ACTHA Monthly | December 2014 | 13
4. Check items off your list. As soon as you and your horse have mastered one skill, check it off and move on to the next.
5. Really too cold? Watch an instructional DVD or read that horse training book you bought last summer. Those who succeed best learn constantly. If you and your horse can’t learn together, then what better place than with a book or DVD in front of a crackling fire, with a nice blanket, and a mug of something hot?
6. Reap the rewards. See just how much your hard work has paid off during your next competition!
Until next time,
Lisa Wysocky, Trail Talk Editor
Lisa Wysocky is a horsewoman and clinician; a PATH instructor, mentor, and ESMHL; and the author of many books, including the new Therapy Horse Selection, and the award-winning Cat Enright equestrian mystery series.
Winter Training
Late fall and winter might not offer us the best riding weather, but it is a great time to work with your horse.
1. Make a list of all the areas where you and your horse need to improve. Backing, the half-pass, tarps and bridges, go wild and list every single area in which you’d like to improve.
2. Now is the time to work on these things from the ground, so make a date with your horse. Weather rotten? Much can be done in a clear, clean barn aisle. Spread out your tarp. Back your horse between poles or barrels––all from the ground of course. Go slow and operate in your horse’s time frame, not yours.
3. Too cold? You don’t need long. It is amazing what you can accomplish in five minutes a day over the course of several months.
Trail
Talk
With
Lisa Wysocky
Find her at LisaWysocky.com or on Facebook.