This is a video of a demonstration Karen did for the Artistic Dressage Symposium hosted by the Baroque Equestrian Games & Institute. Karen rides Natilla bridleless to show how much one can improve the posture and balance of the horse without using reins. Even if you never ride without something o...

In this video you will see a newly adopted former racehorse learn to be more open to a basic hind quarter yield. You will see that his first thought is to brace and be non-responsive, but instead of using stronger aids, we play with him being more open and relaxed before asking. It will be a comb...

In this video I coach a rider with her horse to find more relaxation within her body as she asks her horse to do transitions that require some collectibility. This pair is quite capable and lovely, but they both can sometimes hold more tension. It is really important that as movements become more...

In this video you will see Karen coach a student who’s horse has a less-than-positive connection with the reins. The reins have been used for speed control and balance and the horse has adopted a defensive posture which further disrupts the balance, setting the weight more on the forehand and run...

In this video, you will see lots of ‘firsts’ for Quora: Her first time with a human on her back, her first time moving with a human on her back, and her first walks and trots!
This will give you quite a different picture than what is often seen with ‘horse breaking’. The focus here is on relaxati...

This is a video of Karen riding a favorite sequence of movements that will help increase your horse’s shoulder mobility, bend, engagement, and lateral balance. The pattern shown is an excerpt from the Rassembler 2 Pattern from the Baroque Games & Institute. This exercise will be good for anyone w...

In this video, Karen demonstrates how she uses both Positive and Negative Reinforcement while riding. (Negative Reinforcement means that a pressure is added and when the horse yields to it, it is released. Positive Reinforcement means a reward is given after the desired result). Karen will show h...

In this video, Karen coaches a rider on a sensitive, emotional horse to find more relaxation. You’ll see Karen start with one idea, then change her mind when it isn’t working and go to a more foundational solution. Things quickly start to improve. This is a video for anyone who feels like their h...

In this video, Karen shares a recent bareback and bridleless performance she did on Natilla at the Iberian Horse Spectacular held at the World Equestrian Center in Florida. Natilla had never been in this environment before so Karen put a lot of thought into her preparation. You’ll see the perform...

In this video, DN Instructor Shelby Hume explains how to lead by example when riding. She is riding a horse that has just recently been started, so you will see how she uses this concept in the most basic way. She’ll share what she is thinking and doing in her body when asking for transitions, en...

In this video you will see Karens sixth through eleventh times sitting on Quora which happened over a four month period. You will see every moment of each of those rides. Karen wants to give you an overview of the entire process so you can see how un-dramatic it is. You'll see her first rides wit...

In this video, you will watch a lesson I took with Luis Lucio on Solana. He had me do an exercise where I wore a metronome and had to keep exactly on the beat. The goal was to build engagement without adding more aids, and to increase her stamina to sustain it. It was a fun lesson, and deceptivel...

This video is part 2 of the video: All About Contact: Equine Affaire Demo, Part 1. In this video Karen coaches each rider individually to find their working gaits.

In this video, you will watch a lesson I took with Luis Lucio on Solana. He had me do an exercise where I wore a metronome and had to keep exactly on the beat. The goal was to build engagement without adding more aids, and to increase her stamina to sustain it. It was a fun lesson, and deceptivel...

This video is of a lesson I took on Ovation with Luis Lucio. He coached us through an exercise for canter pirouettes. Ovation is quite capable and enthusiastic, but he is also great at wiggling out of the right position, especially on one lead. This video is great for anyone practicing canter pir...

Karen shares her thoughts, and expands on some things covered in her lesson on Ovation with Luis this month. She’ll talk about why she chose this movement to work on, the challenges she had riding it, how she dealt with moments of confusion, and what helped things improve. She’ll also expand on L...

In this video, we take a close up look at throughness and what it looks like in motion. You’ll see clips from a lesson I took on Ovation with Luis Lucio where he had me do a technique of his. I am experimenting with a different bit on Ovation and I am quite happy with how he likes it. Typically h...

In this short video, we will look at a way to ride corners so it builds higher degrees of collectibility. You will also see how you can take that feeling and begin to ask for that higher engagement without the corner. This is a great video if you are ready to either start collection or to take it...

In this exercise, you will see Karen ride a shoulder- in to canter exercise from the Baroque Equestrian Games & Institute (BEGI). You will see her ride it once, with quite nice results, and then she will repeat it with some coaching from Bruno Gonzales (co-createor of BEGI). You will see how, in ...

In this video, Karen shows you how to begin riding the classical lateral positions without using your reins. If you can make progress doing this, your lateral work will ultimately be much easier!

This video is good for anyone who already has the basic foundational yields working with no reins. A...

In this video, Karen discusses a strategy for getting maximum benefit when you ride patterns. She will contrast this strategy with the strategy needed for riding competition tests.

This video is great for anyone!

In this video, Karen talks about and illustrates the process of 'going all the way through', especially when dealing with an emotional horse. She uses a 'Bell Curve' analogy to describe the different stages the training process goes through, and the importance of keeping going (and knowing when t...

In this video, Karen will show how to improve your horse’s posture in the stretched and working gaits without relying on the reins. Karen will show how to create the stretch, and then bring it up into the working gaits. This is a great exercise for anyone who wants to improve their connection wit...

In this video, Karen helps you learn the concept of the half halt by focusing on the result. The goal of the half halt is to rebalance the horse in a way that he is more energized, engaged, and light on the forehand. Half halts are meant to be brief moments in time, but that makes them difficult ...