BE BRAVE. BE BOLD. BE ADVENTUROUS.
Ellen Kealey is a horse trainer outside of Minneapolis in the USA. Last September I was giving Ellen a lesson and she began goofing around on her horse Piper by riding facing backwards and side saddle. She played with forehand yields, hindquarter yields, leg yields, side passing and backing. I applaud Ellen for having fun and experimenting with ideas and new challenges. Both Ellen and Piper benefit tremendously by Ellen going off script and exploring the limits of their relationship.
All of us should be brave like Ellen and give our horse’s the opportunity to be the best they can be and make life interesting for them. Every horse should be a fun riding horse before they are an Olympic dressage horse or a pony club games pony. Be brave. Try things with your horse that nobody ever thought of trying.
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Ellen asking Piper to yield her forehand to the right, while Ellen sits in the saddle facing backwards.