The key to seeing shades of gray is to recognize when things are just
“a little bit better”. For example, when you think of your ride, ask
yourself if:
• Were your hands a little quieter?
• Did you sit a bit more centered today?
• Did you keep your eyes up for more of your ride than you did
yesterday?
• Were you able to use your legs, hands or seat a bit more
independently? That is, when you used your legs, did your
hands stay somewhat quieter than last week?
• Did you remember to use your legs before your hands more
often?
• Did you control your emotions a bit better so that you were
more relaxed, patient, brave, or calm?
• Did you stay slightly more focused throughout your ride?
• Did you remember to breathe more often?
• Did you reward your horse for every effort he made that was a
bit closer to what you want as a finished product?
As long as things keep getting “a little bit better”, pretty soon you’ll
be riding “a whole lot better”.

www.janesavoie.com/hhinvite/happyhorse

It’s important not to use your reins to control the things that you should use your seat to control. If you pull on the reins to steady rhythm, slow speed, decrease the length of stride or do downward transitions, you BLOCK the hind legs from coming forward.

So, make it your goal to develop a knee jerk reaction to use your seat instead of your hands for each of those four things.

Your seat can be used in four different ways:
1. Passive Following Seat
• Your passive, following seat tells your horse that everything (his rhythm, speed, and the gait) stays the same.
• Simply open and close your hips to follow the current movement of your horse.

2. Driving Seat
• Your driving seat tells your horse to increase his speed or length of stride.
• Think of pushing the back of saddle toward the front of the saddle, polishing the saddle from back to front, or pretending you’re pushing a swing higher in the air.

3. Retarding or Stilled Seat
• The stilled seat steadies the rhythm, slows the speed, decreases the length of stride, or asks for a downward transition.
• Sit in a “ready” position by stretching up tall so you have a gentle curve in the small of your back.
• Then, contract or tighten your tummy muscles like you’re doing a sit-up. This action braces your lower back and stops your hips from following your horse’s movement.

4. To Control the Position of Your Horse’s Body
• Your shoulders should be parallel to your horse’s shoulders, and your hips should be parallel to his hips.

Think about how your seat moves when you’re cantering. Notice how your hip angles open and close. Start with your upper body on the vertical, and then open your hip angles and let your upper body rock a bit BEHIND the vertical. Then come back up to the vertical with shoulder over hip over heel.

Visualize arrows extending down from your seatbones. Whichever way those arrows are pointed, is the direction you’re sending the hind legs. If you lean forward and close your hip angles, you push the hind legs out the back door.

If your upper body is on the vertical and you rock behind the vertical, you open your hip angles. As a result the imaginary arrows extended down from your seatbones point forward. You’re saying to your horse’s hind legs, “Come along, come along, go with, go with.”

The key here is to RETEST. Otherwise you’re just teaching your horse to go forward to the “correction” not from the light leg aid.

For more tips for training a Happy Horse, go to: www.janesavoie.com/happyhorse

Think about how relaxed you sit when you’re finished with your work. So, if you’re walking, and you feel like your horse is going to get tense or jig, sit in the same relaxed way. Say to yourself, “We’re done. We’re finished. Work is over.”

Inhale. Exhale. And dissolve into your horse’s back. If you sit with less positive tension or tone in your body, your horse can feel you relax and will mirror that.

Imagine that when you pick up the reins, your arms don’t belong to you anymore. They’re an extension of the rein, and they belong to your horse.

Here’s an exercise to help give you the feeling of an elastic contact in the canter. You can even practice this exercise in the halt first to get some muscle memory.
• Get up into a two-point position.
• Pretend you’re a jockey galloping down a track with your hands pushing your horse’s neck forward every stride.
• While doing that, notice how your elbows open and close with every stride.
• Then sit back down, and keep your elbows opening and closing in the same way.

For more info on the Happy Horse Course, go to: www.janesavoie.com/happyhorse/

This tip is excerpted from The Happy Horse Course. For more info on how to train a happy horse, go to: www.janesavoie.com/happyhorse/

Therefore I would like to thank ODS for the opportunity to be a demo rider at
the Northwest Horse Expo this year! I was also lucky enough to be able to take off
from work to be able to watch the other 2 clinics that I was not a demo rider in!

I probably enjoyed Saturday the most, as besides her lateral work clinic, she also
gave a very motivational speech about choosing to be happy vs.sad. The main
messages were not to allow negative people to bring you down and that anything
you set your mind to, you can achieve!

Also exciting- her Equisense SmartTack that senses exactly what mistakes the
rider is making both in position and use of the aids! (www.eqtrained.com)

I was so proud of Hindrik during this past weekend and think both he and I
learned a lot. He is usually tense around large audiences and I always have
my hands full with him at shows, but that ‘nervousness’ is also what makes
him a great horse and super responsive to light aids, once he’s warmed up!

On Saturday I rode him in the warm up arena with Mules knocking jumps over
right next to him, and all kinds of riders carrying flags and western
riders zipping all around him. I was so proud of him in that he could
remain focused on me, and stay rhythmic and relaxed! After those rides,
I will NEVER complain about any warm ups at dressage shows again!!!
I was hopeful that after those warm up rides, the Jane clinic would be a piece
of cake!

However, the large audience, loud noise, and new arena made him spook and
adopt a bolting type posture when we first walked in. Jane took good care
of us though, and instructed us to do one of her “relaxation” suppling
exercises. She realized I had to keep him moving and let us keep walking
and as she explained things, and she also asked the audience not to clap
and to do “silent applause” instead.

We got a lot out of being in this clinic, as it was probably the largest
audience Hindrik has been exposed to so far, and he ended up handling
it really well! The audience got to see how a really hot horse can be
calmed down and handled by suppling so it could be a good experience for the horse.

Sue Zoltner

Hosted by Jane Savoie

This DVD on How To Handle Shying helps you:

• Learn Why Horses Shy
• Understand The Dominant Eye
• Avoid Several Common Rider Mistakes
• Learn Simple Exercises to Help You Relax Both On And Off Your Horse
• Learn The Exact Aids For A Suppling Technique To Relax Your Spooky Horse
• Learn How To “Read Your Horse’s Ears” To Know When He’s About To Shy
• How To Gradually Introduce a “Scary Object”

EQ – Equisense Systems unveils a revolution in equestrian sports at The World Equestrian Games, September 2010.

EQ Equisense Systems, Inc. will debut the most revolutionary equestrian training system in the industry at the World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky. Developed with three-time Olympic coach, Jane Savoie, and the world-renowned McPhail Equine Performance Center Institute, EQs line of products changes the face of equestrian sports forever.

Savoie says, “This exciting marriage of training and technology skyrockets a rider’s learning curve far beyond traditional teaching methods because it relies on science rather than subjective human analysis.”

EQ-Equisense training moves leaps beyond traditional horsemanship and delivers riders unprecedented tools and technology to improve their own skills and their horses’ training. The EQ motto is: If you can see, you can fix it. EQ helps you see it.

EQ is also launching EQ Live–the premier equestrian destination for riders in all disciplines and all levels of experience. With EQ Live, you can learn, compete, and connect with other people who are passionate about horses. With a range of iPhone apps, DVDs, and online riding simulations, you can tune up your skills day or night whether at your stable or in your living room.

EQ-Equisense will also debut the EQ – Nutrena Change Your Game feed selector. The selector allows horse owners to match the right feeding program with their horses’ nutritional needs. This state-of-the-art system is available in the Nutrena pavilion in the downtown area at the International Equestrian Festival as well as EQ’s booth at the Horse Park–Booth #610.

Special demonstrations will take place at EQ’s booth twice a day. This is the first time EQ-Equisense will demonstrate the system to the public, previously code named SSNP (Super Secret Ninja Project), EQ will be unveiled on Saturday September 25th. Participants can register online at www.eqtrained.com or sign up at booth #610. Four lucky riders will be chosen daily to be evaluated by the EQ team led by Jane Savoie.

The public is welcome to visit Booth #610 at the Horse Park where you’ll have a chance to meet Jane and enter to win a chance to be evaluated by Jane Savoie’s amazing team of clinical experts. Experience the most revolutionary advancement in the industry for diagnosing, evaluating, and improving your riding skills!

EQ Equisense is proud to announce our growing list of partners, Cetyl M and Fortiflex.

For press contacts:

Peter E Raymond
EQ Equisense Systems
646-867-0644
praymond@eqtrained.com