Manitoba Horse Council
145 Pacific Avenue R3B 2Z6 Winnipeg, MB, Canada

THE REAL RULES OF DRESSAGE 1. If you really want to get better at dressage, take it up at an earlier age - and grow an extra 3 inches of leg. 2. A dressage tes...t is a test of your skill against another competitor's luck. 3. Dressage is about achieving a harmonious working relationship with your horse, whose only idea of harmony is eating grass in a field with his buddies. 4. If you want to end a drought or dry spell, wear a new jacket and hat to an outdoor arena. 5. Untalented, difficult, aggressive horses have robust health, good hocks and long lives. 6. Talented tractable horses are accident prone and have OCD lesions. 7. You will ride the best test of your entire life just prior to being disqualified for not wearing your gloves. 8. Never keep more than 300 separate thoughts in your head before a test. 9. Never keep less than another 300 separate thoughts in your head during a test. 10. Horses do not improve their paces because you are wearing expensive German breeches. 11. If you chose a disco theme for your dressage to music test then the judge will be more than 90 years of age and Swiss. 12. The less skilled the rider, the more likely they are to share their critique of your test. 13. If you are considering the services of a horse clairvoyant to help you with training then you have reached the point of total desperation - try the German breeches. 14.Your horse has never heard of Podhajsky, let alone read the book. 15. No matter how badly you ride a test, it is always possible to ride a worse one. 16. If it ain't broke, try shifting your position and it will be. 17. Judges only suffer from temporary blindness (or kindness) when they are judging someone else's test. 18. If you fall off your horse in the arena you will have paid to have the test videoed. 19. If you are feeling confident before a show then three of the USET dressage team will turn up to give their young horses some "experience." 20. Your horse will perform its best piaffe ever when you ask for extended canter. 22. Since runs of bad competitions come in groups of three, the fourth competition is actually the beginning of the next group of three. 23. No one cheats at dressage because no one has worked out how to do it. 24. It is surprisingly easy to end a test with a perfect square halt once you have scored a four for every other movement. 25. The result of an expensive lesson from a top pro is that you will stop believing in that tiny piece of innate ability that was holding your riding together. 26. Remember when buying a dressage horse advertised as "needs experienced competitive rider" this really means "needs the skills of Isabelle Werth just to stay on board." 27. If you think your test was better than someone else's, it probably wasn't. 28. If you pay 60,000 for an imported WB, you will be beaten in First Level 4 by a Quarter Horse. 29. Clinics given by someone with an interesting accent are not necessarily superior to those given by the homegirl. 30. If you go to the expense of raising an expensive WB foal, he will have a talent for jumping and no walk worth talking about. **Author unknown

It is with heavy heart I announce the passi g of one of the great endurance horses of the past, V.B.Bey Ruler. He lived a good life to the ripe old age of 33 y...ears. He was the first horse to take me to world champioships in Dubai. He took my daughter, Lisa, through the 100 mile Tevis Cup. He was never an easy horse but he was one of the greats. RIP old man. See more

Manitoba seeks input from Manitobans on sasfely reopening services and activities! The province has launched a survey on EngageMB.ca and invites Manitobans to share feedback on their priorities for potential easing of the current COVID-19 restrictions. The survey asks questions about people’s perspectives on the risk of the virus, COVID-19 vaccines and their comfort levels with different activities. The survey also asks about priorities to safely restore services, including p...ossible changes to gradually expand retail shopping, re-open barbershops and salons, gyms and fitness centres, non-regulated health professions, restaurants, faith-based and ceremonial gatherings and organized recreation and sport and possible increases to indoor, outdoor and household gathering sizes. For more details on each option and to provide your feedback, visit EngageMB.ca/restartmb-pandemic-response-system See more

Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba: ramp up the Dog & Pony Challenge when the Fair comes back!

Are you involved in agriculture? Keystone Agricultural Producer is sharing a series of mental health literacy workshop with dates available throughout January, February and March. These workshops are four hours long, offered at various dates and times to suit your schedule, and provided by Kim Hyndman-Moffat, a mental health professional with lived farm experience. The training program they have chosen to use is called ‘In the Know.’ It has been developed specifically for Can...adian farmers and evaluated by researchers at the University of Guelph. The workshops are short to fit farmers’ busy schedules and the information is relevant to how farmers live and work. There are many workshops available over the spring break period which will arm you with the information you need to recognize and respond to mental health struggles in yourself and the people you care about. Participants have reported feeling more knowledgeable about farmers’ mental health and more confidence in providing support. To learn more about ‘In the Know’ training, view the workshop schedule, and register please click on the link https://www.manitobafarmsafety.ca/upcoming-events See more

Now is the time to ramp up your letters to MLAs. The province is considering further stages of reopening and mentions gyms/fitness at 25% capacity, and outdoor organized sports (no teams or groups). MHC has completed the survey on lesson horses and their needs and distributed to relevant Ministers with additional copies of the November proposals/survey etc. requesting feedback and/or meetings but no reply yet. Provincial suggestions today are as follows: "The province is c...onsidering further loosening some public health restrictions while continuing to prioritize the needs of the health-care system and protecting Manitobans from the risks of COVID-19 and new variants. The province is asking for feedback from Manitobans on the proposed changes, which would come into effect next week to replace the current public health orders that expire at 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 12. The proposed changes related to sport/recreation/fitness include: allowing gyms to reopen at 25 per cent capacity for one-on-one and individual training sessions with adequate physical distancing, with no group classes allowing organized outdoor sports to resume for games or practices (no multi-team tournaments) The province encourages participation in a public engagement survey, but we also encourage you to talk with your MLA. To provide your input, visit https://engagemb.ca"

Volunteers are the lifeblood of organizations such as MQHA. Without them we could not function and deliver our programs. At this time we would like to express... our utmost gratitude to Pat Odlum for her long term service and guidance as a board member and President. Pat joined the MQHA board in 2009 and was elected as President that same year, a position she has held since that time. Pat decided to step away this year, and we wish her well in her future adventures. We look forward to seeing you when we can once again come together. Thank you for your guidance, support and dedication." See more

Another great post with some good info.

I belong to several saddle buy-sell groups online. For the most part, the ranch folks and working cowboys get it. Their saddles need to fit their horses like t...he nesting of two spoons. It’s just that simple. This interface between the underside of the saddlethat dark and mysterious place where too few people care to gomust, as best we can, have a maximum surface bearing weight, touching, meeting, matching up with the topside of the horse’s entire back. Ranch saddle ads talk in terms of degree of angle to the bars, the amount of rock, of twist, of flare and the length of the bars in total. The bars, of course, are the underpinning of a western tree, the part that actually needs to match your horse's back. Today’s western performance shoppers are an enigma to me. They are shopping primarily name brands and how each saddle is finished on top. The terms ‘it fits every horse it’s put on’ and ‘must or must not be roughout’ or ‘must have a deep pocket’ are key phrases in most ads. In addition to the name brand many buyers are looking for, is their need for a specified colour, cantle style and finish. None of which, if we’re honest, is of any benefit or interest to the horse. Too many buyers and sellers are worried about gullet measurements. Problem is, the random number coming out of a saddle's gullet doesn't mean a thing. The raw tree, yes; the built saddle, not so much. Nobody considers that gullet measurements, indeed all inside width measurements, are meaningless as they are skewed incredibly by how one measures where we might hold the tape or ruler how the skirts were plugged and lined when built... where the conchas and strings were set when the saddle was made (which is a random placement). They solve the fit issue by requesting a particular measurement or sending ‘withers tracings’. These are meant in good faith but both can be twisted by how they are made and where the tracing is placed upon the horse. Unfortunately, a withers tracing or gullet measurement is focusing on one small area back of the horse's shoulders. It disregards the entire surface area of where the horse will be carrying the rider's weight! If one really needs hard, fast measurements, the Dennis Lane fit cards are probably the most affordable and straightforward way to go provided both the buyer and seller have a set to go by and understand how to use the cards. We used to generalize by saying that a saddle tree had full Quarter Horse bars for the rope horse crowd, or semi Quarter Horse bars for the cutters and reiners. Even these definitions are being used less and less, as sellers of performance saddles simply say that they have a cutter, reiner, ranch cutter, barrel or cowhorse saddle to sell of a particular brand name... Bottom line? The saddle we choose MUST FIT THE HORSE first, then ourselves and the discipline, second. This sentence deserves a re-read! While it may seem overly simplistic, I’ll argue for it, all day long. I’ve been looking at updating one of my working saddles recently. I’m looking for a cowhorse rig that’s a wider fit than are most small cow-bred horse saddles. I always have a variety of trees on hand to work for the wide-ranging horses that come into my program. Other than that, I’m keeping an open mind. I’ve tried a few secondhand, big name saddles out on my horses. I’ve got to say, as a rider who’s ridden primarily custom-built saddles, I am not impressed. I am seeing saddles built with far too much rockliterally, the tree is shaped like the runner underneath a rocking chairyet they are meant to use on young-to-middle-aged performance horses. These western event horses generally have quite flat, wide and short backs. When I test these saddles for fit, they literally rock back and forth on a central point directly under the rider’s weight. While a boon to a sway-backed animal, these saddles are an entirely wrong fit for the average horse. But that rock is there to free up the shoulders and get some ‘lift’ on stops, I am told. Nope, I’m not buying it. We can usually recognize these high-rock saddles by the raised front ends and extremely deep ‘pocket’ in the seats. These saddles have an outline that in no way mirrors the average topline of any sort of horse. However, they can be a Godsend to those with swayed (dropped or low) backs. I happen to use one of these saddles on my twenty-seven-year-old campaigner and while it works very well on him, a horse who is prone to ‘bridging’ issues, I have learned the hard way that this saddle will sore every other horse that I own! Costing between $3000 to $8000, so in no way cheap, I am seeing a majority of off-the-rack western performance saddles made with precious few time-honoured saddle-making skills. Buckles that in no way fit the width of the strapwork. Punky (soft, wrinkly) leather used as a cost savings. Bulky, unevenly installed riggings. Edges not finished well nor skived-down to lie comfortably. Ginormous, shoddy stitching. Clicker-stamped pieces, rather than cut out, edged and carved. Back skirts that are not blocked or shaped to fit any kind of real, live horses. Worse, of the four used saddles I’ve tried, two did not sit straight when viewed from behind! Whether they were built on warped trees or have been assembled haphazardly, they were sitting lopsided on each of my training horses. I’m seeing one-size-fits-all thinking, with an alarming lack of workmanship. The problem with all saddles is that the most important partsthe rideability and life-saving aspectsare usually hidden to the naked eye. So often, we have to trust that time and money-saving shortcuts weren’t made that will cost us dearly. Welcome to the production line. I’m learning that even loosely bled-on and light-duty saddle strings tell a story about what is going on underneath an otherwise pretty topside. If this one little detail was skimped on, how do I know if the rigging has been correctly installed? If the stirrups haven't been correctly turned, even in a new rig, you can almost bet it's a low-quality saddle. A good maker wouldn't let a rideable saddle go out the door without having this safety feature done right. Unfortunately, production line companies are figuring this out and putting a twist in, thinking it will make silk purses out of sows ears. The same goes for 'silver'. If a good saddle-maker has to honour his client's tight budget, he'll not put silver trimmings on, rather than use cheap crap. But this is all just what we can see up front. In one lightly-used cowhorse saddle I tried, the near and off front cinch rings were almost 1.5 out from being true. No wonder it was 'soring' the seller's horse. I’m also skeptical, seeing that all new performance saddles being built are 100% full double-rigged. This means that the front cinches lie directly under the front fork of the saddle, a position that has long been proven to sore up most horses over time. I was able to find only one production-line maker who offered a 7/8ths rig but nobody asks why this is no longer the norm. As far as in-skirt riggings go, there is absolutely nothing wrong with them, done well. Problem is, you or I can’t see, at a glance, how this saddle was screwed together. If a saddle is missing good workmanship on the top, however, you can be fairly certain that the rigging isn’t going to be well-installed. Instead, we worry about whether a saddle is a nice colour and if the skirts are a trendy shape... but nobody is noticing trees that are sub-par, molded fibreglass or merely varnished wood. Most barrel saddles have been made smaller and lighter by shortening the bars of the tree behind the cantle. Problem is, from the horse's point of view, working comfort comes from increasing the surface area, which lowers ‘pounds per square inch’. Instead, the saddles have been designed to stop short, with a pressure point right behind the rider. I guess what I’m saying is this. Beware. Train your eye to recognize poor saddle fitand this will take time, mentorship and confidenceand to know when you are seeing inferior workmanship. To my eye, too many of these new saddles are bordering on being unsafe, not to mention, purgatorial for the horses forced to pack them. I’m not going to name names here, as we all have our pet pans and faves. Yes, some of the worst offenders are mass-produced saddles featuring a real person’s name in the maker’s stamp. If you want to start educating yourself on what makes a good saddle, look to the small-town, bricks-and-mortar shop saddle-makers... particularly those located in the epi-centre of your chosen sport. These guys and gals build saddles to work for the long haul, not against you or your horse. They stand behind their product and most convincingly, very few of them charge more for a custom-built rig on the sort of tree you requirewith the type of rigging and free-moving stirrups you needthan do the assembly-line brand-name makers. In an effort to keep their sales up, many of the popular production-line saddleries have added the word custom to their maker stamps. Once you've seen and ridden in the real thing, you'll not be fooled. The only thing I might add is that our horses have changed shape over time. If you have a good, older saddle or even a great custom rig, be careful that you aren't expecting it to fit on today's rounder, wider horses. I'm finding that the saddle trees of my younger days weren't built at the same angles as the kind of performance horses being bred right now. Also, if a saddle's overall weight is an issue, then we may need to tweak our saddling technique. Is our horse uncomfortably tall? I don’t think a thing of throwing my saddle on my 15:2 horse but the 17:2 one is a different story. Or, perhaps we're riding a horse too small to comfortably carry us in a full-fledged rig? Regardless, I'm finding that most production-line performance saddles weigh just as much as a custom saddle with a rawhided tree, at about thirty-five pounds. There is no such thing as 'the saddle that fits everything', nor a mythical saddle that works for all disciplines. You can't rope in a cutter or barrel saddle and you won't be able to use your legs freely or sit the stops in a Wade. Correct padding underneath is a whole other issue and can only be a temporary help, to a point. Bottom line, if you ride any western discipline and are looking to upgrade or find a better-fitting saddle, more than ever, I’d urge you to start measuring your horses... buy from someone who will welcome you to carry out 'in the flesh' trials... start learning everything you possibly can about saddle fit... and ask around for the good makers in your area. These are the people who build saddles for a living, who understand how to keep horses sound and who recognize the different needs in western sport and of today's specialized horses. When money is an issue, buy top-of-the-line used, rather than so-so new. Get ready to shop around.

MRDA never fails to anaze with the quirky stuff they come up with. Let's dance!

Day 5 of our Giveaways! We are half way through. And the winner is......Carmen Dresser! Congratulations!

You will have heard that the Winnipeg Metro area will be under COVID-19 Code Red status from Monday November 2, and the remainder of the province will be Code Orange. What this means for boarding barns, recreational facilities, etc., in the Code Red area is that the equestrian community (regardless of MHC affiliation) reverts to the March 2020 status. Lessons, competitions, clinics and events should be cancelled, and numbers of people within the barn/facility area should be l...imited to the minimum. People who are 'essential services' for their horses (ie boarders) can still enter premises to do basic services like grooming, health care, farrier etc., with a maximum number of people on the premises at any time. In the past it has been suggested that exercise riding is kept to the minimum because of the risk of accident needing someone to be taken to Emergency. Boarding barns and facilities may apply more stringent rules than are suggested by Manitoba Horse Council if particular circumstances dictate. Those in the Code Orange area may still continue with lessons, events, etc., but are limited to 50% of capacity for their facility, with spectators limited to 25%. We remind owners and riders that use of masks, hand sanitizers, hand washing protocols and social distancing is very important, as is attention to recording who comes on the premises, with a phone number, in case contact tracing is required. For the most recent Return to Operations document, Contact Tracing forms, Waivers, and signage, please go to https://manitobahorsecouncil.ca/Competitions If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call the remote MHC offices at the numbers below. Linda Hazelwood, Business Manager - 204-299-0118 John Savard, Executive Director - 204-925-5719 or 204-509-2369 See more