Debut Equine

I have never known a rider that has not struggled with this at some point in their riding journey

Riders spend a lot of time waiting to feel ready. Ready to move up. Ready to go in the ring. Ready to jump the course the way they know they can. Often, that readiness is defined by confidence—feeling calm, focused, and sure before it’s time to perform.

But Tonya Johnston, Mental Skills Coach explains that confidence is not something riders need to wait for before they can ride well. In fact, waiting for confidence is often what holds riders back.

Tonya places confidence in the same category as other emotions—useful to notice, but not necessary to control before taking effective action. Riders can still make good decisions, ride accurately, and support their horse even when nerves, doubt, or tension are present.

The issue is not the emotion itself. The issue is believing the emotion must change before the ride can move forward.

When riders treat confidence as a prerequisite, they give it power it doesn’t need to have. Riding well doesn’t depend on feeling a certain way; it depends on staying engaged with what the ride requires.

Tonya explains that riders often get stuck when they shift their attention inward and begin evaluating how they feel instead of staying present with the task at hand. They start asking questions that pull them out of the moment:

Why do I feel nervous today?
What’s wrong with me?
Why don’t I feel confident like I usually do?

Those questions turn the rider’s focus toward judgment rather than action. Instead of staying connected to the horse, the plan, or the next decision, the rider starts trying to diagnose their emotional state. That internal monitoring is what creates hesitation.

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2026/01/29/you-dont-have-to-feel-confident-to-ride-well/
📸 © The Plaid Horse

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

Funny horse at Christmas🤣🤣

As Margie Goldstein-Engle looks across today’s show rings, she sees a sport that has changed dramatically since she first started riding. Horses are bred with more blood and sensitivity, courses have become more technical, and young riders are climbing the ranks faster than ever. But there’s one thing missing that worries her—the pipeline of riders willing to bring along young horses.

“It seems like there are very few that really deal with young horses much anymore, especially in our country,” Margie said. “It’s getting harder and harder to find people who want to do that.”

When Margie turned professional, she built her career from the ground up. “When I was twelve, I started breaking ponies and horses because of my size,” she said. “People would send ponies and horses to the farm for me to break.” That early experience gave her an understanding of horse development that still guides her today.

Now, she worries that new generations of professionals aren’t getting the same education. “Financially, it’s getting more and more difficult to carry horses and pay the showing expenses, shipping, and care,” she said. “Before, there were lots of riders who wanted to bring young horses along. It’s harder to find that now.”

The economic realities of modern horse sport have reshaped how riders build their careers. For many, focusing on made horses in upper divisions is the only sustainable path. Margie understands the pressure but still believes something is lost when riders skip the process of developing a horse from its first jump.

“The sport’s grown so much,” she said. “There are so many more people looking for horses all over the world, and fewer breeders and owners who can afford to keep young horses long enough to develop them. It’s getting more and more difficult.”

That shift, she explained, creates a talent gap. Not just in horses, but in riders. Without time on green or unpredictable mounts, riders lose valuable experience. “The more time you can spend with different horses and horses of all ages, the more knowledge you gain,” she said. “It gives you a lot more tools in your toolbox.”

Riding young horses, Margie explained, teaches lessons that can’t be learned in the show ring alone. “You learn their personalities, their likes and dislikes,” she said. “It helps you develop horse sense.”

That understanding builds the kind of adaptability that’s kept Margie competitive through decades of evolving trends. “The sport is ever evolving,” she said. “You have to try and keep knowledgeable and keep evolving with it. Every new horse teaches me something.”

Margie has seen the shift firsthand. “There are fewer and fewer people who want to help bring the young horses along,” she said. “Everyone wants to go straight into the bigger divisions.”

In earlier generations, working with young horses was part of a natural progression. Riders learned patience, timing, and feel from colts and green mounts before they ever jumped a 1.30m track. Those lessons don’t come easily, or quickly, but Margie believes they create stronger, more intuitive horsemen.

“You develop a broader background when you ride different types of horses,” she said. “The difficult ones make you appreciate the really nice ones that much more.”

To rebuild that foundation, Margie believes the industry needs more opportunities and incentives for riders to work with young horses. Programs that reward patient development, she says, could help restore balance to a system increasingly driven by quick results. To secure the future of show jumping, riders must embrace the slow work again. “Every horse is different,” she said. “They all have different personalities. The more you ride, the more you learn.”

Margie’s own longevity in the sport is proof of the value of that approach. Her ability to adapt, stay current, and produce results stems from decades spent listening to horses, not just riding them. “You can learn even by watching,” she said. “The horses are the best teachers that we have.”

For Margie, the next generation’s success depends on rediscovering that kind of horsemanship. “The more you can ride different horses, the better it is for your knowledge,” she said. “It’ll help you immensely when you go to do the sport, even at the higher level."

📎 Save & share this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2025/12/15/where-have-the-riders-willing-to-develop-young-horses-gone/
📸 © Andrew Ryback Photography

We live in times when FASCIA became map of control instead of connection ❌ & when most people think biomechanics is about angles & lines ❌ But movement is the body’s oldest language of memory, emotion, and release. Have you ever moved to express something that words couldn’t carry? Something alive in every fibre of your being? Because movement isn’t just mechanics. It’s a conversation between fascia, breath and awareness. 🧠 Fascia — the living web that connects and lives through the muscles, organs, and bones — is also our EMOTIONAL FABRIC. It holds tension, memory, and energy patterns. When fascia becomes rigid or densified, movement fragments. We see it in the horse’s body: bracing, tails swishing, teeth grinding, and resistance to flow. As horses advance in training, their biomechanics and skill may increase — but their emotional freedom often decreases. The same horse who was joyful and soft at 5yo. becomes serious, grumpy, frustrated, or withdrawn at 10yo. Why? ⬇️ Because movement was only used for building up the performance — never for building up the release 💡 Fascia became a map of CONTROL instead of CONNECTION. But when we introduce conscious relaxation, and body awareness (as we do in the Optimal Performance Program), something extraordinary happens: The fascia softens. Energy begins to move again. The body reorganizes itself — naturally, intelligently. In the Optimal Performance Program the horse learns how to access conscious relaxation in stand still. Then, we build up movement, and the horse learns how to release tension there. Not in chaos or patterns mapped for control or obedience — but in the flow focused on building up awareness of stored tensions and conscious release. And then when biomechanics becomes emotion in motion — the body remembers how to heal 🙌🏽✨ So have you ever seen a horse moving in a way that gave you chills? That left you speechless? That changed you forever? This is movement we give back to horses at #OneHorseLife 💫 #EquineBiomechanics #FasciaHealing #ConsciousHorsemanship #SomaticMovement #EquineBodywork #MyofascialRelease #HorseLovers #horsewellness #horsewelfare

Love this!

99% RIDERS DESTROY COLLECTION BEFORE IT EVEN BEGINS… Why? Because they think collection = more muscle, stronger aids, or alternating “go & stop” aids. From a biomechanics perspective, this is the biggest misconception in dressage. Collection is not about muscle power. It is about tendon activation and changing the vector of movement: ➡️ In normal movement, the force vector is horizontal: the horse pushes forward, relying on momentum. ⬆️ In collection, the vector shifts upward: the horse begins to carry himself. Modern sports science proves that power and suspension do not come from maximal muscle contraction, but from relaxation & tendon activation. Tendons, when activated, act like springs — storing and releasing energy for movement in a way far more efficient than muscle. Once a horse learns to activate this system, then suspension, elevation, and gradually collection becomes not only inevitable but truly EFFORTLESS ✨ In my recent ride with my young horse Million (who learns this system) you can see the exact progression & experience it step-by-step with me & my horse: 1️⃣ From forward, swingy trot developed through relaxation. Make sure that forwardness arises from the horse’s own self-sufficient movement, not rider’s activation. 2️⃣ To frame lengthening to connect forehand and hindquarters, allowing the spine to transmit force freely from the hind legs. 3️⃣ And a subtle redirection of energy at the withers, transforming the horizontal vector into a vertical one without mechanical lifting (for this to work the spine must be connected and tendons already activated!) This progression produces the first authentic moments of suspension. These are not created artificially but emerge naturally as the horse begins to coordinate his musculoskeletal system to include tendon elasticity. From here, the pathway to collection gets to be FULL OF JOY OF MOVEMENT & EMOTIONAL EASE 💆🏼‍♀️ 🔗 Comment SWING&BOUNCE and I’ll send you the full training session with Milion 🎬🎥🍿🤫 #onehorselife #dressagehorse #equinebiomechanics #collectiontraining #horsetraining #dressagerider #paardensport #horsewellness #horsetraining #dressagetraining

I got to experience the horse show from different view yesterday while helping the office. I definitely have a new appreciation for all the hard work that goes into making sure horse shows run smoothly. Thank you to all that make horse shows possible!

My horse show season ended a bit early than planned but I am beyond happy I got to compete through the summer. Now to manage the horses recovery period before ramping up again for next year!