Mississippi View Farm

05/17/2020

Spring is finally here...

07/21/2019

National Dressage Pony Cup

Video of Canada and Scarlet.

One of the special things about the National Dressage Pony Cup & Small Horse Championships is that we have more than 30 breeds represented. A huge THANK YOU to all of our breed award sponsors!

01/08/2018

This is such a great perspective, filled with lots of truth. Breakthroughs may happen for riders, but in all honesty, horses learn a little bit every day, and no amount of drilling will change it.

If I had to pick one simple bit of advice about training horses, it might well be this basic concept---

We are not going to get very much accomplished on any given day, in any given training session, so don't get so darn frantic about it.

Meaning that if any of us went to the gym, and had a session with a personal trainer, would we expect to finish the session as an accomplished weight lifter, or an accomplished any type of athlete?

No way. We know that it is a long, gradual process, a tiny bit of improvement, day by day, week by week, month by month.

And yet, even knowing that, it is nonetheless easy to get "grindy" when trying to make progress with some poor horse.

Over and over, the same requests, do it again, because you didn't do it "right." Now again. Now again.

The horse gets tired and scared, the rider gets more demanding, and, as Yeats says in "The Second Coming," "Things fall apart; The centre cannot hold;"

If we don't want things to fall apart, we need to ask (demand?) less on any given day, because even though we can not make much progress FORWARD in any given session, we can make big steps backwards, by creating fear and resistance.

And this is the thing to realize. Forward progress is slower than backwards deterioration. It takes a heck of a lot less time to wreck a horse than to make a horse. And far less skill. Heck, anybody can wreck a horse.

If there is ONE SINGLE THING that I wish my little pea brain had grasped sooner about horse training, it would be that simple truth.

12/05/2017

Straight From the Trainer’s Mouth: Marketing for Professional Riders | HORSE NATION

An insightful and well-presented article by a young professional originally from Minnesota,, Brianna Zwilling. So wonderful to see good trainers stepping forward in their careers.

How can professional riders and trainers set themselves apart from the herd in a competitive industry? Professional dressage trainer Brianna Zwilling expla...

12/04/2017

The Chronicle Of The Horse

Good to know from USDF Convention

Should the U.S. Dressage Finals take place on the West Coast? That was one hotly debated topic.

10/16/2017

The Million Euro Coup In Horse Breeding - Spectacular Gaits vs. Health

Very interesting article. Horse breeding is an inexact science, and when we create horses that are losing the purity of the gaits, the below average (that is, the "other 50%" of ALL FOALS BORN) can lack the balance needed to fulfill their needed role as easy amateur horses.

Using examples from the 2015 stallion licensing in Verden Germany it is shown how the wrong selection in Warmblood horses for thrust and mobility affects not...

09/08/2017

Uncover the Mystery of “On the Bit”

Great article by Dolly Hannon, that gives a clear explanation of this difficult concept. "Handshakes"

A horse who is on the bit trusts the rider’s aids and accepts the contact with the bit.

07/29/2017

The Micklem bridle: what you need to know

Great post!

Described as 'a kind and sympathetic bridle for horses that are sensitive in the mouth', Lottie Butler finds out how the Micklem bridle works

06/13/2017

Musical Freestyle Allowed Movements

This is so helpful!

An excerpt from On The Levels. Additional videos are available only by subscription to www.onthelevels.com This video covers movements that are and are not a...

05/08/2017

Nancy Watkins, you make our farm so beautiful!

04/30/2017

Kyra Kyrklund's Smaller Steps for Greater Balance

One of my all-time favorites

Dressage Olympian Kyra Kyrklund demonstrates a simple solution to common balance problems with horses at any level.

04/26/2017

Very interesting. The perspective of where you are seated as a judge has a lot to do with this, not just "opinion".

Day 7 Dressage Facts. Yesterday I showed which figures have the most variation between riders, and hence have the most effect on the rider ranking. Today I show the same Prix St Georges movements but this time each slice of the pie is proportional to the variation between the judges - the standard deviation of judge differences. The main features of the two charts are the same. Now this does take into account repetitions and coefficients, so it is going to highlight the figures that are shown twice and have double coefficients, so this may be an important contributor to both the rider variation and the judge variation.
Nevertheless, the figures that most separate the riders are also the ones that the judges have the most difficulty to agree on.
This is probably closely related to the observation on Day 2 that when movement scores move away from the 6-7 range then judges have more difficulty to agree, the fact that these figures have a wider score range will inevitably also mean that they will populate the left and right hand tails of the Day2 plot. So the Day 2 message is perhaps still the key to success: a more clearly defined and or a more finely executed award of penalties and reward for scores outside the 6-7 comfort zone? As always your comments and different perspectives are very welcome

11/12/2016

Good news from Lexington!

Kulpa and Laura were Adult Amateur National Level champion for the USLF at the USDF Dressage Finals! Kulpa approves :)

06/23/2016

WEBINARJAM | June 2016 USLF Quarterly MemberCast

Starring MVF foals and our very own Kate Phillips!

Director's Corner with Jennifer Roth, Lipizzan foals hosted by Lynne Warfel, and USLF Award Programs.

06/18/2016

Mississippi View Farm's cover photo

04/20/2016

Excellent references images. I am putting them on my page so we can all find them later when we are talking to our vet and farrier

02/29/2016

Dr. Ridgway: Acupressure point for alleviating shoulder pain and encourage freedom of movement

Very interesting...worth a try. Let me know if anyone has success with this.

Note: This content is educational in nature and designed for equine health professionals. If you are interested in in, please ask your vet to recommend an ac...

02/16/2016

The Double Bridle: An Instrument of Understanding | eurodressage

Wonderful article on the double bridle. Please read to the end, as it addresses the various ways to hold the curb and snaffle rein, a subject of much discussion here as of late.

Eurodressage F.O.C.U.S., We live in times in which the necessity of the double bridle in high performance and FEI level dressage classes is being questioned much more than it in the past. May it be in magazines or well-known internet forums, dressage enthusiast up to Olympic trainers discuss whether…

01/02/2016

Secure Seat

Great article!

There are three secrets to a secure-seat. By following them, you will develop the perfect seat for sitting the trot, and cantering with ease and confidence.

10/17/2015

Bright Design and Alicia Stock

This is the ride that earned you a wildcard qualification to Nationals.

09/29/2015

Laura Myllykangas/Pal and Morgan Rehm/Foxy enjoying each other's company

08/29/2015

The Truth in Boarding Barns |

Interesting article.

Boarding barns make it possible for people to become horse owners. What do boarders really want? What does your horse cost the boarding barn?

08/17/2015

Dog days of summer

07/25/2015

Evening chores with the newest MVF Lipizzan.

Morgan and Mike took great pictures of Troja and her baby.

07/19/2015

News from the Iron River show.

Excellent day to be a Lipizzan in Wisconsin. The three Lipizzans showed against each other in the Tr3, and ALL got 69%, Madie and I tied and Laura beat us by .2% . Neapolitano Gloria (Latte) was reserve Champion in the open division.

07/11/2015

Green Hollow Farm

For all those escape artists out there.

Our lesson pony Chunk being extremely naughty!! Who told him the circus is in town?!

Jukin Media Verified (Original)
* for licensing/permission to use please contact [email protected]

05/17/2015

Tempest Tours

When we can't find Chris Gullikson, I know where to look. Just find the biggest red area on the weather map.

The Tempest group was treated to a fantastic light show in the Nebraska Sandhills the evening of May17th 2013.

Time-lapse photography by Guide Chris Gullikson

05/05/2015

Leveled ring with fresh footing thanks to Todd!

04/09/2015

Neo, standing like a statue for his Coggins.

04/06/2015

Thanks Victor Medina for the amazing pictures!

Congratulations Mississippi View Farm on your new arrival and first of the season. Good job Canada and Ghitta

04/05/2015

Look what the Easter bunny left us! Or, I should say, Favory Canada and Rigitta!

MVF Lipizzans wishes you and your family a safe and blessed Easter Sunday!
Just in time, Favory Rigitta makes a wonderful Easter Basket addition~

11/06/2014

2014 US Dressage Finals - USEF Network

They're famous. Katy and Canada are on the USDF website
http://www.usefnetwork.com/featured/2014usdf/

http://www.usefnetwork.com/featured/2014usdf/

11/06/2014

Kathy Nardi is in the ribbons!

Kathy Nardi and Grecco scored 64.625% in their 4-3 ride today. This earned them 6th place in a field of 11 horses. (Winning score was 68.938%).

11/05/2014

Two more important links for the USDF Dressage Finals:

Tentative schedule (dated 10/29): http://www.usdf.org/usdressagefinals/event/schedule.pdf

AND

Live results! http://results.horseshowoffice.com/

11/05/2014

2014 US Dressage Finals - USEF Network

Two MVF riders and horses are competing at the US Dressage Finals this weekend:

Katy Myllykangas and Favory Canada:
11/6 - 1st Level Freestyle @ 11:48 a.m.
11/7 - 1st Level Test 3 @ 10:17 a.m.
11/8 - 1st Level Championship sometime after 8 a.m. (they draw for ride times)
11/9 - 1st Level Freestyle Championship sometime after 1:20 p.m. (again, they draw for ride times)

Kathy Nardi and Grecco:
11/6 - 4th Level Test 3 @ 11:04 a.m.
11/7 - 4th Level Championship sometime after 1:00 p.m. (draw for ride times)
11/9 - Prix St. Georges Championship sometime after 8:00 am (ditto)

USEF Network will be broadcasting select Championship classes from Ring 1 Friday through Sunday. For more information about live streaming see http://www.usefnetwork.com/featured/2014usdf

Way to go Katy and Kathy!