Five Fillies Equestrian

Five Fillies Equestrian Local business that provides training rides, trailering, boarding, and haul ins. This facility puts an emphasis on the care and knowledge of any equestrian.

The boarding aspect of Five Fillies Equestrian is known as Five Fillies Farm.

It has been a while since we’ve posted but this is how our 2025 has started! Good times with the best barn family and of...
03/08/2025

It has been a while since we’ve posted but this is how our 2025 has started! Good times with the best barn family and of course the best paint pony I know pulling the students around in a sled in the snow!

This weeks weather has us all wishing it were summer
01/15/2024

This weeks weather has us all wishing it were summer

What a long long day. But worth it! So proud of Macie and how far she’s come! And Theo giving a pretty great performance...
11/21/2021

What a long long day. But worth it! So proud of Macie and how far she’s come! And Theo giving a pretty great performance for his first time in an indoor. And of course Gus being the best show pup ever.

11/15/2021

The obsession with a deep heel in flat work….

Have a look at the photo below. Would you squash my fingers when you ride? If the answer is yes, you have too much weight in your stirrups.

Next time you are in your saddle at halt, consciously push your weight into the stirrup and feel how your glutes and hamstrings contract, popping you up. You may have been doing this for so long it’s difficult at first to feel the contraction. Go back and forth between pushing down into the stirrup and just resting your foot. Really sense into what changes in your underneath when you push down into the stirrup.

Additionally, notice how this pushing into the stirrup jams up the joints of the ankle, knee and hip. All of which are required to stay soft and mobile if we are to sit the trot effectively. If too much weight in feet is not diagnosed by yourself or your coach you will bounce unnecessarily when using your stirrups. This is one of the primary reasons for no stirrup work and why you’ll feel like your sitting better and more connected without them.

I see many riders attempting to put their weight into the stirrup in hopes of following all gaits: rising and sitting trot and canter. It will only disconnect you from the saddle and your horses back. However, if we can learn to keep our ‘foot light’ in the stirrup we will have the same success with them as we do without. Not using your stirrups, sadly, will not help you learn to ride with them and ‘foot light’ is often the fix.

‘Heels down’ is something that is shouted by many coaches universally. Unfortunately, it results in many riders pushing their leg forward to appease the coach as often their hamstrings are tight and it’s the only way the heel will go down. Now the foot is jammed forward, removing the ability to follow the movement with a soft ankle and the body alignment of the ear, shoulder, hip, boney knobble of the ankle bone is lost. In this position, the rider is no longer responsible for their own body weight in any gait. The foot jammed forward and lack of proper alignment also makes the rider fall back into the saddle in rising trot with a thump because their feet are no longer under the hip.

Think of the ball of your foot across the pad of your stirrup iron and imagine you are about to dive backwards off of a diving board. It should feel springy and light. You are in a kneeling feeling and the energy comes from the hip socket, down the top of the thigh, out the kneecap and to the ground (not to your foot). Putting a sponge in each stirrup can also help you feel how the foot can stay light and spring-like through the joints of the ankle, knee and hips in sitting trot (and canter). If you don’t have some available, just imagining a sponge under the ball of your foot can have good effect.

If this is new to you, your new conundrum will be losing your stirrups until you can sense your way into feeling just the right amount of weight that will keep your stirrup but not squash my fingers! It is a conundrum worth working through, I assure you. Once this skill is solidified, you won’t panic if you lose a stirrup because you won’t be relying on your stirrups to stand in and balance.

***Thank you to Shannyn Clarke for being my photo model

Happiest of birthdays to both Kristen Watkins and Chloe Clark!! 🎉🎉🎂Burt
10/05/2021

Happiest of birthdays to both Kristen Watkins and Chloe Clark!! 🎉🎉🎂Burt

09/30/2021

I notice something interesting when I teach people, especially women. When I pay attention to improvements and make a big deal of them, many people are often immediately suspicious.
The conversation might go something like this:
Me: “you rode that circle very nicely!”
Student: “well I still didn’t get a good rythm, my right leg is still too tight and my horse didn’t bend well.”
Me: “ok but it still is a really nice improvement”
Student : “well it could be better”

It sometimes seems that our brains are committed to focusing on the negative aspects of our work, that we aren’t allowed to be proud of our improvements. When I ask my students to tell me something they did well, they often look visibly uncomfortable, and if they can come up with something, they add conditions to it. “I got better at x, BUT I still didn’t do y and z.” I tell them often that a successful moment doesn’t need to be described with conditions. You can be aware of what needs improvement without needing to beat yourself over the head with it.

I also think people can get accustomed to the authoritarian type teacher who just hollers your every failure at you, until you accept you are never going to be as good as them. So a teacher who compliments their improvement and draws on their strengths draws suspicion - maybe the teacher doesn’t know anything if they think *I’m* good.

The thing is, I would never in a million years teach a horse the way some people have become used to being taught. Hanging your failures over your head puts too much emphasis on your shortcomings. Yes I can see what your leg is doing, but we’ll get to that. One thing at a time. When you ride with a laundry list of your own faults, you don’t reward yourself, or notice your accomplishments - and you don’t notice the horse’s either. You can’t help it. You think you’re being hard on yourself but you’re hard on the horse too.

You are allowed to be proud of your improvements. In fact, I highly recommend it.

It was a great last day here at Tryon. Even though Theo and were both tired from the derby yesterday but still managed ...
09/26/2021

It was a great last day here at Tryon. Even though Theo and were both tired from the derby yesterday but still managed to place top ten in each class. Cici and Pippin killed it today! Brought home a blue!!

So so so proud of this duo right here. She ended up getting a second, third and fourth in her classes yesterday! ♥️♥️ ...
09/26/2021

So so so proud of this duo right here.
She ended up getting a second, third and fourth in her classes yesterday! ♥️♥️

So proud of and Theo this morning. First time doing a National Derby and they did absolutely wonderful. Took all the hi...
09/25/2021

So proud of and Theo this morning. First time doing a National Derby and they did absolutely wonderful. Took all the high options and rode the track we walked! Then went immediately into the adult amateur and placed top 5 in both trips!

Finished the day with the sassy marshmallow killing it in the Equ on the flat! So proud of this kiddo for her first show...
09/24/2021

Finished the day with the sassy marshmallow killing it in the Equ on the flat! So proud of this kiddo for her first show in far too long!

Address

Kingsport, TN

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 6pm
Thursday 9am - 6pm
Friday 8am - 6pm
Saturday 8am - 6pm
Sunday 8am - 6pm

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