Ask Cari

Vanessa enjoys a late summer afternoon ride on Tony after she rode Allez around the paddocks with me.  V is only 3 years old and already showing her talent and love of riding!

After a fun day hacking through the hunt trails, Mary, Wyatt, Lauren and I took a trip over to the Dutchess County Fair where we visited  cows, goats, sheep, pigs and other animals.  The birthing center had baby animals of many breeds.  We had the famous milk shakes and ate fair food until we were stuffed.  Wyatt won a giant banana that he gave to a little boy who was admiring it.  It was a fun day at the fair with unusually cool weather.  I have never experienced the fair with no sweat and humidity.

After several long days of hard work at Old Westbury Gardens on the set of the new film, Arthur, Jennifer Garner bows Mr. T to thank everyone for the successful hours of shooting the horse sequences.  Russell Brand and Jenn were excellent students, learning to work with Mr. T and trust him for each scene.  The entire cast and crew gave Rex and Mr. T a standing ovation at the completion of the day.

Cari and Bond demonstrate many of the warm up exercises for the participants of the clinic in New Jersey last week.  Eight riders learned how to improve the quality of the horses gaits through a series of riding patterns to create better balance and rhythm.  Everyone improved and we look forward to seeing everyone again in October.

Fiona reads her book while Goldie grazes in the late afternoon.  Nothing could be better on a summer day than to spend time with your horse relaxing.

Mini was the star of a local play at a camp in Wingdale Sunday evening,

Lauren walked him on stage and handled him with finesse as the audience roared with delight.  The campers were so excited to meet Mini and many have never been close to a horse.

Learning to ride is fun, especially at Windrock Farm when one of the trainers is the man who trained the horses for The Horse Whisperer.  Rex has a special gift teaching kids to be confident and accomplish goals they never dreamed of.  Here is Fiona standing on RJ’s four year old filly after a long hack at Wethersfield.

Cari and Rex working with Mr. T and Lizard on the set of Arthur in Long Island.  The weather held out for the filming to be a success.  Every scene had three cameras on to maximize the coverage for each set up.  The horses worked well and the actors progressively improved with their riding skills as the day progressed.  The film stars Jennifer Garner and Russell Brand.

We have to rear Mr. T for an upcoming scene in a film with the two main actors on the horse.  To demonstrate how easy this is on a well schooled horse, we put a novice young rider behind Cari in the saddle and asked T to stand up.  He lifts up effortlessly and waits for Rex to let him down.  There will also be stunt doubles for the main actors if they are not comfortable with the scene.

Bard Summerscape is like a rural version of the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It brings together visual and performing artists as both presenters and audience, creating a cultural center of gravity for the Hudson Valley.  Rex is visiting from California and met up with a colleague, David Straithearn.  They worked together on the film Temple Grandin.

Estella and her sister, Matilda enjoyed a private viewing of RJ working with his trainer Rex at Thornedale yesterday morning.  The girls were thrilled to watch RJ perform his many tricks and to ride the famous stallion.

Anyone can learn to become a competent rider if you understand the basics of horsemanship and how horses think.  Horses are herd animals so it is crucial that you understand that you are the leader of the herd.  We train horses to listen to our command on the ground when working with actors who have little experience riding.  The audience rarely realizes that the horses on screen are being directed by a trainer off camera.

We are rehearsing a scene for a film where the main actors are riding double and the horse rears.  It takes hours of training and conditioning to prepare the horse for the days of shooting.  And then it takes a great deal of patience to work with the actors so they do not panic.  If the rider panics the horse will not perform and a day of filming could be lost.  As with everything, preparation is the key to success.  Remember the old boyscout saying, “be prepared.”

This horse came to us with an issue bucking and misbehaving.  After several weeks training you can see he is overcoming his fears with his rider and walking calmly over a tarp.  He became proficient with all the obstacles on the course and gained confidence in his rider who has this to say;

“My five year old Dutch Warmblood developed a serious bucking problem, using it to avoid working at all cost.  He even began bucking while walking on a lead line, especially if he were tacked up for work.  I’m not young enough to bounce off the hard ground anymore, and it was stressful to handle him, forget about riding him.  A friend told me about Rex, and I decided to bring my horse to one of his local clinics.  Sure enough, on the lead line, walking around the arena, he began to buck.  It was embarrassing, but at least he wasn’t hiding the problem I wanted to fix.  When Rex told me that in his book, my horse was a “convicted felon,” and that no horse should ever buck for any reason, I felt relief. I had secretly wondered if I was just chicken to ride my bucking bronco, but now I knew I was right to get help.  Rex’s partner Cari suggested I bring him up for 30 days of training, and that they would send him back to me super safe to ride.  I have to admit I was skeptical, but I was also desperate to move past this and start seriously training this horse.  Plus, Cari is a dressage rider, and I knew she’d understand my goals.  After one week, there was a noticeable change in his behavior.  After two weeks, Cari was working him in a dressage saddle, and I began riding him as often as I could.  Trail rides and obstacle courses gave me an opportunity to push his buttons, while using the set of tools that Rex and Cari taught me gave me-and my horse–confidence. He came home three weeks ago, and so far, he’s been perfect.  This is the horse I thought I’d bought last June!  He’s calm, a pleasure to handle, and a joy to ride.  He’ll even get “down on one” and bow for me!  I’ve entered him in his first schooling show, something I wouldn’t have even dreamed of earlier this spring.  Rex and Cari did exactly what they said they would, and I highly recommend them.” Linda Marciante

We recently took a trip to horse country in Virgina to teach a clinic and were hosted by Rex’s old friend Bobby Duvall and his lovely wife Luciana.  Bobby met RJ/Hidalgo, enjoying watching Rex work him through all his paces.  The two famous actors have a great deal in common.  Rex’s son, Ryan looks on, enjoying all of the family stories Bobby remembers from years of knowing the Peterson’s in Nebraska.

Last weekend, our youngest student, Vanessa, age 3 rode Rex’s three year old stud colt who has only 16 rides on him,he is a lovely horse who proves if you start them correctly with no mistakes, you have a super horse.

Hollywood horse, Harbor Mist,  is in the upcoming film Secretariat where Diane Lane portrays  Penny Chenery, the owner of the famous red horse.  The Disney film will be released in October this year, and Harbor Mist will be at the Belmont May 29-30 at the Northeast Equine Expo, come visit Harbor Mist and his trainer Rex Peterson.  Rex is a master horseman who has trained horses to perform some stunts many have claimed impossible, including burying a horse alive to jump up out of the desert for a music video.  Nothing is impossible but it may take hours to train and will require tremendous trust and patience.

Rex worked with two young horses starting under saddle, taught several how to bow, worked on trailering issues with several horses that eventually walked in the trailer at the end of a 30 foot lariat, improved the rhythm and gaits of a lovely quarter horse and gave a leading and ground manners lesson to a fell pony.  I worked with Barb and her young dressage mount, Paloma.  We had a full successful day and look forward to returning soon.  For future clinic schedule check the web site

Ryan working his yearling filly with the flag…she had a very successful first day outing at the Horse Park and learned to have all her feet picked up relaxed and calmly.