For those with horses that crib, this is for you!

In this unprecedented and crazy time, our daily lives have changed and many people are working from home. I work remotely as a full-time job and here are my five tips to help you be productive and working more efficiently from home.

Good, bad or indifferent, each ride perfectly pairs with an adult beverage -- or two!

Read more about my recommended ride-drink pairings.

By: Ambassador Amy Bieber

​Last summer, I finally got to show at my goal fence height for two glorious rounds, one of which landed me my first first place in a jumper class ever. A month later at our next show, I went in to do a lower “warm up” round on the first day, and was promptly thrown off my horse. So it goes with horses, am I right? But where I could pick my younger self up off the ground and get going again like it never happened, my adult self does not bounce back so quickly.

Learning bad habits is never a good thing. No one ever wants to learn the hard or the wrong way to do something. But sometimes it just happens when you look back on a personal journey. 

Admitting that things aren't going the right way, or the way you'd like them to go, is the first step, and boy it's a doozy!

By: Ambassador Elizabeth Noelk
I remember the first time I clipped a horse. I was in high school and worked part time at the barn where I rode. One weekend I was helping prepare the horses for a local horse show. I was just cleaning up their muzzles and ears. As I went to clip the edge of a horse ear, the horse moved and I took a patch off the top. It was more than noticeable. All I could think was, “Oh snap.” Over four years later, I now clip horses throughout the week during the winter months. Yes, there are “winter months” even in Florida.

By: K.M. Thornton
Last Friday my eight-year-old unicorn left for the winter on a Brookledge truck from a stable just seven minutes from my home in Boise, Idaho to a show barn more than 14 hours away in Scottsdale, Arizona. This move was one of the most difficult decisions that I have had to make as an amateur rider. For the first time in years, I feel that I am experiencing exponential growth in my riding skills: I now own a nice show hunter, my personal schedule and logistics finally allow for daily riding, and I have solid local coaching that focuses on fundamentals. Why, then, would I make such a drastic decision to send my only horse, Sazerac, to a location that is essentially two flights away?

Getting in the saddle as an adult -- either after some time off from your junior years due to the 'real' world, or swinging your leg over for the first time -- can fill your mind with lots of thoughts, insecurities, and 'what if's.' Negative and nervous thoughts along with other manifested fears can have a major impact on your riding, whether that be in the show ring riding that long approach to a single oxer (my long-time nemesis!), or out on the trails with your best friends. 

Sports psychology has become a much more widely used theorem and I was lucky enough to pick the brain of one of the best in the business, mental skills coach, Tonya Johnston, who herself is a competitive adult amateur hunter rider.