Conditioning Your Horse for Spring Riding

DATES/TIMES

March 22  | 9 AM – 4 PM (Times subject to change based on number of participants) 

COURSE FOCUS

Taking the elements of self work in the Cultivating Effortlessness: Finding Your Natural Posture on Horseback and Moving in Balance: Tai Chi for better horsemanship, Instructor Shelbie Fredenhagen helps you bring it all together with your horse with a lecture followed by your choice of in hand, ground work or mounted sessions. Shelbie is a talented and exceptionally knowledgeable instructor who can work with riders of all levels to advance their skills while putting their horses mental and physical wellbeing first.

• Corrective lunging to promote clear ideas of your aids, to improve the horses balance, and to gain a base of support for the horse. By lunging in this manner we set the horse up for success and teach him to think about his surroundings and circumstances, rather than only reacting.
• In-hand work with the halter and/or bridle. Educating the rider’s feel of the horse and the mouth from the ground gives more clarity in what you are looking for with your horse. The horse gets to understand what you are trying to communicate and the rider can view the horse easier than on the back. It also introduces body awareness and fine-tunes the language of the aids to the horse through flexions, lateral work, and transitions. Again working to improve the horses balance and bring awareness to natural asymmetry, and their body.
• Progressive work under saddle – we translate what was taught on the lunge and in-hand and continue to explain the aids through gymnastics to access the horse without fighting and bracing. This includes contact, leg aids, body position; developing balance for each horse and the task at hand. By gaining this proprioception (the ability to sense stimuli arising within the body regarding position, motion, and equilibrium) the horse will gain balance, straightness, and collection with confidence.

Private lessons are also available March 23-29, 2025. Contact Shelbie to schedule.

Minimum 3 horse-human pairs | Maximum 6 horse-human pairs for private session; up to 12 horse-human pairs if all are semi-private

COST

Clinic with private lesson $100, clinic with semi-private lesson $75, auditors welcome $25 

Register for Lecture and Private Lesson

Register for Lecture and Semi-Private Lesson

Register to Audit

ABOUT SHELBIE

Shelbie Fredenhagen is a classical equitation trainer, riding instructor and traveling clinician whose work is rooted in biomechanics and respect for the horse.  Shelbie has dedicated her life to learn integrative approaches that honor how horses think, learn, and feel. She aims to bring patient, kind work for the horse and aid the rider to understand their horses through feel and intention. This desire to understand the entire picture has led Shelbie to study both Classical Masters and Integrative Bodywork. Shelbie works to create fluid, individualized training programs to bring out horses naturally relaxed and true demeaner. Shelbie uses integrated bodywork and cross-training methods rooted in classical principles which honor the horse’s nature. Her training always surrounds the well-being and longevity of the horse. Shelbie welcomes any discipline, breed, and age of horse including starting horses and rehabilitation cases.