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.

An afternoon at Windrock Farm after the kids play a game of baseball, practice hitting golf balls and playing capture the flag.  Wyatt celebrated his 12th birthday in style with hot dogs from Four Brothers and apple pie with vanilla ice cream.  Fiona is handing out birthday carrots to the mares.

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.

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.

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

Bob proved he is a star at his first horse show winning best young horse in the show.  He started training with Rex as a yearling, learning to have excellent ground manners and how to behave like a gentleman.  In spite of the high winds and horrible weather at the show, he stood his ground and won every class he entered.  Bob is not yet two years old and is maturing into a lovely horse.  It pays to start training the youngsters early and will pay off in dividends in the future under saddle.  Contact us to schedule a private lesson with your horse.

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.

Little Red, an 8 week old puppy found Ryan at the Purina Feed Event at Eastern Hay last week where he decided to adopt Ryan.  Here he is learning to allez onto the post.  Red is super smart and has integrated into the Icelandic herd of dogs at Windrock Farm.  He will soon be traveling to California with Ryan.

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.

Mr. T from Dreamer and Secretariat films, leads RJ’s 4 year old filly through the tarp with Fiona and Simon last weekend,

this is a fun obstacle course that gives all riders more confidence and ability to navigate anything.

Come to the Rex Peterson Clinic this weekend at Windrock Farm and train your horse to walk through the obstacle course…take the spook out of your horse and improve communication with him.   Contact cari@cariswanson.com to sign up

Levi is a confident bold jumper, he has a motor, great personality,

loves cross country, uncomplicated to ride, super event, dressage or hunter prospect.

Learning to ride at Windrock Farm

sometimes hanging out with Webster is the best thing to do on a sunny afternoon….

Rules to Ride By

go slowly to go fast

patience, patience, patience

take one step at at time

Ride bareback to improve your balance

(excerpted from the new book Whoa Means Whoa! available soon)

Order the book, Whoa Means Whoa! at the web site

This is a useful guide for training kids or anyone how to ride.  Simple lessons teach the basics every rider should know whether you are entering the show arena or hacking across country.  Beautiful photographs and illustrations help the rider learn the correct position to become an effective equestrian.

Sliding stop illustration by Mary Bridgman.