Keystone Equestrian Services

09/02/2026

Hi friends! I know, it's been a minute since I've gotten on this page. I've largely gotten away from social media the last few years, and this page has been neglected as a result.

That being said, I want you to know I'm still here! As we go into the winter, I have some availability for new (or returning!) clients. I'd love to work with you and your horse to understand each other better, develop yourself to be a more adept rider, and help your horse be more willing, capable and athletic!

What do you want to work on this winter, to be an even better team by next year?

05/14/2023

Dang. Is it me, or does this ABSOLUTELY apply to working with our horses??
https://www.facebook.com/reel/623724409315525?s=yWDuG2&fs=e&mibextid=Nif5oz

03/08/2023

Always less. https://www.facebook.com/100063869026946/posts/643005901171705/?sfnsn=mo&mibextid=6aamW6

Oh, the very difficult challenge of doing less. A. Lot. Less. It seems we humans need constant reminders that our technique will not be improved by doing more, making bigger/stronger/harder attempts. The horses remind me every day: if my technique is correct, it should be like a whisper. If I'm not getting it right, doing a BIGGER/STRONGER version of not-quite-right doesn't create results. Do less. And then do even less.

02/05/2023

This is why taking time to observe, to listen fully before we judge what a thing is, is so important.
https://www.facebook.com/100063856669752/posts/605184131620137/?sfnsn=mo&mibextid=6aamW6

Think of every undesirable display of behavior as a skill set missing or need not met. It could be as simple as a little more awareness or preparation on the humans part- or it can sometimes be a scavenger hunt for clues toward a bigger picture or overall disharmony in the body and mind.

I think of these behaviors like a meditation bell. Pawing, chewing, pushing, nipping, and so on- they are a call to your attention. Something is off. Your presence here is needed, either to educate further, to provide support, or to look deeper.

01/20/2023

In this movement of seeking mindfulness and presence with horses, I've noticed what seems to be most important - and most overlooked - is that it's not so much about the exercises we're working or how well we're following "the flowchart;" but rather it's really about fostering the feeling of connectedness. Tapping into what we notice within our horses and ourselves PRIMARY (not with judgement or interpretation but only with the intent to listen), and performing the "task" secondary. This post shares that experience in such a lovely way.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=638112274980919&id=100063464566295&mibextid=Nif5oz

A week ago today I swung my saddle onto the back of a five-year-old quarter horse under the watchful eye of Tom Curtin.

The horse took a few concerned steps as my stirrup swung over his back. I looked up to see Tom’s grin under the brim of his hat and he said,

“You were thinking about saddling that horse, weren’t you?
You need to think about that horse while you saddle him.“

Last week I spent the week with Tom and his wife, Trina. I noticed a reoccurring lesson throughout the week.

The everyday activities I have done my whole life with horses took on a new meaning. “You were thinking about brushing that c**t, you need to think about that c**t while you brush him.” And, “you were thinking about bridling that mare, you need to think about that mare while you bridle her.”

Tom said, “No matter what you do, never forget that horse”.

So there I was, playing cowboy for a week, learning about c**t starting, riding young horses, checking cattle, but deep inside it all, learning how to be with a horse in a very intentional way.

It’s a sort of contract, you see. You’re not demanding that your horse give you their attention without an even exchange. Asking a horse to bring their attention to me now feels more like saying, “Remember I’m right here, thinking about you… In exchange can you think about me?”

The gift of Tom’s c**ts was that they already knew the feeling of being kept in mind, and they were good at telling me when I’d lost track of them. The calm that came over these horses when I thought of them as I went about my daily routines was just wonderful.

All it took was being mindful of their existence and attentive to their needs. We typically have some sort of goal with our horses that can provide a wonderful sense of purpose, but the goal is meaningless if we lose track of our partner in the process.

I hope in reading this you can be as inspired as I am. When you go out this week and do whatever you do with your horses, whether it be jumping fences, working cows, dancing in a dressage arena, chasing hounds, etc, see if you can go about your business with purpose, but never forget your horse.

~ Justin

📸 Erin Gilmore // Erin Gilmore Photography

10/04/2022

Well doesn't this just tie in beautifully to what I just posted....

There is an enormous connection between a person’s emotional state, how they feel about life and themselves, and how they ride.

When we get into the nitty gritty stuff- when I say I want you to open your chest, to breathe, to take up space, to be fully present, we get into the mud of the mind-

Why does the person shrink? Why do they avoid being in their own mind? Why do they tense, clench and grab?

There is far more behind these so called riding faults than just riding-
There is the perception of self and of life.

And this is where when I ask you to take up space in your own body and to be present in your own mind, you must find the courage to look inside and be who you were meant to be, not just to ride well, but to live a good life.

10/04/2022

It's all too often I'm encouraging students to observe, and trust their bodies and their intuition. Trust the learning and experiences you've had up to this point and allow the inner you to act on what feels right. That doesn't guarantee success, but owning what you know leads to acting with confidence in so many situations, and along with an open, curious mind can blow the door wide open for further growth.

10/03/2022

THIS! This is so often where I'm starting with my students - mobility, harmony, movement, rhythm. If you have these things in you, it will be much easier to develop them in the horse.

Form follows function

As a riding instructor, one of the worst and most damaging things a student can encounter is position specific teaching. I rarely give instruction like “put your leg back,” “put your shoulders back,” etc. Students who have been taught to hold a leg here, a hand there, shoulders back, etc, often become rigid, unconfident and struggle to feel their horse.

This is because teaching a position over a feeling leads to an obsession with a look instead of a function. It does the same kind of damage to a human body, I believe, as teaching a horse a headset before teaching ease of movement and allowing the headset to follow the body.

I prefer to teach people where their body is in space, and how it relates to the horse’s body. I prefer to teach people to feel the horse and learn to guide them.

I prefer to see a student get a little messier in their position first, to leave the confines of “shoulders back heels down” thinking, to learn to absorb the motion of the horse without concern for their appearance initially. Once they can learn to get loose, just as in postural work with a horse, they can become more structured in a dynamic way. Nothing is forced, but instead the student finds their own unique posture on their own.

There are certainly aspects to a classical seat’s look that are rooted in function, but, the look is achieved by mastering functionality- each element of the position is the result of mastery of movement, not locking a body into a rigid form. A body needs the freedom to explore its abilities and limitations within the context of movement, unencumbered by fear of looking bad.

Only in fluidity and ease of movement can a functional, structured and classical seat be gained - not in a week, or a year, but as a lifetime pursuit. This means the seat will likely find itself in odd phases as it grows, adapts, and learns to understand following and guiding the horse better, and that is all just part of the journey.

Photo by Melinda Yelvington

09/30/2022

THERE IS ONLY ONE JOB…

Horse people have only one job. And horses have only one job. It’s the most important job and it's the job that supersedes all other jobs. Nothing is more important when it comes to training. The job is to be focused and connected. That’s it. That’s the job. Even when doing other jobs, staying focused and connected to our horse and our horse to us overrides all other jobs in importance.

The one condition to the “one job” principle is that focus and connection are only important if you want a good relationship and a partnership. If you only care about a horse being an employee and doing a learned job, then focus and connection are less important provided the job gets done.

A question you may be asking is how can you tell if a horse is focused and connected? The answer is pretty simple. Most people believe you can tell by the way a horse is performing or moving or how light it is to respond to pressure. But that’s not always true or reliable. You can’t be sure of a horse’s connection with you by what it is doing. A more trustworthy indicator of focus and connection is how a horse feels and responds when you interrupt what they are doing. When a horse is performing one job and you ask it to think about doing a different job, how braced is the transition? How expressive is their body language? How troubled are the emotions?

When moving from one idea to another causes a horse zero trouble, it is a good sign that a horse is attentive and in a conversation with you. But when interrupting a horse in the middle of a task creates any level of ill feeling and resistance, the probability is high that the horse had either mentally left or was blocking out any conversation with you.

Perhaps the best example of this is trailer loading. Some people have horses that load into a trailer trouble-free. They just walk in when they see the back of the trailer open. However, in my experience, the majority of those horses will melt down if you asked them to walk into the trailer halfway and stop, back one step and stop, forward two steps and stop. Their minds were in the back of the trailer and if that were interrupted, many horses will re-model the inside of the trailer - for free!

Another example was my old showjumping horse. Most jumpers see a fence approaching and get more committed to jumping with each stride. But Luke did a pretty good job of staying focused and connected. I could stop him in front of a jump with minimum resistance. I could stop him two strides after a jump, walk him to turn, and jump over the fence from a walk that he just cleared. He was not very fast around the jump course and could not compete on speed with most of the TB horses. But he was so much “with me” that we could cut corners and approach fences at impossible angles that most other horses couldn’t.

In dressage, the half-halt is taught to riders as a substitute for having a constant connection with a horse. It’s because a significant proportion of dressage training is NOT about the “one job” being focus and connection, but the movement. Focus and connection are down the list of most important jobs, despite the rhetoric and good intentions. When focus and connection are strong and the conversation between horse and rider is flowing, the half-halt is redundant and perhaps even a nuisance.

I want to add that focus and connection are not just about better performance. They should be the priority in everything we do such as picking up feet and saddling, trail riding, dressing a wound, fitting a blanket, catching and leading, hosing - even brushing! Being vigilant about always asking for focus and connection is what makes the relationship work. It can't work if we only require it when we need it.

I never expect a horse to focus 100% on me at the cost of blocking out the rest of the world. That would be silly and dangerous. But with all the things I have to teach my horse, nothing is more important than focus and connection. Nothing supersedes it. When I lose it, I stop what I’m doing and do whatever it takes to get it back before going on with the task at hand. The number one job I have is to encourage my horse that in everything we do, we do together. Everything else follows.

Photo: At this clinic I was working my hardest to do my number one job of building a focus and connection between myself and this sweet horse.

09/27/2022

I don't know who needs to hear this today, but if any nugget feels like she's speaking to you, read it all again.
Well said, Kendra!