manes, scratch their necks and walk from stall to stall taking an “up close look” at each stallion.  Mare owners can view performance videos set up on laptop computers just outside each of stallion’s stalls, and pick up full color brochures to take with them, complete with pedigree, performance and offspring information.

Read more...
 
Improve Those Horse Videos PDF Print E-mail

By John Lewis,

Green Grass Syndicated Features

 

The video camera offers huge benefits to riders, especially those who perform in the show ring. That familiar question, “How did we look?” may now be answered via a color on-screen replay rather than some vague spoken description.

However, most video operators are usually less skilled with the camera than the subject is with their horse. To be fair, most people have graduated to video from still photography, and they regard the camera merely as a tool to record moving pictures and nothing more. In reality, video is a long stride from taking snapshots and a little application and forethought is needed to get the best results.

Read more...
 
In Style with Carolina PDF Print E-mail

Elongating the Short Torso

One of the most common complaints I hear from customers is, “I have a short waist, and need a design that will elongate and slim my midsection.”

The key to elongating a short torso lies in balancing the proportion between the bust, waist, and hip to create that ideal body shape:  the hourglass figure.  With this shape, the hipline height lies at the midpoint of the total body height; by breaking the body into two equal halves, the distance between the bust, waist, and hips is evenly distributed.  Unfortunately, only about eight percent of the female population has a natural hourglass shape.  The task for the rest of us is to create the optical illusion of this ideally proportioned body.  Fortunately, with some ingenuity and good planning, a balanced silhouette can be achieved with show clothing.

Read more...
 
Banner
 

New Site Poll

Please rate the New Look!!