Aiken or Bust

Watch out Aiken here we come! A group of ladies from Stone Place and myself will be in Aiken until the beginning of March with plans on doing a few local shows and taking some lessons with the likes of Boyd Martin, Lynn Coates Holmes, Stephen Bradley and Jan Byyny to name a few. However I haven’t forgotten about those of you staying in the cold weather in Kentucky. This is a great time to work on some of the basics before show season starts. Try riding without stirrups a few times to work on posture, strength and form. Also this is a great time for some pole work. One great exercise is to place four poles on the ground equally spaced on a 20 meter circle. Start off by cantering and maybe try to hit every other pole, then all four. If your horse is behaving and staying in a round frame then try shortening and lengthening their stride. This is a challenging exercise so make sure you give your horse a break or two. There is also a Lynn Coates Holmes clinic at Spring Run Farm February 24-25. Also don’t forget about the Covered Bridge Combined Test at Stone Place! March 11 will be here before you know it. So you may also want to start brushing up on your dressage tests.