Providing a Horse With Direction

"You can only ride as well as you can guide." Jimmy Williams.

Universal Love Of Horses

"A man that don´t love horses, there is something the matter with that man." Will Rogers.

More On Use of The Mind While Riding

"Use your head for something besides a hat rack." Garland Bradshaw.

How To Get Ahead

"Work a little harder and think a little differently every day." Alvin Ruxer.

Never Give Up!

"NEVER GIVE IN. NEVER! NEVER! NEVER!" Winston Churchill.

More On Not Giving Up

"All things are difficult before they will ever be easy." John Norley.

What Preceeds Actions?

"The ancestor of every action is a thought." Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Encouraging A Horse

"You can run out of cluck´s, but you will never run out of whoa´s." Dick Obenauf.

More Forward Encouragement

"Don´t be afraid to cluck to a horse, you won´t hurt his feelings." Bob Robinson.

When You Lack Natural Ability

"Natural talent, no matter how great, will never make up for a lack of basic knowledge and skill; but solid basics, combined with real desire and commitment, will make any rider great." Anne Kursinski.

The Best Advise on Hand Control

"One pair of good hands is better than having a thousand different bits." Richard Shrake.

Brains VS Brute Strength

"Do NOT fight out of your weight division. You should not fight with a horse. You are not equal to a horse in physical strength, so therefore, it is necessary to outsmart the horse rather than to try and overpower him." Jimmy Williams.

How Do I Become The Best?

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started." Anonymous.

When You Don´t Want To Get Back On

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling down (or off) but in getting up (or back on) every time." Confucius.

Use Your Talent To Your Best Ability

Here are some famous quotations taken from Trainers, Coaches, Riders and others to help you in your riding/driving and association with horses.

"Teach your students to use what talents that they have; the woods would be silent if no bird sang except those that sung best." Anonymous.

The Secrets to Good Hands

Combination of Many Things.......
Soft, giving frequently to the horse...
Supple, feeling frequently the horse´s mouth...
Firm on the reins...
Demanding, always asking more of the horse...
Give and take equally on the horse´s mouth...
Talk to the horse, communicate through the reins...
Soft, tickle the horse´s mouth in giving direction...
Quiet...
Versatile, always changing and adjusting to the moment...
Flexible, bending with the motion of the front end...
steady on the mouth...
Quick to change as necessary in a moment on the mouth...
Patient, waiting for the horse to respond...
Are the greatest asset in riding...
Are the development into a gift to a horse...
Are earned through hard work and lots of patience.

Timing is Everything

"Probably the most important part of training is timing. I am a firm believere it is just as important to know ´WHEN´ as it is to know ´HOW´." Marty Mueller.

The Secret to Success

"Some succeed because they are destined to, but most of us succeed because we are determined to." Anonymous.

Equipment VS Hard Work

"Don´t think that expensive equipment will make up for any lack of talent and hard work and practice." H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

The Seat of Greatness

"When you are on a great horse, you have the best seat that you will ever have." Winston Churchill.

A Definition of Success

"My definition of success includes KNOWing what I want, ACCEPTing who I am, WORKing TO BALANCE these two, and then putting this into effect on a horse. If I can not do something off of a horse, then I will never be able to do it on a horse." Jill Keiser Hassler.

More Hard Work

"Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration." Thomas Edison.

Proper Head Carriage of The Rider

"Keep your chin up, you should already know what color your horse is." Jimmy Williams.

The Sensitivity of Riding With Feeling

"Feeling is the truest sense of riding. If you don´t collect yourself, you will never collect a horse properly." Annie Lawson Cowgill.

How 2 Win w/Horses W/Out Fighting

"Don´t fight with a horse. Irritate him. He will then try to get away from irritation. Never punish a horse up to the point where he gets out of control." Jimmy Williams.

Very Important On The Mouth

"IF you bit a horse heavily, be sure to ride him light." Anonymous.

Beauty of a Soft Mouth

"That horse could pull a stuck car out of the mud with his mouth." Mitchell Clark.

Riding With Your Mind As Well

"You don´t just ride on the horse´s back, you must also ride his mind." Marty Mueller.

True Competition

"It is great to win. It is also great to be in the thick of any truly well and hard-fought contest against opponents you respect, whatever the outcome." Jack Nicholaus.

Greatest Tips For Success

"I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to NOT know what can not be done." Henry Ford.

Great Tip For Training

"Ask for a lot, when you receive a little bit by little bits, reward often." Jimmy Williams.

More On Soft Mouths

"If you have a good mouth on a horse you will have everything." Garland Bradshaw.

More On Direction

"IF you don´t know where you are going, how can you expect your horse to know." Gayle Lampe.

Proper Body Position

"The rider should sit as upright as possible so that each part of his body rests on that which is immediately below it." Francois Baucher.

More On Setting A Head But With A Double Bridle

"Try to set your horse´s head with the snaffle. You will always eventually run out of curb." Dick Obenauf.

Full Control of The Horse

"I like horses behind the hand and infront of the leg. The center of gravity is then placed between these two aids. It is only on this condition that the horse is absolutely under full control by the rider." Francois Baucher.

Strategies Against Pullers

"(in discussion about release of the contact with a horse´s mouth)....this liberty gives such confidence to the horse that he unconsciously yields himself to his rider and becomes the rider´s slave, whilst thinking in his own mind that he has preserved his independence." Francois Baucher. (1800´s).

The Will To Win

"Every time I go out there I think that I can win. If a horse has four legs, and I am riding that horse, I think that I will win." Angel Cardero Jr.

No Foot No Horse ADDITION

"Among equestrians there is a saying that ´no foot, no horse´; you can add to that, ´no foot, no rider." Gayle Lampe.

More Help With Pullers

"It is in the release, not in the pulling, that slows a horse down." Gayle Lampe.

Why IS direction so important?

"If you don´t know where you are going, how can you expect to get there." Basil S. Walsh.

Dangers of Riding

"To get profit without risk, experience without danger, reward without hard work; is as impossible as it is to live without being born." Harry Truman.

Thinking While Riding

"Think! You have to have it within your head before you can use it physically." Annie Lawson Cowgill.

Will I Ever Look Good Riding?

"Riding form must be functional before it can become beautiful." Gayle Lampe.

More On Wanting To Give Up

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will NOT, nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with lots of talent. Genius will NOT, unrewarded genius is almost proverbial. Education will NOT, the world is full of educated failures. Persistence and determination are alone omnipotent." Calvin Coolidge.

Setting A Horse´s Head

"Teach a horse to overflex. Let him have his head down in the beginning. Then at a show, he will raise it up to the correct place. If you start off with the head in the right place at home, at a show, the horse will crank the head above the bit." Dick Obenauf.

More On Not Wanting To Get Back On

"Whether life, or a horse that throws you, YOU get right back on." Anonymous.

Don´t Give Ground

"Never let your horse turn a corner unless he´s been invited to." Edward Bennett.

Artificial Aids

"It is far better to have it, and to not need it; than to not have it and to desperately need it" (in regards to using artificial aids when riding...such as the whip, or spurs). Gayle Lampe

Use of Natural Aids

"Your horse is pushed forward by his hindquarters rather than pulled ahead by his forelegs. Therefore, you need to use your seat and legs to activate that horse´s hindquarters, rather than simply using your hands which would only communicate with the horse´s forehand." Jimmy Williams.

Development of Muscle Tone

"All of the form in the world is to no avail without good and sensitive muscle tone." Annie Lawson Cowgill.

More On Bitting

"It doesn´t matter what kind of bridle I put on a horse, I have to teach him to wear it. I always have two bits, the one that I am teaching him to wear, and the one that I will teach him to wear." Garland Bradshaw.

Fighting With Horses

"The fights you avoid do you far more good than the ones that you will win." Dr. Alan Raun.

Direction In General Flatwork

"Only touch one side of the mouth at a time, do not let the horse know where you are going; do not follow a pattern everytime with your reinwork. Keep them guessing, responsive and attentive. Let the horse follow your direction, don`t warn him in advance of your proposed direction; EXCEPT IN JUMPING!!!!!" Gayle Lampe & Mary McCrea

More Control Over The Horse

"Control over horses will be based on the horse´s willingness and ability to interpret the signals that he receives from his rider/trainer." Anonymous.

Hard Work

"The harder that you work at something, the luckier you will get." Gary Player.

Finesse

"Fiddle a little (when touching a horse´s mouth while riding)." Mason Phelps.

What Is Important About A Horse´s Mouth?

"The mouth of any horse is the barometer of his body." Francois Baucher.

Importance of That Lower Leg

"I completely believe that the position and use of the foot in the stirrup is the most important single element in riding a horse." Helen Crabtree

Kindness With Horses

"One of the most difficult things to give away to others is kindness, for it is usually returned to you 10 fold." Anonymous.

Proper Form In The Saddle

"Sit tall in the saddle, don´t ride a horse as though you have a stomach ache." Jimmy Williams.

Signals Clearly What You Want?

"Control over a horse will be based on his willingness and ability to interpret the signals that he receives from his rider." Author Unknown

More On Great Hands

"We have a favorite saying that hands are 99% BRAIN and 1% muscle." Helen Crabtree.

Riding Is Natural Ability

"Three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are: 1)HARD WORK, 2)PERSISTENCE, 3)COMMON SENSE." Thomas Edison.

The Unnecessity of Fancy Equipment

"When asked why most horsemen have invented their own bits," Francois Baucher (1800´s) replied, "because in their wanting, thru personal science, they sought to replace their own insufficiency by aids or strange attachments." Francois Baucher.