Hello and welcome to Saddle Up Savvy! If you’re a horse enthusiast seeking well grounded, practical information, you’re at the right virtual barn. Whether an eight-hand mini or a twenty-hand draft, your horse deserves the best you can offer and you deserve the relationship that comes from building a common language with your horse!
Firstly, a little bit about me.
I have no claim to fame, I am just an individual with a God-given passion for horses. And I have been continually blessed with a platform and tools to share with others who want to learn better horsemanship. Early on my parents encouraged pursuing my passion, so by age ten I became a standard weekly lesson rider. Once old enough I began working off my lessons at the barn, which involved anything from cleaning stalls, bathrooms, tack and scrubbing buckets to assisting with trail rides, and several full summers of walking cranky camp ponies on sweltering hot days. Occasionally there were clinics or schooling shows afforded, but mostly I worked so I could ride.
As a high school grad, I’d gotten a job in the boarding kennel of a small animal vet practice and worked my way into a veterinary technician position. Within a few years it was clear this was not going to be a permanent situation for me and, as opportunities arose, I worked my way back to horses. On days off, I picked up a handful of students and from there it just tumble-weeded into a full-fledged career. I’ve now been teaching horsemanship as my primary profession for about fourteen years, during which I’ve worked at three lesson barns and taught up to sixty riders per week.
Varied Background
I’ve ridden and taught multiple disciplines including hunter/jumper, western pleasure, western dressage, ranch riding, barrel racing, cow penning, and trail obstacle. Along the way I’m developing a core training program for riders which applies to virtually any discipline, as I’ve commonly taught multi-discipline group lessons.
In recent years I’ve found my own “riding home” in Western Dressage and have applied related techniques to both training and lessons. After all, dressage isn’t (and never was) just about the show ring! I’ve successfully taught low level dressage to my husbands roping horse, with much room yet to progress. It’s a demonstration of the true root of western dressage – the working western horse riding in a balanced, correct manner!
The Goal
As a teen I had fancied the idea of horse rescue, of taking an animal that is unwanted and turning their life into a success. In time, as got into the horse business, I realized the tremendous financial gamble of such an endeavor even for a single horse – and began to see a broader meaning of “rescue”. Any horse that can be taught better manners and a significant skill is less likely to land in poor circumstances. Generally speaking, most horses that please their owners remain in cared-for circumstances. After all, much of the value of a horse is in its training, usability and handleability.
Trying to keep a “Total Horsemanship” approach in mind, it is my goal to help horses get along with their people and vice versa. Though horsemen and horsewomen have any number of specific interests, we all share one common goal – to improve. So here we are working at that together for the betterment of ourselves, our horses, and our sport!
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Testament Farm – Training and Lessons
Become a forward-thinking horseman. The mistakes behind you are not as important as the successes ahead of you.
