Silver Mane

Heat Index over 160 today with a slight breeze🥵
How do we keep the horses cool you ask?
An electrolyte mash and a mid day hose off💦 But keep in mind you can only hose horses off in the humidity if there’s a breeze or if they’re under a fan, otherwise they’ll just continue to bake in that muggy sun ☀️
Thought we’d share how much the field board horses enjoyed the water and midday snack with you guys🤍

A new little game we actually really enjoyed this evening!🎰
🙋🏻‍♀️Follow The Leader 🙋🏻‍♀️

The goal? To follow the exact foot tracks of the lead horse. At the end the rider in the back explains what the other riders approach to each barrel, turn, and departure is and why that did or didn’t work for their horse. Then switch. 🔄

Poor Huey got a little lost at third but this was really cool. All three of the horses at practice tonight are finished barrel horses with pretty different turning styles so it was cool to watch the girls pick apart each go and learn how different styles work for each horse!

Do you guys want to see more behind the scenes of our lessons and explanations of why we do what we do? Let us know by using the poll below🙂

Learning to Canter: It’s More Than Just Going Faster! 🏎️

• At Silver Mane Stables, teaching a young rider to canter is about so much more than moving up from the trot—it’s about building confidence, balance, emotional control, and trust.

• The walk and trot are similar in movement. Riders can learn skills at the walk and apply them to the trot, and our horses naturally have slow, comfortable jogs that help riders find their rhythm and balance before increasing speed. With our youth riders, we take our time, making sure their growing bodies can keep up with the horse’s movement before introducing the canter.

• When people become nervous or anxious, our natural reaction is often to curl up, tense our bodies, and freeze our hands. Unfortunately, that’s also one of the quickest ways to lose balance in the saddle. That’s why helping riders regulate their emotions in a more exciting environment is just as important as teaching riding skills.

• We begin with just 1–3 strides of canter on the lunge line. Then we progress to a full circle, followed by multiple laps while Trainer Lindsay closely watches each rider’s position, emotions, and—most importantly—their confidence. Once riders can maintain their seat and keep their hands up and off the saddle horn, they begin cantering independently: first a few strides, then a circle, and eventually around the entire arena as they incorporate the canter into their riding patterns. We will usually ask them to canter from a walk for the first few times, this helps eliminate the fast quick trot building up into the canter that can sometimes throw the younger riders off balance

• For many young riders, the canter can feel intimidating at first—and that’s completely normal! When that happens, we simply return to the trot and focus on rebuilding confidence. We remind them that they can do it. Then we try again with just a few strides of canter. Every successful step forward matters.

***After all, most horses trot around 6 mph and canter between 10–12 mph. That’s roughly a 50% increase in speed combined with a completely different motion than anything the rider has experienced before.***

💙 The goal is never to rush.

The goal is safety.

The goal is confidence.

The goal is helping every rider leave the arena feeling more capable than they did when they arrived.

Because learning to canter isn’t just about riding faster—it’s about learning to believe in yourself. 🐴✨

Don’t know whether to be mad or proud… Atleast she goes back to her field🤣