Ashley Fant Show Stables

04/06/2026

Cheers to three years at our farm in Eads!!! A lot has changed!

02/25/2026

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Riders often assume confidence should feel calm—steady, controlled, and free of nerves. But in a recent episode of The Plaidcast, Tonya Johnston, Mental Skills Coach challenges that assumption. Confidence, she says, doesn’t require riders to feel relaxed. It requires them to stay mentally engaged with what is actually happening.

“People think confidence means you’re not nervous,” Johnston said. “But confidence is really about staying present and staying functional, even when you’re feeling nervous.”

That distinction matters in environments where pressure is unavoidable. Riders don’t lose effectiveness because emotions show up. They lose effectiveness when their attention leaves the ride.

Johnston repeatedly returns to the idea that riding only happens in the present moment. The instant a rider’s focus drifts to what already happened—or jumps ahead to what might happen next—they disconnect from the horse underneath them.

“You can be physically in the ring, but mentally you’re somewhere else,” Johnston said. “And when you’re somewhere else mentally, you’re not actually riding.”

That mental absence often shows up immediately after a mistake. Riders replay the error, analyze it, or rush to fix it, all while the horse is still moving. Johnston points out that this instinct, though understandable, pulls riders out of sync with the moment they’re in.

“The horse doesn’t need you solving the whole problem right now,” she said. “They need you available to what’s happening in that moment.”

One of Johnston’s central themes is functionality. Riders don’t need to feel confident, brave, or calm in order to ride well—they need to remain operational. “You don’t have to fix everything in the middle of the round,” she said. “You just have to stay functional enough to make the next decision.”

That idea reframes recovery. Instead of viewing mistakes as something that must be immediately corrected, Johnston encourages riders to focus on maintaining engagement. The priority is continuity.

“When riders start trying to fix everything emotionally,” she said, “that’s when they stop riding what’s actually happening.”

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2026/02/24/confidence-is-being-able-to-stay-engaged/
📸 © Lauren Mauldin / The Plaid Horse

01/17/2026

I am so excited about this upcoming seminar!
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Add another layer of strength to your riding by complimenting physical training and mental skills with somatic work. Learn to understand the body on a new level and develop into a more effective rider, competitor and partner with your horse.

Bring a friend! The skills discussed in this workshop are wide-ranging and can be applied to other sports as well as in daily life and human interaction.

01/04/2026

I encourage everyone to read this short, helpful article, but it is well summed up in this excerpt:

“By focusing on what comes next instead of how they feel, riders give themselves the best chance to ride the round in front of them. Neutral thinking becomes a reliable, practical tool for staying grounded, steady, and effective in any situation.”

Brought to you by The Plaidcast Riders often put enormous pressure on themselves to feel confident, calm, or “ready” before they walk into the ring. But in Plaidcast Episode 458, mental skills coach Tonya Johnston explains that riders don’t need perfect emotions to ride well. What they need is...

11/28/2025

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In Geoff Teall on Riding Hunters, Jumpers, and Equitation, Teall reminds riders that while horses make good riders, it’s often the trainer who makes great ones. The relationship between rider and instructor is more than a business arrangement. It’s a partnership built on trust, communication, and respect. In a sport where safety, emotion, and ambition collide, that trust is not optional.

Teall views the riding instructor as far more than a teacher. They are a manager, mentor, and sometimes even a protector. “Your instructor controls safety,” he writes. “He gives you exercises, provides experience to help you learn and offers feedback. He manages your time, your horse’s soundness, and your career, so both you and your horse are still enjoying the sport several years later.”

That’s an enormous amount of responsibility. It requires a rider’s full confidence that their trainer is making choices in their best interest. When a trainer suggests a specific horse, recommends a show, or decides it’s time to take a step back, that decision often involves experience the student doesn’t yet have. The student’s role is to communicate openly and trust that their instructor is guiding them toward long-term success—not just short-term gratification.

In riding, instruction is not simply about achieving results. Teall emphasizes that “it’s important to ride with someone whose methods you believe in and who you trust. This is much more than a success issue. It is a safety issue.” Horses are powerful, unpredictable animals, and mistakes can have real consequences.

That’s why trust between rider and trainer must be absolute. You can’t improve if you’re second-guessing every direction. If a rider feels unsure or afraid of their trainer’s approach, progress will always be limited. The same applies in reverse: trainers need to know that their students will follow instructions promptly and thoughtfully, especially when things go wrong.

Teall encourages riders to look for trainers “with whom you can communicate and who make you feel confident and totally comfortable.” The most productive rider–trainer relationships are those where communication is open and consistent. Questions are encouraged, feedback flows both ways, and misunderstandings are addressed early.

Good trainers know that communication isn’t just about what’s said, but also how it’s heard. The same correction can either motivate or discourage, depending on the tone and timing. Riders should feel safe enough to admit confusion or fear without judgment, while trainers must be skilled enough to balance honesty with encouragement.

When both sides prioritize clarity, lessons become collaborative. A trainer can only teach effectively when they understand how a rider thinks and reacts. Likewise, a rider can only learn when they trust that corrections come from a place of investment, not irritation.

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2025/11/26/building-a-trust-based-relationship-with-your-trainer/
📸 © The Plaid Horse

11/20/2025

Congratulations to my group on a great week at WTHJA’s Harvest Time! It was Mia and Contes de Fee’s first time competing together and they were second in every class and reserve champion out of a good group. Carla was awesome on Nixon in only her second horse show ever and got better with every class. Oliver and Reve returned to the show ring after a year away from competition and jumped great and finished strong. Jess and Oliver were both great friends to Nixon when he was feeling very young at heart 😉. I am so proud of this group and all their hard work both at the show and in all the prep at home. Way to go!!👏👏👏🌟🌟🌟🏆🏆🏆

11/15/2025

We work horses in this way every day at the farm. Our uniquely shaped ring with the “hunt path” and openings to the field and hills afford us endless options for developing horses and riders to build strength and confidence. Happy, interested horses jump better!

Today everybody believes that to train horses you must have a round pen and an arena. However, the very important training tool of the Schooling Field has been almost completely forgotten. I have posted several times about schooling fields but this one in Bedford UK is one of the best I have seen. It belongs to Keystone International. www.facebook.com/KeysoeInternational It has everything, a ditch, a skinny, water, and more.

Notice that the jumps are low. This is because a schooling field is primarily used to develop a horse's rhythm, balance and consistency, more than to teach jumping. While this one has a catch fence, it is large enough to make the horse feel it is out in the open. I think that is important.

We have started to build a schooling field in south central PA and it is helping us retrain and train horses. So far it is big logs in an open pasture with slopes with space enough for a gallop. In the spring we plan to build a drop or small Irish bank and a ditch. A schooling field need not be expensive to build and the value from it can be huge.

Back in the day, every Army post or fort had a schooling field as did every hunt club. Then came the horse industry with its focus on ring riding, and the schooling field began to disappear. We need to bring them back in order to raise the quality of US horsemanship.

11/12/2025

This is a great read. Time, effort and commitment are absolutely essential to success. Winning doesn’t happen by chance!

By Daphne Thornton I’ve always said that riding is like tennis (or, these days, pickleball). It’s a lifetime sport. You can enjoy riding at almost any age, and there are many levels of participation. Things don’t get tricky until you want to compete. And then they get really tricky when you wa...

10/27/2025

A couple of weeks ago we enjoyed the weekend at the Brownland Farm Autumn Challenge. Congratulations to Carla on a great first horse show and on her lease of Nixon!! I am so proud of her for all that she has learned in a very short time riding and for being able to put it all together so well at a show. I’m looking forward to the year ahead with this pair! 🌟🦄

09/09/2025

So beautiful and true

I DID NOT KNOW...

I did not know a horse could bring people into your life that end up meaning the most to you.
I did not know a horse could make the hardest days of your life bearable.
I did not know a horse could teach you to put others first.
I did not know a horse could remind you time and time again that your gut is always right.
I did not know a horse could break your heart.
I did not know a horse could pick you up when you have fallen apart.
I did not know a horse could teach you to dream again, after you thought it was not possible.
I did not know a horse could make you believe in yourself.
I did not know a horse could teach responsibility, work ethic, and dedication.
I did not know a horse could make you believe in something when no one else does.
I did not know a horse could make you learn to forgive and forget.
I did not know a horse could humble you faster than you can say humble.
I did not know a horse could make you a winner.
I did not know a horse could also teach you how to lose gracefully.
I did not know a horse could instill patience in you.
I did not know a horse could make you listen better.
I did not know a horse could give you their heart.
I did not know a horse could change your life.
I did not know a horse could do all these things...
but now I know.

by Alissa Kelly

https://www.facebook.com/alissa.burson?mibextid=ZbWKwL

Image - Charlie Mackesy

08/23/2025