Recently Sara from WTAJ-TV came to Next Level Horsemanship^TM to learn how to ride a horse. I think we all had fun!

Watch it now and enjoy a few smiles!

If it’s been awhile since you’ve ridden but you want to get back in the saddle – we can help you do just that! Come on over – it’s easy to get back in the saddle again!

The new year brings new beginnings and a flurry of activity for many.  At NLH^TM things are no different.  This year is already off to a running start with a new group of trainers of various breeds and disciplines, and a brand new schedule of clinics and expos.  And, there is a new face around the farm these days too, one that is becoming more and more well known by the people that come and go at NLH^TM, and of a gal that is becoming an integral part of the day to day operations of the farm.

NLH^TM happily welcomes Anna Jacob as the newest training apprentice and barn manager at NLH^TM for 2012.   Anna has had a lifelong passion for horses and horsemanship and a history as an equestrian which includes endurance riding throughout the Mid-Atlantic,  competing in Hunter/Jumper events, and giving riding lessons to many at various locations.

Anna is interested in a wide variety of equestrian disciplines including eventing, reining, and dressage  and has a strong desire to learn more about Natural and Classical horsemanship.  Her pursuit for knowledge and more experience led her to NLH^TM.

She began volunteering at Next Level Horsemanship^TM in the summer of 2011 and dedicated her time learning the routine of the daily operations including feeding, turnout, and health management practices, and soon began assisting with training sessions after learning the basics of the NLH^TM Program.

Anna proved to have the ability to learn the timing, feel and balance necessary to become a exceptional horsewoman.  She is a strong rider and has the rare and raw talent needed to be successful as a horse trainer across disciplines.  She has a keen eye for detail in the exercises she performs with the horses, has the patience and persistence necessary to be steadfast in her interactions with them, and is tough enough to handle the most challenging situations – including constructive criticism from her teacher!

And, she’s smart!  In May of 2012, Anna will graduate from The Penn State University with a degree in Toxicology and minors in French and Global Health.  Afterwards she will continue her apprenticeship at NLH^TM throughout the following year.

Anna is an exceptional person as well as an equine talent.  She has a special knack for teaching and loves to help others learn to ride.  As she learns the NLH^TM Training Program in depth, she will also be helping other riders improve their skills through lessons.

In August of this year, Anna will put her new-found skills as a trainer to the test by competing in an Extreme Mustang Makeover challenge to be held in NJ.  She will have just 100 days to gentle and train a wild American mustang and compete with her peers to showcase the talents and abilities of her horse.

I have no doubt she will be a huge success and will forever be blessed by the experience.

Please join us in welcoming Anna Jacob to Next Level Horsemanship^TM!

A trail ride on a beautiful day in January to close the week-long PSU/NLH externship.

Hi Everybody,

Well already this year is getting off to a running start and we are so excited about our 2012 schedule!  We hope that all of you will join us at some point through clinics, demonstrations, and/or workshops that will be hosted at NLH^TM throughout the year.  Our schedule commenced this year the week of January 2nd when we hosted two Penn State University students for a week-long training externship.  We have been participating with Penn State to host externship students for three years now.  We typically accept 2 students both on winter break and spring break weeks.  We look forward to working with the students because it is a great way to introduce people to horsemanship like they’ve never known it before!

The NLH^TM Program is very broad based and comprehensive, both for the horses and for handlers.  I know this because I developed the Program through nearly 27 years of working with horses of all breeds and most disciplines.  I’m finding out more and more through talking with people that I’ve trained horses for and those that have participated in our clinics, that most had no idea what was possible with their horses until after they’ve gone through our Program.   I sometimes assume that everybody should be aware of how well trained their horses can be but the reality of it is that many horses are not being ridden at nearly what they are capable of being because they are missing specific elements of training.  And, they stay that way until something prompts their owners to want more from them.

Working with the extern students is a fantastic way to introduce them to what is possible in the training of the horse.  Many of the students have never seen horses do what we teach our horses to do, or they have never witnessed or fully understood what it takes to get horses to a particular level of training.  It truly gives me great pleasure to give them a glimpse of how to develop the Partnership with a horse and pave the way for Performance and Possibilities  on many fronts.

Similarly, we teach many what is possible with their horses when we take our Program on the road.  The weekend of the 19th of January we participated as clinicians at the Maryland Horse World Expo in Timonium, MD where we talked to many about how to build confidence as a rider,how to coach your horse to the Next Level of Performance, and how to stay fit while having fun with your horse.  People had a chance to see what some of our horses are doing and I hope that it motivated them to realize what is Possible for them and their horse as well.

It is always great to get out and about and mingle with people at the expos.  I love talking with passers by at our booth and hearing the stories of their horses and experiences in horsemanship.  This time of year is a perfect time to get people motivated to make a plan for their horse and for themselves for the coming year.  If the department stores are hanging the new line of bikinis for 2012 on the racks already, shouldn’t we be making an action plan for our horses and horsemanship goals for this year now?!

It does pay to plan ahead and this time of year we’re doing just that!  We don’t want to miss out on anything including the chance to work with you all!  We have a lot in store for 2012 and we’re hoping you will join us for fun and an exciting exploration of what is Possible for you and your horse.

A well trained horse is not a fixed asset. Your investment in training will only be secured if you can maintain or improve that level of training with a firm understanding of what your horse knows, how to ask for it, and how to effectively thwart off unwanted behaviors.

At Next Level Horsemanship^TM we encourage people to become involved in their horse’s training by inviting them to watch, participate at a level that is comfortable for them, and providing them with training materials such as our Foundations: From the Ground Up DVDs to ensure that they can continue the Program well beyond when they take their horses home.

Ultimately it is up to the owner to ensure the success of training beyond the trainer’s barn so here are a few NLH^TM Cue Tips to help you out:

Watch your horse in training and at some point take lessons on your horse so that you know how to ask him to perform the maneuvers he’s been taught.

When your horse comes home from training, make sure that you are ready to take the lead to keep improving on his training at home.

This will ensure that you know the details of the training your horse has just received.

This will be especially useful to keep working on little quirks that may not have been ironed out during the length of time your horse was at the training facility.

If you build a relationship with your trainer, you can expect to get more help beyond the initial training period.

Consistency and repetition are key to the long term success of your horse’s training.

Build awareness to how your horse behaves and pay attention to the details. Only then will you be able to correct unwanted behaviors or reward good ones to keep your horse improving.

Often we become complacent and let things slide because we either don’t know how to fix them or we just don’t want to be confrontational. Your horse will only improve if you have the ability to train on him and seize opportunities to do so.

There are many ways to ensure the training you put on your horse becomes solid and lasts a lifetime. Ultimately you are responsible for that. Become educated about your horse’s training and have fun keeping him tuned up or even teaching him something new. Build the Partnership, then Performance and Possibilities will be realized!

World Cup polocross player riding "Nikki", owned by Sue Ellen Grego and trained by NLH

In October of this year, World Cup polo-cross player, Ryan Murphy came to PA to give a polo-cross clinic for our local club.  He was unable to bring a mount so NLH was asked if we would be willing to provide one for him to use.  We were excited to offer him “Nikki”, a 5 year old Quarter Horse mare owned by Sue Ellen Greggo and started and trained by Suzanne at NLH.  Nikki is an awesome gal and Ryan thought so too!  While aboard Nikki, he approached Suzanne and said “she is so nice….I love how she moves off of your leg and is so responsive!”.

Nikki was brought to NLH after Sue Ellen purchased her as a 2 year old at the Penn State University’s annual Quarter Horse sale.  Nikki was started using in the NLH Program and progressed to showing her skills in a regional Reining show circuit in 2010.

When we started Nikki she was very good but had a lot of “thrust”.  She is big girl and had power she didn’t know she had.  When she moved out she made our arena feel as though it was 10 times smaller than it really was because she just power housed around in her gaits.  To resolve this, we began breezing her on the trails prior to her lessons in the indoor arena.  This gave Nikki the opportunity to stretch out, learn to balance a rider, and develop her cadence without being restricted to the confines of the arena.  When Nikki began to develop some rhythm and cadence to her stride, she also began to rate herself and started to slow down and wait for the rider’s cues.

Nikki is now extremely fine tuned and a very versatile horse.  She and Sue Ellen have so many options available to them from trail riding to showing in various disciplines.  Who knows…maybe she will find herself in a polo-cross match some day or even up against cows in the reined cow horse competitions!  She’s an awesome mover too and may even compete in some hunter classes.

With NLH training, you get the good stuff.  You get what you need give yourself options with your horse.  We build the Partnership first, then the Foundations for Performance and Possibilities!  Ask us how we can help you with your horse!

NLH gals with Einstein's Revolution: courtsey, Kyle Ranch.

Hey Everybody,

I haven’t had a chance to write a blog since we all got back from Texas, and that was all the way back in September, but it’s never too late! I’m just going to tell everybody about our trip to Texas for the Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover. First we took two mustangs to Tennessee. Leslie Lloyd is the owner of Viggo, the mustang that my mom trained, and Mary Kay Soergel is the owner of Sparrow that Lauren trained. I was going to train a mustang along with my Mom and Lauren, but there was an age limit on this particular mustang challenge.

When we got to Tennessee we stayed over at our friend’s house, who was also participating in the challenge, and we took their two horses down to the competition too. Instead of taking two trucks and trailers the whole way from Tennessee to Texas, we drove together. We both wanted to go down a few days earlier than the actual challenge started, so our horses could get a chance to adjust to the heat and get some rest from the long ride.

We stayed at a place called Kyle Ranch, which is where Pete Kyle and his wife Tamera live. They are huge into the sport of reining and we got to see a famous reining horse named Einstein’s Revolution. He lives at that ranch – it was so cool! It was really nice for us because we could relax a little and they had a swimming pool, so when it was super hot we went swimming and got a refresher. I even did most of my homework just with my legs in the pool, hoping not to drop anything . While we were staying at their place we also got to haul out to a couple other ranches and work some cattle, because in these patterns you have to either jump or work cattle, and both, Lauren and Mom chose to work cattle because they didn’t really have the jumping ‘type’ of horses this time.

Now its time for the challenge and we are on our way to the Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover! The first day was just haul in and a trainers meeting. Then the second day was the start of the competition and both mom and Lauren did their trail course and a ridding portion where you have to perform specific maneuvers. The next day they both did the course where they had to work a cow. That is a lot harder than you think it is especially when you don’t have cows to practice on everyday! We didn’t do as good as we would have wanted to but lets face it, we only worked cows like twice and the cow work class was really important in this competition scoring wise. Overall we had a total BLAST and we got to go out to eat mostly every night, and we went to the Stock Yards which was really cool.

I also have some more great news to share: mom and I are going to be doing special clinics and demos at a couple of expos next year! I can’t wait to show people how cool my mustang Jacuzzi is!
So I’ll see you all in the next two weeks and share some more exciting news about what’s been happening at NLH!

Brooke

Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve chatted with everyone after the Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover (SEMM) in Fort Worth.  What a rush!  After returning from that event we had a lot of things to do to play “catch-up” back home as you might imagine after having been gone for nearly 10 days. 

The event was fantastic and we had so much fun participating in it.  Both Viggo and Sparrow performed extremely well and Lauren and I were both very proud of them throughout the weekend.  A little too much “cow-work” in this competition kept us out of the finals but we are extremely satisfied knowing how well trained these horses are after only 5 months in training and how thrilled their owners are with their progress.

Sparrow is now in Pittsburgh with her owners helping out in their lesson program and Viggo is back at NLH getting some well deserved R&R intermixed with some trail riding.  He will be continuing his training here for awhile. What a ride it’s been and in the end, two families are fulfilling dreams because of two very special mustangs that have entered their lives.

Viggo continues to be a blessing in my life too as I am continuing to train him for Leslie.  The other day my daughter and I went on a trial ride together and I took Viggo.  On the ride, it occurred to me how important horses are in my life-and in Brooke’s life as well.  We share a very special mother-daughter bond, not unlike other horse enthusiasts may have, but one that continues to grow as she gets older.

Now in middle school, so many things are entering her life and we are starting down a new road where time becomes a commodity not only for me, but now for her as well.  More and more she is being pulled in different directions with the many school related activities that are being added to her schedule in addition to her already busy horse activities.  Riding together for us is a chance to reconnect and get away from everything else that impacts our routine.

Alone on the trail we have great conversations, and quiet time too.  It is a time to appreciate all of the God-given beauty around us and to come back to a “place” where each of us can just relax in the moment.  And, for me, I appreciate her growth as an excellent “hand” in horsemanship.  When I see her galloping off full blast in a wide open field and then touch upon the reins to communicate an excellent comeback transition, I realize that she is truly a natural talent.  That makes me proud for sure, but it also makes me realize that she is capable:  capable of handling horses and so much more that she will encounter in the days, weeks, and years to come.

Having gone through life as she is going through it now, I know she will have struggles, she will have conflicts (and some will be with me).  But she will always have her horse too and that is a relief to know.  For there she will find solace; she will find relief from stress and discover ways to come through the challenges she will face.  On the back of a horse, she will always rediscover herself time and time again.  And, for that…I am grateful to the horse.

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