Winward Equestrian, LLC

03/11/2026

Welcome to Trainer Tuesday! Each week we ask trainers a question and gather their answers for you. These trainers have a range of experience, backgrounds, and focus points of their programs, so the answers have as much variation as you would expect and also probably much more similarity.

This week’s question posed is: How do you handle a rider who gets angry when something isn’t as easy as they think it is going to be or should be?

“As riders, everyone has at some point felt angry, frustrated or upset with themselves, whether it’s on or off of a horse. When I have a rider who is frustrated, I make them come back to the walk and practice being present and remembering that horses aren’t machines. Most of the time, anger comes from lack of trust or impatience from a rider. If a horse or a rider is struggling at a task, I also make it simpler, and we can always revisit when they are both in the right mindset. Horses feed off energy, so I like to remind riders that as well.” –Devon LeMoine

Read all of the trainers' responses: https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2026/03/10/trainer-tuesday-how-do-you-handle-a-rider-who-gets-angry-when-something-isnt-as-easy-as-they-think-it-is-going-to-be-or-should-be/

12/17/2025

“If your horse trips over poles, he’s showing you the real problem.”

Poles never lie.
They expose things we often miss when we focus only on fences.

That’s why I say this so often in lessons:
“If he’s not listening or not balanced, he’ll trip over the poles. It tells you exactly what’s missing.”

When a horse knocks poles again and again, it’s almost never clumsiness.
And it’s very rarely about bravery.

Most of the time, it comes down to one of three things:

– the horse isn’t focused
– the horse isn’t straight
– the horse isn’t using his body correctly

Poles slow everything down just enough to make the truth obvious.
They show you when the rhythm isn’t consistent.
They reveal when the horse is drifting or falling in.
They highlight when the balance is too much on the forehand.

That’s why polework is so valuable — not as an exercise in itself, but as a diagnostic tool.

Instead of riding past the mistakes, use the poles to ask better questions:
Can the horse stay straight?
Can he keep the same rhythm?
Can he lift his body and organise his feet?

When those answers improve over poles, the improvement shows up everywhere else —
in the canter, in the transitions, and over fences.

Poles don’t create problems.
They simply show you what needs attention.

Fix that, and the jumping becomes dramatically easier.

Join my next pole clinic: https://danbizzarromethod.com/coaching/clinics

12/17/2025

11/16/2025

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

When trainer Geoff Case watches riders flatting their horses, he sees a lot of the same thing: people lapping the ring, zoning out, and missing a huge opportunity. “It’s one of my biggest pet peeves,” Case said. “People just go around the outside, staring off into space. That’s not riding. That’s exercise.”

In Case’s eyes, flatwork isn’t just something to do when you’re not jumping—it’s where you actually become a better rider.

To Case, a good flat session should feel like a jumping round. “You should be riding lines, bending, adjusting your rhythm,” he said. “Every step is a chance to make something better.”

He encourages riders to ride patterns and turns with purpose. “Don’t just stay on the rail,” he said. “Use the whole ring. Make a circle, ride across the diagonal, do transitions in different places. Ride like you’re setting up for a jump.”

That kind of thinking builds skills that directly transfer to the show ring. “When you ride with that much attention, the horse gets sharper, you get straighter, and suddenly your distances show up easier,” he said.

The flat, he added, is where you learn timing, balance, and control without the distraction of fences. “If you can’t organize yourself between the jumps, you won’t do it over them either.”

For Case, good riding starts with details: straightness, rhythm, transitions, and connection. The riders who stand out to him in the warm-up ring are the ones who treat flatwork like an art form, not an afterthought.

“You can tell the difference between someone who’s just getting around and someone who’s actually training,” he said. “It’s in the way they ride their corners, how they prepare for a transition, how the horse looks in the bridle.”

That difference shows up in competition. “When you’re in the ring, it’s too late to be figuring those things out,” he said. “If you’ve already practiced being precise on the flat, it’s automatic when you’re showing.”

Case also pointed out that judges can spot the riders who do their homework. “Even in a jumping round, you can tell who spends time on the flat,” he said. “Their horses are balanced and adjustable. It’s obvious.”

Many riders, especially less experienced ones, rely on the rail for security or spacing. Case urges them to break that habit. “The rail becomes a crutch,” he said. “You stop steering, you stop thinking. You let the wall do the work for you.”

Instead, he suggests riding off the track, staying a few feet inside the rail to keep both you and your horse accountable. “When you come off the wall, suddenly you have to ride,” he said. “You’ve got to keep your line straight, keep the horse between your leg and hand, and make the turns yourself.”

At first, this can feel uncomfortable, but that’s exactly the point. “It’s supposed to feel different,” Case explained. “That’s how you know you’re actually doing something.”

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2025/11/15/get-off-the-rail-creativity-and-focus-in-flatwork/
📸 © The Plaid Horse

11/03/2025

"I had the worst lesson this weekend. Even though the sun was shining, my horse had been worked all week and was a total lamb the day before, he came out like a raging idiot. I mean spooking at nothing idiot. The bolting into other horses in our lesson and leaping into the air kind of idiot.

Now, I’m no dummy and know when it’s time to get off and lunge. I lunged. He leaped. Leaped some more. But eventually he cantered around quietly, and I got back on to do a few small courses to end on a good note.

Except I ended up in the dirt. He spooked at nothing two strides after a fence, spun left and I flew off like the last shred of my sanity that had been holding on throughout the last bit of the year.

Luckily, I wasn’t hurt. I brushed off my butt, but then I felt the switch flip. From mild annoyance and “horses will be horses” to full “Oh hell no you didn’t do that to me!” We went to lunge again. There was more leaping. Eventually I scraped together the last of my bravery to get back on, get over a few crossrails without spooking, and call it a day. But walking back to the barn, I scowled at my horse. While hosing him off, I popped the crosstie when he wouldn’t stand still. When poulticing him since he ran around in more tight circles than I ever want my horses to, I growled at him to keep his feet on the ground. He jigged all the way back to his stall. He never settled.

And it was all my fault, because I got frustrated.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t fall on my sword for baby horses being green and having broken brain days. That happens. It wasn’t my fault he was fresh and spooking. It wasn’t even my fault that I fell off, although I certainly wish I could sit a big spook better than I can. But it was my fault that I got frustrated.

You see frustration a lot, and it’s never pretty. Remember the amateur that kicked her horse after falling off in the Hampton Classic? Frustration. I’ve seen BNR’s whip their horse and yank them in the mouth in the middle of high-stakes Grand Prix rounds. Frustration. While I did not kick my horse, beat him or abuse his mouth for his antics during my lesson, I was equally as frustrated with him as those riders. Instead of rewarding him for the good moments, I stewed. Instead of being a calm and supportive leader, I reacted. And reflecting on this after the fact, it feels just as bad.

I’ve always had a temper, but not for the reason people think. I don’t get frustrated because I’m aggressive, angry and ready to blow up at any moment. I get frustrated because I’m incredibly anxious. My therapist says that anger and frustration is a straight line to anxiety. It’s simply a different way to exhibit the feeling. So as an adult amateur rider that lacks confidence in her abilities, is anxious when things go wrong, and often scared when trying new things (or you know, oxers), it’s natural that I would get frustrated. But frustration is the worst thing you can do for your riding. The minute I, or anyone for that matter, dips into frustration, you might as well get off if you quickly can’t switch your way of thinking.

Because everything we do as equestrians—whether it’s on the horse or on the ground beside it—depends on feel. I don’t have lots of money, natural talent or sheer bravery, but I pride myself on having a good feel for horses (after a lot of help from trainers and experience of course). Control a rogue shoulder during flatwork? Got it. Micro-correct on the lunge line before a situation spirals? No problem. But when I’m frustrated, I can’t feel for anything. I over-correct and over-react, which is the worst thing you can do for a young, green horse. So no, of course I didn’t kick or beat or yank my horse to death today, but I feel just as bad as if I did. Because I could have done so much better if I controlled my emotions.

This is what I always envy about professional riders. They seem so unemotional, so logical when riding. Us amateurs, because I know I’m not the only one, we get in our heads. That manifests in different ways. I wish I could say that frustration was my only issue!

This awful lesson was a good reminder of how I need to look at my horse, even when he’s acting like a total idiot. The best answer I have to frustration is simply a deep breath. Yes, it can be hard to do that when you’re sitting in the dirt, but it’s essential. And if it’s the kind of day where you can’t seem to cool off and get into a neutral place, you need to just get off. Tomorrow is another day.

The next time I ride, I’ll have to be extra nuanced around my horse. They don’t forget anything, and frustration has aftershocks. But I’ll take deep breaths, stay objective, and get us back to a good place. It shouldn’t be long, because even anxious adult amateurs learn from every experience—good or bad. We’re a lot like green horses that way."

📎 Save & share this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2020/11/22/the-number-1-thing-you-should-never-do-with-a-horse/

10/03/2025

Welcome to Trainer Tuesday! Each week we ask trainers a question and gather their answers for you. These trainers have a range of experience, backgrounds, and focus points of their programs, so the answers have as much variation as you would expect and also probably much more similarity.  This week...

08/25/2025

When it comes to performance, most riders focus on what happens in the ring. But high-performance coach John Haime believes that one of the most overlooked influences on a rider’s success is something far more personal: the people they surround themselves with.

“Who you’re around is critical,” Haime said on episode 441 of The Plaidcast. “If you’re around positive people, people who care about you, want to help you, and believe in you, you have a better chance to succeed.”

It’s a powerful reminder that success doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Riders are shaped not only by their habits and mindset, but also by their communities, and that’s especially true for juniors.

As riders move through their teenage years, they’re developing not only their athletic skills but also their values, identities, and emotional resilience. Haime emphasized that during this stage, peers play an outsized role. “If you’re a teenager, your friends are influencing you more than your parents are,” he said. “That’s just the way it is.”

Whether it’s a barnmate who cheers you on or a teammate who constantly criticizes others, those voices become part of a rider’s internal dialogue. “If you’re around people who are tearing others down or chasing superficial goals, that becomes your environment,” Haime added.

Not everyone you ride with or spend time around will lift you up, and that’s okay. Haime’s advice isn’t to avoid every tough interaction, but to be intentional about where you invest your time and energy. “The more you grow as a person, the more you start thinking about who you want to be around,” he said. “That reflection is part of building confidence.”

Klemm echoed this idea with a personal perspective. “The number one thing that changed my life was choosing different people,” she said. “When I was around people who pushed me to be better, everything changed.”

🔗 Continue reading the full article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2025/08/25/why-you-are-the-company-you-keep/
📸 © Heather N. Photography

08/02/2025

07/11/2025

Winward has availability for a few additional clients. Message/text Carly to discuss your goals and all Winward has to offer.

Carly is an Equine Studies graduate from Delaware Valley University, and has spent over a decade building a special community of equestrians where the focus on building horsemanship skills is just as important as their riding accomplishments. We have a small program to offer an individualized approach to meet the needs of our students and their ponies/horses

06/23/2025