Bay Leaf Equestrian

06/24/2026

☀️Our horse camps aren’t just crafts and games!
🐴 We spend intentional time learning about the horse, in all kinds of fun ways!

🏖️Message us today to sign up for summer camp!

05/28/2026

POV: RUN to snag a spot in one of our weeks of summer camp!

05/27/2026

Drumroll please….
We’re officially announcing week TWO of summer camp!
July 6-9, 2026.
All the same info, all the same fun, now two weeks in a row. Email us to sign up!

05/11/2026

The time has come, friends! Send us an email to get your kiddo on the official list for the best week of the year 🤩

Details:
💙Located at The Stables at LeBocage
🇺🇸9 AM-2 PM June 29th - July 2nd
❤️Ages 6-12

02/04/2026

Lexington, Ky.—Feb. 4, 2026—The U.S. Hunter Jumper Association is pleased to open registration for the 2026 USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Challenge and Adult Horsemanship Quiz Challenge. With the aim of encouraging education and recognizing equestrians who have exceptional horsemanship knowledge, b...

12/18/2025

Get excited, friends. We’re almost back to the better time of year 🤩

Later sunsets and earlier sunrises are only 4 days away! Well, it only changes by seconds at first but the process begins after the Winter Solstice☀️☀️☀️☀️

12/11/2025

Great week of networking and conversation in Orlando with USHJA! Wonderful seeing some familiar faces and meeting new friends. If you needed a sign to get involved - this is it!

11/15/2025

When trainer Geoff Case watches riders flatting their horses, he sees a lot of the same thing: people lapping the ring, zoning out, and missing a huge opportunity. “It’s one of my biggest pet peeves,” Case said. “People just go around the outside, staring off into space. That’s not riding. That’s exercise.”

In Case’s eyes, flatwork isn’t just something to do when you’re not jumping—it’s where you actually become a better rider.

To Case, a good flat session should feel like a jumping round. “You should be riding lines, bending, adjusting your rhythm,” he said. “Every step is a chance to make something better.”

He encourages riders to ride patterns and turns with purpose. “Don’t just stay on the rail,” he said. “Use the whole ring. Make a circle, ride across the diagonal, do transitions in different places. Ride like you’re setting up for a jump.”

That kind of thinking builds skills that directly transfer to the show ring. “When you ride with that much attention, the horse gets sharper, you get straighter, and suddenly your distances show up easier,” he said.

The flat, he added, is where you learn timing, balance, and control without the distraction of fences. “If you can’t organize yourself between the jumps, you won’t do it over them either.”

For Case, good riding starts with details: straightness, rhythm, transitions, and connection. The riders who stand out to him in the warm-up ring are the ones who treat flatwork like an art form, not an afterthought.

“You can tell the difference between someone who’s just getting around and someone who’s actually training,” he said. “It’s in the way they ride their corners, how they prepare for a transition, how the horse looks in the bridle.”

That difference shows up in competition. “When you’re in the ring, it’s too late to be figuring those things out,” he said. “If you’ve already practiced being precise on the flat, it’s automatic when you’re showing.”

Case also pointed out that judges can spot the riders who do their homework. “Even in a jumping round, you can tell who spends time on the flat,” he said. “Their horses are balanced and adjustable. It’s obvious.”

Many riders, especially less experienced ones, rely on the rail for security or spacing. Case urges them to break that habit. “The rail becomes a crutch,” he said. “You stop steering, you stop thinking. You let the wall do the work for you.”

Instead, he suggests riding off the track, staying a few feet inside the rail to keep both you and your horse accountable. “When you come off the wall, suddenly you have to ride,” he said. “You’ve got to keep your line straight, keep the horse between your leg and hand, and make the turns yourself.”

At first, this can feel uncomfortable, but that’s exactly the point. “It’s supposed to feel different,” Case explained. “That’s how you know you’re actually doing something.”

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2025/11/15/get-off-the-rail-creativity-and-focus-in-flatwork/
📸 © The Plaid Horse

11/08/2025

Earns a share every time 🥰

Clean your tack, groom your horse, and shine your boots. Every day. If you can control nothing else, you can control your turn out. There is no excuse to not do the minimum effort.

www.EquestrianCoach.com